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First lady Michelle Obama remembered poet, author and civil rights champion Maya Angelou on Saturday as a dominant cultural force who taught black women and people of all races to celebrate their own worth and beauty. Obama credited the writer's works, including her pioneering 1969 autobiography "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," with helping carry a young black girl from the South Side of Chicago to the White House. "She celebrated black women's beauty like no one ever had before," Obama said to more than 2,000 people at Angelou's private memorial service in North Carolina. "She told us our worth had nothing to do with what the world might say."   true       Former President Bill Clinton, media magnate Oprah Winfrey and actress Cicely Tyson also honored Angelou during the service at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, where she lived and taught for three decades. Angelou was 86 when she died at her home on May 28 after years of fail

A wave of car bombs exploded across Baghdad on Saturday, killing more than 60 people, and militants stormed a university campus in western Iraq, security and medical sources said. In total, there were a dozen blasts in mainly Shi'ite districts of the capital, the deadliest of which occurred in Bayaa, where a car bomb left 23 people dead, many of them young men playing billiards. "I was about to close my shop when I heard a huge explosion on the main commercial street," said Kareem Abdulla, whose legs were still shaking from the shock. "I saw many cars set ablaze as well as shops". Other bombs went off near a cinema, a popular juice shop and a Shi'ite mosque. No group immediately claimed responsibility for any of the bombings, but the Shi'ite community is a frequent target for Sunni Islamist insurgents who have been regaining ground and momentum in class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Iraq over the past year. Since Thursday alone, militants h

Bond giant Pimco posted $5.5 billion in net outflows across its U.S. open-end mutual funds in May, extending the firm’s record outflow streak to 12 straight months, class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Morningstar data showed on Tuesday. _0"> Pacific class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Investment Management Co, a unit of European financial services company Allianz SE, had $1.94 trillion in assets as of March 31, according to the firm's website. (Reporting by Sam Forgione; Editing by James Dalgleish )

Activist investor Carl Icahn acquired 6.8 million common shares of class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Fannie Mae and 5.7 million common shares of class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Freddie Mac from Fairholme Funds, a court filing showed Tuesday. _0"> Icahn, a billionaire investor known for taking big stakes in companies and pushing for management change, bought the shares in the major mortgage financiers in March, the filing showed. As of March 31, Fairholme owned a 1.65 percent stake in class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Fannie Mae and a 2.64 percent stake in class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Freddie Mac , according to Thomson Reuters data. Mutual fund manager Bruce Berkowitz is the founder of Fairholme Capital Management. Regulators took control of Fannie and Freddie, which own or guarantee about 60 percent of all U.S. home loans, in 2008 after losses stemming from subprime mortgage investments pushed them to the brink of insolvency. Both co

Many amateur genealogists start digging into their family histories just to see what is out there and then get seriously hooked. They may be in for an arduous and costly project. That happened to Janet Judge about six years ago after her children challenged her to identify family members in old photos. The 59-year-old nurse from Albany, New York, started with a $300-a-year subscription to Ancestry.com, which at 14 billion records has the largest online collection of genealogical significance. What Judge found enabled her to identify all the people in the pictures. After that, she kept on going. So she paid an additional $275 to one of Ireland's family research centers, a collection of county-based groups that can be found online, and spent a couple of thousand dollars for two trips to that country. Interest in genealogy is on the rise as more and more old records are digitized. Without leaving home, someone in the United States can find material filed in Poland 150 years ago

One morning in April, my Yahoo email account was disabled for no apparent reason. As a freelancer, my email account is my professional lifeline. But it wasn't just the security threat or potential for lost business that upset me. It was my personal history: jokes my brother sent me weeks before he died, emails from friends I hadn't seen in years, love letters from my wife. In the seven weeks since my account was shut, I've spent about 12 hours on hold with Yahoo customer service and corresponded with the company at least 15 times. Meanwhile, fearing a security breach, I changed the passwords to all of my online accounts, ordered new credit cards and had the credit reporting agency Equifax put my status on "fraud alert." I emailed contacts not to use or trust my old email address which may have been hacked. And I still don't have my email account back. Since then, I've learned it wasn't a security threat that was the problem. It was a question of

Once upon a time, bingo was the biggest game in town at the local senior center. But you're far more likely to find today's seniors manning a slot machine at the local casino - and some have become gambling addicts. Problem gambling among older people is on the rise. Seniors have time and money on their hands, and the proliferation of class="mandelbrot_refrag"> casinos in most regions of the country has made gambling more convenient. “What we are seeing is that seniors are the backbone of the modern casino industry,” says Keith Whyte, executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG), a non-profit organization that advocates for programs and services to help problem gamblers and their families. "The class="mandelbrot_refrag"> marketing and promotion to seniors is light-years from what it was." Experts say gray gambling addiction will become more prevalent as the baby boomers age. “Boomers are the first generation

In the wake of a spate of data breaches highlighting the vulnerability of companies that hold consumer information, class="mandelbrot_refrag"> MasterCard Inc announced last week it would apply the same rules to PIN-based debit card transactions as those used for credit cards: zero liability when fraud is reported. "Fraud and identity theft have been in the news a lot lately. We want to give cardholders peace of mind," says MasterCard spokeswoman Beth Kitchener. The breach at Target last year, which affected more than 40 million customers, is still a top concern for many. For consumers who have MasterCard-branded debit cards, the extension of zero liability means some things will change, while others won't. Here is what you need to know about the new policy, which takes effect on Oct. 1. Q: Does this mean that using a debit card is just as safe for transactions as using a credit card? A: Not exactly. While those who have MasterCard-branded debit cards

It is this year’s bargain: central banks will remain easy, allowing asset prices to march higher despite all those pesky details about growth and inflation. There is lots of evidence to show this is a genuine phenomenon - the ECB is expected to ease on Thursday, perhaps in new and creative ways, and the Federal Reserve, while theorizing about some fine day it will raise rates, is careful not to encourage any breath-holding. And class="mandelbrot_refrag"> markets are doing their part, with asset prices of both stocks and bonds rising slowly and steadily, all amidst unusually low volatility. Not only is the benchmark class="mandelbrot_refrag"> S&P 500 index up 5 percent this year, and 17 percent over one full year, yields on benchmark 10-year U.S. government bonds have fallen strongly in most major markets, powering gains almost across the board in fixed income. Low volatility may be key to understanding both what is happening and why. Investors app

Americans are borrowing more, renting more rather than owning, eating in class="mandelbrot_refrag"> restaurants more and saving less, leading inevitably to questions of sustainability. That’s true both for Americans and for the corporations whose profits they create. What’s more, the kind of financing backing all this indicates that a goodly bit of the balance sheet straining activity is concentrated lower down the income and wealth scale. Juxtapose this with vertiginous rates of corporate profitability (and intriguing hints that a top may have been hit) and you have the making of some serious upcoming tests for the class="mandelbrot_refrag"> economy and stock market.   true       First, let’s look at Americans and their cars. A record 27.9 percent of all new car sales so far this year were leases, according to Edmunds.com, while those who did decide to buy did so with record-long loan terms of 66 months on average. Interestingly, leasing, which

class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Google confessed last week that it has a miserable record hiring and retaining women and minorities. The tech giant responded to public pressure - including protests led by the Rev. Jesse Jackson at the company's annual meeting - by releasing data about the gender and ethnic makeup of its workforce, and the numbers aren't pretty. Women make up just 30 percent of Google's workforce, and the company is 61 percent white. Asians represent 30 percent of Google's workers, but Hispanics represent 3 percent and African Americans just 2 percent. Yet class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Google didn't disclose one of the most important diversity statistic about its workers: their age.   true       Age plays second fiddle in Corporate America to racial and gender workforce diversity, but it needs to be addressed. The country is getting grayer; workers need - and want - to stay employed longer. "It is hard to address thes

Bill Gross, manager of the world's largest bond fund at Pimco, said Thursday the firm believes the 'new neutral' inflation-adjusted federal funds rate will be close to 0 percent as opposed to 2-3 percent in prior decades. "If 'The New Neutral' rates stay low, it supports current prices of financial assets," Gross said in his latest investment letter. "They would appear to be less bubbly." Pacific class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Investment Management Co, which manages $1.94 trillion in assets, introduced its new-neutral outlook in May. New Neutral suggests the global class="mandelbrot_refrag"> economy is transforming from a post-financial crisis recovery period called the New Normal in 2009, toward stability characterized by modest economic growth over the next three-to-five years. "Commonsensically it seems to me that the more finance-based and highly levered an class="mandelbrot_refrag"> economy

The most cutting-edge technology cannot contain one of the biggest cyber hacking threats on Wall Street: sloppy actions by brokers and other industry employees. Brokerage firm workers have taped sensitive passwords to their computer monitors and stored them in binders labeled "passwords," according to officials from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), Wall Street's industry-funded watchdog. Some firms give login information to temporary workers and forget to cut them off after their assignment is complete. At the regulator's conference in May, examiners traded tales of brokerage firm behaviors they had found that could lead to security breaches. One firm, for example, used the very-guessable "username" as the username and "password" for the password that gave access to the company's router, enabling access to the firm's sensitive data. The problems are coming to light as major online security breaches in other industr

Isn't it ironic? Most independent financial advisers have no exit strategy and let their firms die through attrition, according to research from Fidelity Investments and consulting firm FP Transitions. That scenario is bad for clients, and it means advisers reap no benefits from the businesses they invested years building. A firm is an adviser’s largest asset, says Waldemar Kohl, vice president of practice management for Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services. “It’s bigger than their home, bigger than their retirement plan" so advisers should think about how they can tap that value when they leave the industry. Advisers who formulate a plan to sell - either via succession plan to employees or a family member - or to an unrelated third party, can secure a lifetime income stream and a business that continues to serve valued clients. CREATING VALUE After an adviser friend sold her practice for a significant sum, Olympia, Washington-based planner Nancy Nelson sought a valu

JPMorgan's new solo head of its investment bank said he would be "laser focused" on reducing costs as the industry is likely to face a tough couple of years in terms of growing revenues. "For the next year or two the industry's top-line will probably struggle. The long-term trends are good, but in the short term we need to adjust to the new reality," said Daniel Pinto, London-based chief executive of the corporate and investment bank (CIB) at class="mandelbrot_refrag"> JPMorgan Chase & Co ., the biggest U.S. bank by assets. Rivals including Barclays and UBS are in the process of shrinking their investment class="mandelbrot_refrag"> banks in a bid to slash costs, after a slump in trading revenues over the past year and tougher regulations are forcing banks to hold more capital and making some areas unprofitable. But Pinto, who took sole charge of CIB in March after running it for two years with Michael Cavanagh, said ther

Sureview Capital, a small hedge fund which received starting capital from one of the industry's most powerful investors, Blackstone Group, shut down last month, people familiar with the matter said on Friday. The fund was founded by John Wu with seed money from Blackstone Alternative Asset Management in 2011 and last reported assets of $427 million on a regulatory filing. At the end of the first quarter Sureview, which specialized in picking class="mandelbrot_refrag"> stocks , listed class="mandelbrot_refrag"> CBS Corp as its biggest position and said it owned shares in class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Yahoo Inc and class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Facebook Inc, all of which suffered losses in March and early April. Sureview, based in Greenwich, Connecticut, did not respond to phone calls seeking comment. The industry sources requested anonymity because class="mandelbrot_refrag"> hedge funds are private. When it la

Companies based outside the European Union must meet Europe's data protection rules, ministers agreed on Friday, although governments remain divided over how to enforce them on companies operating across the bloc. The agreement to force Internet companies such as Google ( id="symbol_GOOGL.O_0"> GOOGL.O ) and class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Facebook ( id="symbol_FB.O_1"> FB.O ) to abide by EU-wide rules is a first step in a wider reform package to tighten privacy laws - an issue that has gained prominence following revelations of U.S. spying in Europe. Vodafone's ( id="symbol_VOD.L_2"> VOD.L ) disclosure on Friday of the extent of telephone call surveillance in European countries showed the practice is not limited to the United States. The world's second-largest mobile phone company, Vodafone is headquartered in the United Kingdom. "All companies operating on European soil have to apply the rules," EU Justice Co

Mexican telecommunications company iFone said on Friday, after winning a trademark ruling, it aims to seek damages from three local cellphone providers for using the Apple brand iPhone to sell services. _0"> The Mexican Institute for Industrial Property (IMPI), Mexico's trademark body, on Thursday said it had ruled against class="mandelbrot_refrag"> America Movil , Telefonica and Iusacell. It upheld a complaint by iFone SA de C.V. that their use of the "iPhone" name to market smartphone plans infringed the Mexican company's rights. Iusacell is jointly owned by Televisa and TV Azteca, which dominate the television market. That decision opened the door to a civil suit against the three cellphone providers, which iFone lawyer Eduardo Gallastegui said the company would pursue. "So as to claim the damages the law gives us a right to due to the infringement," he said. According to the law, Gallastegui said, iFone could expect to claim

The CIA, which has long trolled social media to try to uncover global trends and track evil-doers, officially joined Twitter and class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Facebook on Friday. _0"> The spy agency cast the move as an effort to better get out its message and engage directly with the public, but its first Twitter message, sent out shortly before 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT), did not indicate there would be major revelations. It said simply: "We can neither confirm nor deny that this is our first tweet." The lack of content did not dampen interest: in less than 90 minutes, the CIA account had nearly 84,000 followers, and that number was climbing fast. The Central Intelligence Agency has long had a public website, and maintains official accounts on YouTube and Flickr, the photo-sharing site. "By expanding to these platforms ( class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Facebook and Twitter), CIA will be able to more directly engage with the public and prov

Uber Inc has raised $1.2 billion from mutual funds and other investors in a funding round valuing the fast-growing rides-on-demand service at $18.2 billion, one of the highest valuations ever for a Silicon Valley startup. Uber Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick announced the funding round on Uber's blog Friday. The funding, eclipsed only by the likes of class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Facebook Inc before it went public, is a vote of confidence by investors in four-year-old Uber's growth potential. "Uber is one of the most rapidly growing companies ever, and we believe there are opportunities for continued tremendous growth," Joan Miller, a spokeswoman for Summit Partners, an investor in the funding round, said by telephone. Investors hope the company, which allows users to summon a ride on their smartphones, can expand globally and diversify into logistics. The investors in the round valued Uber "pre-money" at $17 billion, the blog post

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Friday it approved class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Biogen Idec Inc's long-lasting hemophilia A drug, Eloctate, adding another product to the company's nascent portfolio of drugs for non-malignant blood disorders. Hemophilia A is a rare, inherited blood-clotting disorder that can lead to prolonged bleeding, bruising and joint and tissue damage. It is caused by deficient levels in the body of factor VIII, a protein needed to clot the blood.   true       The FDA's ruling followed its approval in March of Biogen's hemophilia B treatment, Alprolix. Biogen developed both drugs with Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB, or Sobi, and expects the products to form the basis of a new non-malignant blood disorder portfolio. "We see Alprolix and Eloctate as the anchor tenants in a growing franchise," said Douglas Williams, Biogen's head of research and development. "We're in this space to stay." Biogen&

Sureview Capital, a small hedge fund which received starting capital from one of the industry's most powerful investors, Blackstone Group, shut down last month, people familiar with the matter said on Friday. The fund was founded by John Wu with seed money from Blackstone Alternative Asset Management in 2011 and last reported assets of $427 million on a regulatory filing. At the end of the first quarter Sureview, which specialized in picking class="mandelbrot_refrag"> stocks , listed class="mandelbrot_refrag"> CBS Corp as its biggest position and said it owned shares in class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Yahoo Inc and class="mandelbrot_refrag"> Facebook Inc, all of which suffered losses in March and early April. Sureview, based in Greenwich, Connecticut, did not respond to phone calls seeking comment.   true       The industry sources requested anonymity because class="mandelbrot_refrag"> hedge funds are private