Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit resigns

(Reuters) - Citigroup Inc Chief Executive Vikram Pandit has resigned, effective immediately, a shock change at the top of the bank just one day after surprisingly strong quarterly results.

A statement on Tuesday from Chairman Michael O'Neill said Michael Corbat, previously chief executive for Europe, Middle East and Africa, would succeed Pandit as CEO and as a board member.

Chief Operating Officer John Havens, a long-time associate of Pandit, also resigned.

Pandit's departure sent Citigroup's stock down nearly 2.5 percent in premarket trading as investors tried to figure out why he would leave now after keeping the bank afloat during the financial crisis and getting it back on a firmer footing.

"I would have expected he wanted to stay around and see some of the fruits of his labors there," said Peter Jankovskis, co-chief investment officer of Oakbrook Investments LLC in Lisle, Illinois.

Pandit's resignation comes after a series of high-profile defeats this year. In March the Federal Reserve rejected the bank's capital plans after a stress test; Pandit had led analysts and investors to believe the dividend-raising plans would be approved.

Last month, Pandit agreed to a low sale price for his bank's stake in the brokerage operated by Morgan Stanley. Citigroup had to take a $4.7 billion charge in the third quarter to write down the value of that stake.

Citigroup shares fell 90 cents to $35.76 in premarket trading. The stock rose sharply on Monday after the bank reported third-quarter results that were much better than analysts expected.

"What Pandit and Havens did was increase the uncertainty around Citi," said Matt McCormick, banking analyst and portfolio manager at Bahl & Gaynor in Cincinnati, Ohio. "There's a perpetual cloud of uncertainty surrounding Citigroup. There's always turmoil ... that's had to affect the stock price."

(Reporting by David Henry in New York; Additional reporting by Charles Mikolajczak and Phil Wahba; Writing by Ben Berkowitz; Editing by John Wallace)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/citigroup-ceo-vikram-pandit-resigns-121623250--sector.html

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LAKERS NOTEBOOK: Presence of coach Mike Brown helped allure Antawn Jamison to L.A.

Lakers forward Antawn Jamison (4) grabs a rebound in the first half of the game against the Portland Trail Blazers during a game last week at the Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario. (Jayne Kamin-Oncea-US PRESSWIRE)

Antawn Jamison needed a job last summer. The Lakers needed to fill a vacancy for a veteran backup forward.

So, it seemed natural the Lakers would sign Jamison to a one-season, $1.3 million contract. But there was another reason Jamison decided to give the Lakers a try, and it wasn't only because he's in search of his first championship ring after 14 seasons.

"He was one of the reasons I wanted to come here," Jamison said.

"He" was not superstar guard Kobe Bryant, although it could have been just as easily the reason Jamison signed. Nor was it future Hall of Fame point guard Steve Nash. Nor was it center Dwight Howard. Nor was it Pau Gasol. Nor was it Metta World Peace.

No, Jamison referred to Lakers coach Mike Brown.

"To me, it was a no-brainer," Jamison said of signing with the Lakers.

Jamison played for Brown for part of the 2009-10 season, Brown's last with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Brown was fired after the LeBron James-led Cavaliers won 61 games during the regular season but failed to win an NBA title.

The Cavaliers operated as if on autopilot back then. Brown was in his fifth season, with James and a cast of young players sticking to a relatively simple game plan and winning with spectacular ease at times during the regular season.

There was little tinkering to be done with the Cavaliers.

Jamison, however, found Brown and circumstances changed dramatically when the Lakers began training camp Oct. 2. Brown

was constantly at work, stressing small details and leaving zero to chance as he began his second season with the Lakers.

"He has to put his stamp on what he wants us to do," Jamison said of Brown.

There is a new game plan, a variation of the free-flowing Princeton offense and a bunch of new players this season. There are talents to be blended, styles to be meshed and, ultimately, games to be won. The honeymoon period is over for Brown.

"He's not willing to let things go through the cracks now," Jamison said. "He's really on point. I think they had a comfort zone in Cleveland where they could kind of just go through the motions.

"He wants us to do things the correct way. It's good."

Brown has been intense, but he's also been willing to back off with players.

Because of the NBA lockout that delayed and then compressed training camp and the regular season, Brown pushed and pushed and pushed last season. The Lakers practiced or played games for 19 consecutive days before he gave the players a break.

He's slowed the pace dramatically during this training camp.

Sunday marked the Lakers' second day off in two weeks.

"He's the perfect fit for this type of situation," Jamison said when asked if Brown's experience made him the right man to guide this championship contender. "I don't know how many coaches could come in here and put their stamp on this team."

Quote, unquote

Brown on the state of the Lakers after three losses to begin the exhibition season:

"I kind of like where we are right now because there's lots of room to grow."

Quote, unquote, part II

World Peace on rookie center Robert Sacre:

"I really like this kid. He has a lot of tattoos."

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Source: http://www.dailynews.com/ci_21773378/lakers-notebook-presence-coach-mike-brown-helped-allure?source=rss_viewed

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Video: Tomorrow in 30: Earnings & the Economy

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Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/49422800/

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Ryan fires up GOP base at Thompson fundraiser

MILWAUKEE (AP) - Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan says Wisconsin can "complete its journey" by electing Mitt Romney as president and putting former Gov. Tommy Thompson in the U.S. Senate.

Ryan spoke Sunday at a $250-per-couple fundraiser for Thompson at the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee.

Ryan says he, Gov. Scott Walker and Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus are all prot?g?s of Thompson, who served 14 years as governor. Ryan says they are all part of what he called the Thompson "farm team."

Walker, Priebus and Thompson also all addressed the crowd of about 300.

Ryan spoke about Walker's successful win in June's recall election and Priebus' work as the head of the RNC after leading the Wisconsin state party, then said Wisconsin can complete its journey in November.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.wbay.com/story/19819296/paul-ryan-to-raise-money-for-tommy-thompson

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Carolina Ballet and the Gift of Balanchine | Triangle Arts and ...

Although choreography by George Balanchine has been a part of the Carolina Ballet repertoire for all of its fourteen seasons, these performances continue to be a rare treat. Unlike the work in literature or on canvas of great artists, a dance is fleeting. On opening night of Carolina Ballet?s A Balanchine Celebration the dancers captured the clean and intricate lines, the fast footwork connected intimately to the music, and the moods, from sublime to playful, that make Balanchine?s work stand out above so many others.

Timour Bourtasenkov in Apollo

The show opened with Apollo, a dramatic portrayal of the Greek god with his muses. With the self-admiring, lute-playing god, this ballet might run the risk of appearing ridiculous less skillfully danced. Timour Bourtasenkov danced the part of Apollo with sensitively commanding and statuesque poise. Power seemed to alternate between?Bourtasenkov and the muses, Alicia Fabry, Lindsay Purrington, and Lilyan Vigo, whose smooth entanglements were mesmerizing.

?

Timour Bourtasenkov, Alicia Fabry, Linsay Purrington, and Lilan Vigo in Apollo

The fun and lively pas de deux Tarantella followed, with spritely Margaret Severin-Hansen and Pablo Javier Perez. Valse Fantaisie is everything that is good about a waltz with arms and long chiffon skirts whipping about and encircling the dancers like wisps of smoke. Jan Burkhard and Richard Krusch were classically vibrant, accented by a corps of four flowing in perfect unison.

Carolina Ballet?s Valse Fantaisie

Agon (Pas de Deux) is a visually striking dance featuring the extension, focus and control of Lara O?Brien and Eugene Barnes. The pair was perfectly suited to the geometrically and musically challenging choreography. This is a piece of modern art with its pleasant but unemotional expressions and monochromatic aesthetic matched to the music of Igor Stravinsky.

Laura O?Brien and Eugene Barnes in Agon (Pas de deux)

Lara O?Brien and Eugene Barnes in Agon (Pas de deux)

The last piece, Who Cares? , is a whimsical ballet of fifteen short dances set to well-known George Gershwin tunes. Margaret Severin-Hansen and Gabor Kapin were masters of subtlety in the tender pas de deux The Man I Love, an intimate conversation between lovers. In Embraceable You Lilyan Vigo was exquisite, joining Kapin for an elegant uptown pas de deux. Jan Burkhard was full of youthful enthusiasm, exploding from the floor in the solo I?ll Build a Stairway to Paradise. The company came together for the finale, I Got Rhythm. Super-fast turns and jumps exposed flashes of pink from the bottom layers of the dancers? skirts designed by Steven Ruben.

Margaret Severin-Hansen and Gabor Kapin in Who Cares?

Randi Osetek?s ease of movement and high extensions were consistently eye-catching in Who Cares?, even with fourteen fast-moving dancers on stage. The live musical accompaniment provided by pianist Karl Moraski, drummer Scott Lane, and bassist Robbie Link kept the energy high. The genuine smiles throughout the ballet suggested the dance was as much a gift for the dancers as for the audience.

This is a sophisticated program, well suited to high-brow tastes. But children who like art in any form will also love these ballets. The dances are short, interesting and unexpected. The fast and playful ballets Who Cares? and Tarantella have the most obvious appeal for younger audiences, but all of them are bright and colorful, and musically and aesthetically interesting and intellectual. These dances might open the door for great conversations about the place of history and literature in art, and about a person using what he or she finds interesting in the world to create something of lasting impact.

You can see A Balanchine Celebration weekends through October 28. Get tickets and information here.

Review and photos by Denise Cerniglia

See more photos from the show at http://artsviewnc.wordpress.com/2012/10/14/a-balanchine-celebration/

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Rating: 5.0/5 (1 vote cast)

Carolina Ballet and the Gift of Balanchine, 5.0 out of 5 based on 1 rating
Tagged as: carolina ballet, Gabor Kapin, george balanchine, jan burkhard, Lilyan Vigo, Margaret Severin-Hansen, Robert Weiss, Timour Bourtasenkov

Source: http://triangleartsandentertainment.org/2012/10/carolina-ballet-and-the-gift-of-balanchine/

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Waiting for Morning | Jean Davison

It?s two in the morning. A 15-year-old girl roams the streets of a rough council estate, wondering where to spend the night.? She climbs the stairs in one of the blocks of shabby, high-rise flats, and sits near the top. It?s cold and draughty in the stairwell, but better than being outside. She asks herself if going back home would be safer than staying out all night. Maybe it would be. Maybe it wouldn?t.

I?ve been thinking a lot lately about homeless young people. That girl on the stairs waiting for morning was me. But this isn?t about me. It?s about young people whose lives make the experiences that I had seem like a picnic. It?s about a social problem that exists today and it needs our urgent attention.

Are you aware that the UK today has a youth homelessness problem? A survey commissioned by the CSC (Consortium for Street Children) showed that while 61% of people thought street children were prevalent in Africa and Asia, only 13% saw it as a serious problem in the UK. An estimated 100,000 children run away in Britain each year, many of whom experience sleeping on the streets. As Sally Shire, Chief executive of the CSC says: ?Whether they are a runaway from Derby or a street child in Delhi the factors that drive children to the streets are similar.?

The true extent of youth homelessness is masked because only young people in contact with services are counted. The ?hidden homeless? include those living in temporary hostels or sofa surfing (staying for a night or two in different people?s houses and constantly moving on). These people often do sleep outside but not every night. Also affecting statistics are the different age limits on how organisations define youth.

Do you remember being a teenager? It?s often a time of trouble and turmoil, isn?t it? It can be difficult enough coping with being a teenager without the severe problems of homelessness added on. What would that do to self-esteem and developing a sense of identity?

There are many reasons why a teenager might become homeless: bullying, dysfunctional family relationships, violence, abuse, poverty and lack of affordable housing. Not all run away, some are ?kicked out? by their parents. Also, they might be the offspring of homeless adults, or those leaving care, having come of age and therefore no longer the responsibility of children?s services.

The most common reason why a young person might become homeless is relationship breakdown with parents, and this often involves physical, emotional and sexual abuse. A large number of this group are the adolescent ?runaways?, so called because they purposely leave family homes, or they run away from child protection services, psychiatric units or foster homes.

Many who run away are ?situational runaways? who leave after an argument with a parent or carer and then return a few days or weeks later. In some instances, particularly those where ongoing domestic abuse is intolerable, this pattern repeats itself but with increasingly longer periods of absence until these teenagers eventually become part of the chronic homeless population, sleeping rough or in hostels.

Of course homelessness is a serious matter whatever the age group, but if we can tackle this issue when people are young, we may, hopefully, prevent a future generation of long-term homeless people.

One of the ironies is that those who run away from abusive home environments face as much, if not more, of the same dangers on the streets that caused them to run away. Perhaps, despite this, they believe they have more control over their lives than remaining where they know they will continue to be abused.

Obviously the risks that being homeless brings are tremendous. These include the possibility of becoming physically and mentally ill due to exposure to cold, hunger, fear, sleeplessness, lack of hygiene facilities, constantly facing the danger of being assaulted, raped, and perhaps even murdered. Survival strategies on the streets include begging, stealing, and things that increase risks, such as prostitution and seeking temporary relief in drug or alcohol use.

So how does it feel to be a 13 year old girl sleeping in the rain at the back of Tesco?s? How does it feel to be young and homeless, trailing the streets looking for a place to sleep? Let?s think about it tonight when we?re in bed, safe and warm. And let?s try to imagine it now, how it might feel to sleep in doorways, in abandoned buildings, and on park benches in the dark. Do teenagers actually sleep in these situations? Maybe some of them do through sheer fatigue, but I?m sure others spend their nights too afraid to sleep. That?s why I?ve titled this post ?Waiting for Morning?.

Why don?t they get a job or go back home or seek help from charitable or statutory services? It?s a myth that most homeless teens could easily improve their situation. In these days of high unemployment, it?s almost impossible for young people to get a job who lack educational qualifications and experience, as well as having no fixed abode. Even if they do find some work or can obtain benefits (and of course that?s only those who are legally old enough), finding rented housing, affordable on a low income, often proves an insurmountable problem. Going home is not a feasible option if it means returning to more abuse.

Some of the homeless teens who approach charities in search of at least a temporary night shelter have to be turned away due to lack of facilities. This is especially likely now with the economic crisis and cuts in funding to charities. A strong fear that seeking help from statutory social services might result in being sent back to an abusive home keeps some teenagers lying low. We have to remember, too, that many of these kids have been badly treated and let down by every adult they?ve met, so their lack of trust is understandable.

Homeless teens on a downward spiral who find their way into the psychiatric services may end up with a stigmatising diagnosis, and the effects of damaging treatment, to add to their problems. Diagnoses such as schizophrenia or personality disorder are often used to describe what are really reactions to ongoing traumatic experiences, such as homelessness, preceded by the trauma of childhood abuse. My work for a mental health charity includes supporting people whose post traumatic stress disorder has been compounded, if not solely caused, by their experiences of the psychiatric services. I think that teenagers who feel it?s safer to trade their bed in a psychiatric unit for a bench in the park may not be entirely wrong.

So what is being done? To answer this question I thought about what is available in my own locality, Leeds. The largest youth homelessness charity in the UK is Depaul UK which, along with Barnardo?s Future Project, runs Leeds Nightstop. This is a scheme providing emergency accommodation to homeless teens within the homes of approved volunteers. It?s an attempt to break the cycle of youth homelessness by giving the young person a safe place to stay for a few nights, whilst trained staff work with them to try to sort out a long-term solution. Family mediation is also offered, which is appropriate for at least some young people.

Nightstop is just one example of the kind of help that might be offered in Leeds and other cities. Charities like this one do enable some young people to get off the streets if a place is available and if a longer term solution can then be found.

You may have found much of this post depressing, and not without a touch of my own cynicism. But I?m passionate about the need to raise awareness of the complicated issues of youth homelessness, without sugaring the pill. It?s not all bad. Many homeless charities can cite success stories from teenagers they?ve helped.

In early spring, a night of frost, rain, wind and hailstones bombarded my garden. What a pathetic sight the morning brought. The recently-opened daffodils that lived in a tub in my garden looked beyond hope, their heads drooping low. But the sun came out and gently warmed them. Gradually, over time, they not only survived but turned into the loveliest daffodils you could see.

Who?d have thought that those wilting plants had the potential to live, grow and bloom, given the right help and circumstances? Do you believe that our homeless youth have such potential, too? YES, they do. I know it.

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Source: http://jeandavisonwriter.wordpress.com/2012/09/17/waiting-for-morning/

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Music professor inspires success through commitment, passion ...

When Virginia Novine-Whittaker was choosing an instrument to pursue, her reason for choosing the saxophone was a bit unorthodox.

?When I first had to choose an instrument, I thought, ?What can I play that?s involved in the most groups so I could be in everything??? Whittaker said. ??What would be kind of cool?? And (the saxophone) is it.?

Now, Whittaker ? an adjunct instructor of music at Elon University ? is passing on her love for the saxophone through private instruction with students of all levels of expertise. Outside of her lessons with music majors, Whittaker said she is happy to take on students who have never played an instrument before.

?There?s a lot of opportunities for students on campus to get involved in the music department if they?re not majors,? Whittaker said. ?I had a student last semester [who] just always thought saxophone was cool and she wanted to take something that was different.?I taught her how to read music. In one semester, we went from her not ever blowing a note on an instrument or reading music, to being able to play some intermediate jazz lines that sounded really good.?

Of course, Whittaker also offers private instruction to advanced music majors, and many of her students have gone on to procure jobs in the professional industry. A number of Elon graduates are now working as band directors and studio musicians. One particular alumnus is now teaching saxophone students in the military, she said.

You have to live a life that has meaning. You have to live life large, and then you just play it large.
?Virginia Novine-Whittaker, adjunct instructor of music

For Whittaker, though, the study of music has never been about career success. Rather, it is about the passion and the expression.

?Musicians have a means of expression that goes beyond words, and people who don?t have that wish for it,? she said. ?That?s what grabs me.?And I love all the different emotions you can play, and all the colors and all the different roles you can take on.?

Whittaker said many students are not used to wearing their hearts on their sleeves, which is practically required of musicians. But with some instruction, she said she believes anyone can learn how to express themselves.

?You have to live a life that has meaning,? Whittaker said. ?You have to live life large, and then you just play it large. I want to be able to share that and teach students how they can get in touch with that part of themselves.?

Whittaker?s most sincere example of student transformation comes from several years ago, when a down-and-out high school student, who had run away from home, was still attending her saxophone lessons despite living on the streets.

?I just hung in there with her, I kept teaching her,? Whittaker said. ?It was the one thread that held her from falling off. For some [students], this is what they do. We?ve got to let them do it. It?s so important.?

Whittaker said the importance of arts education is what drives her to keep teaching.

?It is important on so many levels for someone to study this,? she said. ?It?s one of the few things that we do that has delayed gratification.?It teaches the concept of how wonderful it is to achieve something after you?ve worked so hard and so long for it.?

Department of Music, Elon University Saxophone Studio, featured, saxophone, Virginia Novine-Whittaker

About Rebecca Iannucci

Rebecca Iannucci is the Arts & Entertainment Editor for The Pendulum. She is a print and online journalism major from Nutley, N.J. She has previously worked with the organization as a Copy Editor and reporter. View all posts by Rebecca Iannucci ?

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Source: http://elonpendulum.com/2012/09/music-professor-inspires-success-through-commitment-passion/

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