GM Recalls Another 8.2 Million Vehicles

DETROIT (AP) — General Motors' safety crisis worsened on Monday when the automaker added 8.2 million vehicles to its huge list of cars recalled over faulty ignition switches.

The latest recalls involve mainly older midsize cars and bring GM's total number of recalls this year to over 28 million. GM said it was aware of three deaths, eight injuries and seven crashes involving the vehicles recalled on Monday. But the company said it has no conclusive evidence that faulty switches caused the crashes.

The Detroit company also said it plans to take a $1.2 billion charge in the second quarter for recall-related expenses. Added to a $1.3 billion charge in the first quarter, that brings total recall expenses for the year to $2.5 billion.

The latest recalls cover seven vehicles, including the Chevrolet Malibu from 1997 to 2005 and the Pontiac Grand Prix from 2004 to 2008. The recalls also cover a newer model, the 2003-2014 Cadillac CTS. GM said the recalls are for "unintended ignition key rotation."

CEO Mary Barra said the recalls stem from an extensive safety review within the company.

"If any other issues come to our attention, we will act appropriately and without hesitation," she said in a statement.

GM is urging people to remove everything from their key rings until the recalled cars can be repaired.

It also announced four other recalls Monday covering more than 200,000 additional vehicles. Most are to fix an electrical short in the driver's door that could disable the power locks and windows and even cause overheating.

The announcement temporarily halted trading of GM stock on Monday afternoon, but it resumed in about a half hour and was down 1.2 percent to $36.19.

GM Tells Dealers To Stop Selling Chevrolet Cruzes Because Of Airbag Problem

DETROIT, June 25 (Reuters) - General Motors Co on Wednesday said that it has told its North American dealers to stop selling new and used Chevrolet Cruze sedans from model years 2013 and 2014 because of a potential problem with the airbags.

The biggest U.S. automaker has not at this point recalled the cars in consumer hands, and is investigating how many vehicles have a faulty part for the airbags in the sedans, said a GM spokesman.

GM said it does not yet know whether there have been any crashes, injuries or deaths related to this issue.

(Reporting by Bernie Woodall; Editing by Chris Reese)

Aereo Loses Supreme Court Fight Against Broadcasters

The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that Aereo was violating copyright law by streaming broadcast TV signals to subscribers without paying for them, striking a major blow to a startup that had threatened to upend the industry's lucrative business model.

The court ruled 6 to 3 against Aereo, reversing a federal appeals court decision and handing a victory to broadcasters who had sued the startup, claiming Aereo was stealing their programming.

Aereo is a 2-year-old company that uses tiny antennas to capture broadcast airwaves and stream those signals to users who pay about $8 a month for the service. It offers a handful of network TV offerings in about a dozen cities, and subscribers can watch and record the programming on their computers and mobile devices.

Broadcast signals owned by networks like Fox, ABC, NBC and CBS are transmitted free of charge to anyone with a television and an antenna. But cable companies like Comcast and Time Warner pay these networks billions of dollars in fees for the right to re-broadcast the network TV channels as part of paid cable packages.

Aereo argued it doesn't need to pay those fees because the broadcast signals -- which it captures and retransmits to its subscribers via the Internet -- are free.

Aereo's fate is unclear in the wake of the verdict. Many experts predicted the startup would be forced to shut down if it lost the case. But in a statement after the ruling, Aereo founder Chet Kanojia said that while he was "disappointed" in the outcome, "our work is not done."

"We will continue to fight for our consumers and fight to create innovative technologies that have a meaningful and positive impact on our world," Kanojia said.

Though Aereo streams network TV to subscribers via the cloud, the justices said their ruling should not affect other tech companies that provide cloud services.

One of the broadcasters, 21st Century Fox, said in a statement that the decision against Aereo "is a win for consumers" because it protects copyright law and ensures "real innovation” in the television industry.

Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Stephen Breyer, Anthony Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan sided with the broadcasters. In their decision, the justices found there was "no critical difference" between Aereo's businesses model and that of a cable company, which is bound by law to pay retransmission fees to broadcasters.

Aereo argued it merely supplied subscribers with antennas, but the justices found Aereo "does not merely supply equipment" but also broadcasts programs publicly in violation of the Copyright Act.

"Aereo sells a service that allows subscribers to watch television programs, many of which are copyrighted, virtually as they are being broadcast," the opinion said.

In his opinion, Justice Breyer added that Aereo is providing a service that is "for all practical purposes a traditional cable system."

Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. joined Antonin Scalia in their dissent.

In a dissenting opinion, Justice Scalia said he agreed that "what Aereo is doing (or enabling to be done) to the networks’ copyrighted programming ought not to be allowed."

But Scalia said Aereo provides users with an antenna and may not be liable for copyright infringement because consumers -- and not Aereo -- choose which shows to broadcast.

"The point is that subscribers call all the shots," Scalia wrote.

Public Knowledge, a public interest group, called the Supreme Court's decision "very unfortunate for consumers" because Aereo "has provided an innovative service that brings consumers more choices, more control over their programming, and lower prices."

"We're concerned that the court's misreading of the law leaves consumers beholden to dominant entertainment and cable companies that constantly raise prices and gouge consumers," the group said in a statement.

Juicy Couture, All But Dead, Is Plotting A Comeback

Juicy Couture, all but dead as its last U.S. stores close this month, is planning a comeback.

The label, best known in the early-2000s for rhinestone-bedazzled tracksuits, is shifting from shopping malls to high-end fashion districts with a new product line. The first of its planned new boutiques –- tentatively named the World of Juicy -– will open in New York City next spring, according to Jamie Salter, chairman and CEO of Authentic Brands Group, which owns the label.

By the time Fifth and Pacific Companies –- now Kate Spade & Co. -– sold Juicy to licensing giant Authentic Brands in September for $195 million, its tracksuits were passé. It got even less trendy with the announcement of a deal two months later to sell Juicy clothes at retailer Kohl’s.

“The beach, the whole relaxed lifestyle that Juicy Couture created -- as time went on, they sort of forgot about that,” Salter, 51, told The Huffington Post in an exclusive interview.

Now under the stewardship of the same company that owns the rights to the brands of dead celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley, an international push to revive Juicy is underway. Next fall, Salter plans to open new concept stores -– one for intimates and sleepwear, another for young girls’ clothes -- in Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

Above: A rendering of the concept store that will sell lingerie and pajamas. Below: A rending of the store geared toward young girls.

“We want to put the coolness back into the brand and put it where the cool people shop,” Salter said.

Besides investing in a brand with too much focus on outmoded clothes -– the new Juicy will focus more on accessories, handbags and footwear, though it still sells velour tracksuits –- Salter said the U.S. business was “broken.”

The switchover from Kate Spade to Authentic Brands Group has been slow. Juicy's website, which relaunched on Monday, only recently changed hands.

The old stores were often located in shopping malls –- now as out of fashion as terrycloth tracksuits with rear-end logos -- and were owned and operated at the expense of the parent company. The property for the stores closing this month belongs to Kate Spade.

“The brand wasn’t broken, the business model was broken,” Salter said.

So Salter, whose company is backed by private equity giant Leonard Green & Partners, is reproducing Juicy’s international business plan at home. Just as Juicy in Asia is run by ImagineX, and in Europe by Folli Follie, the new World of Juicy boutiques will be joint ventures between Authentic Brands Group and a partner that Salter said he expects to contract next week.

Juicy’s product line, featuring footwear, handbags and accessories, will be divided into two tiers. Premium “black label” –- including everything from tech accessories to a new line of Steve Madden-designed shoes –- will only be available online and abroad until the new U.S. boutiques begin popping up in New York, Los Angeles and other urban hubs.

“It’s going to be built like a miniature department store,” Salter said. “It’ll be like going into a Gucci store or a Louis Vuitton store.”

Mid-tier “pink label” Juicy goods will remain on the racks at Kohl’s in the U.S.

Still, it may not be enough to rally Juicy back to its heyday of 2003, when founders Pamela Skaist-Levy and Gela Nash-Taylor sold it to its previous owner, then known as Liz Claiborne Inc.

Reality television star and hotel heiress Paris Hilton was often photographed by paparazzi wearing Juicy tracksuits.

Back then, The New York Times reported the company had been “built from a $200 start-up to a $51 million concern” in just six years and quoted Nash-Taylor touting Juicy’s “weirdly large demographic.”

“They were meteoric in terms of their rise,” Harriet Greenberg, a partner at accounting firm Friedman LLP, told HuffPost. “But since they didn’t evolve, the customer base became narrower and narrower.”

Greenberg said the brand’s strong appeal abroad makes the international push smart, but its future in the U.S. seems uncertain.

“Do I think it’ll be successful domestically?” Greenberg said. “I don’t know that.”

12 Powerful Photos That Will Change The Way You Look At The World Cup

These photos say it all.

The World Cup in Brazil this month is shining a global spotlight on the nation's wealth gap and mounting social unrest over government services. Despite the fact that Brazil is the unofficial capital of soccer, a whopping 61 percent of its people say that hosting the World Cup is bad for the country, according to a Pew poll.

With more than $11 billion spent on the World Cup, many Brazilians are wondering where else that money could have gone.

Here are 12 of the most striking photos that show some of the conditions and controversies in the World Cup's host country:

A mural by Brazilian street artist Paulo Ito on the side of a schoolhouse in São Paulo.

A man wears a Brazilian national jersey as he walks across a polluted stream in a Rio de Janiero slum.

A tent camp in São Paulo that is home to roughly 1,500 people from the Workers Without a Roof Movement, which is protesting the lack of affordable housing in the region. Brazil has a serious housing shortage: The nation needs 5.24 million more homes, according to the Institute of Applied Economic Research.

Taken during the Confederation's Cup tournament in Brazil last year, this photo illustrating wealth inequality was dubbed "the two faces of Brazil."

A.Signl and B.Shanti from the German artist collective "Captain Borderline" created this street art installation. In an email to The Huffington Post, A.Shanti explained that the piece was put up across the street from a police station in Rio, and that onlookers were "very happy about the work, because it really reflects the situation in Brazil right now."

This second work by A.Signl and B.Shanti is located Rio de Janeiro's city center. The painting suggests the burden of hosting the World Cup for the average Brazilian.

A performer raises a Brazilian flag covered in fake blood in the city of Belo Horizonte. He was paying tribute to the Brazilian workers who died during the construction of World Cup stadiums.

This street art piece was created by Joga Bonito and posted to his Flickr account.

Protesters block a street in Curitiba, Brazil, during a match on June 16. Their sign asks who benefits from the World Cup.

Residents protest in a slum in Rio de Janeiro in May in an attempt to pressure the government to allocate more money to public services.

People spell out "Red card to child labour" on a beach in Rio de Janeiro as part of a campaign by the International Labour Organization. According to Gary Stahl, a UNICEF representative in Brazil, there are 3 million Brazilian children who are victims of child labor.

A demonstrator wearing a Brazilian flag wades through the reflection pool outside the Brazilian Congress in June 2013 to demand that 10 percent of the country's GDP be spent on public education. The protest was one of several in Brazil in June that began as opposition to transportation fare hikes, then expanded to a list of causes including anger at high taxes, poor services and high World Cup spending, before coalescing around the issue of rampant government corruption. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

If you're wondering about the underlying causes behind this unrest, check out this documentary by Vice News:

20 Ridiculously Accomplished Dogs Who Will Make You Rethink Your Life

Top dogs rarely (if ever) don American flag lapel pins, strut their stuff in crisp designer suits or wine and dine potential clients (more likely, they'll help dispose of an accidentally dropped crumb).

But these aren't necessarily the only credentials of a hard-working professional. And neither is having two legs or opposable thumbs. Many powerful pooches throughout history have held important positions in the realms of search and rescue, space exploration, health care and even politics. It's true: One classy bloodhound currently holds a mayoral position in a Colorado town.

The next time you're about to complain about the horrors of your nine-to-five, consider these four-legged wonders who've worked their tails off to achieve greatness. Hopefully, they'll inspire you to do the same.

• Smoky fought in World War II. Bill Wynee The teeny, tiny, four-pound Yorkshire terrier backpacked through the New Guinea jungle and cheered up injured soldiers. She's considered to be one of the first therapy dogs. And while a noble duty, this wasn't all little Smoky did to help the war effort.
  
  Her owner, Cpl. Bill Wynne found her incredibly easy to train. She performed intricate tasks, like stringing communication lines between the Philippines. Smoky, who passed in 1957, has been honored by the "Smoky Yorkie Doodle Dandy and Dogs of All Wars Memorial" statue in Cleveland, Ohio.
• Man Ray, though a dog, was dubbed "Man of the Year." How They Are Toward Newspapers, 1973/Courtesy If you recognize this snout, it's because Man Ray the Weimaraner has been plastered on book covers, magazines, magnets and souvenirs since the 70s. Man Ray is the dog who inspired artist William Wegman to further develop his dog photography: While Wegman was experimenting with other kind of mediums, Man Ray kept on barging into the frame. Since the pup's interruption, Wegman has continued to produce admired dog-thematic artwork.
  
  In 1982, the Village Voice dubbed the 80-pound canine "Man Of The Year." He appeared on "Late Night with David Letterman" that same year, when Letterman called him a "global celebrity."
• Handsome Dan is the face of Ivy League. Only 6.2 percent of applicants are admitted into Yale nowadays, but Handsome Dan has established a legacy that guarantees his successors an "in."
  
  Yale's mascot has been a bulldog since 1889. The original Handsome Dan (pictured) is the first live college mascot in America. According to Sports Illustrated, this good looking pup was purchased for five dollars from a local blacksmith.
  
  It takes more than just a pretty face to be honored with the title of Yale's most good-looking dog: Dan's successors are selected based on factors like their cleanliness, their demeanor toward children and their ability to walk near the band without getting riled.
  Photo: Wikipedia
• Bazz the beekeeper sniffs out a deadly disease that's wiping out hives. Youtube When's the last time you protected the fate of sweet, beloved honey? This black lab named Baz is trained "to detect a deadly disease called American foulbrood that has been wiping out hives in south Australia," reports HuffPost UK. Baz can sniff out the disease, and by doing so, save thousands of bees. The suit he wears protects him from being stung, and also makes him appear extraordinarily adorable.
• Titina was the first dog to fly over the North Pole. Wikicommons This black-and-white fox terrier accompanied her owner, Umberto Nobile (pictured), on a history-making flight across the North Pole in 1926. Nobile was the pilot of the Norge, the airship that made this historic trip.
  
  In Titina's first official biography, published on January 8, 1927 in The New York Times, she is described as "a dog marked by destiny, a dog of greatest character."
• Saucisse earned himself a spot on the ballot of an important election in France. Not the original Saucisse In 2001, a little Dachshund named Saucisse (which translates to "sausage") won four percent of the vote at municipal elections in Marseille, France's second most populous city. While he never had a shot at making it to the two-candidate race in the 2002 presidential elections, some argue his campaign signified the country's desire for a change in their political system. The wiener dog grew to become somewhat of a media darling and has even appeared on a French reality show.
  (Photo: Wikipedia)
• Jofi was Sigmund Freud's faithful assistant. Hulton Archive via Getty Images The famous psychoanalyst entrusted his Chinese Chow as a barometer for patients' temperament. He believed dogs were good judges of character and could help soothe nerves, writes Sam Stall in "100 Dogs Who Changed Civilization." "For this reason, he allowed Jo-Fi to sit in on patient interviews. If someone was calm and at peace, the dog would lie down relatively near him or her; if someone was full of hidden tension, Jo-Fi would keep his distance."
  
  The fluffy canine doubled as a time piece, according to Stall. After fifty minutes, Jofi would get up and go to the door, signaling to Freud that a session was over. Freud was able to delicately end an appointment, without seeming insensitive to the patient's needs.
• Jet was the first four-legged air traffic controller. People Magazine: August 23, 1999 In 1999, the Border Collie earned Southwest Florida International Airport the title of the "first commercial airport in the nation to use a dog as part of its Wildlife Management Program to control bird activity on the airfield." Jet was "hired" to prevent mid-air collisions between planes and birds by charging flocks of birds whose roosting spots were too close to air traffic corridors. He even earned his own spot in People Magazine.
  
  The dog saved Southwest Florida International millions on plane repair and outdated preventative tactics. Jet retired in 2001, but his career success encouraged other airports to hire their own bird-chasing dogs.
• Ginny rescued nearly 1,000 cats. Joan Baron/AP Ginny, a schnauzer-Siberian husky mix, was bestowed the honorable title of "Cat of the Year" by the Westchester Cat Show in 1998 for her masterful ability to find and rescued endangered cat. According to NBC, "Ginny once threw herself against a vertical pipe at a construction site to topple it and reveal the kittens trapped inside. Another time she ignored the cuts on her paws as she dug through a box of broken glass to find an injured cat inside."
  
  "The mother Teresa of cats" is said to have rescued more than 900 cats over her lifetime. Ginny was not trained to help the feline kind: "She just had this knack of knowing when a cat was in trouble," her owner said.
• Bud was the first dog to travel across the U.S. by car. Bud is a road tripper's dream canine companion. The pit bull was picked up by automobile pioneer Horatio Nelson Jackson for $15 in Idaho and helped his owner complete the U.S.'s first cross-country trip. Because the dust of the roads irritated his eyes, Bud was fitted with a neat pair of goggles.
  
  While Bud didn't do any of the driving, his presence helped Jackson and his driving partner reach celebrity status, with the press following the journey very closely. Bud continued to accompany Jackson in future drives, and resided full-time at Jackson's home in Vermont.
  Photo: Wikipedia
• Buddy was America's first Seeing Eye dog. The Seeing Eye, Inc. Buddy was the United States' first formally trained guide dog for the blind. She pioneered the program for the Seeing Eye organization, which now serves average of 260 people who are blind and visually impaired each year.
  
  “Buddy delivered to me the divine gift of freedom,” said Morris Frank, the first American to benefit from this program.
• Blair is the canine version of Marilyn Monroe. Before Air Bud or Lassie, there was Blair, a Border Collie who is considered to be the first doggy movie star. Blair played the role of Rover in a 1905 silent, short British drama called "Rescued By Rover." In the film, directed by Cecil Hepworth, Rover leads its owner to find a kidnapped baby and is considered a hero. Blair continued to star in short features, and her performance in the popular film established "Rover" as a very popular dog name.
  
  If you're feeling a bit starstruck, you can watch the film here.
  
  Photo: Wikipedia
• Pa Kettle is the current mayor of Divide, Colorado. tcrascolorado A bloodhound named Pa Kettle was inaugurated as Divide's mayor on April 19, 2014. He beat out a wolf, a hedgehog, a horse, some other dogs and a cat named Buster in this year's election. Pa was preceded by a three-legged cat.
  The town doesn't have a human mayor partly because of its small size (the 2010 Census was 127). So, the Teller County Regional Animal Shelter holds a special election every two years to elect a new animal as mayor and fundraise. This year, the election raised over $12,000.
• Martha was Paul McCartney's muse. Facebook.com/MarthaPaulMcCartneysDog "Martha My Dear," The Beatles' sweet, poppy track, released in 1968, was inspired by Paul McCartney's eponymous English sheepdog. Martha was McCartney's first pet, and he loved her, well, dearly. McCartney is the only Beatles member to appear on this track, and he croons: "Martha my dear you have always been my inspiration/Please/Be good to me Martha my love/Don't forget me Martha my dear."
  
  McCartney speaks of his sheepdog in Barry Miles' "Paul McCartney, Many Years From Now." The musician says, "She was a dear pet of mine. I remember John [Lennon] being amazed to see me being so loving to an animal. He said, 'I’ve never seen you like that before.' I’ve since thought, you know, he wouldn’t have. It’s only when you’re cuddling around with a dog that you’re in that mode, and she was a very cuddly dog."
• Jim could have been a professional gambler. AP If you had Jim The Wonder Dog on your side today, you might be rolling in dough: The all-knowing Llewelyn setter had psychic ability beyond that of a Magic 8 Ball. Throughout the 1930s, the dog was credited with possessing powers beyond mortal comprehension. He allegedly picked the winner of the Kentucky Derby seven years in a row by placing a paw on the winner listed on a piece of paper with all of the entires. He guessed the Yankees would win the 1936 World Series (he was right) and he could detect the sex of pregnant woman's unborn baby. Jim was also credited with being multi-lingual and able to understand morse code.
  
  Dr. A. J. Durant, head of the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Missouri, said that the pooch "possessed an occult power that might never come again to a dog in many generations." A park in Marshall, Misouri was constructed in 1999 to honor Jim and all his wonder.
  
  Photo: Wikipedia
• Laika was the first Soviet space dog. Wikicommons On November 3, 1957, this Russian pup was one of the first animals to be launched into space. Laika, a stray found on the streets of Moscow, paved the way to manned spaceflight. Sadly, the dog did not survive the mission and died from overheating hours after launch. In 2008, a small monument to honor Laika was built near the military research facility that set her up for the launch. The monument shows Laika standing on top of a rocket.
• Zanjeer detected explosives during the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts. Photo by Getty. Zanjeer not pictured. Zanjeer, a golden labrador who resembles the average American family dog, is credited for saving thousands of lives. In 1993, the canine nosed out more than 3,329 kgs of an explosive, 600 detonators, 249 hand grenades and 6,406 round of live ammunition. Zanjeer also helped prevent three more bombs the days following the blasts in Mumbai.
  
  Zanjeer died of bone cancer in November 2000. This photo shows a senior police officer honoring the heroic canine at his burial.
  Photo: FirstPost
• Sergeant Stubby served 17 battles in WWI. Stubby's short tail earned him his name, but his talent and dedication earned him his army title. The brindle pooch became the official mascot of the 102nd Infantry, 26th Yankee Division. When the division shipped out for France, Stubby was hidden in the coal bin on board. He was allowed to stay with his troops, and battled on the front-lines.
  
  According to the National Museum of American History, Stubby quickly assimilated with his fellow soldiers: "He learned the bugle calls, the drills, and even a modified dog salute as he put his right paw on his right eyebrow when a salute was executed by his fellow soldiers. Stubby had a positive effect on morale, and was allowed to remain in the camp, even though animals were forbidden."
  
  Stubby had an aptness for detecting gas, and saved many soldiers from injury. He even alerted paramedics of men wounded in the trenches. After capturing an enemy German spy, the dog was promoted to Sergeant, becoming the first dog to be given rank in the United States Armed Forces.
  Photo: Wikipedia
• On September 11, Apollo worked tirelessly in his search and rescue duties. In 2001, Apollo the German shepherd was awarded the Dickin Medal (the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross). He was the first dog to arrive at the World Trade Center on September 11 -- just 15 minutes after the first attack. The pup was reportedly almost killed when he was struck by fiery debris, but continued to work after being drenched by water.
  Photo: Wikipedia
• Mancs saved a child trapped for 3 days after an earthquake. This special German shepherd worked as a rescue dog on several earthquake rescue missions worldwide. He is most famous for saving a three-year-old girl who was trapped for 82 hours after the 1999 Izmit earthquake in Turkey. A statue of Mancs was cast in 2004 and can be seen near Hungary's Szinva stream.
  Photo: Wikipedia

Fed Cuts Stimulus By Another $10 Billion

WASHINGTON, June 18 (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve on Wednesday slashed its forecast for U.S. economic growth this year but expressed confidence the recovery was largely on track and would allow it to begin raising interest rates in 2015.

Despite the cut from around 2.9 percent to a range of between 2.1 and 2.3 percent for 2014 growth, the central bank pushed ahead with plans to wind down one of its main stimulus programs by the end of the year, as widely expected.

It reduced its monthly asset purchases from $45 billion to $35 billion a month, divided between $20 billion of Treasury securities and $15 billion of mortgage-backed debt.

"Economic activity will expand at a moderate pace and labor market conditions will continue to improve gradually," the Fed said in its policy statement. "Household spending appears to be rising moderately and business fixed investment resumed its advance."

Updated economic forecasts from Fed officials showed an economy slammed by bad weather at the start of the year but poised to continue growing. Fed officials maintained their growth projections for 2015 and 2016, and foresaw a faster drop in unemployment and tame inflation.

In updated interest rate projections, Fed officials still foresaw rates beginning to rise next year. Of 16 individual rate hike projections, the median interest rate stood at 1 percent by the end of 2015, the same as in March.

However, Fed officials projected a slightly more aggressive path of interest rate hikes for the following year, with the median placed at 2.5 percent versus 2.25 percent in March.

Fed members also lowered their projections for long-term interest rates, a potential sign of reduced confidence in the economy's long-run potential. The median projection was for a long-term federal funds rate of around 3.75 percent, compared to around 4 percent in March.

Its policy statement changed little from the one issued after its last meeting in April, repeating that interest rates would remain near zero "for a considerable time" after the bond buying ends. The Fed said unemployment remained "elevated" despite recent job growth, and noted that its preferred measure of inflation was still running below its 2 percent target.

There were no further details provided in the statement about the Fed's plans to exit other aspects of the extraordinary measures it has taken in response to the crisis. For now, the Fed said it would continue reinvesting proceeds of its asset holdings as they mature.

Fed Chair Janet Yellen holds a news conference to discuss the central bank's views on the economy and monetary policy at 2:30 p.m. EDT (1830 GMT).

The Fed cut overnight rates to near zero in December 2008 as it battled the financial crisis and deep recession. The timing and pace of renewed rate increases is one of the key decisions facing the central bank as the current recovery evolves.

In its updated quarterly forecasts, the Fed took into account the sour start the economy got this year after severe winter weather crippled activity in major cities around the country. The government said last month that GDP shrank at a 1 percent annual rate, and economists say data since then imply a much deeper contraction.

Although growth now appears to be rebounding, there remain weak spots, particularly in the housing sector. Fed officials described risks to the economy and labor market as "nearly balanced."

(Reporting by Howard Schneider; Editing by Paul Simao)

The Time Amazon Stabbed A German Knife Maker In The Back

Amazon has been in the news lately for its tough negotiation tactics, refusing to accept presale orders for certain books from the publisher Hachette as well as some new DVDs and Blu-rays from Warner Bros. as it attempts to get more favorable contract terms with both companies.

This isn't out of character for Amazon. In fact, the mammoth online retailer has a history of playing rough with suppliers. Take the case of Wüsthof, the maker of fancy German knives, whose relationship with Amazon ended in broken promises and threats. Amazon was once the largest U.S. online retailer of Wüsthof knives. Now, Wüsthof won't even do business with it.

Here's why, according to Brad Stone's 2013 book The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon (which, as it happens, is published by a division of Hachette).

Amazon once bought a lot of knives from Wüsthof, a 200-year-old German company, writes Stone. But in 2006, Wüsthof thought the relationship was no longer worth it, and stopped selling to Amazon.

The problem was that Amazon was selling the knives for below what's called Minimum Advertised Price, or MAP. MAP, Stone explains, requires brick-and-mortar retailers not to go below a certain price in their ads, and requires online stores like Amazon not to post prices lower than those on its product pages.

As Stone writes in The Everything Store, "Wüsthof felt it needed MAP to defend the value of its brand and protect the small independent knife shops that were responsible for about a quarter of the company's sales and were not capable of matching such discounts."

Cover of Brad Stone's book.

After a few years of selling Wüsthof knives, Amazon stopped adhering to the company's MAP, instead discounting the knives heavily. So Wüsthof decided to stop supplying Amazon.

"It was painful for us," René Arnold, then the company's CFO, told Stone. "Those were lost sales, at least in the short term."

Three years later, in 2009, Amazon promised it would play nice with Wüsthof and adhere to the company's MAP. So the knife-maker resumed selling to Amazon.

But once again, Amazon went below MAP.

From The Everything Store:

René Arnold, the CFO, was overwhelmed with complaints from his other retailer partners, whose prices remained 10 percent higher. These small shop owners either lost sales to Amazon or were forced by their customers to match Amazon's price. In their angry calls to Arnold, they threatened to lower their retail prices as well, and now it was easy for Arnold and his colleagues to envision a day when all these retailers would start demanding lower wholesale prices on Wüsthof knives, cutting into the company's profit margins. The economics of its traditional-manufacturing operating in Germany would no longer make sense.

Amazon said it was simply matching the prices of its third-party sellers -- retailers from which you can buy products on Amazon's website, but which aren't actually part of Amazon. The problem was that some of those third-party merchants weren't authorized Wüsthof sellers. Some could even have been selling stolen knives.

So in 2011, Stone writes, Wüsthof again cut ties with Amazon and stopped selling its knives to the huge retailer.

But it didn't end there.

Amazon representatives, according to Stone, not only said that they'd continue to sell Wüsthof knives through other distributors, but also said they'd show advertisements for competing knife companies when a customer searched Amazon for Wüsthof knives.

Wüsthof to this day refuses to sell to Amazon, though you can still find its products on Amazon through third-party sellers.

"We couldn't control our relationship with Amazon.com," Arnold, now the CEO of Wüsthof Trident of America, told The Huffington Post last week. "We have a very strict MAP policy. They couldn't care less about this."

Retailers and vendors constantly tussle over prices. Typically, retailers try to negotiate lower prices from vendors so they can, in turn, have the lowest prices in the market. Walmart is legendary for this.

Amazon, for its part, says it's just trying to get the lowest prices for consumers. But the company has incredibly thin profit margins -- less than one cent for every dollar of revenue, according to Bloomberg. Amazon, whose stock is down 18 percent this year, is under intense pressure from shareholders to make more money.

"When we negotiate with suppliers, we are doing so on behalf of customers," Amazon said in a statement last month about its standoff with Hachette. "Negotiating for acceptable terms is an essential business practice that is critical to keeping service and value high for customers in the medium and long term."

A spokesperson from Amazon would not comment on the company's relationships with Hachette or Wüsthof beyond that statement.

Halliburton Ruling Could Be A Big Win For Big Pharma, Wall Street

NEW YORK, June 12 (Reuters) - Within the next two weeks, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule in a major case that could make it much harder for shareholders to band together against public companies in securities fraud class actions.

If the court rules in favor of Halliburton and against a group of shareholders, then the oilfield services company won't be the only business to gain. A handful of other major companies would also likely reap immediate benefit.

Those companies, including drug makers Merck & Co Inc and Pfizer Inc, banks HSBC Holdings Plc and Regions Financial Corp, and casino company Las Vegas Sands Corp, are defendants in shareholder lawsuits that have been granted class action status.

A decision setting a higher bar for class actions would not end the lawsuits, but it would allow these defendants to file briefs demanding that shareholders have to again seek court approval for the status - and this time under a new, tougher standard. If they fail to get that approval, the cases would effectively end.

In 2013, settlements were reached in 67 cases totaling $4.8 billion, according to Cornerstone Research. A ruling in the oil company's favor in Halliburton v. Erica P. John Fund could save other businesses facing pending class actions hundreds of millions of dollars collectively.

Around 200 shareholder class actions are filed every year alleging that misleading statements and material omissions made by companies and their executives caused a stock's share price to drop. Nearly 400 shareholder securities class actions are pending in various stages of litigation, according to data gathered by the Stanford Law School Securities Class Action Clearinghouse.

But only a relatively small number of the pending cases have been granted class action status. In each instance, a judge must determine at a certification hearing whether the status is appropriate. One consideration is whether the people in the class have common issues or merely related ones. To be a class, they must have common issues.

'FRAUD ON THE MARKET'

Class certification is a critical stage in shareholder class actions because it puts pressure on defendants to settle by increasing the liability they face.

Generally, the larger the class size, the more damages a company faces and the more that plaintiffs' lawyers can make. Law firms can receive as much as a third of the settlement in attorneys' fees.

In the case before the Supreme Court, Halliburton is seeking to overturn a 1988 decision, Basic v. Levinson, which adopted the "fraud on the market theory." Under the theory, a defendant's material misrepresentation that affects the price of publicly traded securities is presumed to have been relied on by a purchaser who suffered a loss.

That theory assumes public information about a company is known to the market and plaintiffs do not have to show that they relied on a specific misrepresentation, only that they purchased shares before the truth came out.

In the case against Halliburton, shareholders alleged it understated asbestos liabilities while overstating both revenues in its engineering and construction business and the benefits of its merger with Dresser Industries.

The court has several options, including leaving intact Basic v. Levinson to maintain the status quo. At the other extreme, it could overturn Basic v. Levinson - and so doom securities class actions by requiring plaintiffs to show they relied on misinformation when they purchased securities.

A third option would be to find a middle ground that would require plaintiffs to show that the misrepresentation had a significant effect on the stock price but that would not overturn Basic. During oral arguments, some of the justices appeared to signal that the middle option would be their preference.

The middle option would still be a win for the defendant corporations by creating more hurdles for shareholders to clear before being allowed to sue as a group.

Merck is facing one of the largest pending shareholder cases that already has class action status.

The lawsuit, filed in 2005, alleges that the company made misleading statements about its painkiller drug Vioxx, which the company withdrew from the market in 2004 over concerns that it increased the risk of heart attacks and strokes. The plaintiffs alleged that after Merck disclosed the problems with Vioxx, its market capitalization shrunk by billions of dollars.

In January 2013, U.S. District Judge Stanley Chesler of New Jersey certified a class of individuals and entities who purchased Merck securities from May 21, 1999, to Sept. 29, 2004.

HALT IN THE PROCEEDINGS

Foreshadowing the potential impact of the Halliburton decision, a lawyer for Merck in November asked a federal judge in New Jersey to put a halt to proceedings in the case pending the outcome of the Supreme Court decision in Halliburton. The lawyer said the plaintiffs' case rested squarely on the fraud on the market theory and that part of the case would likely have to be re-litigated following the Halliburton decision.

The court denied the request.

Merck and an attorney for the plaintiffs had no comment on the potential impact of Halliburton on the case.

HSBC could also benefit from the Supreme Court's ruling. The bank is appealing a $2.46 billion judgment against one of the company's units, formerly known as Household International Inc. The plaintiffs alleged that Household was engaged in systemic predatory lending and that it misrepresented the credit quality of its loan portfolio.

The judgment, entered by a federal judge in Chicago last year, was the largest ever following a securities fraud class action trial, according to the plaintiffs' law firm.

On appeal to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, lawyers for HSBC are seeking an order vacating the judgment and sending the case back to the district court. In a brief filed in February, HSBC said that if the Supreme Court jettisons Basic's presumption of reliance on a misrepresentation, a class status review "will be beyond question."

Pfizer is facing a trial later this year over allegations made by shareholders that it fraudulently misrepresented the safety of its Celebrex and Bextra pain-relieving drugs. The lawsuit covers investors who bought Pfizer stock between Oct. 31, 2000, and Oct. 19, 2005, a period in which the company's share price fell by roughly half and its market value tumbled by well over $100 billion.

Pfizer and the plaintiffs agreed to delay the trial until after the Halliburton decision. In a letter to the court, Pfizer said it believed that after the Halliburton decision, it "may be necessary to revisit class certification or other pre-trial motion practice." (Reporting by Andrew Longstreth; Editing by Howard Goller, Amy Stevens and Martin Howell)

Uber Worth $18 Billion Because Sure, Why Not?

Now do you believe we're in a new tech bubble?

Uber, a controversial car-hiring app, just raised $1.2 billion in fresh investor cash, giving it a total value of either $17 billion, according to the company, or $18.2 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal. Really, though, what difference does a billion here or a billion there make any more, when money no longer has meaning?

Uber, the value of which has quadrupled in less than a year, is now the most expensive member of the WSJ's "Billion Dollar Startup Club," made up of companies being financed by venture capital that are worth more than $1 billion. There are now more than 30 such companies, most of them in tech, including Airbnb ($10 billion), Dropbox ($10 billion) and Pinterest ($5 billion).

Would you like some dubious comparisons to help you put these outlandish numbers in perspective? Of course you would.

Soon You Won't Have To Type In Your Credit Card Number On Your iPhone

Apple plans to make online shopping a little easier this fall.

iOS8, the new iPhone operating system that's coming out later this year, will let you scan your credit card when buying something in Safari. Instead of typing in numbers, you'll be able to hold up your card and have the iPhone automatically recognize the numbers and punch them in for you.

Nobody Knows, Cares Whether Your Clothes Are Made In Deadly Factories

You probably don't know who makes your clothes. The scary thing is, the retailer that sold them to you may not know, either.

A yearlong study of factories in Bangladesh by New York University's Center for Business and Human Rights found that many retailers can't be sure which factories make the products they sell, often in immaculate shops half a world away. That's because manufacturers sometimes farm out work to local factories that aren't registered with trade associations or the local government and that operate away from the eyes of regulators, the study found.