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Brazil forward Neymar, the world's most expensive footballer, will miss Paris St-Germain's first French league match of the season on Saturday after his documents failed to be lodged in time. His international transfer certificate did not meet a midnight deadline, so he will be watching the match against Amiens from the stands, the league said on late Friday, reports BBC. But he will be presented to supporters before the match at Parc des Princes. Neymar, 25, joined the Ligue 1 club for a record fee of 222 million euros (£200 million). He will reportedly earn 45 million euros (£40.7 million) a year. In his first public appearance as a player for the French club on Friday, Neymar said it was "sad" that people thought that his move from Barcelona had been motivated by money. "What I say to these people is they don't know anything about my personal life. I was never motivated by money." "If I was following the money, I would be somewhere else, with other clubs in other countries. I'm really sad that people still think that way and I'm glad that PSG believe in me." The player arrived in Paris by private jet on Friday and was greeted by PSG officials and hundreds of supporters. At the club's shop on the Champs-Élysées, more than 1,000 fans queued to buy a PSG shirt of their new Number 10.....

Published at: 2017-08-05 00:00:04

As old and new Amazon.com (AMZN.O) competitors gear up to report earnings, investors are eager to know how they plan to withstand the growth of the No. 1 online retailer. So far this quarter, Amazon has been brought up in some 130 earnings calls from S&P 1500 .SPSUP components according to a Reuters analysis. About 50 of those came in the last week alone. More than 30 companies reporting earnings in the following weeks mentioned Amazon during their most recent earnings call or were directly asked about threats or opportunities regarding Amazon's growth. "Any retailer, whether it's an online retailer or has online presence, or just brick and mortar, that tells you they’re not concerned about Amazon, they’re either in denial or lying," said Steven Osinski, marketing lecturer at the Fowler College of Business at San Diego State University. Beyond retailers like Wal-Mart (WMT.N) and Target (TGT.N), and following Amazon's planned acquisition of Whole Foods Market (WFM.O) announced mid June, expect Amazon to pop up on earnings calls from food producers, packagers and retailers including SpartanNash (SPTN.O) and Dean Foods (DF.N). Amazon mentions in less-expected earnings calls could also give investors an idea of where analysts expect the behemoth to strike next. "It'll be interesting to see (Amazon CEO Jeff) Bezos' next move in terms of wanting to expand into a certain space," said Daniel Morgan, portfolio manager at Synovus Trust in Atlanta. He said apparel as well as pharmaceutical distribution were among the areas where Amazon has been said to make its next big move. "They've shown up in places we didn't think they'd have competitive impact just two years ago." In a sign of Amazon's widening clout, industry bellwethers like McDonald's (MCD.N), 3M (MMM.N) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) in their latest earnings calls were asked for the first time about effects of Amazon on their businesses. NOT-SO-GREAT EXPECTATIONS Consumer discretionary is the S&P 500 sector expected to post the smallest year-over-year earnings growth this reporting quarter, with a gain of 3.3 per cent. Overall, earnings are seen rising 12 per cent from last year. Amazon's own results weigh on the sector, as it earned 40 cents per share instead of the $1.42 analysts had expected. But its 25 per cent revenue increase to $38 billion was seen as a detriment to some competitors and could weigh down expectations for their quarterly reports. "Expectations have been pushed down because a lot of the retailers, particularly the bricks and mortar ones, have had problems - Amazon and other related - so expectations are pretty low," said Nuveen Asset Management's chief equity strategist, Bob Doll. "Amazon obviously has a very powerful model but on the other hand, they're not going to put every bricks and mortar retailer out of business. These guys aren't going to sit and let it happen." However, stocks in the sector approach their earnings at relatively rich valuations. Including Amazon, which has an earnings multiple above 100, investors in consumer discretionary stocks are paying more than $19 for every $1 in earnings forecast over the next 12 months. That is near the highest since 2009. As costly as sector stocks are, Amazon has kept growing faster than most, up more than 31 percent year to date. Amazon's market cap, near half a trillion dollars, places it at about 20 percent of the S&P 500's consumer discretionary sector. Its growing clout has called for comparisons with rival Wal-Mart, whose growth in the early 2000s raised concerns it would put smaller retailers out of business. "In some ways I don't know if the Amazon effect is much different from what we've seen with Wal-Mart or Microsoft," said Jim Paulsen, chief investment strategist at The Leuthold Group in Minneapolis. "There's fewer and fewer players and more concentration. It's the result of winner-takes-all scenarios."  ....

Published at: 2017-08-05 00:00:04

TOKYO: A Japanese zoo said on Thursday it was searching for its giant tortoise, which has escaped for the second time in less than two weeks, according to a global media report. The escapee is female, weighs 55 kilogrammes (121 pounds) and has a “gentle” disposition—but a history of running away. The reptile, measuring about one metre (three feet, three inches) in length, was captured on security cameras as she wandered out of the main entrance of Shibukawa Animal Park in western Japan’s Okayama prefecture on Tuesday morning, according to zoo staffer Yoshimi Yamane. Tuesday’s escape was the second time in less than a fortnight that the fleet-footed reptile, which is allowed to walk freely inside the park during opening hours, fled the zoo. Yamane said it was found walking down the road 150 metres away from the zoo on July 21.  ....

Published at: 2017-08-04 00:00:05

Around 22.5 million children, aged between six months and five years, will be fed Vitamin A plus capsules under a national campaign on August 05.  State Minister for Health and Family Welfare Zahid Maleque came up with the announcement while talking to reporters at the secretariat on Thursday morning, reports UNB. Children, aged between six and 11 months, will be given the blue-coloured high-powered Vitamin A capsules, while children, aged between 12 to 59 months, will receive the red-coloured ones.  The state minister said children will be fed the vitamin A capsule at some 120,000 permanent health centres and 20,000 mobile centres across the country. Meanwhile, Our Correspondent from Chittagong adds: About 1.3 million children, aged between six months and five years, would come under Vitamin A plus campaign in the city and upazilas of the district on Saturday. Under the first round of the campaign the Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) will give oral vitamin to 0.53 million children through 41 wards of the CCC from 8.00 am to 4.00 pm on August 5 without any break. CCC Mayor AJM Nasir Uddin will inaugurate the programme at Uttar Kattali Mostafa-Hakim Maternity Centre in the morning. He was briefing the media about the Vitamin A capsule feeding Thursday at the CCC. Ward Councillors Nurul Haque, Gias Uddin, Hasan Murad Biplob, SM Habibul Haque and Dr Md Ali were present at that time.  Meanwhile, Civil Surgeon of Chittagong Dr Azizur Rahman Siddiqui said over 0.75 million children of 14 upazilas of the district will be given oral Vitamin A capsule through 4861 vaccination centres.....

Published at: 2017-08-04 00:00:05

FE Report Biman Bangladesh Airlines will operate 21 dedicated Hajj flights from Chittagong and Sylhet this year with the increase in the number of flights for the benefit of the pilgrims. Two flights will be operated directly to Medinah from Chittagong for the first time while others will go to Jeddah. The first Hajj flight from Chittagong will be inaugurated by civil aviation and tourism minister Rashed Khan Menon from Hazrat Shah Amanat International Airport as the chief guest today (Friday). Biman managing director A M Mosaddique Ahmed will be present as special guest. This year Biman will carry 6,000 Hajj pilgrims from Chittagong in its 17 dedicated flights. The Medinah flights will be operated on August 07 and 08. Besides, 1,640 Hajj pilgrims will be carried in four dedicated flights from Sylhet. The first flight to Jeddah will be inaugurated at 4:45 pm on August 07.   There will be no flight to Medinah from Sylhet. Biman general manager (public relations) Shakil Meraj said there was no flight cancellation on Thursday. A total of 2,400 Hajj pilgrims reached Jeddah in six flights on the day. "If Hajj pilgrims are available, we will be able to recover our capacity loss of 5,830 passengers in 12 cancelled flights. We are hopeful of fulfilling our target of carrying 63,599 pilgrims this year by August 26," he said. Mr Shakil also said the Biman authority has already applied for additional slot to the Saudi civil aviation authority. Since the inauguration of Hajj flights on July 24, Biman and Saudi Airlines carried 32,000 Hajj passengers till 8:00 am on August 03.     msshova@gmail.com....

Published at: 2017-08-04 00:00:05