Al Jazeera studio in Cairo set ablaze after angry protest

CAIRO (Reuters) - A studio used by the Al Jazeera TV network in Cairo was set on fire on Wednesday in an attack that an employee said was carried out by a mob that had been chanting slogans against the Qatari-owned station.

The studio overlooks Tahrir Square and is located near the scene of violent clashes between youths and the security forces this week in which dozens of people have been injured. Those confrontations grew out of protests to mark the first anniversary of lethal street battles in the same area.

The first-floor office used by Al Jazeera Mubasher Misr, a station set up after the uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak, was badly damaged by fire.

The studio's windows were smashed and two empty bottles, which had apparently been converted into fire bombs, were found inside the office.

The channel was dedicated to covering Egyptian affairs.

The Interior Ministry described the perpetrators as "trouble makers" who had attacked police officers when they had arrived to investigate, the state news agency reported. The public prosecutor has ordered an investigation.

"There were 200 to 250 people gathered outside the studio chanting against the channel," Ahmed Dessouki, a producer with the channel, told Reuters television.

(Additional reporting by Reuters TV; Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Andrew Osborn)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/al-jazeera-studio-cairo-set-ablaze-angry-protest-130136060.html

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Mescal: the spirit of Mexico | Life and style | guardian.co.uk

Rodolfo Favila of the Agave de Cortes mescal distillery in Oaxaca, Mexico. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty

Tequila has firm roots in British drinking culture, typically served in a shot glass with a smattering of salt followed by amnesia and a wince. But it's taken a while for mescal, its stronger and tastier forefather, to emerge from the Mexican countryside. In fact, it's only just become popular in metropolitan Mexico itself.

Mescal is the original agave spirit of which tequila is just one version, and genuinely "artisan" in that the vast majority is still made in dusty-floored family distilleries no larger than a double decker bus. It's made by slowly roasting the agave heart in underground pit ovens (which gives the finished product a smoky flavour), then mashing them to extract the juice which is fermented and distilled. Nothing else is added, the only extra being naturally-occurring yeasts that float in from the outback. Its simplicity means the people who make it think of mescal as more like wine than a spirit, despite it having an average ABV of 50%.

In the southern Mexican countryside they actually call mescal "vino" as it's drunk in wine glasses before, during and after dinner as it has been for centuries. They must have a riot in the wilderness, as this nectar creates a funky buzz - it's uplifting while most alcoholic drinks are depressants. After a while it's even stimulating. The taste is unparalleled ? briny, musty and peaty like some scotch - but the warmth it creates is the main charm.

With all that it's got going for it, it seems strange that it's been the preserve of pastoral old-timers for so long, but the majority of urban Mexicans are aspirational souls who prefer newness to tradition. However, in the last 15 years this mindset has changed and a new generation has embraced its home-grown culture and started shouting about it.

While visitors to Mexico have long known of and enjoyed mescal, about five years ago word hit San Francisco, New York, and then Berlin. Now the drink has come to the UK and a couple of dedicated "mezcalerias" have now opened in London (Qui Qui Ri Qui in Hackney and Wahaca's new Charlotte Street mezcalaria). You can also find it in good Mexican restaurants, although it's by no means spreading like wildfire - importing it requires dealing directly with tiny distilleries, many of whom can't afford the trademark and branding required to actually export.

If you do find yourself heading to a mezcalaria, arrive replete. Always sip it (if you ask for a slammer you're likely to be barred) with a side of chilli-sprinkled orange slices, although roasted grasshoppers or fried larvae are more popular back in Oaxaca. Lengthen the experience with cold Mexican lager and plenty of water. Have no preconceptions when it comes to flavour (Qui Qui Ri Qui's idiosyncratic tasting notes include phrases such as "lighter fuel and barbecue sauce") but you're likely to get smoke and chilli notes.

You can test a mescal's quality by rubbing a bit on the back of your hand - if it goes sticky it contains unnatural sugars. A pure, craft mescal shouldn't even give you a hangover (I can verify this, kind of), and ask to have a good look at the bottle you're drinking from - it will usually be hand signed and plastered with colourful, abstract Zapotec graphics.

Also, get in there quick. UK mescalheads (their term, not mine) are already worried the spirit will go the same way as tequila - watered down and industrialised. Large investment groups are already building huge factories to produce up to 100,000 litres a day ? your average family distillery churns out around 3,000 annually. For an experience that's more Oaxaca coastline than first year frat party, try it very soon.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2012/nov/21/mescal-the-spirit-of-mexico

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Extreme weather tough on transportation system

FILE - This Oct. 30, 2012 file photo shows water reaching the street level of the flooded Battery Park Underpass, Tuesday in New York, remnants from Superstorm Sandy. Extreme weather is a growing threat to the nation's lifelines _ its roads, bridges, railways, airports and transit systems _ leaving states and cities trying to come to terms with a new normal. (AP Photo/ Louis Lanzano, File)

FILE - This Oct. 30, 2012 file photo shows water reaching the street level of the flooded Battery Park Underpass, Tuesday in New York, remnants from Superstorm Sandy. Extreme weather is a growing threat to the nation's lifelines _ its roads, bridges, railways, airports and transit systems _ leaving states and cities trying to come to terms with a new normal. (AP Photo/ Louis Lanzano, File)

FILE - This Oct. 30, 2012 file photo shows man peering into the closed Bowling Green subway station in New York, after Superstorm Sandy his the east Coast. Extreme weather is a growing threat to the nation's lifelines _ its roads, bridges, railways, airports and transit systems _ leaving states and cities trying to come to terms with a new normal. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

FILE - This Nov. 19, 2012 file photo shows a North Carolina Department of Transportation worker jumping over running ocean water as he moves traffic cones on the damaged section of N.C. highway 12 just north of the Mirlo Beach area in Rodanthe on Hatteras Island, N.C. Extreme weather is a growing threat to the nation?s lifelines _ its roads, bridges, railways, airports and transit systems _ leaving states and cities trying to come to terms with a new normal. (AP Photo/The Virginian-Pilot,Steve Earley, File) MAGS OUT

This aerial handout photo provided by the Omaha Airport Authority, taken June 15, 2011, shows flooding around the airport in Omaha, Neb. Extreme weather is a growing threat to the nation's lifelines _ its roads, bridges, railways, airports and transit systems _ leaving states and cities trying to come to terms with a new normal. (AP Photo/Omaha Airport Authority)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Wild weather is taking a toll on roads, airports, railways and transit systems across the country.

That's leaving states and cities searching for ways to brace for more catastrophes like Superstorm Sandy that are straining the nation's transportation lifelines beyond what their builders imagined.

Despite their concerns about intense rain, historic floods and record heat waves, some transportation planners find it too politically sensitive to say aloud a source of their weather worries: climate change.

Political differences are on the minds of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, whose advice on the design and maintenance of roads and bridges is closely followed by states. The association recently changed the name of its Climate Change Steering Committee to the less controversial Sustainable Transportation, Energy Infrastructure and Climate Solutions Steering Committee.

Still, there is a recognition that the association's guidance will need to be updated to reflect the new realities of global warming.

"There is a whole series of standards that are going to have to be revisited in light of the change in climate that is coming at us," said John Horsley, the association's executive director.

In the latest and most severe example, Superstorm Sandy inflicted the worst damage to the New York subway system in its 108-year history, halted Amtrak and commuter train service to the city for days, and forced cancellation of thousands of airline flights at airports in New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia.

In Washington state, "we joked we were having 100-year storms every year," said Paula Hammond, head of the state's Department of Transportation.

Last year flooding threatened to swallow up the Omaha, Neb., airport, which sits on a bend in the Missouri River. The ground beneath the airfield became saturated, causing about 100 sinkholes and "soil boils" ? uplifted areas of earth where water bubbles to the surface. The airport was spared through a massive effort that included installing 70 dewatering wells and stacking sandbags around airport equipment and buildings.

Record-smashing heat from Colorado to Virginia last summer caused train tracks to bend and highway pavement to buckle. A US Airways jet was delayed at Washington's Reagan National Airport after its wheels got stuck in a soft spot in the tarmac.

Dallas had more than five weeks of consecutive 100 degree-plus high temperatures. "That puts stress on pavements that previously we didn't see," Horsley said.

States and cities are trying to come to terms with what the change means to them and how they can prepare for it. Transportation engineers build highways and bridges to last 50 or even 100 years. Now they are reconsidering how to do that, or even whether they can, with so much uncertainty.

No single weather event, even a storm like Sandy, can be ascribed with certainty to climate change, according to scientists. But the increasing severity of extreme events fits with the kind of changing climate conditions that scientists have observed.

For example, several climate scientists say sea level along New York and much of the Northeast is about a foot higher than a century ago, mostly because of man-made global warming, and that added significantly to the damage when Sandy hit.

Making transportation infrastructure more resilient will be expensive, and the bill would come at a particularly difficult time. Aging highways, bridges, trains and buses already are in need of repair or replacement and no longer can handle peak traffic demands. More than 140,000 bridges are structurally deficient or obsolete. The problem only will worsen as the U.S. population grows.

A congressional commission estimated that all levels of government together are spending $138 billion a year less than is needed to maintain the current system and to make modest improvements.

"The infrastructure of the nation is aging and it's at risk because, quite frankly, we're all not investing enough to take care of these facilities," said Hammond, the chairwoman of the climate committee. "And now we're facing extreme weather threats that cause us to need emergency response capabilities beyond what we've had in the past."

In Washington state, "we have seen more erratic weather patterns that we haven't had before, so we really can't imagine what kind of winter or summer we're going to have anymore," Hammond said.

More frequent heavy rainfalls in the western half of the state have increased the volume and velocity of water in rivers and streams, undermining the foundations of bridges. Rising sea levels are eroding coastal roads. In the drier eastern half of the state, more frequent wildfires have forced road maintenance crews to change their methods in an effort to prevent sparks that might cause a blaze.

"Each time you replace a bridge, states have to be thinking about not just what kind of traffic demand there is, but how do I make sure this is a bridge that will withstand the future given the erratic weather patterns and climate change we're seeing," Hammond said. "It's a new layer of analysis."

About half the states have taken some steps toward assessing their most critical vulnerabilities, experts said. But few have gone to the next step of making preparations. New York was an exception. Not only had transit officials made detailed assessments of the potential effects of climate change, but they'd started to put protections in place. Subway entrances and ventilation grates were raised in low-lying areas to reduce flooding, but that effort was overwhelmed by Sandy.

"They got hit with what was even worse than even their worst-case scenario," said Deron Lovaas, a transportation expert with the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group. "This was an active test of ... climate preparedness, and they failed."

While more than 97 percent of the scientists who publish peer-reviewed research say that global warming is real and man-made, the issue remains highly charged. In conservative states, the term "climate change" is often associated with left-leaning politics.

Planning for weather extremes is hampered by reluctance among many officials to discuss anything labeled "climate change," Horsley said.

"In the Northeast, you can call it climate change. ... That's an acceptable term in that region of the country," he said. "Elsewhere, in the South and the (Mountain) West, it's still not an acceptable term because of ideology or whatever you want to call it."

For example, Horsley said, in North Dakota, where there has been severe flooding in recent years, state officials avoid bringing up global warming, preferring to couch their discussions on how to shore up infrastructure as flood preparation.

The Obama administration has also shied away from talking publicly about adaptation to climate change. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood's office refused to allow any department officials to be interviewed by The Associated Press about the agency's efforts to help states adapt. The Transportation Department and other federal agencies are involved in preparing a national assessment of climate change impacts and adaptations that may be needed. Their report is expected to be finished in the next few months.

Steve Winkelman, director of transportation and adaptation programs at the Center for Clean Air Policy, said he uses terms like "hazard mitigation" and "emergency preparedness" rather than climate change when talking to state and local officials.

"This is about my basement flooding, not the polar bear ? what I call inconvenient sewer overflow," Winkelman said. "It makes it real."

___

Online:

American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials http://www.transportation.org

___

Follow Joan Lowy at http://www.twitter.com/AP_Joan_Lowy

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-11-22-US-Climate-Change-Transportation/id-0f87f51779a54b40948adf3e48791e0d

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CSC Evict Sci-Fi Soc from Coveted House 6 Room

News ? By editor on November 20, 2012 11:32 am

Hannah Ryan

News Staff

The University Times has learned that the Central Societies Committee (CSC) executive committee has voted to move the Dublin University Science Fiction Society out of its allocated room in House 6 to a room shared with DU Gamers Society in the Arches in Goldsmith Hall.

The decision was reportedly announced by Ronan Hodson, honorary treasurer of the CSC, at a recent meeting of the executive committee. The official reason given is that the society are not making full use of such a large space ? the biggest society space in House 6 ? and that the ever-growing number of recognised societies dictates that no society can justify having a room for its exclusive occupation.

The decision to move the society from its current location was made on Wednesday 14th November, but the society was not informed of the decision for a further 26 hours, by which stage The University Times was already aware of the outcome of the meeting.

Speaking to The University Times, a Sci-Fi Society source has said that this decision has ?long been in the making? and expressed the society committee?s collective suspicion that the room was being earmarked for Q Soc in their stead. This suspicion, said the spokesperson, is based on Hodson and CSC secretary David Doyle?s shared affiliation to Q Soc. Doyle held the position of auditor in the most recent academic year and Hodson held the same position in his days as a student. The spokesperson also questioned whether or not quorum was reached at the meeting of the executive. Doyle denied both of those suggestions when speaking to The University Times on Sunday afternoon.

The society have claimed that the decision was announced by Hodson at the end of the meeting. The position of honorary treasurer is non-voting and does not imbue the holder with decision-making authority.

Sci-Fi committee members approached the CSC on Friday to request a copy of the minutes of the meeting but that request was denied on the basis that sensitive information had been relayed in another part of the meeting. A further request for the minutes of the relevant section of the meeting only was also denied.

A University Times source indicated that this was indeed the case, but Doyle stated that the decision was that of the executive and that quorum was in fact reached at the meeting: ?it was an exec decision?exec voted on it.?

When questioned about the suggestion that Q Soc would replace Sci-Fi in the room, he said that ?the list of who?s moving in hasn?t been decided yet?all this movement is part of a larger movement of all societies. This was the decision that the exec felt was best for societies in general.?

A member of the DU Gamers Society committee, who would be sharing its space with Sci-Fi if the move goes ahead, have expressed concerns to The University Times that there is no room for another society in their room in Goldsmith Hall. Doyle refuted this claim, stating: ?it?s been assessed by the CSC exec and it?s felt that there is definitely room for both societies.?

When asked about the subject, and the prospect of several societies being moved in to share Sci Fi?s room, Sam Heavey, treasurer of the society, stated emphatically that ?I am not happy with the decisions? the logic, we believe, is unsound. We have addressed our concerns with the CSC, but they refused to acknowledge it. We may have a chance as they did say we can write a proposal and officially submit it to them.

?Our proposal is simply to move some other societies into the room with us that have already agreed to it, if the CSC allows.?

Asked if he thought the move to be a form of punishment for the society?s unsatisfactory accounts for 2011/12 and poor security of its room that led to ?1,000 being stolen during broad daylight, Heavey said ?I do not believe that we are being punished. They claim to have had plans to move societies, although it possibly put us in the spotlight.?

Source: http://www.universitytimes.ie/2012/11/20/csc-evict-sci-fi-soc-from-coveted-house-6-room/

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US, Mexico sign rules on sharing Colorado River

CORONADO, Calif. (AP) ? The United States and Mexico agreed Tuesday to new rules on sharing water from the Colorado River, capping a five-year effort on how to spread the pain of drought and reap the benefits of wet years.

The far-reaching agreement gives Mexico badly needed water storage capacity in Lake Mead, which stretches across Nevada and Arizona.

Mexico will forfeit some of its share of the river during shortages, bringing itself in line with western U.S. states that already have agreed how much they will surrender when waters recede. Mexico also will capture some surpluses when waters rise.

Also under the plan, water agencies in California, Arizona and Nevada will buy water from Mexico, which will use some of the money to upgrade its canals and other infrastructure.

The agreement, coming in the final days of the administration of Mexican President Felipe Calderon, is a major amendment to a 1944 treaty considered sacred by many south of the border. The treaty grants Mexico 1.5 million acre-feet of river water each year ? enough to supply about 3 million homes ? making it the lifeblood of Tijuana and other cities in northwest Mexico.

The pact represents a major departure from years of hard feelings in Mexico about how the U.S. manages the 1,450-mile river, which runs from the Rocky Mountains to Mexico. In 2001, U.S. states established rules on how to divide surpluses but set aside nothing for Mexico. Several years later, the U.S. government lined a border canal in California with concrete to prevent water from seeping through the dirt into Mexican farms.

"We have chosen collaboration over conflict, we have chosen cooperation and consensus over discord," said U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who called the new pact the most important international accord on the Colorado River since the 1944 treaty.

Mexico will begin to surrender some of its Colorado River allotment when the elevation in Lake Mead drops to 1,075 feet and begin to reap surpluses when it rises to 1,145 feet. Mexico will be allowed to store up to 250,000 acre-feet of water in the reservoir and draw on nearly all of those reserves whenever needed.

The agreement expires in five years and is being billed as a trial run, potentially making it more palatable in Mexico.

"These are big political steps for Mexico to take," said Jeffrey Kightlinger, general manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which will buy some of Mexico's water. "Chances are we won't have a surplus and we won't have a shortage but, if we do, we'll have the guidelines in place on how we're going to handle it."

In 2007, facing an eight-year drought, California, Arizona and Nevada agreed on how much each state should sacrifice during shortages on the river. That same year, the U.S. and Mexico promised to work on ways to jointly address shortages.

The negotiations gained a sense of urgency for Mexico in 2010 after a magnitude-7.2 earthquake damaged canals and other infrastructure, forcing it to store water temporarily in Lake Mead.

"No matter how sacred the treaty is, and it is, the evidence is overwhelming that you have to adjust it," said Carlos de la Parra, who advised the Mexican government on the agreement.

Los Angeles-based Metropolitan and two other agencies ? the Southern Nevada Water Authority and the Central Arizona Water Conservation District ? will buy water from Mexico as part of $21 million in payments from the U.S. to Mexico that also call for wetland preservation and other environmental measures south of the border.

California's largely agricultural Imperial Irrigation District, the largest single recipient of Colorado River water, refused to sign the agreement because it felt it should have been allowed to buy some of the water from Mexico. U.S. officials said they hoped to address those concerns.

"This is such a historic arrangement that I think, at the end of the day, it's going to be difficult for Imperial not to sign on," Salazar said.

The river is also a major source of water for Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.

___

Associated Press writer Ken Ritter in Las Vegas contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-mexico-sign-rules-sharing-colorado-river-223128598.html

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HP alleges Autonomy wrongdoing, takes $8.8 bln charge

REUTERS - Hewlett-Packard stunned Wall Street by alleging a massive accounting scandal at its British software unit Autonomy that will cost the company the majority of $8.8 billion in charges.

It was the latest in a string of reversals that have renewed questions about the basic competence of the storied company's board and senior managers.

HP said on Tuesday it discovered "serious accounting improprieties" and "a willful effort by Autonomy to mislead shareholders," after a whistleblower came forward following the ouster of Autonomy's then-chief executive, Mike Lynch, in May.

The charge follows a nearly $11 billion writedown last quarter for the company's EDS services division.

The technology company has been roiled in the past few years by a revolving door of CEOs, overall management turnover and challenges in its core personal computer and printer businesses.

HP's stock slid to a 10-year low, dropping 12 percent to $11.71 in regular trading on Tuesday. Shares are down nearly 50 percent year to date.

Lynch "flatly rejected" HP's allegations and said he was "shocked" but confident he would be absolved of any wrongdoing.

He had not been notified by HP about the allegation before it was made public, nor had he been contacted by any authorities, Lynch said in an interview with Reuters.

HP took $8.8 billion in charges in the quarter, with $5 billion tied to the problems at Autonomy. The rest of the charge related to the "recent trading value of HP stock and headwinds against anticipated synergies and marketplace performance," HP said.

HP said it has referred the matter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's enforcement division and the UK's Serious Fraud Office for civil and criminal investigation. It said it would take legal action to recoup "what we can for our shareholders."

Both agencies declined to comment.

HP Chief Executive Meg Whitman, who voted for the deal while she was on HP's board, said the investigation of Autonomy's finances - both external and internal - will take multiple years as it makes it way through the courts in both countries.

"Most of the board was here and voted for this deal, and we feel terribly about that," said Whitman on a call with analysts. "The board relied on audited financials, audited by Deloitte. Not Brand X accounting firm, but Deloitte," she said, adding that KPMG was hired to audit Deloitte.

"Neither of them saw what we now see after someone came forward to point us in the right direction," Whitman said.

INFLATED SALES, REVENUE

HP alleged that Autonomy's former management inflated revenue and gross margins to mislead potential buyers. It said Autonomy executives mischaracterized revenue from low-end hardware sales as software sales and booked some licensing deals with partners as revenue, even though no customer bought products.

HP said Autonomy claimed its gross margins were in the 40 percent to 45 percent range while realistically they were in the 28 percent to 30 percent range.

Moreover, Autonomy always represented itself as a software firm but 10 percent to 15 percent of its revenue came from money-losing sales of low-end hardware, HP said.

The company also claimed that Autonomy was booking licensing revenue upfront before deals closed.

HP has embarked on an internal investigation, including a forensic review by PricewaterhouseCoopers of Autonomy's historical financial results, under HP General Counsel John Schultz after the whistleblower came forward in May.

Schultz said since the accounting troubles occurred prior to the acquisition of Autonomy, it took a long time before HP was in a position to make the news public.

"Not surprisingly, Autonomy did not have sitting on a shelf somewhere a set of well-maintained books that would walk you through what was actually happening from a financial perspective inside the company," he said. "Indeed critical documents were missing from the obvious places, and it required that we look in every nook and cranny."

Whitman said her predecessor, Leo Apotheker and the former chief strategy officer, Shane Robison, were the key people behind the Autonomy acquisition.

Apotheker bought Autonomy to diversify HP's business and beef up its portfolio to provide one-stop shopping for corporations. The $11 billion acquisition of Autonomy - heavily criticized by investors as too costly - was a key part of the plan to transform HP.

Apotheker was ousted as CEO in September 2011 after just 11 months on the job and Robison left soon after.

In a statement, Apotheker said he was "stunned and disappointed" by the revelations and offered to make himself available to HP and the authorities to get to the bottom of the matter.

Whitman on Tuesday stood by Autonomy's technology and products despite the allegations, saying it will be the growth engine for HP. The former California gubernatorial candidate has been trying to move beyond some of HP's past controversies, which includes the ouster of the past two CEOs, a haphazard product strategy and a plan to sell its PC unit that was later dropped.

HP has been running Autonomy since the acquisition closed in October 2011, but it didn't find the accounting problems on its own. The company investigated only after a senior Autonomy executive came forward to detail the financial metrics surrounding Autonomy.

Advisers working on behalf of Autonomy included Qatalyst Partners, the investment bank run by technology investment banker Frank Quattrone; UBS; Goldman Sachs; Citigroup; JPMorgan Chase, and Bank of America. Perella Weinberg Partners and Barclays Capital advised for HP.

Law firms for Autonomy were Slaughter & May and Morgan Lewis. The firms for HP included Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher; Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer; Drinker Biddle & Reath; and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.

Robert Enderle, a tech analyst at the Enderle Group, said he has never seen such a potential misrepresentation of financials.

"You have to rely on what the firm gives you during due diligence and I've never seen a misstatement at this level," Enderle said.

If the charges are true, it could result in a massive punitive damages award for HP, Enderle said.

Other analysts hoped it was the end of the bad news for HP.

"This kind of feels like the last of the bad news," Forrester analyst Frank Gillett said.

FOURTH-QUARTER LOSS

The Autonomy allegations and announcement of the charge coincided with the reporting of a fiscal fourth-quarter loss for HP.

HP said net revenue fell 6.7 percent to $29.96 billion for the quarter, ended October 31, from $32.12 billion a year earlier. Analysts, on average, expected $30.43 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue from all of its main business units declined, with the personal computer division recording the steepest drop, at 14 percent while revenue from printing fell 5 percent.

HP reported a quarterly net loss of $6.85 billion, or $3.49 a share, versus a profit of $239 million, or 12 cents, a year earlier.

The sprawling company, which employs more than 300,000 people globally, is undergoing a restructuring aimed at focusing on enterprise services in the mold of International Business Machines Corp .

"To put it bluntly ... this story has been an unmitigated train wreck, and it seems every time management speaks to the Street, there is new negative incremental information forthcoming," said ISI Group analyst Brian Marshall. (Reporting by Poornima Gupta in San Francisco, Nicola Leske in New York and Supantha Mukherjee in Bangalore; Additional reporting by Paul Sandle; Editing by Peter Lauria, Saumyadeb Chakrabarty, Jeffrey Benkoe and Steve Orlofsky)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hewlett-packard-takes-8-8-billion-charge-revs-131439660.html

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