| Killing is sixth in year for NLR area
For the first time since she moved into a house on West 19 th Street in North Little Rock, Jacqueline Ridgel said she's starting to wonder if her neighborhood is safe. In the past year, the Baring Cross neighborhood has had six homicides, including four in the past three months. The latest, a shooting early Sunday, happened in a house just down the street from Ridgel's. "I've got two teenage boys," Ridgel said. "If they tell me they want to go to the basketball court right now, I probably wouldn't even let them go.” Police are concerned about the spate of killings in the neighborhood and are developing a response, said Sgt. Terry Kuykendall, a Police Department spokesman. "To have a rash of violent crime like [the neighborhood has ] had, obviously, it's something that definitely stands out and makes people take notice," Kuykendall said.
New Wal-Mart Preps For Green Debut
EAST FREEDOM, Pa. -- The new Wal-Mart Supercenter in East Freedom is 30 days away from its grand opening. And while Wal-Mart stores boast money savings for shoppers, this store is boasting its energy savings as well. One-hundred skylights line the ceiling of the store just off Interstate 99. When the sun comes out, the lights inside actually dim. The store is also equipped with energy efficient air conditioning and freezers. And the new concrete floor doesn't require any chemicals to clean it, just water. The photo center is completely digital, so no chemicals are needed to develop pictures. "We're also recycling all of the cartons that the merchandise comes in. We're recycling all of the plastic bags as well," said store manager Sean Cassatt. Cassatt said other new Wal-Marts will be following the same environmentally friendly trends.
AUSTRALIA: Telstra's powerful result
And expected full-year growth in earnings before interest and tax has been upgraded from between 5% and 7% to between 6% and 8%. Trujillo says his big structural and technological re-make of the giant telco is on track, and Telstra's December half numbers indicate that Trujillo's hugely ambitious re-make of the former monopoly is producing an accelerating shift in the group's revenue and profit base, across from old fixed line services to new technologies. Retail services sales growth -- sales to external consumers, business and government customers -- was an impressive 7.6 per cent in the half, and Telstra's overall domestic revenue growth of 5.9% was world-class, beating groups including Spain's Telefonica (4.3 %) China Telecom (2.8%), AT&T (2.6%) and France Telecom (1.9%).
Stunned by Lack of Outrage, Not Outrageous Acts
I continue to be stunned. Not by Bush any longer. There was a time when I was stunned by nearly everything he did. Or said. Who wouldn't be stunned by a president who could say, "They misunderestimated me," and sincerely believe he's on top of things? Nor by Cheney. His pure evil no longer surprises me, although there was a time when he routinely stunned me. Torture? Torture?? Not by Congress, either. There was a time when I was stunned by that crowd's sheeplike mentality. I'd hear them decry the war, decry torture, decry Bush's growing deficit, then I'd drop my jaw as they voted time and again to give the president carte blanche. No longer. I fully expect Congress to disappoint, to fail to do its job in balancing the White House power grab.
Gazans Feeling Recoil of Attacks on Israel
When the fighters came one morning last month, the Wahdan family pleaded with them to think of the Israeli return fire that the rockets often drew. "There are women in the house, there are children," Wahdan recalled telling them. "You run away, but if the Israeli planes come, where do we go?" But the gunmen went on as planned, the Wahdan family said. When the fighters came back that afternoon to launch rockets that had failed to fire the first time, Khadra, Mohammed's 54-year-old mother, was rolling dough in the kitchen. She ran out to shout at the fighters. Khadra made it to the gate of the family courtyard when an Israeli shell hit. Shrapnel killed her and the family's 15-year-old hired farmhand. "Her last words were, 'Go away,' " Mohammed Wahdan said.
For Carmakers, High Performance Equals High Profit
In March, Lexus is launching a high-performance division. Called the F—for "Flagship"—the first model will be the sporty, $56,765 Lexus IS F. Several more F models are in the pipeline, including a luxury sedan and an SUV-wagon crossover. This represents a radical departure for Lexus, which has enjoyed enormous success as Toyota's (TM) luxury brand, despite being often faulted by driving enthusiasts for making cars that are unexciting, albeit attractive, well-built, and competitively priced. Now obviously Toyota's top brass wants to change this impression—and that is something that should concern executives at the high-performance divisions of its luxury rivals, specifically Mercedes-Benz (DAI), BMW (BMWG), and, increasingly, Audi (NSUG). Mercedes offers an AMG version of nearly every model it sells, including light trucks.
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