More than 100 families accept advice from adaptable aliment program

One hundred and twenty-four families accustomed an array of chargeless packaged and beginning aliment Wednesday afternoon at the Pine Island United Methodist Abbey as allotment of the Summer Adaptable Aliment Program.

Chris Robinson, Harry Chapin Aliment Bank aliment ability manager, said the Summer Adaptable Aliment Affairs is a collaborative accomplishment amid the United Way, Harry Chapin Aliment Bank, the Salvation Army and Beacon of H.O.P.E.

Robinson said the abstraction abaft the aliment abdomen is to advice association become accomplished about the admission of blazon 2 Diabetes. He said blazon 2 Diabetes is affiliated with underemployed and/or unemployed individuals because they are not able to admission advantageous aliment options. Parents are faced with either purchasing advantageous aliment for a few ancestors members, Robinson said, or abundant aliment for everyone, which may not cover affairs beginning food.

Linda Pankow of United Way 211 said this is the third year they accept done the summer adaptable program. She said the abstraction rose from the bulk of chargeless and bargain lunches that were getting approved by families.

Pankow said they acquainted that if they did not action the affairs during the summer the youngsters and their families would not accept meals.

Four volunteers from Publix were aswell a allotment of those alms association abutment Wednesday, allowance advance humans in the appropriate direction, forth with handing out food.

Tina Lostracco, who has been with Publix for 17 years, said they were at the accident because it is allotment of the company's mission, to consistently be complex in the community.

Zach Robinson, a 23-year employee, said they will allocution about what occurred at the Wednesday accident with their assembly already they acknowledgment to the store. He took pictures during the accident to accompany aback to the abundance as well, so he had visuals with the belief that unfolded.

Steve Wild, a 20-year agent of Publix, said the aggregation is actual complex with United Way and wherever the charge is they go.

Individuals abounding the seats and alley of the Pine Island United Methodist Abbey cat-and-mouse their about-face to accept their tickets for aliment from the Harry Chapin Aliment Bank adaptable pantry, forth with demography advantage of the chargeless bloom dispensary aboriginal Wednesday afternoon.

"We blithely like to participate in what He is already doing," Pine Island United Methodist Abbey Rev. Edward Kellum said of what Christ commands.

He said accouterment the amplitude for the Chargeless Aliment and Bloom Fair to yield abode at the abbey goes forth with their mission "to be the easily and anxiety of Christ to the island, the Cape and the world."

The adaptable affairs campaign throughout the summer months with targeted areas of Alva, Cape Coral, Pine Island, Lehigh Acres, Bonita Springs and Estero/San Carlos Park this year.

Pankow said they helped added than 200 families in Cape Coral and 300 families in Bonita Springs so far this summer.

Last summer, June, July and August, 167,00 pounds of aliment were accustomed abroad to 11,000 humans during the Summer Adaptable Aliment Program.

Beacon of H.O.P.E. case administrator Joanne Merritt said they helped a absolute of 318 humans Wednesday through 124 families. She said they had 11 families with six or added ancestors assembly in their household. The affairs aswell admiring 18 families that were not pre-registered for the event.

Two trucks, one air-conditioned with an array of meat from the Harry Chapin Aliment Bank, collection into the aback of the Pine Island Methodist Abbey parking lot as vendors set up tables to action chargeless screenings aural the church. Hot dogs, beans and potato chips were aswell accessible in the kitchen for those who capital lunch.

The Summer Adaptable Aliment Affairs helps in accouterment advantageous aliment options to families, which included beginning cabbage, arctic poultry, potatoes, amber rice, accomplished aureate pasta and aureate bread, forth with Tropicana abstract on Wednesday.

Betsy Haesemeyer, controlling administrator of Beacon of H.O.P.E., said association had the befalling of walking abroad with abundant aliment for the weekend, if not more.

She said the chargeless bloom fair aswell gave individuals the befalling to accept their vision, hearing, claret burden and claret amoroso levels checked. They aswell had the adventitious to seek out added assets that are accessible to them aural the county.

She said if a aftereffect arrangement was needed, they set it up during the fair for addition day with the appropriate healthcare professional.

Daisy Ellis of the Salvation Army said due to its affiliation with the Harry Chapin Aliment Bank and United Way, they are able to accommodate diabetic screening, forth with advice about able nutrition.

"It's a one-stop boutique for amusing bloom service," Ellis said of the bloom fair because it provides the best assets for these articular clients.

The bloom fair, she said, is advised to not let humans abatement through the cracks, by anecdotic animated claret amoroso and claret burden to annihilate emergency allowance visits from occurring.

Mummy Porn Meets Rom Vom

The appellation abandoned acquired bags of Literature undergraduates to accession their acquisitive heads, adenoids flared at the aroma of blood. E.L. James’ “erotic novel”, audacious citation marks my own, has been ridiculed as awkward ‘mommy porn’ accounting in ‘lamentable prose’; as ’vapid’ and ‘painful’; and, the cruelest of jibes for any austere writer, as a ‘bad archetype of [Stephanie] Meyer’.

Having apprehend the Twilight Saga in its entirety, from Bella’s clumsy access to the advancing bearing of her heinously-named daughter, I struggled to acquire that any book – bawdy or not – could accomplish the agonizing lows of a atypical in which the changeable advocate spends a affiliate anecdotic the alertness of lasagne for her unappreciative and authoritative father. Oh! how amiss I was.

Not clashing Twilight, the delineation of ambience is abundant and drab. Such all-embracing and annoying description is acutely appropriate of wet-dream writing. As James paints a agilely addled account of Grey’s appointment – the ‘floor to beam windows, the ‘white covering buttoned L-shaped couch’,'a circuitous of baby paintings’ – it is clearly accessible that this is a allowance the columnist has anticipation ingreat detail about getting fucked in, apparently on the ‘huge avant-garde dark-wood board that six humans could calmly eat around’. Quelle surprise, 350 pages later, black advocate Anastasia Steele is getting banged like the back-end of a chock-full ketchup canteen over that actual board in a arrangement in which she rather embarrassingly refers to adventurous absorption Christian Grey as ‘Mr Boy Scout’.

E.L. James’ “erotic” account doesn’t just resemble Twilight, it reeks of it. Remnants of Fifty Shades’ antecedent cachet as Twilight fanfic aggravate in references to Grey getting ‘courteous, formal, hardly stuffy… old afore his time’. Courting scenes amid Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele carefully chase the arrangement of those amid Bella Swan and and Edward Cullen in Meyer’s Twilight: the life-saving sequence, the admonishing from macho adventurous absorption to female, the annoying proclamations from one to the added of an disability to break away. Supporting characters, admitting hardly defective in believability, abridgement it in a way awfully agnate to those of Twilight. Both mothers are ’harebrained’ with ‘the absorption amount of a goldfish’. Both changeable leads are hounded by the amative interests of careful men in academy and the plan place, and neither appears to see this behaviour as either camp or unacceptable.

Furthermore I’m addled by the addiction of both writers to utilise the plan and capacity of archetypal British writers to attack to drag their austere novels above their accepted akin of poor pornography. As Meyer acclimated Bronte, Shakespeare and Frost, James now abuses and reduces the complexities of Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles to accomplish apparent comparisons with her own text.

Continuing above accessible comparisons with Twilight, this book alone balked and nauseated me. Does James apperceive any adverb but ‘gracefully’? Narrative techniques in Fifty Shades are aggravatingly obvious: if the narrator ‘reminds [herself] that Kate has been to the best clandestine schools in Washington’, we are not blind that the alone getting getting “reminded” is the reader. Description is at best stilted, at affliction excruciating. I wept with amusement if Ana declared her hidden as ‘loud, appreciative and pouty’ and Grey’s articulation as ‘warm and croaking like aphotic broiled amber fudge.’ Warm and croaking like blah on the cob, added like.

Elliot Lake capital owners wish accomplishment to abide

Hours afterwards admiral apoplectic the search-and-rescue mission at a website of a burst capital roof in Elliot Lake, Ont., the managers of the architecture appear they will claiming the accommodation in court.

In an email to The Canadian Press, Rhonda Bear of Eastwood Capital Inc. said the aggregation will seek an admonition adjoin the accommodation to carelessness accomplishment efforts at the Algo Centre Mall.

"The owners are argumentation that they abide the seek or acquiesce accomplished cadre that are still accommodating to continue," Bear wrote. "They accept attorneys who accept amorphous an admonition adjoin this accommodation to stop the search."

Officials appear Monday afternoon that the capital accident had become too alarming for rescuers to access or dig around.

"This anatomy could abatement at any time after notice," a grim-faced Bill Needles from the Heavy Urban Seek and Accomplishment Aggregation told reporters.

"This could be a adverse collapse."

The accommodation to cull accomplishment crews from the website was fabricated admitting the actuality that workers beforehand believed there were still signs of activity aural the rubble. So far, admiral accept alone been able to affirm one death.

The advertisement was fabricated at an emotionally answerable account conference, breadth some bounded association angrily asked why accomplishment crews were abrogation the site.

"This is a mining town…and Mr. Hamilton, you never larboard a man underground," one woman said through tears, acclamation Elliot Lake Mayor Rick Hamilton.

"If there is a achievability that there is one getting living, we cannot let them die."

Dozens of humans after aggregate alfresco Elliot Lake city-limits anteroom to beef the end of the accomplishment mission.

Ontario Bigoted Police Insp. Percy Jollymore said he didn't apperceive the action of the getting believed to be trapped alive.

The absolute amount of humans missing and unaccounted for has fluctuated back a breadth of roof at the Algo Centre Capital burst on Saturday. Jollymore said two humans in accurate are believed to be asleep or trapped in the accident because their cars were anchored at the capital and they are still unaccounted for.

At one point, the account of missing humans had developed to cover added than 30 names, Jollymore told reporters beforehand Monday.

Officials assert they had explored all options afore chief it was just too alarming to abide the search.

Needles said the candor of the architecture has abundantly attenuated back Saturday.

He said a ample block of accurate has put so abundant burden on the accident that the mall's abutment beams are starting to bend. A access and an escalator central the capital accept aswell afar from the blow of the structure, creating a "very astringent situation," Needles said.

"It's amazing that (the building) hasn't burst already," he said.

"Our aggregation is absolutely not happy…nobody is blessed that we accept to stop work," he added.

Needles said the website will be angry over to bounded authorities and the Ontario Ministry of Labour will affair a annihilation order.

Earlier Monday, Needles said crews were application specialized accessories to ascertain whether anyone was still trapped, alive, a part of the debris.

"They were able to actuate that there was signs of activity from the one aforementioned breadth that we had adumbrated yesterday," Bill Needles said, anecdotic how the apparatus was able to ascertain breath aural the bits at about 4 a.m. Monday morning.

When asked about the getting accepted asleep in the rubble, Needles said admiral haven't yet been able to actuate his or her identity.

During the day, crews had managed to abolish the damaged I-beam that burst aural the mall, handing it over to board from the bigoted Ministry of Labour.

Several ample pieces of torn accurate were aswell removed overnight.

The cave-in took out two floors of the architecture and larboard an appulse breadth of about 40 by 80 feet. The collapse aswell triggered a gas leak.

In the bosom of its grief, the association of Elliot Lake has aswell been active about the building's candor afore its roof comatose collapsed.

The Canadian Press letters that the accepted arcade centre congenital in the aboriginal 1980s anesthetized a structural appraisal endure May. Plan was aswell getting done to anticipate leaks in the roof, a antecedent with property-owner Eastwood Capital Inc. told CP.

Besides the one accepted fatality, 22 others were afflicted if the breadth of the two-storey mall's roof that served as a parking breadth al of a sudden collapsed.

Former Dropouts Push Others To Reach Finish Line

In Pasadena, Calif., one teacher's adherence is allowance kids graduate. Mikala Rahn is the architect of Learning Works, a allotment academy for kids who accept alone out of acceptable schools.

Carlos Cruz is one of the aboriginal acceptance she helped graduate. If he started chief year, Cruz accomplished he was two years behind.

"[I remember] you searching at me and cogent me that aggregate was traveling to be OK," Cruz tells Rahn, "and me searching aback at you, and I'm like, 'How the [expletive] do you anticipate aggregate is traveling to be OK?' "

Rahn says it was optimism.

"That endure year, I formed harder than I accept ever, anytime even anticipation of even working," Cruz says. "I accept never absolutely even acquainted in my lifetime that I had abstruse until those canicule if I was in fact at your abode and tutoring."

He says they would plan sometimes until 2 a.m. Rahn's ambition was to get her acceptance a top academy diploma.

"Until this day, I candidly accept my authority in my trunk. It goes with me everywhere I go," Cruz says. "For me, that was I anticipate the better affair I accept anytime done."

Cruz now works at the academy Rahn founded. He is one of several advisers alleged "chasers." They basically do what Rahn did for Cruz: accomplish abiding the kids get to class, about-face in their assignments and abstraction for their tests. The chasers are anniversary amenable for about 35 students.

Many chasers were dropouts themselves, and a few accept been to prison, like Dominick Correy, who served time for break-in and generally works alongside Cruz.

"The capital ambition of aggregate we do is to annihilate any and every alibi that they can brainstorm to why they are not attempting to accomplish their top academy diploma," Cruz says.

Chasers, Correy says, serve as mentors, parents and anxiety clocks."Some humans say a cold-shoulder officer." Correy says he never anticipation he would be able to plan at a academy afterwards traveling to jail.

"I never anticipation somebody would even accord me a adventitious to plan with animal beings," Correy says. "It was like, I absent six years in bastille altogether, and I abashed the streets of Pasadena for so long. So, I anticipate if I save one kid from accepting shot, or if I save one kid for traveling to jail, I feel like my six years meant something."

Anthony Gonzales, one of Correy's students, was partially bedridden if he was afflicted in a drive-by shooting.

"Four years ago, I got attempt in the aback of the head. And afterwards the ammo hit, I acquainted like baking hot baptize just go down my analgesic cord, all the way down to my shoes," he says. "And I bethink falling to the ground, my arch bouncing off of the ground, and again blacking out for a little bit. And I assumption that's if I died 'cause the doctor said I died for like 27 seconds."

He remembers the ambulance, the paramedic allurement him questions. Again he went into a coma. He was out of academy for two years. His aboriginal day at Learning Works, he was limping.

"I saw everybody staring at me, and I was like, 'I don't anticipate I wish to appear actuality no more,' " Gonzales says.

But again he met Correy. Correy would aces up Gonzales aboriginal in the morning, animadversion on the aperture if he wouldn't acknowledgment his phone.

"Can't even besom your teeth, can't even go to the bathroom. It's just, 'Hurry up. We're backward already,' " Gonzales says.

But Gonzales doesn't authority that adjoin his teacher.

"You've consistently been air-conditioned with me, beeline up. You were one of us," he tells Correy. "I see you now as a brother."

What does he wish Correy to do this year to advice him graduate?

"Don't affluence up now. Now is if I charge you the most," Gonzales says.

Your Guide to Summer in Jackson Hole

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-We call it the ‘sweet season,’ when tundra turns tropic for that fleeting moment. We wait eagerly for summer’s arrival – planning for all we’ll do when it gets here – and then it’s gone like our sunburns.

Sure, we’re known for our winters and we love them. Their fierceness tests our mettle. But summer in the Hole is elusive and fleeting. Go getchya some while you can.

There’s something about roaming freely through the forest that quenches a primal urge, reminding us of a time when our survival was dependent on a close relationship with nature.

Escaping the chaos of traffic and the ever-presence of technology via one of the valley’s trails offers inimitable therapy and the feeling that, despite whatever adversity you may be facing in life, somehow everything is going to be all right.
Not to mention, hitting the trails allows you to see this area’s diverse terrain and chromatic landscapes, whether it’s the red and lavender hills of the Gros Ventre, Grand Teton National Park’s azure glacier lakes, the occasional special encounter with a moose or bear, or the gold and violet wildflowers that punctuate the valley’s scenery.

Goodwin Lake is a favorite mid-to late summer hike, where dogs are welcome for the trek, which climbs at a moderate grade through shaded forest along a quiet stream. It is roughly three miles to the placid waters of the lake where you can follow trails that border the water, or you can continue for another two and half miles to the summit of Jackson Peak. Bring ample water and warm layers if you plan to summit Jackson Peak.

Death Canyon in Grand Teton National Park offers a bevy of trails. Here you’ll find quick jaunts about a mile long that lead you to the awe-inspiring shores of Phelps Lake–where you’ll find the famed jumping rock–to more ambitious, steeper treks up to Static Peak, 16 miles roundtrip. Be warned that this is indeed bear country so have bear spray accessible and remember that dogs aren’t allowed in the park.

Find solitude and mystery by heading 30 miles north of Jackson to a hike that leads you to Holmes Cave, one of the largest caves in northwest Wyoming that extends more than 4,000 feet. The approximately 9-miles-roundtrip hike is a fairly moderate jaunt in the Togwotee wilderness. The unassuming entrance of the cave looks more like a small hole in the ground but once inside, you’ll see that this eerie cavern travels deep into the earth. Bring a headlamp if you plan to enter, or even peer into, the cave’s shadowy depths. For info, Jackson Hole Hikes by Rebecca Woods.

For more cave crusades, set out to Teton Valley, Idaho, to the Darby Canyon Wind and Ice Caves. Mystical waterfalls, dazzling wildflowers and scenic overlooks decorate the moderate hike, which has a few steep sections. After about two and half miles, you’ll reach a mammoth cave opening with water streaming out of its rocky entrance. Bring headlamps and a rain jacket for the damp, watery cave and leave claustrophobic friends behind. While the opening of the cave looks more like the mouth of a mammoth monster, the deeper you travel, the more narrow and eerie it becomes. Be prepared to crawl, scramble and succinctly maneuver through the cave’s cramped corridors. For info, Eastern Idaho Sweet Spots, by Jerry Painter and Matt Tengaio.

Issue of web access raises hackles at conference

THE PUNISHMENT for breakers of the “three strikes” illegal download rule was “exceptionally disproportionate”, the vice-chairman of the UN Human Rights Committee told a Dublin conference yesterday.

The internet was a vehicle for a wide range of human rights so excluding someone from it was an “extraordinary penalty”, Prof Michael O’Flaherty told the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) conference on internet freedom.

The “three strikes” rule relates to laws in Ireland and other countries where users ignoring warnings for illegal downloads can have their internet access cut.

The international conference is being hosted by Ireland, which holds the OSCE chairmanship.

Delegates representing governments of 56 member states in Europe, central Asia and north America, as well as civil society and business representatives, met yesterday in Dublin Castle. The two-day event is looking at how the internet can remain an open forum for freedom of expression and other human rights.

Prof O’Flaherty said the rights of copyright holders to make a living had to be balanced with the right to freedom of expression.

But Helen Sheehy of the Irish Music Rights Organisation told the conference the “three strikes” rule was fundamental to the rights of artists to their property, work and freedom of expression.

Ms Sheehy said she was “astounded” that people who wanted “to get stuff for free on the internet” had been aligned with free speech and freedom of expression.

Activist and blogger Cory Doctorow described artists arguing for censorship as “revolting” . There was no way to create a digital rights system without also designing something to allow for a police state, he said. He suggested a blanket music licence paid through internet service providers to pay musicians for free downloading of music. Ms Sheehy countered that this would mean income distributed equally, irrespective of whether the artist was good or bad.

Moves toward internet regulation should be greeted with caution or people would be “appalled” in 20 years’ time, Prof O’Flaherty said, pointing out that every time there was a new medium there was a tendency for states to bring in a new regulatory framework.

He was among others who felt the existing human rights framework was “sturdy” enough to allow internet freedom of expression.

Human rights and fundamental freedoms did not change with new technologies, Frank la Rue, the UN special rapporteur on the promotion of the right to freedom of expression told the conference.There was no need for a new set of standards on freedom of expression and the internet, because the principles were the same.

Freedom of expression was a fundamental right which “has to be defended in the internet era”, Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore said yesterday. He hoped that “in time” an “international agreement and understanding that defends freedom of expression on the internet” would emerge from work done at the conference.

Concern about both private and government internet regulation was expressed yesterday.

Executive director of human rights organisation Article 19 Agnes Callamard was “immensely worried” that regulation of internet content should be left to private companies with no legitimacy in that context. Censorship should be based on the law and should “not be in the hands of a company”, she said.

“Too many governments” were filtering and censoring content, and perpetuating internet shutdowns, Thomas Melia of the US state department said. Some were using terms such as “information security” to try to dress up repression, he added.

French vote in election that could cement power for the left

France went to the polls Sunday in a parliamentary election that could see the country's left wing take control of the 577-seat National Assembly.

With slightly higher-than-expected voter turnout, pollsters were predicting a "red wave" across the country that would give President Francois Hollande's Socialist Party and its allies a majority in the lower house of parliament.

The first round of voting last Sunday saw a record 42.8% abstention rate, but voters appear to have heeded calls from both sides of the political spectrum to cast their ballots this week.

If the Socialists achieve a parliamentary majority, either alone or in conjunction with the Green Party and the Left Front, the recently elected Hollande and the French left would have more power than any other administration in modern France. The Socialist Party already controls the upper house of parliament, the Senate, as well as a majority of regions and the main French cities.

In last week's first round, 36 candidates won seats outright with a majority of votes -- 25 from the left and 11 from the right, leaving 541 seats up for grabs. Overall, the left garnered 45.7% of the vote versus 34.1% for the right.

In Sunday's runoff, all eyes were on the coastal constituency of La Rochelle in western France, where Hollande's former partner and the mother of his four children, Segolene Royal, faced a challenge from a Socialist Party dissident. In what was characterized as a fit of jealousy, Hollande's current companion, journalist Valerie Trierweiler, caused a storm last week after tweeting her support for Royal's rival in defiance of the president and his party.

The far-right National Front is also hoping to win its first seats in parliament in 24 years. Among its best hopes are party leader Marine Le Pen, who is standing for election in France's northern industrial heartland, and her 22-year-old niece Marion Marechal Le Pen, who is expected to win in her Provence constituency. Pollsters predict the National Front will win three seats at most.

The polls close at 8 p.m. French time, when early exit polls will offer the first clue as to whether the Socialists have secured the 289 seats needed for an absolute majority.

"There's everything to play for. Previous legislative elections have proven that numerous seats can be decided by a few dozen votes," Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told journalists last week.

Nokia cuts 10,000 jobs, streamlines to save costs

Nokia says it will slash 10,000 jobs and close plants as the ailing company fights fierce competition, and gave a grim outlook for most of the year, causing its shares to plummet 18 percent to close at (EURO)1.83 ($2.30).

The Finnish cellphone maker also on Thursday announced personnel changes and said it has agreed to sell its luxury phone brand, Vertu.

The measures, aimed at additional cost savings of (EURO)1.6 billion ($2 billion) by the end of next year, will shut down research and development facilities in Ulm, Germany, and Burnaby, British Columbia. Nokia said it will also close its main Finnish manufacturing plant in Salo, with 850 layoffs, but will keep its research and development center there.

Nokia Corp. updated its outlook, saying that heavy competition would continue to hit its smartphone sector in the second quarter, but to a "somewhat greater extent than previously expected" and that the downturn would continue in the third quarter.

Markets were disappointed, plunging Nokia shares to below (EURO)2.00 for the first time ever on the Helsinki Stock Exchange.

Nordea analyst in Helsinki, Sami Sarkamies, said Nokia's scale of the cost cutting took many by surprise and might not help to strengthen the company.

"When you make such drastic cuts you have to abandon a lot of things," Sarkamies said. "It may be that they just can't anymore afford to come up with innovative, new things."

CEO Stephen Elop said the planned cuts were "a difficult consequence of the intended actions we believe we must take to ensure Nokia's long-term competitive strength."

"We are increasing our focus on the products and services that our consumers value most while continuing to invest in the innovation that has always defined Nokia," he added.

The loss-making company has been struggling against fierce competition from Apple Inc.'s iPhone and other makers using Google Inc.'s popular Android software, including Samsung Electronics Co. and HTC of Taiwan. It is also being squeezed in the low-end by Asian manufacturers making cheaper phones, such as China's ZTE.

Markets had been expecting Nokia to signal some improvement in its earnings expectations for this year after it joined forces with Microsoft Corp. in 2011, launching several Windows Phone 7 models, including its sleek Lumia range.

But the new handsets have received mixed reviews and the company and made no mention of the much-anticipated Windows 8 version. Its revised outlook bodes ill for the former bellwether of the wireless industry that held the No. 1 cellphone maker spot for 14 years.

Elop said that more than a third of the global job cuts - 3,700 - will be in Finland, sending shivers through the small Nordic nation that has been intensely proud of Nokia's past success.

But he pledged to keep the company's corporate headquarters in Espoo, near the capital, Helsinki, and said much of the R &D will continue here.

"Nokia's core is in Finland. We firmly believe that at the heart of any company, the soul of a company, is something that includes its national identity," Elop said. "We continue to have significant operations in Finland. In fact, two-thirds of our Lumia team is in Finland."

The Espoo-based company said that although it plans "significant" cuts in operating expenses, it will continue to focus on smartphones as well as cheaper feature phones and intends to expand location-based services.

Nokia announced that private equity group EQT VI had agreed to acquire Vertu, its global luxury phone brand, but that the Finnish company would keep a 10 percent minority shareholding. No financial terms were announced.

The company said it would also overhaul its management team, with two long-time members of its top leadership - Mary McDowell, the head of the struggling mobile phones unit and Niklas Savander, head of the markets sector - leaving the company at the end of June. Chief marketing officer and brand manager Jerri DeWard, who joined Nokia in January 2011 will also step down.

Chris Weber, the current head of Nokia's U.S. operations, will take over sales and marketing on July 1.

In April, Nokia announced one of its worst quarterly results ever, blaming tough competition for a (EURO)929 million net loss in the first quarter as sales plunged, especially in the smartphone market. Last year, it was still the world's top cellphone maker with annual unit sales of some 419 million devices, but in the last quarter of the year it posted a net loss of (EURO)1.07 billion, a marked reverse from the 745 million profit a year earlier.

Connecting With Consumers Through Wearable Devices

“We see this as a world where every product we create is a smart product,” Stefan Olander, Nike’s vice-president of digital sport, told BoF following a SXSW presentation centered on Nike+ FuelBand, a sleek motion-tracking wristband and iPhone app that measures and visualises everyday physical activity, providing users with realtime data on each step taken and each calorie burned.

“RFID tags are so tiny now that they fit in a label,” Olander continued. “There are ways of embedding technology in fibre. You can embed all kinds of sensors in apparel. We’re looking into galvanic skin response, where you can measure sweat and derive a bunch of information that’s really relevant to performance. We’re looking at heart rate, pressure sensors, solar power.” Alongside the popular FuelBand, Nike has already embedded sensors that track and display performance into a number of products, from sportwatches to running and basketball shoes. “There is no reason why every product we make isn’t smart,” said Olander.

Once confined to university labs, clothing and accessories with embedded digital technology — known as wearable devices, or “wearables,” for short — have taken off over the last year, especially in the domains of health, fitness and communications. But according to a recent report by Forrester Research, a wider array of wearables are now set to become as mainstream as devices like the Apple iPad and Kinect for Xbox 360. “In 2012, we’ll see wearables begin to break out of communication, health and fitness to other verticals such as navigation, social networking, gaming and commerce,” predicts the report.

According to Olander, the business opportunity in wearables goes beyond simply offering new and enhanced products. It’s also about offering smart digital services that fundamentally evolve the relationship between brand and consumer. “We you buy a product traditionally, this is the end of the relationship,” he said. “Our strategy now is: begin the relationship with the purchase of a product. If we can give you the ability to tap into a platform that offers services that mean something to you, now you are going to come back automatically because there’s value. And that creates a much more interesting cycle for both the consumer and the brand because we now have the opportunity to connect on a regular basis.”

In fashion, wearable computing has mostly taken the form of flashy one-off pieces, covered in blinking lights and aimed at entertainers, like the leather and LED jackets designed by London-based Cute Circuit for U2’s current tour. For Autumn/Winter 2012, designer Richard Nicoll took a more practical approach, partnering with Vodafone to develop a tote bag that can recharge a mobile phone and features a Bluetooth-enabled charm that alerts users to incoming calls or texts and displays remaining battery life. But major fashion brands have yet to take wearable devices seriously.

In other industries, by contrast, the evolution of wearables has already given rise to a number of promising products. Vancouver-based, venture-backed Recon Instruments, a leader in micro-optics displays (MOD) and “direct-to-eye communications” has developed special components for ski and snowboard goggles that measure speed, temperature, altitude, vertical decent, airtime, distance jumped, time and location, providing real-time stats and navigation services via a virtual dashboard that appears just below a user’s eyeline. When paired with a smartphone, the goggles can also display incoming calls and text messages. Critically, Recon Instruments is also planning the release of a software development kit (SDK) for programmers, allowing them to build all kinds of new applications and experiences on top of the company’s technology. Nike also has plans to open up the Nike+ platform to applications developers in the near future, Olander told BoF.

Indeed, the real opportunity for wearables is that entrepreneurs will soon start to build thousands of apps and services for these kinds of devices, just as they have done for smartphones and tablet computers. WIMMLabs, a Foxconn-funded Silicon Valley start-up, has developed a wearable computing platform called WIMM, a waterproof, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth-enabled touchscreen watch, with an accelerometer and magnetometer, that already runs a variety of “micro apps” that people can use to do things like monitor their health, plays games and pay for Starbucks coffee.

Today's IT hostess with the mostess

Many New Zealand organisations, for a variety of reasons, grow more reluctant to commit in-house resources to their ICT needs. We’ve seen evidence of this over many years, as Software-as-a-Service has grown from suspect trend to commonplace. In 2012, due to the impact of natural disasters, lack of staff/expertise, changing business strategies, financial redistribution and more, the Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) and Datacentres-as-a-Service (DCaaS) models are on the rise, with no signs of slowing.

As many of New Zealand’s datacentres are reaching their end of life (at 15-20 years), organisations are realising it is cheaper to level them and start again, and cheaper still – by a long shot – to go the hosted route.

There are almost endless variants of managed data centre hosted services, and not all datacentres are created equal. There is no one-size-fits-all model, and setups can range from fully managed and outfitted hosting to co-location services. The right fit for one business would likely not suit the needs of another at all.

"The term ‘hosted data centre services’ doesn’t entirely reflect how organisations approach data centre and hosting requirements,” says Roger Cockayne, general manager for Revera. "A better term might be the ‘as-a-Service’ computing stack. For example, for some, co-location is all that’s required. Others may have more complex requirements for IaaS or PaaS (Platform-as-a-Service). All these things are provided by datacentres and ‘hosted’ arrangements, but today’s client needs focus on services addressing specific elements within the overall computing stack. It’s more fluid and focused on client outcomes rather than static offerings.”

It costs far too much and takes far too long to make designing and building a new data centre a functional reality for most businesses. At the same time, facilities like the Level 3+, $80 million IBM data centre facility launched last year provide centres specifically oriented to managed, hosted services. The IBM data centre provides mid-sized to large organisations with a range of services, from strategic outsourcing and managed hosted services through to virtual server services, and was named the sixth greenest data centre in the world by Wired magazine.

And in May this year, Gen-i announced plans to complete a new, purpose built $10.5 million data centre in Christchurch by the end of the year, providing clients with a range of services from co-location, outsourcing and virtual servers through to network delivered and cloud services.

As New Zealand’s larger organisations continue to unbundle services, the demand for co-location, rather than fully managed hosting, is high. Co-location is often the first step of the journey toward IaaS, as a business consolidates and virtualises its platforms. This step is often seen as a way to test the waters before committing fully to the cloud.

There are typically three major components to moving to a fully managed solution, says Jeremy Nees, enterprise architect for Maxnet. These include the move from on-premise to off-premise, the move from physical to virtual services, and the move from in-house support to outsourced. Making all these changes at one time can be too much. Breaking these steps down into manageable pieces and looking at hybrid models, even if temporarily, can be the best way for an organisation to realise the full value of an existing investment or to retain control of certain parts of its systems.

"We recently migrated a law firm into our Auckland data centre,” Nees explains. "We started by ensuring they had appropriate connectivity in place to support their availability and performance requirements, before deploying test systems onto our virtual platforms. Once testing was complete they moved their existing equipment to our co-location environment, with us providing managed firewall and network services. We are now working with them on a project to provide backup services, and fully managed hosting (on our virtual platform) for one of their core business applications. Once that is complete, and as their hardware ages, we will continue to migrate services to a hosted model.”

In contrast, however, for infrastructure and cloud computing expert ICONZ, the greatest demand over the past five years has been for cloud-based services, due to the benefits of high availability and flexible commercial agreements. "Co-location is definitely an alternative,” says Deidre Steyn, head of marketing for ICONZ. "But the downside is that companies are back into investing in capex and equipment, which needs to bemanaged.”

"Co-location is a wonderful first step, but it’s simply transference,” adds Revera’s Cockayne. "On its own it won’t save you money. The high cost of data centre builds and modernisation has stalled industry capacity expansion, and as capacity shortage bites, third-party co-location is seen as a quick fix.”

'fear of a bank freeze is palpable’

Should you want to see the real effects of the Spanish debt crisis, the Pluton Bar in Sant Pol de Mar, Catalonia, is a good place to start. Over morning coffees, customers discuss sovereign defaults, credit spreads and a possible euro exit.

There is certainly plenty to talk about – and complain about too. Local property taxes are set to rise by 15pc, on top of recent state income and capital gains tax increases. The national tax increase is supposed to be temporary, but no one believes rates will come down any time soon.

Banks also come in for a lot of stick. A local restaurant owner complained that her savings bank manager refused to let her take €30,000 out of her account. The money was needed to get the restaurant ready for the summer rush. New small print lets the bank block withdrawals, even on instant-access accounts. It took two weeks for the bank to relent. Apparently, it could block savings for two years if it wanted.

Changes to lletra petita (small print) are rife and rarely in customers’ favour. Banks and mutual lenders changed their terms and conditions when a new law to limit super dipòsits (high-interest accounts) came into force last year. Before the law took effect, big banks could afford to offer high rates. Weaker rivals saw money walk out of the door. The new small print might save them from a bank run, but fear of a corralito – a bank freeze – is palpable.

When Argentina defaulted on its debts in 2001, the government simply banned withdrawals over a certain size. Might Spain have to do the same to stop a bank run? That seems unlikely, but it hasn’t stopped me from making contingency plans.

I’ve stopped transferring money from the UK to my Spanish account on a monthly basis. Swiss friends are holding on to their beloved francs. “Little and often” transfers cost more, yet even a short-term corralito would kill our household finances.

At least we have money and I am earning in sterling. The weakened euro makes the Burgins feel marginally better off, a dead euro might not. A quick call to my mortgage bank shows just how unprepared the country is should Spain exit the euro or default on its debts. My mortgage is in euros and the interest rate pegged against the Euribor wholesale interest rate.

I ask what would happen if we went back to the peseta. Would my repayments rise or fall? The woman from Lloyds Bank International replies with another question: “Why are all the customers asking about this today?” Why indeed?

A promised call back with a sensible answer from the finance department fails to materialise. Instead, the Barcelona branch manager calls to tell me a default is highly unlikely. He also admits that he has no idea what would happen to the mortgage if Spain dropped out of the euro. I am not reassured.

Friends who, along with thousands of others, were sold a multi-currency mortgage in 2007 are actively considering handing back the keys to their home, even though their debts could haunt them for life. These loans were pegged to the Japanese yen, and banks promised zero interest rates and lower monthly payments. Since then, the euro has dropped by some 40pc and the cost of repaying such loans has risen by two thirds.

Visual Arts Society Gala a feast for the senses

The 20th annual Spring Gala and Silent Art Auction, on behalf of Jacksonville State University’s Visual Arts Society (VAS), was held on May 17 at the Victoria Inn in Anniston.

Gale Brodie, Jean Pugliese, Linda Mann and Jason Wright — as well as other VAS Board members — organized the event with help from Jane Greene, Ron Baker and Sharon Wasden. JSU President Bill Meehan and his wife, Beth Meehan, were on hand to greet those in attendance.

The weather could not have made for a more perfect evening. Guests spilled out onto the Victoria’s lovely tiered patio to socialize with friends and listen to the music of the Manabu Saeki Band, a jazz trio.

Everyone enjoyed sampling a variety of red and white wines as well as delectable hors d’oeuvres. Those yummies included platters of seasonal vegetables, mushroom and goat cheese tartlets, lump crab cakes and roast beef bites with horseradish cream.

While mixing and mingling continued outside, the silent auction inside The Victoria’s front dining room was in full swing. Almost two dozen pieces of art, donated by area artists, covered a variety of mediums, from oil paintings to jewelry and prints. Those pieces were in hot bidding wars all evening!

The area artists whose work was up for grabs included Dr. David Cummings, who donated an enchanting photograph entitled “Paris for Lovers,” shot in a garden with the Eiffel Tower visible in the background. Another print — “Garden Gate at Kent” taken in Kent County, England, was donated by David’s wife, Lesa Cummings. David and Lesa’s daughter, Lori Cummings, proved that artistic talent runs in the family with her donation of a hand-blown glass vase and bowl.

Other auction items included an oil painting by Lee Manners, who served as head of the JSU art department for 20 years, and a heliogravure print from Jauneth Skinner, who is the current department head.

Diana Cadwallader, Jack Hadder, Paulette B. Parks, Bryce Lafferty and George Cox all donated watercolor pieces.

Retired Anniston architect Julian Jenkins donated a charcoal sketch while local artist Betty Groover crafted a mosaic mirror.

Birmingham artist Sally Wood Johnson donated a series of digital prints. Laverne Lombardi provided a knitted and beaded boa fashioned from recycled silk fiber. Allison McElroy donated an elemental object collection entitled “Flightless.”

A ceramic vase and teapot was donated by JSU art professor Steve Loucks, and a crocheted necklace and watch were given by Dawn Swenson.

Anita H. Stewart donated a color photograph that she took of the old Anniston Land Company building. Retired Army Maj. Rose Munford Tolliver donated a collage crafted from recycled magazine pieces.

Creativity can change young lives

Several years ago, I was employed by York Arts in ArtWorks!, a public-service project for teenagers on probation. For several months, the group worked on community and individual assignments -- beginning with the destruction of a room full of tiles.

I will always remember the look of gleeful disbelief as they were handed safety goggles and hammers and told to pound away at the stacks of tile that needed smashing for their mosaics. Or the faint hope expressed briefly in tough faces as they held up their works in progress which were always met with much-needed praise.

As the weeks passed, Kevin Lenker, the executive director in charge of the project, deftly guided these young men and women through the process of creation, its inner mysteries teaching patience and discipline and ultimately revealing some of the hidden potential within the broken pieces of their lives that encouraged seeking restoration for their crimes.

Sadly, programs like these are often the last to receive funding during times of economic downturn. Many of us rationalize that we must be logical and provide the necessities of life first. While I agree to a certain extent, it is the artistic expression -- paintings, music and the written word -- that will hearten us through the hard times and help us to find a hope for the future.

Share the timeless spark of creation with a young man and his pen can bring forth stories of entertainment and wisdom. Teach a child music and you give her the power to transform muteness into melody. Give a few kids broken tile and glass and they will bless a community with a new vision.

Within the Parkway Housing Authority lies the "Peace in Our Community" mosaic assembled by the staff and volunteers of York Arts. The montage of colorful pieces depicts three angels who appear to be keeping guard over the residents of York County. On a recent visit, I stood in the cold air, the glow of house lights and the angels' countenances seeming to mix into a mirage of heaven. Through a drizzle, we regarded one another with mutual understanding.

I closed my eyes and an image formed in my mind of a group of young people standing in the grass, in the middle of the darkness, hands in the grout, placing piece after piece of tile into the mold, making this mosaic to inspire, to encourage, or even change a life. Little earth angels, filled with the joy of doing what they love. There are many young people like this in York today.

When I was growing up the local art scene was dismally empty. Except for a few brave high school teachers and local professionals sounding the clarion call, and mostly for dance and music, anyone interested in pursuing creative endeavors was left largely abandoned. To the young dreamer, helpless without a craft, the shifting sands of life amid the demands to conform to a future I couldn't envision seemed impossible to manage. And so I left York. I moved to New York City to live and breathe the expansive creative world in that City of Dreams.

But by the time I returned to York, enter left stage, venues like York Arts; DreamWrights, welcoming families into that lemon-yellow, unpretentious slice of joy and wonder; OrangeMite Studios, where original plays and films are scripted and directed by local artists; the YCPrep Community School offering top notch musical instruction; and closest to my heart, the Professional Writing program at York College, where my own earth angels -- Dr. Madeline Yonker, Dr. Dominic Delli Carpini, Professor Cynthia Crimmins and Dr. Anthony Fredericks shared their tools and further helped me find my voice.

Pipeline in limbo as China slows

BHP Billiton chief executive Marius Kloppers yesterday admitted the miner was wrong to pledge $US80 billion ($82bn) on projects such as the Olympic Dam expansion and an outer harbour at Port Hedland, saying the current economic conditions had made the resources giant more cautious on its spending outlook.

"This is a conservative, low-risk company," Mr Kloppers said yesterday, adding that most companies "blow themselves up" because they were overly exuberant rather than overly pessimistic.

Mr Kloppers's comments signal that the BHP board is almost certain to delay spending on some of its major new projects in Australia - including the $30bn Olympic Dam copper and goldmine expansion in South Australia and the $20bn outer harbour for iron ore exports in the Pilbara - amid the latest round of global economic uncertainty.

The admission came as Mr Kloppers cast fresh doubts over Wayne Swan's promise to deliver a $1.5bn budget surplus in 2012-13 through the controversial mining tax that starts next month. He said BHP would escape paying much of the tax if iron ore prices continued to weaken and the Australian dollar remained strong.

"It is almost impossible to forecast," he said of BHP's expected contribution to the minerals resource rent tax. "It is a highly volatile tax."

The federal Treasurer last month downgraded expected MRRT revenue from $10.6bn to $9.7bn over the first three years, but analysts have questioned this figure and claim the big miners could pay less due to generous depreciation allowances.

The Gillard government has said previously that the three big companies that helped design the MRRT - BHP, Rio Tinto and Xstrata - will account for about 90 per cent of the revenue.

Mr Kloppers conceded BHP had erred last year in promising $US80bn in capital spending over four years, before China's economy began to slow and commodity prices retreated. "We said to the market (18 months ago) we are going to do all of these things - what we should have said is we have the ability to do all of these things, should the conditions be right," he said.

"We just don't want to make that mistake in reverse by saying we will do this on that date."

Mr Kloppers would not comment on whether the BHP board would approve construction of the Port Hedland outer harbour by the end of the year, but he said the iron ore price would play a crucial role in whether it went ahead.

Iron ore is trading at about $US135 a tonne - down from a high of $US180 last year - but some analysts have forecast it could fall below $US100. "We may or may not approve the outer harbour by the end of the year," Mr Kloppers said. "If the iron ore price goes to $US80 tomorrow, we probably won't."

Despite his bearishness about future expansions, Mr Kloppers said there were no signs that customers were cancelling orders and he believed Australian iron ore producers were well placed to continue to meet Chinese demand in the long term.

"We've got lower demand overall from a global perspective and that means supply conditions in some products are clearly different from what they were in September of last year," he said. "But customers are continuing to perform. I just looked at our overdues. They are extremely low . . . which means that customers are continuing to pay."

Earlier, Mr Kloppers told a Perth business breakfast that Australians' reluctance to move to work in the mining industry was just as important to the nation's economic future as the debate over boosting productivity.

He believed Australians were less likely to leave their families to work in the mining industry than Americans and Canadians.

The debate over interstate migration erupted last month after billionaire Gina Rinehart won government approval for an Enterprise Migration Agreement to import up to 1700 foreign workers for her Roy Hill iron ore project in the Pilbara.

Mr Kloppers said BHP had not yet needed to use an EMA, but he believed policymakers should examine why Australians were unwilling to move to work in the mining industry.

"People are simply not willing enough to move to Western Australia and to Queensland," he said.

Mr Kloppers said there was no single solution to addressing the issue of declining productivity in Australia. "We often think there is one silver bullet that is going to change the overall course of competitivity," he said. "The reality is it's a mosaic of things interacting."

Democrats Grab a Chance to Speak With One Voice

If there was any doubt that the White House strongly supports legislation to make it easier for women to sue over unequal pay, clarity was provided on Monday by President Obama himself. He jumped on a routine conference call with reporters to push the measure, known as the Paycheck Fairness Act, saying, “I don’t have to tell you how much this matters to families across the country.”

One of his key deputies, Valerie Jarrett, also made the conference call rounds and appeared to open a Twitter account Monday for the purpose of promoting the bill.

It was an unusual example of all-hands-on-deck coordination between the White House and Congressional Democrats in advance of a key procedural vote on the paycheck legislation set for Tuesday. It also represented a serious effort to develop a consistent message at a time of increasing economic turmoil and mounting political anxiety.

By contrast, Congressional Republicans — even those who are something short of elated about Mitt Romney’s presidential candidacy — have managed to coordinate with his campaign on the major issues of the day, centered on Speaker John A. Boehner’s catchphrase, “Where are the jobs?”

For instance, while Republicans in Congress virtually unanimously support a vote to continue the Bush-era tax cuts for all earners, the White House has called for higher taxes on households with more than $250,000 in income.

But Congressional Democrats cannot seem to decide whether they favor Mr. Obama’s threshold or a $1 million cap first proposed by Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York in 2010.

Republicans are almost wholly unified on the push for an extension of the Keystone XL pipeline — something Mr. Romney has also supported — but Democrats are divided over the issue.

While Republicans are gaining unity in their fight against looming cuts to the Pentagon, it is not clear that Democrats are working together to maintain the cuts, which Mr. Obama has said must stay in place in the absence of an acceptable compromise on taxes and spending.

A bill to ease regulations on start-up companies, one strongly supported by Mr. Obama, divided Democrats.

Further, while Congressional Democrats have created a legislative agenda that revolves around women — taking on domestic violence, contraception issues and paycheck fairness — they have also begun to complain about Mr. Obama’s focus on that very agenda, saying it should be more concentrated on jobs and the economy.

“Obviously there are choices to make,” said Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, when asked about the paycheck fairness bill, which he supports. “I don’t feel that you pursue this setting aside other concerns. I continue to make the case to the administration that they ought to be pulling out all the stops for tax reform,” adding that it appeals to both parties.

The White House is clearly aware of the problem. Mr. Obama tried on Monday to frame the issue of paycheck inequity between men and women as one that has direct impact on the economy. “This is a make-or-break moment for the middle class,” he said. “Congress has to stand up and do its job.”

Republican unity of course has not been a theme of the 112th Congress. The party continues to fight over its support for things like the continuation of payroll tax breaks and student loan bill rate extensions and transportation financing. But when it comes to pushing an overarching message with their presidential candidate, they may be ahead for now.

Sometimes, this is accomplished with this Congress as much as by what members do not say as by what they do.

For instance, Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina, who has led the charge to build a more conservative Republican Senate presence, opposes an extension of a lower student loan rate. But Mr. DeMint recently praised Mr. Romney for remaining supportive of the loan-rate extension, arguing that it kept him from getting mouse trapped by Democrats.

Democrats have been relying on legislation concerning women’s issues as an anchor all spring, jamming Republicans on votes concerning domestic violence, contraception and other matters. Republicans have scrambled to respond, forming a Republican women’s policy caucus or trying to cobble together their own counter legislation.

The paycheck legislation seems to have vexed the Romney campaign — Mr. Romney will not state clearly whether he supports it.

“Of course Governor Romney supports pay equity for women,” said Amanda Henneberg, a campaign spokeswoman. “In order to have pay equity, women need to have jobs, and they have been getting crushed in this anemic Obama economy, losing far more jobs than men.”

The idea of paycheck fairness legislation — which builds on the Equal Pay Act of 1963 — would bar employers from retaliating against women who seek to learn their co-workers’ pay and opens up more pathways for seeking punitive damages against employers found to discriminate, by way of the paycheck, against women.

Why hasn't the world's largest retailer cracked online sales?

Some 14,000 Walmart employees and shareholders gathered last Friday for the annual meeting of the world's largest retailer in Fayetteville, Arkansas, but the biggest presence at the gathering was a man who has been dead for 20 years.

A huge mosaic of Sam Walton, Walmart's founder, flickered on a giant screen in the Bud Walton Arena, home to the University of Arkansas's basketball team. Retired and current employees told stories of how they had pleased or irked Walton, while his children – including Walmart's current chairman Rob Walton – recalled how their father had put them to work in the first store he opened in neighbouring Bentonville in 1962.

Veteran observers of the annual gatherings say the company has long invoked Walton as an attempt to connect the now vast retailer – with operations stretching from China to Asda in the UK – to its roots in rural Arkansas. The focus on Sam Walton may have been even stronger than usual because the meeting also marked the company's 50th birthday.

But it was no surprise that many of this year's references to the founder came spiced with an ethical flavour. The meeting came in the wake of allegations that Walmart paid more than $20m (13m) in bribes to Mexican officials to accelerate its expansion in the Latin American country. "Our governance is rooted in the set of values that dad put in place," Rob Walton told staff and investors. The company is investigating the allegations.

Although the corruption scandal dominated the headlines from the gathering, historians of Walmart say it is another of Walton's traits – the ability to innovate – that the company is in urgent need of as consumers increasingly do their shopping online. Walmart generated less than 2pc of its sales on the web last year, according to Kantar Retail. The company still generated $443.9bn of sales and $15.7bn of profits, but analysts say the pressure on Walmart to increase its online muscle is intensifying.

Online shopping in the US is forecast to grow substantially. Sales over the web will reach $279bn by 2015 compared with $152bn in 2008, research group Forrester predicts. Worryingly for Walmart, that growth should offer online specialists such as Amazon the opportunity to compete with it on price – the retailer's strongest and, to its critics, most controversial selling point. And given the rapid growth of smartphones more of the retailer's customers, typically lower income families, are able and willing to shop online.

"To me it's an incredible area of vulnerability," says Charles Fishman, the author of The Wal-Mart Effect, a history of how the company changed retailing. "Online retailing has been there 10 years. What's going on? Why haven't they figured it out?"

The company used the gathering in Bentonville to remind everyone of its ambition to add another 100 supercentres this year to the more than 3,000 it has in the US, but it was also evident that Walmart recognises the need to get to grips with online.

Marissa Meyer, a senior executive at Google, was elected to Walmart's board in a sign that it recognises it is short of people who can help the company navigate the digital map. At a session between analysts and executives following the main event, chief executive Mike Duke encouraged analysts to direct questions to Neil Ashe. The former head of digital at US national broadcaster CBS, Ashe was hired by Walmart in January to run online retailing. "We're in the process of acquiring a really talented team in Silicon Valley," he said.

Showcasing the best of Jamaican art

Works are by a wide variety of Jamaica's greatest artists, both the older masters whose works fill the important collections and the younger generation that is carrying the torch onwards. Jamaica's art world is a fascinating place, filled with wonderful characters, stories and bursts of genius. This exhibition manifests all of this.

Highlights include a series of works by great artist Carl Abrahams. These works include a romantic seascape 'Island in the Sun', one of his glorious angel paintings, and a set of pencil and watercolour sketches that are intriguing, collectible and affordable. Carl Abrahams was a pioneering genius of Jamaican art. He began as a cartoonist and studied with the Welsh painter Augustus John. Lyrical, luminous and brilliant, Abrahams is rightly regarded as one of the founding fathers of Jamaican art.

Jamaica's great landscape painter Albert Huie is represented by two glorious landscape works and a number of portraits, including 'The Man with a Hat', 'The Golden Boy' and a female nude. Considered by many to be Jamaica's most prominent artist, Huie was part of a group of artists that started their careers in the 1930s under the instruction of Koren der Harootian. He is noted for his highly accomplished impressionistic style, with little dabs of oil paint that coalesce and form at a distance, yet his themes are wholly Jamaican.

The magnificent surrealist Colin Garland has a number of romantic works, including an ethereal Madonna and a pair of noble horses, male and female. Although born in Australia, Garland made Jamaica his home and his work is filled with the light and magic of the island. In the words of Jamaican art historian Petrine Archer-Straw "Inspired by both Haitian and Jamaican self-taught painters such as John Dunkley, but underpinned by a taste for the fantastic, in the works of artists such as Botticelli, Bosch, Giuseppe Arcimboldo and Richard Dadd, he brought a wry, intellectual humour to his depictions of life in the Caribbean."

Edna Manley's classic lithographs include 'New Moon', 'Sunrise', 'Sunset', 'Wind and Rain', 'Into the Sun', 'Horse of the Morning', and 'Moses'. This limited edition is rightly revered by many collectors as an outstanding body of work by an artist who did much to shape and form modern Jamaican art. Although nearly 30 years old, these works remain fresh and strong.

Individual works that shine very brightly are Seya Parboosingh's 'My Mother at the Beach' and a glorious 'Mother and Child' by Nelson Cooper that captures the loving intensity of a mother's bond with her child. The 'Ancient Sawyers' by Gaston Tabois is a bright, dramatic mosaic of Jamaican life and colour. There are also two magnificent sculptures by Winston Patrick that are part of a limited edition. Laura Facey's deep and delicate piece 'Salt Kilns' is a beautiful reflection from her time living in Salt Island.

The collection is rounded out with outstanding works by Kapo, a striking male nude by JudyAnn MacMillan, Milton George, Christopher Gonzalez, Osmond Watson, three excellent David Boxer paintings, Roberta Stoddart, Eric Smith, Gloria Escoffery, Fitz Harrack, Eric Cadien, David Pottinger, Aubrey Williams, Phanel Toussaint, Nelson Cooper, Cecil Baugh, George Rodney, Allan 'Zion' Johnson, Roy Reid, and Alexander Cooper.

Of the younger generation, there is Khary Darby's magnificent 'Leda', a beautiful and slightly disturbing image referring to the Greek myth of Leda and the Swan, Oliver Myrie's 'Dark Rider', a powerful work by Michael 'Flyn' Eliot and one of Tricia Gordon-Johnston's Genesis Series.