Tiffany holiday sales weaker than expected

Jewelry company Tiffany & Co.'s sales for the critical holiday season rose 4 percent globally, while a key revenue metric was basically flat compared with a year ago. The retailer's holiday sales increase was lower than expected, and it now anticipates full-year earnings at the lower end of its prior forecast.

Shares fell more than 9 percent in premarket trading Thursday.

The November through December holiday season is crucial for retailers, as it can make up as much as 40 percent of their revenue for the year.

Tiffany's worldwide sales totaled $992 million. The company said that revenue at stores open at least a year was unchanged from the prior-year period. This figure is a key indicator of a retailer's health because it excludes results from stores recently opened or closed.

REUTERS

A Tiffany & Co. store front display is seen in Bethesda, Maryland this past November.

The New York company reported its biggest holiday sales gain in the Asia-Pacific region, where sales climbed 13 percent to $187 million. Revenue at stores open at least a year increased 7 percent.

In the Americas, sales rose 3 percent to $516 million. Its flagship New York store posted a 2 percent drop in revenue at stores open at least a year, as did its branch stores. Tiffany said the results were relatively similar across most of the region. Online and catalog sales for the Americas climbed 4 percent.

Sales also rose slightly in Europe and fell 5 percent in Japan.

Tiffany also said that other sales more than doubled mostly because in July five of its stores in the United Arab Emirates were converted from independently operated distribution to company-run stores.

The company said that its holiday sales growth was weaker than expected. It now foresees full-year earnings at the lower end of its previous outlook of $3.20 to $3.40 per share. Analysts polled by FactSet expect earnings of $3.29 per share.

Tiffany's stock declined $5.81, or 9.2 percent, to $57.45 before the market open.

The company said that it is being conservative on its 2013 sales growth expectations due to uncertain economic conditions. It currently anticipates earnings will rise 6 percent to 9 percent.

Tiffany & Co. had 274 stores at 2012's end. It will report its full-year financial results in March.

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Unemployment claims on the rise in Miami-Dade

Miami-Dade County ended 2012 with more people joining the unemployment rolls than it did last year.

The late-year increase in first-time unemployment claims broke a trend of declining applications throughout most of 2012. First-time claims spiked about 15 percent in November and December, with about 17,500 new applications in all over those 60 days. That’s compared to 15,000 during the same time in 2011. For the entire year, claims were still down about 10 percent.

In Broward, overall claims were down 15 percent. In November and December, Broward residents applies for 10,200 first-time unemployment benefits, compared to about 10,500 in 2011 — a 3 percent drop.

DOUGLAS HANKS

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Mystery fish invades Keys waters from the Pacific

Deep-diving spearfishermen surfaced with a mystery last month south of Pacific Reef Light off North Key Largo.

"I was shocked when I saw it," Wayne Grammes said. "It’s an ugly-looking fish with a face on it that looks like a tripletail and a tail like a jewfish."

The 15-pound, 27-inch fish speared by Greg Caterino of Tavernier turned out to be a humpback grouper — a species native not to Pacific Reef but to the tropical Pacific Ocean off Asia.

"This is the equivalent of a hunter in North America finding a zebra," said Grammes, who was fishing Dec. 23 with Caterino.

"We’ve seen the successful marine invasion of lionfish," Reef Environmental Education Foundation Project Director Lad Akins said this week. "We certainly do not want to see it happen again with another Pacific species."

Akins, a renowned expert in fish identification, confirmed the speared fish was a humpback grouper. With an array of black spots, it’s also known as a panther grouper.

"This is not the first time these have been sighted in Florida," Akins said. "There have been five or six reported as far back as the 1980s, but all from different parts of the state."

"The juveniles are really popular in the aquarium trade," Akins said. "It’s quite likely that this is released fish."

Young humpback grouper sport a brilliant white color with an attractive spray of black spots. But they outgrow most privately owned saltwater tanks — and cast a hungry eye on other tank fish. "Just like lionfish, they are carnivores," Akins said.

At 27 inches, the humpback grouper was nearly as large as they grow, Akins said.

Caterino and Grammes, a Miami-Dade resident and frequent Keys diver, were searching a deep ledge about 95 feet down when they saw what appeared to be a black grouper. After it was taken, it was apparent that it was not something local, Grammes said.

The humpback grouper bears a passing similarity to the marbled grouper, a native species that is considered rare.

"This could be only the tip of the iceberg," Grammes said. "Who knows how many are down there? This was in an area where not many people go."

Lionfish gained a foothold in the U.S. and Caribbean largely due to their prolific breeding and venomous spines that fend off predators.

Humpback grouper could lack defenses needed to become established, Akins said, "but we really don’t know."

Due to the possibility of mistaking a humpback for a protected native species, Akins said, people seeing one should report its location to REEF rather than harvest it. To find out how, go to www.reef.org.

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European businesses slow to go online: study

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European businesses are not doing enough to use the internet to grow their customer base and promote products, Belgian database and marketing firm Email-Brokers said after studying 13 million websites.

Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands have the highest proportion of companies online but even in these countries 40 percent of business have no internet presence, it found.

The European Commission has estimated that companies which exploit the full potential of the internet create, on average, more than twice as many jobs.

“It is one of the ways to create employment and economic growth and it is not Star Trek, it exists today,” Email-Brokers head William Vande Wiele said.

Britain and Liechtenstein were the most advanced in terms of e-commerce – defined as being able to process orders and payments, with 16 percent and 17 percent, respectively, of business sites offering it, compared with 6 percent in Belgium and 9 percent in Austria, Germany and the Netherlands.

Vande Wiele said many corporate websites were badly designed, and did not provide basics such as adequate contact information or company details.

In Belgium, 91 percent of all corporate websites did not meet such basic standards, compared with about 20 percent in Luxembourg and France, the study concluded.

“Sites which do not comply with such minimum standards do not inspire confidence and before buying something online a user will need a minimum level of confidence,” Vande Wiele said.

Many websites are not kept up to date, the study also found, with more than 80 percent of business sites in Belgium, Greece, Italy and Spain not updated for more than a year.

(Reporting by Robert-Jan Bartunek; Editing by Dan Lalor)

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Waitress strips naked for final shift at Roberta's

Restaurant goers at Roberta's, a pizzeria in Bushwick, Brooklyn, got more than just their dinner this past weekend. Customers got an eyeful when they were being served by a naked waitress.

The eatery is tucked away in an old garage that is graffiti-laden. Customers often wait hours for the chance to dine on its Neapolitan-style pies, some of which have cheeky names like "Cheeses Christ."

This past Friday patrons weren't talking about the pizza, though, but about a waitress who got naked to celebrate her last shift at the restaurant.

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The server wore nothing but a pair of ankle-high black boots and ripped fishnet stockings and paraded in front hungry-eyed patrons.

One patron, Vicky Oyomba, posted a picture on her Twitter account. The message "Peace out" was scrawled on the waitress' back in black marker.

To read more, go to MyFoxNY

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4 smartphones with standout features

These days, smartphones are almost all drawing from the same bag of tricks, and it can be hard to tell one from the next. If the average smartphone will do all the basic things you want it to, what does it take to be special? Here are four smartphones with unusual features that really make them stand out.

Nokia Lumia 920

Rating: 4 stars out of 5 (Excellent)

The good: This phone forges new Windows Phone ground with wireless-charging support and a highly sensitive screen you can use with gloves. Moreover, Nokia helps fill in Windows Phone OS gaps with a few missing features.

The bad: A thick, heavy build and slippery finish for some colors make the Lumia 920 harder to hold and carry, and the phone’s overhyped camera doesn’t have enough settings.

The cost: $99.99

The bottom line: Nokia’s Lumia 920 is heavy and thick, but if you want the most powerful, feature-rich Windows Phone smartphone available, this is it.

Samsung Galaxy Note 2

Rating: 4 stars out of 5 (Excellent)

The good: Oodles of screen real estate make this terrific for videos, games, and reading, and its improved stylus aids productivity. A blazing quad-core processor, a great camera and strong battery life round out the advantages of this Android 4.1 phone.

The bad: The huge display makes it unwieldy to carry, and hiccups in the S Pen stylus and apps can slow you down. The pricey Note 2 isn’t a suitable tablet replacement across all categories.

The cost: $149.99 to $309.99

The bottom line: Samsung delivers a powerful, boundary-pushing device that gets a lot right. Yet its complicated features and high price raise questions about its purpose.

Motorola Droid Razr Maxx HD

Rating: 4 stars out of 5 (Excellent)

The good: This Droid (Verizon) offers fast performance, a big, eye-popping screen and luxurious design. It also has great call quality, lots of storage, 4G data speeds, and unbeatable battery life.

The bad: The major weakness is a camera that produces subpar images. The phone is filled with Verizon bloatware as well.

The cost: $149.99 to $299.99

The bottom line: Motorola’s fast, stylish Droid Razr Maxx HD offers outstanding battery life, but its camera captures unimpressive images.

Samsung Galaxy Beam

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5 (Very good)

The good: An integrated pico projector, as well as a dual-core processor, 720p video capture and a 4-inch Super AMOLED screen.

The bad: The projection software needs some work, the 5-megapixel camera sometimes blurs indoor shots, and the Beam is thicker and heavier than many phones.

The cost: $474.49 to $839.99

The bottom line: Despite weak software, the Galaxy Beam’s bright projector pushes boundaries, and strong smartphone features make it a worthy standalone device.

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Police shoot, kill woman accused of holding knife to her boyfriend

A woman who was holding her boyfriend at knife point as their 3-year-old boy was in their home was shot to death by deputies in Lake Worth Tuesday morning.

Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputies were called to the home in a duplex about 2:45 a.m. by the boyfriend who was frantic, saying she was going to kill him, sheriff’s spokeswoman Teri Barbera said.

“When we arrived she had him by the shirt with a knife in hand. We told her to put the knife down repeatedly. When she turned to stab him, we shot her. In an effort to save his life, we shot,” Barbera said.

Though deputies then ran to her assistance and called paramedics, the woman, who is 24, died from her injuries.

Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said Tuesday morning, “If the deputies had not taken the action they did she would have knifed him on the spot.”

Bradshaw said the 911 calls reveal the couple were in a “violent confrontation” and that the boyfriend was trying to get the child away from the boy’s mother. When deputies arrived, the woman let go of the child and came through the front door with her boyfriend, holding him by the shirt with one hand and a knife in the other.

“The deputies actions actually saved his life and probably, further down the road, the child’s life,” Bradshaw said.

Bradshaw said deputies had been called before to the duplex and that the couple has had previous problems. He did not release their names, but said the woman was 24-years-old and her boyfriend is about the same age. Bradshaw also said there are possible child abuse charges pending against the woman.

The boy will likely be placed with relatives, Bradshaw said.

This is the second shooting death of 2013 in Palm Beach County. A bartender at a Boca Raton restaurant was shot and killed in a robbery Friday, Jan. 4.

Rafael Rodriguez was bartending when the restaurant was robbed by several men. The robbers took personal items, including wallets, jewelry and cellphones from the victims. As the robbers were leaving, Rodriguez exchanged words with one of them. The robber fired at Rodriguez, striking him once. Rodriguez, 46, died at a local hospital after being shot once.

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Conn. lawmaker apologizes over Facebook post

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut lawmaker has apologized after saying in a Facebook post that shooting victim and former Arizona U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords should “stay out of my towns.”

Giffords last week visited Newtown, Conn., where a gunman killed 20 young children and six adults at an elementary school last month. The Democrat, who met with families of the victims, was critically wounded two years ago in a deadly mass shooting in Tucson, Ariz.

The Hartford Courant posted images Sunday showing Republican state Rep. DebraLee Hovey‘s Facebook comments. In one dated Friday she says, “Gabby Giffords stay out of my towns!!”

Hovey released a statement Monday saying her comments were insensitive and that she apologizes if she offended anyone.

Hovey had said in another post that the visit was political.

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Gang member gunned down in Harlem: cops

A gang member was gunned down in a Harlem housing project last night, authorities said.

Jayyidah Woodley, 32, was found in the lobby of the King Tower Houses on Lenox Avenue at 11:30 p.m., police said.

She was shot several times in the chest and was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

Woodley has 12 prior arrests, including one for murder, and is a member of the Bloods gang, police sources said.

It was not immediately known what sparked the violence, police said.

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Norwegian Cruise Line to go public

In a long expected move, Miami-based Norwegian Cruise Line Tuesday announced plans to take the company public.

The company has registered an initial public offering of 23,529,412 ordinary shares with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The shares will be traded on the NASDAQ; no price has set been set.

The third largest ocean-going cruise line, Norwegian Cruise Line has 11 ships with itineraries in North America (including Alaska and Hawaii), the Caribbean, Bermuda, the Mediterranean and the Baltic. Genting Hong Kong - a subsidiary of Genting Group, a gambling and resort conglomerate that purchased the land currently occupied by The Miami Herald in 2010 for $236 million - owns 50 percent of the cruise line in a partnership with private equity firms Apollo Management and TPG.

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