Danny Puff

PARIS (Reuters) - The CEO of a U.S. tire company has delivered a crushing summary of how some outsiders view France's work ethic in a letter saying he would have to be stupid to take over a factory whose staff only put in three hours work a day.

Titan International's Maurice "Morry" Taylor, who goes by "The Grizz" for his bear-like no-nonsense style, told France's left-wing industry minister in a letter published by Paris media that he had no interest in buying a doomed plant.

"The French workforce gets paid high wages but works only three hours. They get one hour for breaks and lunch, talk for three and work for three," Taylor wrote on February 8 in the letter in English addressed to the minister, Arnaud Montebourg.

"I told this to the French union workers to their faces. They told me that's the French way!" Taylor added in the letter, which was posted by business daily Les Echos on its website on Wednesday and which the ministry confirmed was genuine.

"How stupid do you think we are?" he asked at one point.

"Titan is going to buy a Chinese tire company or an Indian one, pay less than one Euro per hour wage and ship all the tires France needs," he said. "You can keep the so-called workers."

As the leaked letter drew outrage in France, Montebourg penned a scathing response, spelling out the reasons why France routinely ranks as a leading destination for companies to invest, beating China and India in mid-2012.

"Can I remind you that Titan, the business you run, is 20 times smaller than Michelin, the French (tire) technology leader with international influence, and 35 times less profitable," Montebourg wrote, in a two-page letter in French.

"This just shows the extent to which Titan could have learned and gained, enormously, from a presence in France."

Montebourg's letter, a copy of which was sent to Reuters, said Taylor's comments, "as extremist as they are insulting", illustrated his ignorance of France.

Union leaders also reacted furiously. CGT official Mickael Wamen said Taylor belonged more "in an asylum" than in the boardroom of a multinational and noted his views were based on a visit to a troubled plant whose operations had been cut back.

The vicious exchange made for another public knock to France's business image after verbal attacks last year by Montebourg on firms seeking to shut ailing industrial sites prompted international derision.

Combined with concern over plans for a 75-percent "millionaires' tax", Montebourg's antics drove London Mayor Boris Johnson to tell an international business audience that it seemed France was being run by left-wing revolutionaries.

Socialist President Francois Hollande may take some comfort in the view Taylor expressed of Washington: "The U.S. government is not much better than the French," he wrote, saying Western leaders were failing to halt state-subsidized Chinese exports.

TWO TOUGH-TALKERS

The row has pitted an outspoken former anti-globalization campaigner, the loose cannon of Hollande's government, against a right-winger who revels in provocation and tough-talking.

Proud of being "The Grizz" -- his group's logo features a cartoon bear and its website opens to the roar of a grizzly -- Taylor has clashed with unions before and once suggested that a U.S. judge was "smoking dope" after a ruling against his firm.

He built up Illinois-based Titan over 23 years into a global brand in tires for tractors and other off-road machinery and ran for the White House in the 1996 Republican primary, campaigning on a pro-business ticket.

At that time, he admitted to being "abrasive" in order to "get the job done": "The politicians, they all want you to like them," he told an interviewer. "I don't care if people like me."

To Montebourg, the author of "Kill All the Lawyers and Other Ways to Fix the Government" wrote: "You're a politician so you don't want to rock the boat ... France will lose its industrial business because its government is more government."

Taylor's letter was a response to Paris having approached Titan as a possible buyer of U.S. group Goodyear's Amiens Nord factory in northern France. Montebourg told reporters earlier on Wednesday that he would put his answer in a letter.

In it, he noted the United States is the No. 1 investor in France with 4,200 U.S. subsidiaries employing nearly half a million people in the country. He said those firms appreciated French productivity and "savoir-faire" and warned that Paris would fight others which exploit cheap labor.

Montebourg has often lashed out at cheap imports of manufactured goods from low-wage countries such as China and last year told the boss of Indian steelmaker ArcelorMittal he was unwelcome in a spat over a shuttered plant in France.

Despite having per-head productivity levels that rank among the best in Europe, economists blame France's rigid hiring and firing laws for a long industrial decline that has dented exports. Many also fault the country's 35-hour work week for diminishing competitiveness with Germany.

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co's Amiens Nord plant employs 1,250 people, who have been battling demands they work more shifts or accept layoffs. The site now faces closure.

Talks last year with Titan over a possible rescue fell down after a failure to reach a deal with unions on voluntary redundancies.

Taylor accused France of being at fault. "Titan is the one with the money and the talent to produce tires. What does the crazy union have? It has the French government."

(Additional reporting by Christian Plumb and Elizabeth Pineau; Writing by Catherine Bremer; Editing by Alastair Macdonald and Giles Elgood)

Read More

SALEM, Ore. (AP) Legislative sessions can be dull and boring, but Oregon lawmakers have moved to commemorate the humdrum even if no one is quite sure how.

Based on their mundane names, the communities of Dull, Scotland, and Boring, Oregon, formed an international partnership last year to build cultural and commercial connections.

And Oregon House lawmakers took that a step further Wednesday, voting to make Aug. 9 Boring and Dull Day, putting the name of the U.S. town first despite mild objections from their European counterparts.

The plan, which now heads to the state Senate, is intended to boost tourism.

Republican Rep. Bill Kennener, the proposal's sponsor, announced the bill with a 10-minute speech, but never got around to saying what one might do in observance.

A fellow Republican, Rep. Kevin Cameron, later joked that he spotted an intern falling asleep during the address.

___

Follow Lauren Gambino on Twitter at https://twitter.com/LGamGam

Read More

TAIPEI/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Apple Inc's manufacturing partner Foxconn Technology Group has frozen hiring at a Shenzhen plant that makes gadgets including the iPhone 5 and put the brakes on recruiting for other factories across China, but said the move was not linked to any single client.

Foxconn, which runs a network of factories across the world's No. 2 economy that make products for tech companies from Hewlett Packard to Dell, sought to pour cold water on a Financial Times report that it had imposed a hiring freeze while it slows production of Apple's latest smartphone.

"Due to an unprecedented rate of return of employees following the Chinese New Year holiday compared to years past, our company has decided to temporarily slow down our recruitment process," the company said in a statement.

"This action is not related to any single customer and any speculation to the contrary is false and inaccurate."

Like other Chinese contract manufacturers, Foxconn relies on a large number of migrant laborers from across the country, who journey home for the most important holiday of the year. Many do not make it back to work, but Foxconn spokesman Louis Woo said this year they saw as many as 97 percent of employees return.

Apple sold a less-than-expected 47.8 million iPhones in the 2012 holiday quarter, fanning fears that its dominance of consumer electronics is on the decline as Samsung Electronics Co and other manufacturers that use Google Inc's Android software gradually gain market share.

The iPhone is Apple's most important product, accounting for half its revenue. The company's shares slipped almost 2 pct on Wednesday to $451, and are down about 34 percent from their September peak above $700, as investors fret about sliding margins and intensifying competition.

IMPLICATIONS FOR APPLE

Apple watchers often take cues from its component suppliers and manufacturing partners. In January, CEO Tim Cook took the unusual step of warning investors that it is difficult to extrapolate from limited "data points".

RBC estimates that just 70 to 80 percent of Chinese workers return to factories it tracks.

"This year we believe the return rates have been closer to 90 percent, which may minimize the need to hire," RBC analyst Amit Daryanani wrote in a Wednesday research note.

"Given the timing of the freeze, it may have more to do with higher return rates of employees versus what was expected by Foxconn and other supply chain companies."

Foxconn's latest statement contradicts another Foxconn spokesman, Liu Kun, who is cited in the newspaper on Wednesday as saying, "Currently, none of the plants in mainland China have hiring plans."

A check on Foxconn's recruitment website on Wednesday showed the company's Taiyuan and Hangzhou plants were hiring. But its factory complex in the southern city of Shenzhen is its single largest production base.

The Shenzhen plant "is not hiring at the moment because workers' return rate after Chinese New Year is very high this year, reaching 97 pct", Woo said.

"We replenish each year depending on the return rate."

(Editing by Edwin Chan, John Wallace and Dale Hudson)

Read More

NEW YORK (AP) Robin Roberts made her return to ABC's "Good Morning America" Wednesday, five months to the day after receiving a bone marrow transplant and a year since she started feeling symptoms of the ailment that has sidelined her since August.

Roberts looked thin and didn't bother to cover her hair loss with a wig. She wore a wide smile in taking her seat next to co-host George Stephanopoulos on TV's top-rated morning show.

"I have been waiting 174 days to say this," Roberts said. "Good morning, America."

The bulk of the ABC show turned into a celebration of her return as she's recovering from MDS, a blood and bone marrow disease. President Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and basketball star Magic Johnson all sent taped greetings.

At the studio, ABC boss Anne Sweeney, news division President Ben Sherwood and Katie Couric all stood in the wings watching. When Roberts thanked her nurses on the air, all of the show producers in the control room a floor away stood and applauded. Sherwood delivered a champagne toast on the set after the show went off the air at 9 a.m.

"Can I go home now?" Roberts said, before delivering a tearful thank you to her colleagues.

Bottles of hand sanitizers were kept nearby for people who come into regular contact with Roberts, who must try to avoid contact with others as her immune system builds back up. The plan is for Roberts to work two or three days a week initially and her health will be closely monitored, said Tom Cibrowski, the show's senior executive producer.

Roberts said after the show that she wasn't tired and was working on adrenaline. But the bright studio lights affected her eyesight. She said she started having trouble seeing the teleprompters midway through the show.

She has a tough schedule her first week back. She's expected to co-host the show Thursday and perhaps Friday, tape an interview with first lady Michelle Obama on Friday and fly to California. She'll participate in Oscars coverage and make an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel's post-Oscars show. Even her doctor, Gail Roboz, while clearing Roberts' return, said, "we didn't exactly have in mind an interview with Michelle Obama and the Oscars this weekend."

Roberts said her doctors are watching her closely, and they told her to cool it two weeks ago during an appearance in New Orleans.

"I'm not worried about having to be here, or the need to be here," Roberts said. "I want to be here."

The return date was important psychologically because it was during Academy Awards coverage last year that Roberts said she felt bone-tired, almost unable to work, and went to the doctor shortly afterward for the blood test that turned up her disease.

She said her hair stylist came up with a wig for her to wear with bangs similar to Michelle Obama's. But Roberts said viewers had already seen her on the air with her thin layer of hair and she thought a wig would be too distracting.

"It's freeing, it really is," she said.

Amy Robach and Elizabeth Vargas largely filled in for Roberts during her absence, although there were occasional celebrity "guest hosts" like Charlie Sheen, Stephen Colbert and Jessica Simpson. The show didn't miss a beat, not losing a single week to NBC's "Today" show while she was gone, a development Sherwood admitted was a surprise. An unintended consequence was that her absence enabled an ensemble that also includes Josh Elliott, Lara Spencer and Sam Champion to grow stronger and become more familiar to viewers, he said.

The "Today" show sent a gift basket that "Good Morning America" displayed in its studio, and gave Roberts an on-air welcome.

"She's looking and feeling great," said NBC's Savannah Guthrie. "And I know we're all really happy for her."

The return of Roberts, which Sherwood called "a day that we all rejoice," could also give ABC new momentum in the contest for morning television dominance. NBC's top anchor, Matt Lauer, is on vacation this week.

"Having Robin back is going to take us to new levels, to new heights," Cibrowski said.

Read More

ZURICH (Reuters) - A brown bear dubbed Mike by its fans has been shot and killed by gamekeepers in a mountainous border region in southeastern Switzerland after several run-ins with locals, Swiss officials said on Wednesday.

How to deal with the bear, known as M13 by authorities, had sparked controversy between gamekeepers and environmentalists far outside the Graubuenden canton, which borders on Italy and Austria and where the animal was most often spotted.

Swiss gamekeepers said Mike, given the name by creators of a Twitter account set up to track him and spread his fame, had increasingly pushed into populated areas and shown no fear of people, presenting a major safety risk.

"The bear's behaviour couldn't be changed," wildlife wardens in the canton -- home to famous winter holiday resorts like St Moritz, Klosters and Davos -- said in a statement.

Mike's adventures, such as breaking into beehives belonging to a school in the town of Poschiavo, were closely monitored after he was fitted with a tracking device last June.

Sightings - including when he was hit by a train on the local Rhaetian Railway, a major tourist draw - became a staple in Swiss tabloids, and Mike's popularity grew when the Twitter account was set up.

Last year, the bear unwittingly led Austrian police to a murder victim when he started a fire by knocking a tree onto a power line.

But Swiss federal and local authorities decided he had to be put down after he broke into a Graubuenden home last November. In recent days, he had approached humans again after waking up from hibernation, game officials said.

The Swiss-based World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) condemned the shooting, saying wardens should have instead intensified efforts to frighten the animal away from populated areas.

Several brown bears, including two called M12 and M14 who had been identified as Mike's brothers, have also been known to roam between Switzerland, Austria and Italy. M14 died last year when he was hit by a car.

(Reporting By Katharina Bart, editing by Paul Casciato)

Read More

MIAMI (Reuters) - A mural by famed street artist Banksy is up for sale at a Miami auction house after the work, and a chunk of the North London wall it was spray-painted on, vanished late last week.

Who owns the mural is unclear, and how it ended up in a Miami auction house shortly after going missing is still a mystery.

Frederic Thut, owner of Fine Art Auctions Miami, which is selling the piece, said his firm has done "all necessary due diligence" to establish the ownership of the work.

"Unfortunately we're not able to provide any information by law and contract about the details of this consignment," he said.

The mural was painted on a building occupied by Poundland Stores, a British retailer that sells various items for only a pound. The work, titled "Banksy: Slave Labor," shows a young boy kneeling at a sewing machine with Union Jack bunting.

It appeared in 2012 during Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee, celebrating her 60th year on the throne. The Poundland chain was a focal point of controversy in 2010 when it was alleged that it sold goods made by Indian children as young as seven.

"We lease the premises from a landlord and were as shocked and surprised as anyone at the removal of the Banksy artwork," Kate Gibson, a spokeswoman for Poundland, wrote in an email. "We understand the upset this has caused and in no way do we condone the removal of the artwork without proper consultation with the community."

Gibson didn't say whether Poundland officials have spoken with the landlord and she couldn't provide any details on the property owner.

Meanwhile, the work remains listed on the auction house's website, where it has received three bids and is valued between $500,000 and $700,000. Described as a "unique street work" of "stencil and spray paint on render with additional jubilee bunting," it is due to be auctioned on Saturday.

The elusive artist's trademark spray-paint stencils offering ironic social commentary are never verified, though they are hotly sought after by collectors.

One West Bank mural shows a young girl frisking a soldier who looks to be leaning up against a wall with his arms outstretched. Another is of a man with a bandana wrapped around his face looking as though he's throwing a grenade, though a bouquet of flowers takes the place of the explosive.

"Banksy goes to a property anywhere around the world and he puts something without asking you on your wall," said Stephan Keszler, a New York City gallery owner who specializes in Banksy's work. "People call it vandalism, therefore he's not authenticating the works because this would admit that he made a crime."

Keszler brought more than a half dozen Banksy murals - massive concrete slabs weighing more than 2,000 pounds (907 kg) - to a Miami art fair in December. Two were works he salvaged on behalf of building owners in the West Bank and later bought. The others were owned by collectors whom Keszler was advising on sales.

A group called Pest Control oversees authentication of the artist's works on paper, but the group is almost as elusive as Banksy himself. Keszler said Holly Cushing, a producer of the 2010 documentary about the artist, "Exit Through The Gift Shop," runs the group.

"Did you read one word from Pest Control the work is not a Banksy?" he asked. "The works are not fake, otherwise they would say they're fake."

Pest Control did not respond to a number of emails and calls seeking comment.

Keszler argued that discussion of the issue of who owns the works, their authenticity and whether they should be moved will someday end.

"If a property owner wants to auction this at the auction house, he can do this with his property," Keszler said. "I believe that one day this discussion ... will be over, and then the people who were brave enough to buy those today, yesterday and tomorrow will have made a very good investment."

(Editing by David Adams; and Peter Galloway)

Read More

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - British singer Morrissey has convinced a Los Angeles concert venue to not sell meat at concessions during his performance next month.

The longtime animal rights activist and former singer for 1980s rock group The Smiths urged the Staples Center arena to shutter the concession stands of fast food chain McDonald's and to halt the sale of meat by other outlets at the venue for his March 1 performance.

"I don't look upon it as a victory for me, but a victory for the animals," the "Irish Blood, English Heart" singer said in a statement released on Monday.

Staples Center operator Anschutz Entertainment Group and its promoter subsidiary Goldenvoice will donate a portion of ticket sales from the show to animal rights group PETA, Morrissey said.

Morrissey, 53, who co-wrote The Smiths' 1985 song "Meat Is Murder," postponed a series of concerts on his North America tour last month after being hospitalized for a bleeding ulcer.

He is expected to relaunch the tour with a performance on U.S. late-night talk show "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" next week.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Stacey Joyce)

Read More

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Clive Davis says that he is bisexual and has had two serious relationships with men over the past 20 years. The legendary music producer's admission comes in his new memoir, "The Sound Track of My Life," which also documents his decades as a top music hit-maker and collaborator with everyone from Bob Dylan to Kelly Clarkson.

In it, the 80-year old Davis, currently ensconced as chief creative officer at Sony Music, also discusses his efforts to convince his prot g , Whitney Houston, to get help to deal with her drug addiction.

But it is Davis' frank talk about his own sexual history that is getting the bulk of the attention during the roll out for his new book. Davis writes that his first same-sex sexual encounter came at Studio 54.

After his second marriage dissolved in 1985, Davis writes that he had two serious relationships with male partners, although he does not give their names. He also dated women at that time and does not identify as gay.

"I'm not lying," Davis told ABC's "Nightline." " does exist. For over 50 years I never had sex with a male. It wasn't repressed. I had very good sexual relationships with women."

"The Sound Track of My Life" was published Tuesday by Simon & Schuster.

Read More

BOSTON (AP) A federal jury awarded crime writer Patricia Cornwell nearly $51 million Tuesday in her lawsuit against her former financial management company and a former principal in the firm.

The author best known for her series of novels featuring medical examiner Kay Scarpetta claimed that Anchin, Block & Anchin LLP was negligent in handling her finances and cost her millions in losses or unaccounted for revenue.

Lawyers for the New York firm and former principal Evan Snapper said there was no money missing from Cornwell's accounts. They blamed losses on the economic downturn and what they called Cornwell's extravagant lifestyle, which included Ferraris, helicopters and a temporary apartment in New York City she rented for $40,000 per month.

Cornwell, 56, testified that Anchin moved her from a conservative management strategy to an aggressive one without her permission. She said she fired the firm in 2009 after discovering that her net worth was a little under $13 million, despite having eight-figure earnings in each of the previous four years.

Cornwell said the firm caused her to miss a book deadline for the first time in her career when it failed to find her a suitable place to write after renovation work on her house in Concord went on much longer than expected.

"This was very destabilizing. I really lost my ability to focus and concentrate. I did not know what the book was about anymore," Cornwell said.

The lawsuit said the missed deadline caused Cornwell to lose one year's income: about $15 million in non-recoverable advances and commission.

Cornwell's relationship with Anchin began in 2004. Cornwell said Anchin agreed to manage all her money and the assets of her company, Cornwell Entertainment Inc.

The lawsuit alleged negligence and breach of contract.

Cornwell said she was thrilled with the verdict.

"God bless justice," she said. "It's a huge relief and it's been a huge ordeal." She also thanked the jury for "giving up seven weeks of their lives."

Lawyers for the firm and Snapper portrayed Cornwell as a demanding client who relied on them for everything from bringing her clothes to the tailor to arranging care for her mother.

"I'm very disappointed," Snapper said after the verdict was announced.

On the stand, he strongly denied Cornwell's allegations.

"I did not steal any money from anyone," he said. "The money was there."

Frank Schettino, a managing partner at Anchin, Block & Anchin, said the firm plans to explore its legal options, including appealing the verdict.

"For more than 90 years, the professionals at Anchin have built a reputation for honesty and integrity," Schettino said in a statement. "The firm will endure despite today's outcome."

Snapper pleaded guilty in 2011 to lying about the source of 21 contributions of $2,300 each to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.

Snapper acknowledged that he knew that the contributors did not make the donations in 2008, but instead they were reimbursed from an account belonging to Cornwell. He admitted the reimbursements caused Clinton's presidential committee unwittingly to file false reports with the Federal Election Commission identifying the 21 donors as the contributors.

Cornwell has lived in the Boston area for the last six years. She is married to Staci Gruber, a neuroscientist and assistant psychiatry professor at Harvard Medical School. The lawsuit alleged that Anchin also mishandled Gruber's finances.

Read More

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Martin Scorsese has been tapped to deliver the 2013 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities.

The Oscar-winning director of "The Departed" and "Raging Bull" will hold forth on his career as one of the foremost chroniclers of Catholic guilt, violence and criminality in the annual talk sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).

Scorsese is the first filmmaker to get the honor, a prestigious forum that in the past has drawn such leading figures in the arts and academia as Toni Morrison, Robert Penn Warren and Harvard University President Drew Gilpin Faust. It carries with it a $10,000 honorarium.

"Martin Scorsese is a scholar of, advocate for, and icon of American cinema," said NEH Chairman Jim Leach in a statement. "He is the first filmmaker designated as a Jefferson Lecturer, but he follows in the tradition of earlier speakers like John Updike, Barbara Tuchman, and Arthur Miller in revealing a profound understanding and empathy for the human condition."

Scorsese will present the lecture on April 1 at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

Scorsese has directed and produced more than 50 films, including such classics as "Goodfellas," "Mean Streets" and "Taxi Driver." He is currently working with Leonardo DiCaprio on "The Wolf of Wall Street," which will tell the true story of a New York stockbroker who becomes embroiled in a securities fraud case.

Read More