Wal-Mart's third-quarter profit up 9 percent

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. reported a 9 percent increase in third-quarter net income as the world's largest retailer continues to woo back shoppers by reemphasizing it has the lowest prices. But the company is seeing its momentum slow as it grapples with an uncertain global economy.

The Bentonville, Ark.-based discounter issued a fourth-quarter profit outlook that was below analysts' forecast. It also reported that revenue at stores open at least a year, a figure that measures growth in established stores, fell short of Wall Street estimates.

Wal-Mart is considered an economic bellwether because the retailer accounts for nearly 10 percent of nonautomotive retail spending in the US. The company's latest results underscore how its low- income shoppers continue to have a hard time stretching their dollars to the next pay day and count on rock-bottom prices.

"Current macroeconomic conditions continue to pressure our customers," said Charles Holley, Wal-Mart's chief financial officer in a statement. "The holiday season is predicted to be very competitive but we are well prepared to deliver on the value and low prices our customers expect."

Nevertheless, Wal-Mart has been able to turn around its U.S. business by fixing its mistakes it made in merchandising and pricing. It's hammering its low price message again after temporarily discounting select items. It's also returned thousands of items to its shelves after a campaign to reduce clutter in its stores backfired.

The company says Thursday it earned $3.63 billion, or $1.08 per share, in the quarter ended Oct. 31. That compares with $3.33 billion, or 96 cents per share, in the year-ago period.

Net sales, excluding Sam's Club membership fees, rose 3.4 percent to $113.2 million.

Analysts were expecting $1.07 per share on revenue of $114 billion.

Wal-Mart says revenue at stores opened at least a year rose 1.5 percent for its namesake U.S. business, below Wall Street's estimate of 1.8 percent. That's the division's fifth straight quarterly gain after posting nine straight quarters of declines. But the figure represents a slowdown from the 2.2 percent growth in the second quarter and a 2.6 percent increase in the first quarter.

For the entire US business, the measure rose 1.7 percent, including a 2.7 percent rise at Sam's Clubs.

Revenue for Wal-Mart's US business, which accounts for about 60 percent of the company's total business, rose 3.6 percent to $66.1 billion, while revenue at Sam's Club rose 4.7 percent to $13.9 billion. Revenue at its international division, which accounts for about a quarter of Wal-Mart's total revenue, rose 4.7 percent. That marked a slowdown from the previous quarter.

Wal-Mart narrowed its full year earnings guidance and issued a fourth-quarter profit outlook that's below analysts' forecasts.

It now expects earnings per share for the full year to be between $4.88 per share and $4.93 per share. It originally expected earnings per share of $4.83 to $4.93. For the fourth quarter, it expects earnings per share to be $1.53 per share and $1.58 per share. Analysts had expected $1.59 per share.

Wal-Mart's stock fell $2.28 per share, or more than 3 percent, to $69.03 in trading.

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Steve Wozniak, Chris Hughes share tales with Coconut Grove audience

Co-founders from two of Silicon Valley’s most innovative companies gave a South Florida audience a glimpse into the early days of developing the technology that would reshape the world.

Steve Wozniak, of Apple, and Chris Hughes, of Facebook, were back-to-back speakers for the three-day Americas Business Council’s Continuity Forum that wrapped up Wednesday at the Ritz-Carlton in Coconut Grove.

The conference brought together innovators, activists, and thought leaders in entrepreneurship and philanthropy and also showcased 32 emerging social entrepreneurial ventures from around the Americas.

On Wednesday afternoon, both men relayed plenty of stories.

As a teenager, Wozniak used to hole up in his bedroom on the weekends, designing a computer on paper.

And he made a game of it — every weekend he would try to make a machine that would work just as well or better but cost a little less than the last design.

That engineering mentality to build things more efficiently as well as the desire to learn never left him, he told the audience. “I would buy my college books on a Friday and be halfway through before the first class on Monday.”

Then he met Steve Jobs, and began working with him on a variety of projects. “Steve Jobs was a hippie with no money. I was an engineer with no money. We had to think creatively. I designed projects for fun, and he would figure out how to make money,” Wozniak recalled as he told how he invented the Apple I and Apple II that started it all and the company’s ups and downs through the years. He called the iPhone the greatest product ever.

As one of the Facebook co-founders that lived in the famous Harvard dorm room, Chris Hughes said the movie The Social Network got a lot of things wrong.

“Our dorm wasn’t like a luxury condo, there was no sex in the bathroom, as far as I know. An alcohol-fueled hackathon, while it looked like a lot of fun, didn’t happen.”

Hughes told the real story of Facebook and described his roommate Mark Zuckerberg as “highly analytical and very skeptical of conventional wisdom.” What the movie did get right, Hughes told the crowd: “Facebook is the defining example of American ingenuity and entrepreneurship of the 21st century.” And at the core: “There’s a new universal respect for the entrepreneur.”

Hughes, now owner and publisher of The New Republic, also talked about his current passion: How to use mobile and social technologies to support serious long-form journalism into the 21st century.

“Conventional wisdom says this kind of journalism isn’t sustainable. Cynics say the golden age of journalism has past,” said Hughes.

Yet, over the past six months Hughes said it is the long, in-depth New Republic stories that have gone viral.

“Folks are reading just as much news today, if not more. ... We have an opportunity to deliver it across a limitless number of devices. [These trends] all come together to suggest … we are entering a true golden age of journalism.”

Follow Nancy Dahlberg on Twitter at @ndahlberg.

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Police: 1 dead, 2 wounded in car shot up in Miami

One man was killed and two wounded in a shooting in Miami that left a car pocked with bullet holes.

Miami police responded to a call reporting shots fired at about 11:50 p.m. Monday at the corner of Northwest 11th Place and 43rd Street where they found a Nissan Altima with three young males inside.

The car was “shot up numerous times,” said Officer Kenia Reyes, Miami police spokeswoman.

One of the victims died on the scene and the others were transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Unit. The second victim is listed in stable condition and the third was treated and released.

Several blocks away at Northwest 15th Avenue and 44th Street, police canvassed the area where they discovered gunshot casings. It’s not known yet if the incidents are related.

Reyes said the names of the victims are being withheld until the next of kin is notified.

Police have no suspects or motives so far and are asking anyone with information to call 305-471-TIPS (8477).

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Oscars Flashback: Tom Hanks 1989

Tom Hanks has been adorned with awards in his cherished film career, so awards ceremonies have become an annual event for him. However, we take you back to 1989 to Hanks' first Academy Awards, when he could only dream of his future acting success.

"This came just as it's supposed to. It was a surprise and a real thrill. It was an honor. We were both on the couch in the morning there blubbering before we had to go to work," Hanks says alongside newlywed wife Rita Wilson of his first Oscar nomination.

VIDEO: Tom Hanks Relives His Weather Forecast Dance

His nomination that year was for the 1988 fantasy film Big, in which Hanks portrays the transformed version of a 12-year-old boy who wants to become an adult. For the convincing role, Hanks also received a Golden Globe nomination amongst other nods.

"Oh, no, if they're going to give away vacuum cleaners I'll take one home. It's as simple as that," the then-32-year-old actor says of his thoughts on potentially going home with an award.

VIDEO: Emmy Flashback: Tom Hanks '98

While he received his first Golden Globe that year for Big, Hanks didn't win the Oscar. However, he would win his first Oscar in 1993 on his next nomination for Philadelphia and leave the Academy Awards with more than just a vacuum cleaner.

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Petraeus agrees to testify on Libya before congressional committees: report

REUTERS

Gen. David Petraeus, with his wife Holly seated behind him

Former CIA Director David Petraeus has agreed to testify before the House and Senate intelligence committees, Fox News reported.

Prior to his abrupt resignation last week, Petraeus had been scheduled to testify this Thursday on the burgeoning controversy over the Libya terror attack.

Before the change of heart, Petraeus and his successor made a four-star farce of the military when they helped a woman whom a judge called mentally unstable in her bitter custody battle — less than two weeks after Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others were murdered in Libya, court records reveal.

Petraeus, head of the CIA during the Sept. 11 attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi, and Gen. John Allen, the top military commander in Afghanistan, each wrote glowing letters to a judge on behalf of Natalie Khawam. And both included their lofty title — General.

“Natalie clearly dotes on her son and goes to great lengths — and great expense — to spend quality time with him,” Petraeus gushed in his Sept. 20 letter, filed nine days after Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed at the consulate.

He wrote that he and his wife, Holly — whom he betrayed by having an affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell — have known Khawam for about three years.

“We have, on many occasions, observed Natalie and her son . . . including when we hosted them . . . for Christmas dinner this past year,’’ he wrote.

“In each case, we have seen a very loving relationship.”

Allen was similarly sympathetic in his Sept. 22 letter to the court, saying, “Natalie clearly loves [her son] John and cherishes each and every opportunity she has to spend time with him.”

Court letters from Gens. Allen and Petraeus

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No touch screen? Stick with Windows 7

Q. I recently had to replace my 9-year-old Windows XP computer, and am having trouble adapting to Windows 7.

What are the advantages, if any, for me to upgrade to Windows 8, which I’ve read has touch-screen capability and works with other equipment besides desktop computers? Since I don’t have a touch screen, I’m wondering if there is any point in upgrading.

Peter Robinson Chaska, Minn.

Different versions of Windows 8 are being offered on PCs, tablet computers and smartphones. But in every case the new operating system is primarily aimed at people who are using touch-sensitive screens.

So unless you’re planning to buy a touch-screen device in connection with upgrading to Windows 8, you’re probably better off continuing to use Windows 7. By most accounts, using the touch-screen-oriented Windows 8 with a mouse and keyboard is more difficult than using previous Windows versions with a mouse and keyboard.

In addition, if you find the changes in Windows 7 to be challenging, I suspect you won’t enjoy the more radical changes embodied in Windows 8 (i.e., much different start screen.)

I’m not saying you should never upgrade to Windows 8; just let Microsoft deal with some of these usability issues first.Q. I disagree with your warning to never click the unsubscribe link to put a stop to spam emails. Totally inundated with spam, I began unsubscribing and cut my spam down from more than 50 a day to one or two.

Some spam senders were more difficult to shake than others. I threatened a nonexistent Florida corporation that I would go to their state attorney general’s office, but never heard from them again. I gave a dental company a taste of their own medicine until they finally stopped sending me email. Others just took me off their lists pronto. It has been well worth the effort.

Deborah Gray Mitchell North Miami

Your strategy will work with legitimate companies and with spammers who can be located and threatened with legal action.

Unfortunately, most spam producers are neither legitimate nor traceable. When you respond to their emails, you confirm that yours is a working email address, and therefore fair game.

At the same time, you’ve essentially challenged some spammers to a duel, a risky business because they know your email address. Make sure you have a strong email password to prevent tampering.

Congratulations on your success, but I can’t recommend your approach to others.

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Florida man describes being shot by police Taser as he sprayed fire with garden hose

PINELLAS PARK --
The fire was all around Dan Jensen.

He could see it. He could smell it. He could hear it.

It was close enough to touch. It was burning down his neighbor's house. It was creeping toward Jensen's own fence 10 feet away, and he started spraying the fire with his hose.

Police ordered Jensen to get back, and he complied.

But after a few minutes passed without firefighters arriving, a frustrated Jensen stepped forward and leaned down to grab the skinny gray garden hose once again.

That's when he heard the order.

"Hit 'em! Take him down! Tase him!"

Within moments, Jensen was on the ground. He felt electric.

"It was all over me," Jensen said. "Crawling all over me."

The 42-year-old commercial fisherman is still struggling to comprehend exactly how things deteriorated so quickly Thursday. He said he doesn't understand why police shot him with a Taser that night as he tried to battle a house fire at 3420 Beechwood Ter. N.

Jensen's family, friends and neighbors have been quick to defend him and accuse police of crossing a line.

"It was wrong," he said. "There's no way around it. … I was fighting a fire. I wasn't fighting police. I thought they were here to help me. Instead, they hurt me."

Police said they can sympathize with the stress Jensen was under. But they said he put himself and officers in danger when he refused to back down from fighting the fire.

Pinellas Park Capt. Sanfield Forseth told the Tampa Bay Times authorities could have even charged Jensen with obstruction, but decided against it.

Jensen's attorney, Heidi Imhof, said she believes authorities are trying to deflect attention from their actions that night. She called the Taser use "excessive force."

"They can't just Taser anyone," she said. "He's an unarmed person on his private property trying to fight a fire."

Imhof said the officers had other options. They could have yanked Jensen away, she said, or just turned off the water.

The agency's policy says officers must issue a warning before using a Taser, "except when such warning could provide a tactical advantage to the subject."

Imhof said her client was never warned.

Jensen said he's "disappointed" in police.

He said that when they arrived on the scene, they told him to back off and let insurance take care of it. He did for a few minutes but grew impatient and irate. He picked up the hose again because he thought firefighters weren't getting there soon enough.

Officials told the Times it took six minutes for fire fighters to respond.

"That's my home," Jensen said Monday, his voice breaking. "That's my family."

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The Host Trailer

Before Breaking Dawn hit bookshelves, Stephenie Meyer took time out from writing about vampires to write about aliens with the 2008 novel, The Host.

PHOTOS - Inside The Final Twilight Premiere

It's another star-crossed lovers tale, this one about a young woman and an impossible handsome invading alien "soul," who are forced to work as one. Naturally the film has been adapted for the big screen, and today brings our first look at Saoirse Ronan and Max Irons in the lead roles.

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The screenplay was written and the film was directed by Andrew Niccol, the insanely talented visionary behind Gattaca, The Truman Show and Lord of War. While Ronan is one of the most exciting up and coming actresses working today and The Host seems to call on many of the same abilities she brilliantly displayed in Hanna (if you missed that movie, stop what you're doing and rent it now).

Will she be the next Kristen Stewart? Will The Host be the next Twilight? Watch the trailer and decide for yourself!

The Host hits theaters on March 29, 2013.

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City launching '1-stop restoration centers', FEMA opens in 19 NJ counties

New York City says it's launching "one-stop restoration centers" that will provide recovery services and disaster relief.

The offices will be located in Far Rockaway and Breezy Point, Queens; Coney Island, Red Hook and Gravesend, Brooklyn; and on Staten Island.

Both state and federal disaster relief will be offered at the centers.

Meanwhile, FEMA has approved more than $127 million in individual assistance in the two weeks since Sandy battered New Jersey.

All residents in the state are eligible and 22 disaster aid centers have opened in 19 counties.

REUTERS

FEMA says more than 190,796 survivors in New Jersey have applied for assistance.

FEMA says 1,384 people have checked into 173 hotels under the agency's shelter program.

Some 836 FEMA inspectors have completed 33,799 inspections.

Individuals and business owners who sustained losses from Sandy can apply for assistance by registering online at www.DisasterAssistance.gov, or by calling 800-621-FEMA.

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Think local, former U.N. leader Kofi Annan tells Miami forum

In the Ritz-Carlton ballroom in Coconut Grove on Monday, Kofi Annan, the former Secretary-General of the United Nations, addressed a crowd of well-dressed world savers to open the Continuity Forum of the Americas Business Council (abc*). In a speech that touched on the environment, the Arab awakening, democracy in Latin America, the spiraling conflict in Syria, nuclear war and resource scarcity, Annan encouraged attendees to address these and other problems by thinking local.

“People ask me all the time, ‘what should one do to become a global citizen?’ I tell them, get involved with your community, your city, your town, your village,” Annan said.

For abc*, a think tank dedicated to “people, planet and philanthropy” in the Americas, Miami is the center of that community. Smack dab in the middle of the hemisphere, for two years Miami has hosted the annual Continuity Forum that attracts more than 300 people from all over North and South America. Rebecca Mandelman, senior director of the abc* based in Miami Beach, said she has recently seen more and more of these would-be world changers coming to Miami to stay.

“There’s this intellectual thirst in Miami that brings a lot of these forces together,” Mandelman said. Referring to the co-sponsoring organizations — many of them local, like the Knight Foundation, Univision, PODER magazine and technology company Ico Group — she said, “Miami is like the fulcrum, the center for people in our community.”

The three-day conference, which sold tickets in advance, features a full roster of impressive speakers, including Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes. But the main focus is the competition between 32 “social entrepreneurs” who will present their projects to be judged by the five chairman of abc* and the foundation’s 23 fellows. The best three projects will receive $100,000 grants, media support and business connections for two years.

“We evaluate them by their potential to make the greatest impact,” said Mario Scarpetta, director of Colombian cement and energy company Inversiones Argos and co-chairman of abc*. To evaluate their effectiveness, he said abc* would review each project’s “strategic business plans and economic models of their impact.”

The projects range from a museum of sacred Peruvian plants and an indigenous tourism agency in Mexico to a Nicaraguan organization dedicated to fighting cancer and a “green roof” sustainable building company. The presentations, videos and question-and-answer sessions took place in English and Spanish, and Mandelman said she hoped the casual conversations between sessions would lead to future ideas and organizations.

Even entrepreneurs whose projects are not chosen for the abc* grant have the opportunity this week to interact with investors and leaders of the industries they seek to influence. Pati Ruiz of Grupo Ecológico Sierra Gorda in Mexico said her alliance of five conservation organizations is already active in central Mexico, but if awarded the grant she would use it to expand to the rest of the country and into South America.

“The strength of our project is that it’s already up and running,” Ruiz said in Spanish after her presentation. “We have the tools to expand and reproduce what we’re doing.”

Although most of the conference attendees were excited about the ideas, some expressed frustration with the lack of avenues for individuals to get involved.

“I think that’s the problem with a lot of these conferences: There are no action items, nothing you can really do if you’re not a big-time donor,” said one attendee who didn’t want to be named because he works for one of the co-sponsors of the conference. “We come, watch, applaud and leave.”

Still, abc* continues to connect some of the most creative innovators in a younger generation to current political and business leaders who have the resources to give their ideas wings, Mandelman said, and the rest of the Continuity Forum promises to help make this happen.

“We believe that collective engagement can advance the Americas,” she said.

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