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Macy’s Is Said to Receive Takeover Approach by Hudson’s Bay - The New York TimesThe Macy’s of today grew from the union of several great names in American retailing, including its namesake chain, Bloomingdale’s and Marshall Field’s. But the ambitious owner of Saks Fifth Avenue has broached the idea of taking the union even further, combining with Macy’s to create a department store juggernaut at a time when the industry is reeling. Hudson’s Bay Company, the Canadian owner of Saks, has approached Macy’s about a potential takeover, people briefed on the matter who were not authorized to speak publicly said on Friday. Talks between the two companies are at an early stage and may still fall apart or lead to a partnership of some kind rather than a sale. While it is unclear whether a deal will happen, a combination could lift the fortunes of Macy’s, the country’s biggest department store, which has been struggling. Investors certainly appeared to see it that way. Shares of Macy’s rose as much as 12 percent on Friday, its biggest intraday gain since Aug. 11, according to data from Bloomberg. Once a retail titan, Macy’s has struggled to remain relevant as and discount retailers have decimated the traditional business. Last month, Macy’s announced plans to cut more than 10, 000 jobs and close some of its 880 stores. Terry Lundgren, its chief executive and the architect of Macy’s last big merger, is expected to step down by the end of March. He will be succeeded by the company’s president, Jeffrey Gennette. Since the recession, shoppers have grown accustomed to hunt for bargains and to not pay full price. Discount stores and outlet malls have flourished. Traditional stores have been compelled to respond by trimming prices, which cuts into their margins. Departments stores have been hit especially hard, particularly as shoppers migrate away from malls. What has emerged, analysts say, is a virtual race to the bottom. That has been particularly difficult for Macy’s, born of a series of mergers over the past two decades that made it a juggernaut in the industry. A stalwart of the middle tier of retail, the company has neither the advantages of retailers like HM nor the stores. In addition, Macy’s faces increasingly fierce competition online from sites like Amazon and elsewhere. Macy’s troubles have drawn the attention of a prominent activist hedge fund, Starboard Value, which has urged the company to generate cash by selling the real estate beneath its stores. Starboard, which held just under 1 percent of Macy’s shares as of Sept. 30, had previously estimated the value of that land at about $21 billion. On Friday, analysts at Citigroup estimated that Macy’s holdings could be worth at least $18 billion. Macy’s market value, by comparison, was just under $11 billion as of Friday morning. Macy’s has taken some steps to sell or redevelop stores, and last year, it added an expert on real estate transactions to its board. But the company has largely resisted more ambitious efforts to divest its real estate, including deals, in which a company sells the underlying land beneath its stores and then rents it back. The company’s suitor, Hudson’s Bay Company, is far smaller — its market value was about 1. 9 billion Canadian dollars, or $1. 5 billion — but is known for its bold steps. Hudson’s Bay Company has assembled a growing empire that includes the Hudson’s Bay department store chain, Lord Taylor and its crown jewel, Saks. And the governor and executive chairman of the Hudson’s Bay Company, Richard Baker, has shown little fear of using debt: In November 2014, the company borrowed nearly $4 billion against the Saks flagship in Midtown Manhattan. He has spoken often of retailers’ need to highlight the value of their real estate. Financing a bid for Macy’s may be trickier, however, because the it carries about $6. 5 billion in debt. That may mean that the Hudson’s Bay Company will have to bring in a partner or borrow against more of its real estate holdings. A spokesman for the Hudson’s Bay Company declined to comment on the talks, which were reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal. “We do not comment on rumors and speculation,” a representative for Macy’s said. A representative for Starboard Value did not respond to a request for comment. Some analysts said that they saw the merit of a potential combination, particularly given Macy’s operational woes and Mr. Baker’s expertise in wringing money out of real estate. “There is a clear logic, despite disparity in cap” between Macy’s and Hudson’s Bay Company, Craig Johnson, the president of Customer Growth Partners, a research firm, said in a note. Referring to Macy’s stock ticker symbol, he added, “The retail market has been changing faster than M has been able to keep up with, whether the flight from the mall or the migration online. ”

NATO, Russia To Hold Parallel Exercises In BalkansNATO, Russia To Hold Parallel Exercises In Balkans 11/02/2016 PRESS TV Russia’s military and NATO forces are holding parallel military exercises in two neighboring Balkan countries. Russian troops will participate in war games in Serbia while NATO is conducting military drills in Montenegro, media reported on Monday. Russian forces’ 13-day military exercise in Serbia is named “The Slavic Brotherhood 2016” and begins on Wednesday. It will include 150 Russian paratroopers, 50 air force staffers, three transport planes and an unspecified number of troops from Serbia and Belarus, Russia’s Defense Ministry said. The five-day NATO drill in Montenegro started on Monday and involves responding to floods and chemical attacks. It will involve 680 unarmed personnel from seven NATO countries and 10 partner states. In the past both Serbia and Montenegro were constitutional republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Both countries are socialist republics and traditional Russian Christian Orthodox allies. In 2003 this state union was re-formed into Serbia and Montenegro, and in 2006 the two became independent states. Since their split, the two Balkan neighbors seem to have headed in different directions strategically. Montenegro has taken a pro-Western stance which has been awarded by NATO with an offer to join the Northern Atlantic Alliance. The NATO invitation to Montenegro has met strong opposition from Russia. Meanwhile, Montenegrin officials have accused Russia of staging an alleged coup in October to topple its pro-Western government because of the NATO accession bid. Serbia, a NATO partner, has held exercises with the Western alliance, but not such a large one or with foreign troops and equipment participating on its soil.

What Keeps the F-35 Alive David Swanson is an author, activist, journalist, and radio host. He is a 2015 Nobel Peace Prize Nominee. He is director of WorldBeyondWar.com and campaign coordinator for RootsAction.org . He hosts Talk Nation Radio . Talk Nation Radio is on VT Radio and is syndicated by Pacifica Network. The show also airs on WTJU, Charlottesville, VA; WCSX-Detroit, MI; KGHI, Westport, WA; WHUS, Storrs, CT; WPRR, Grand Rapids, MI; KRFP-LP, Moscow, ID; KZGM, Cabool, MO; KMUD, Garberville, CA; WAZU, Peoria, IL; WXRD, Crown Point, IN; Geneva Radio, Geneva, NY; KKRN, Round Mountain, CA; KSKQ-LP, Ashland, OR; WUOW-LP, Oneonta, NY; No Lies Radio, Pinole, CA; WYAP-LP, Clay, WV; The Detour, Johnson City, TN; WZRD, Chicago, IL; WEFT, Champaign, IL; WXPI, Pittsburgh, PA; WDRT, Viroqua, WI; Veracity Now, online; Liberty and Justice Radio, Shirley, MA; Ithaca Community Radio, Ithaca, NY; WMCB, Greenfield, MA; PRX.org; KAOS 89.3fm, Olympia, WA; WUSB 90.1 FM, Stony Brook, NY; WOOL-FM, Bellow Falls, Vermont; WSLR-LP 96.5 in Sarasota, Florida. He also blogs at DavidSwanson.org and WarIsACrime.org And is a prolific author. His latest books are; War Is A Lie , Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union , and When the World Outlawed War Swanson holds a master's degree in philosophy from the University of Virginia. He has worked as a newspaper reporter and as a communications director, with jobs including press secretary for Dennis Kucinich's 2004 presidential campaign, media coordinator for the International Labor Communications Association, and three years as communications coordinator for ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. Read his full and complete biography at DavidSwanson.org and also visit book site at War Is Crime . What Keeps the F-35 Alive By David Swanson on October 31, 2016 Petition to Stop F-35 Going Global by David Swanson Imagine if a local business in your town invented a brand new tool that was intended to have an almost magical effect thousands of miles away. However, where the tool was kept and used locally became an area unsafe for children. Children who got near this tool tended to have increased blood pressure and increased stress hormones, lower reading skills, poorer memories, impaired auditory and speech perception, and impaired academic performance. Most of us would find this situation at least a little concerning, unless the new invention was designed to murder lots of people. Then it’d be just fine. Now, imagine if this same new tool ruined neighborhoods because people couldn’t safely live near it. Imagine if the government had to compensate people but kick them out of living near the location of this tool. Again, I think, we might find that troubling if mass murder were not the mission. Imagine also that this tool fairly frequently explodes, emitting highly toxic chemicals, particles, and fibers unsafe to breathe into the air for miles around. Normally, that’d be a problem. But if this tool is needed for killing lots of people, we’ll work with its flaws, won’t we? Now, what if this new gadget was expected to cost at least $1,400,000,000,000 over 50 years? And what if that money had to be taken away from numerous other expenses more beneficial for the economy and the world? What if the $1.4 trillion was drained out of the economy causing a loss of jobs and a radical diminuition of resources for education, healthcare, housing, environmental protection, or humanitarian aid? Wouldn’t that be a worry in some cases, I mean in those cases where the ability to kill tons of human beings wasn’t at stake? What if this product, even when working perfectly, was a leading destroyer of the earth’s natural environment? What if this high-tech toy wasn’t even designed to do what was expected of it and wasn’t even able to do what it was designed for? Amazingly, even those shortcomings do not matter as long as the intention is massive murder and destruction. Then, all is forgiven. The tool I’m describing is called the F-35. At RootsAction.org you can find a new petition launched by locally-minded people acting globally in places where the F-35 is intended to be based. Also at that link you’ll find explanations of how the tool I’ve been decribing is the F-35. The petition is directed to the United States Congress and the governments of Australia, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Turkey, the United Kingdom, Israel, Japan and South Korea from the world and from the people of Burlington, Vermont, and Fairbanks, Alaska, where the F-35 is to be based. This effort is being initiated by Vermont Stop the F35 Coalition, Save Our Skies Vermont, Western Maine Matters, Alaska Peace Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks Peace Club, North Star Chapter 146 Veterans For Peace, World Beyond War, RootsAction.org, Code Pink, and Ben Cohen. The petition reads: The F-35 is a weapon of offensive war, serving no defensive purpose. It is planned to cost the U.S. $1.4 trillion over 50 years. Because starvation on earth could be ended for $30 billion and the lack of clean drinking water for $11 billion per year, it is first and foremost through the wasting of resources that this airplane will kill. Military spending, contrary to popular misconception, also hurts the U.S. economy ( see here ) and other economies. The F-35 causes negative health impacts and cognitive impairment in children living near its bases. It renders housing near airports unsuitable for residential use. It has a high crash rate and horrible consequences to those living in the area of its crashes. Its emissions are a major environmental polluter. Wars are endangering the United States and other participating nations rather than protecting them. Nonviolent tools of law, diplomacy, aid, crisis prevention, and verifiable nuclear disarmament should be substituted for continuing counterproductive wars. Therefore, we, the undersigned, call for the immediate cancellation of the F-35 program as a whole, and the immediate cancellation of plans to base any such dangerous and noisy jets near populated areas. We oppose replacing the F-35 with any other weapon or basing the F-35 in any other locations. We further demand redirection of the money for the F-35 back into taxpayers’ pockets, and into environmental and human needs in the U.S., other F-35 customer nations, and around the world, including to fight climate change, pay off student debt, rebuild crumbling infrastructure, and improve education, healthcare, and housing. Add your name . David Swanson is an author, activist, journalist, and radio host. He is director of WorldBeyondWar.org and campaign coordinator for RootsAction.org . Swanson’s books include War Is A Lie . He blogs at DavidSwanson.org and WarIsACrime.org . He hosts Talk Nation Radio .He is a 2015 and 2016 Nobel Peace Prize Nominee. Follow him on Twitter: @davidcnswanson and FaceBook . Help support DavidSwanson.org, WarIsACrime.org, and TalkNationRadio.org by clicking here: http://davidswanson.org/donate .