Feds urge students to check loan repayment plans

WASHINGTON — The Education Department says it will begin reaching out by email this month to about 3.5 million federal student loan borrowers. They will be encouraged to learn more about their repayment options, especially whether they qualify for an income-based repayment plan.

The department says many borrowers will qualify if their federal student loan debt exceeds their annual income. For those who qualify, their initial payment could be as low as nothing a month.

Under such a plan, loans are paid off over a longer period of time so the total amount increases, but the monthly payment amount is reduced. Borrowers working in public service may qualify to have their remaining loan balance forgiven after a decade of payments.

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Microsoft enters 20-year deal for Texas wind power

HOUSTON — It takes a lot of energy to store all the data 1 billion people and 20 million businesses plug into their computers, phones, tablets and gadgets. So as part of an effort to become carbon neutral, Microsoft Corp. has entered a 20-year deal to buy power from a new wind farm in Texas, the first time the tech giant is directly purchasing electricity from a specific source.

The deal announced Monday between Microsoft and RES Americas is being funded in part by money collected from a "carbon fee," an internal tax of sorts that the company has been charging its departments for every ton of carbon produced. Microsoft also hopes the deal will be a model for other parts of its global operations, said Brian Janous, Microsoft's director of energy strategy.

"We're definitely looking at this as a first of a kind, but it fits into our overall desire to have more control over our energy supply," Janous said.

Construction on RES Americas' $200 million, 55-turbine wind power project, called Keechi, will begin in December and is expected to be operational by June 2015. Microsoft is buying all 430,000 megawatt hours of energy it produces — or enough to power up to 45,000 homes. That is about 5 percent to 10 percent of the company's total electricity consumption.

Microsoft declined to say how much it is paying for the 20-year contract. But Robert Bernard, the company's chief environmental strategist, said it is coming out of the carbon fee funds, which Microsoft previously estimated could amount to about $10 million in the first year that ended on June 30. The fees will fund several projects.

"It's a sign of the times that the price point for these renewable projects is quite attractive to them," said Rob Morgan, chief development officer for wind and solar developer RES Americas.

While the wind energy goes directly onto the Texas grid and it never can be known exactly where electricity is coming from at any given time, having renewable sources helps offset the use of coal, for example, which produces more carbon pollution.

The idea is for Microsoft's data center in San Antonio to pay for at least some wind energy, Janous said. Until now, the company has bought tax credits for renewable energy, but decided it was time to take the next step.

"How do we make sure there is power on the grid that we want to use?" Janous said.

Texas is the nation's largest producer of wind energy, but most of that power is created on the wide open, windy prairies of West Texas.

The Keechi project, though, is planned for a more densely populated area about 70 miles northwest of Fort Worth, said Shalini Ramanathan, vice president of development for RES in Austin.

"Because it's close to Dallas-Fort Worth, it's close to the lode of Dallas-Fort Worth and so the price is very attractive," Ramanathan said.

Microsoft looked at several other states and projects, but chose Texas in part because of a $6.8 billion transmission line project that brings West Texas-generated wind to more power-hungry parts of the state, Janous said.

Keechi will not be connected to those 3,500 miles of high-voltage lines, Ramanathan said, but will benefit because the lines help prevent congestion on the grid.

Microsoft also is looking for ways to make data-storage systems and servers more efficient, to develop software and other products that could make "green" buildings more efficient and improve and expand a setup that allows servers to operate in warmer temperatures, giving some data centers the ability to use natural air and water for cooling instead of traditional, power-hungry air conditioning units, Janous said.

"As you can imagine when you have that much concentration of data it requires a lot of energy to keep those things running ... and those are the challenges of companies like Microsoft, Google," Janous said. "If we're going to be a consumer of energy, first let's reduce as much as we can, and then buy it."

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Plushnick-Masti can be followed on Twitter at https://twitter.com/RamitMastiAP

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Bangladesh to raise garment workers' minimum wage

DHAKA, Bangladesh — A government-appointed panel in Bangladesh voted Monday to raise the minimum wage for millions of garment workers to about $66 a month — still the lowest in the world and well below what workers have been seeking.

The harsh and often unsafe working conditions in Bangladesh's garment industry drew global attention after the collapse of an eight-story factory building killed more than 1,100 people in April. In another horrific case, a fire last November killed 112 workers.

Garment workers have been demanding 8,114 takas ($100) instead of the current monthly minimum wage of 3,000 takas ($38), which is the lowest in the world. On Monday, the wage board raised the minimum wage by about 77 percent, to 5,300 takas ($66.25).

According to local research groups and rights activist Kalpona Akter, Bangladesh still has the lowest minimum wage in the world, even if the raise goes into effect. The Ministry of Labor still must approve the raise.

Akter is the executive director of the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity, an independent group campaigning for workers' rights in the garment sector.

Atiqul Islam, president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, said his group had not accepted the proposal but was looking into it.

Bangladesh is the world's second-largest garment manufacturing country after China.

Factory owners say it is difficult for them to significantly raise the minimum wage because global brands are unwilling to pay higher prices amid stiff competition and a protracted economic crisis in the West.

Bangladesh earns $20 billion a year from garment exports, mainly to the United States and Europe. The sector employs about 4 million workers, mostly women.

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UK business group makes case for staying in EU

LONDON — Britain's main business group concluded Monday that the benefits of staying in the European Union outweigh the costs, though reforms are urgently needed for that to remain in the national interest.

The Confederation of British Industry released research showing EU membership was worth between 62 billion pounds and 78 billion pounds ($99 billion to $124 billion) annually — about 4 percent to 5 percent of the country's GDP. But the business group warned about mission creep in the 28-nation bloc, particularly in the areas of health and safety and welfare legislation.

"There is a growing unease about the creeping extension of EU authority," CBI Director-General John Cridland said. "Europe has to become more open, competitive and outward-looking if we are to grow and create opportunities and jobs for all our citizens."

Still the organization concluded that Britain is better off in a reformed EU than "outside with no influence." The group said membership is worth 3,000 pounds annually to every household in this country.

Cridland says the EU must modernize and secure trade deals with the United States, Japan and others.

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UAE says online photos require subject's consent

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Authorities in the United Arab Emirates are warning social media users that photos of individuals posted online without their consent could lead to jail.

The comments carried Monday in Al Ittihad newspaper say posting photos or video without permission can bring up to six months in prison and fines as high as 500,000 dirhams, nearly $140,000.

The UAE has some of the region's toughest enforcement on Internet restrictions, but other Gulf countries could follow suit as they harmonize security and telecommunications policies.

The newspaper quotes Interior Ministry official Lt. Col. Salah al-Ghoul as saying the rules apply to social media sites or any "information network."

In July, Dubai police arrested a man who posted an Internet video of an Emirati beating a South Asian motorist after an apparent traffic altercation.

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AP-CNBC poll: Twitter faces skeptical investors

NEW YORK — Twitter faces skepticism from potential investors and the broader public ahead of its initial public offering, according to an Associated Press-CNBC poll released Monday.

Some 36 percent of Americans say buying stock in the 7-year-old short messaging service would be a good investment, while 47 percent disagree. Last May, ahead of Facebook's IPO, 51 percent of Americans said Facebook Inc. would be a good investment. Just 31 percent didn't agree.

Twitter plans to make its Wall Street debut this week and surprisingly, 52 percent of people ages 18 to 34 say investing in the company's stock is not a good idea.

Twitter Inc. will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday morning after setting a price for its IPO sometime Wednesday evening. As it stands, the San Francisco-based company plans to raise as much as $1.6 billion in the process. The transaction values Twitter at as much as $12.5 billion. That's little more than one-eighth of Facebook's roughly $104 billion market value when it went public.

Twitter has not turned a profit since its launch, but its future depends on advertisements as a primary source of income. The company mainly sells three types of ads: promoted tweets, promoted accounts and promoted trends. A company like Starbucks, for instance, can pay Twitter to promote a single tweet or it can pay the company to ask users to follow its account.

It does not bode well that more than half of Twitter users say they have not noticed advertising. Among the 42 percent of users who did notice, 31 percent say they've clicked on or followed one of the promoted items in question.

Among the poll's other key findings:

— One in 5 Americans say they have a Twitter account. One in 10, meanwhile, looks at Twitter feeds but doesn't have an account of their own.

— Nearly a quarter of Twitter account holders send tweets at least once a day, while 29 percent say they never do. More account holders say they read others' tweets daily, 35 percent.

— About 30 percent of Twitter users say they have used the service to register complaints about a product or service or when they are looking for information about services or products.

— Twitter has billed itself as the place for public, real-time conversations, but only 16 percent of users say they turn to Twitter frequently for breaking news. That said, 44 percent of users do so at least some of the time.

— Just 19 percent of respondents say they have a "favorable" view of Twitter, while 47 percent feel the same way about Facebook.

— A sizable share of Americans aren't familiar with Twitter or don't know what to make of it: 9 percent have never heard of it and another 12 percent say they just don't know how they feel about it.

—Just 35 percent of Americans say they think Twitter will be a successful company in five years. More, 49 percent, think Facebook will be successful in five years.

The Associated Press-CNBC telephone poll was conducted Oct. 25 to 27 by GfK Roper Public Affairs and Corporate Communications among 1,006 U.S. adults. The results have a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. According to Twitter, 77 percent of its 232 million monthly visitors are outside of the U.S.

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AP Director of Polling Jennifer Agiesta and News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius contributed to this story from Washington.

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Online:

Survey results: http://surveys.ap.org

CNBC on Twitter: http://www.cnbc.com/twitter

Follow Barbara Ortutay on Twitter at https://twitter.com/BarbaraOrtutay

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US factory orders rise 1.7 percent in September

WASHINGTON — Orders to U.S. factories rose in September on a big jump in commercial aircraft demand. But businesses cut back sharply on machinery and other goods that signal their confidence to expand, signs of slower economic growth.

The Commerce Department said Monday that factory orders increased 1.7 percent in September from August. That followed a 0.1 percent decline in August and a 2.8 percent plunge in July.

The September gain was driven by a 57.7 percent jump in demand for aircraft.

But so-called core capital goods, which include machinery and electronics, fell 1.3 percent in September. And demand for machinery plummeted 23.6 percent, with big declines in construction machinery, electric turbines and generators.

The decline suggests businesses may have been worried about the economy before the 16-day partial government shutdown, which began on Oct. 1.

Economists pay close attention to core capital goods. They are viewed as a better gauge of companies' plans to invest because they exclude more volatile orders for aircraft and defense equipment. The decline was the second in three months and points to weaker activity at factories in the July-September quarter.

Orders for durable goods, items expected to last at least three years, increased 3.8 percent in September, largely on the airplane gains. The big rise in demand for aircraft helped offset a 0.7 percent dip in demand for autos and auto parts. That decline is expected to be temporary given the strength in auto sales this year.

Demand for non-durable goods, such as chemicals, paper and food, edged down 0.2 percent.

Many analysts forecast weaker economic growth in the second half of the year. They are predicting growth at an annual rate of around 1.8 percent in the July-September quarter and roughly 2 percent in the October-December quarter. Both rates would be lower than the 2.5 percent growth pace in the April-June quarter.

Still, recent manufacturing reports have been mixed.

A closely watched survey of U.S. purchasing managers said manufacturing expanded in October fastest pace in 2½ years. The Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing survey increased for the fifth straight month, suggesting the 16-day partial shutdown of the government had little effect on manufacturers. Gains appeared to be driven by overseas growth, healthy U.S. auto sales and the housing recovery.

The government combined the release of the September and August reports on factory orders. The August report had been delayed by the 16-day partial government shutdown

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Mass. discount retailer files for bankruptcy

HINGHAM, Mass. — Boston-area discount retailer Building #19, famous for its comic book-style circulars and the motto "Good Stuff ... Cheap," is closing its doors after a nearly half-century in business.

The Hingham-based company, with 10 stores in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire, filed for bankruptcy last week. The company is seeking permission to hire a liquidation consultant and close by Dec. 8.

The company cited Internet competition and a lack of cash for new inventory as the reasons for the shutdown, according to the Patriot Ledger of Quincy (http://bit.ly/1bS7JUR ).

In the bankruptcy filing, the company says a "decline in sales and the resulting losses" has eroded its working capital and ability to bring in new merchandise.

"Building 19's lack of working capital impaired its ability to capitalize on erratic opportunities to purchase inventory," the company's lawyers said in the filing.

Building #19 was co-founded in 1964 by Jerry Ellis, a laid-off appliance salesman. He and partner Harry Andler started by selling a shipment of fire-salvaged furniture from a warehouse in the Old Hingham Shipyard, according to the company website. The building didn't have a name, just a number — 19.

"The number 19 on the building became their lucky charm as more insurance companies began to turn to them to unload goods salvaged from fires, floods, hurricanes, railroad accidents and other disasters," the website says.

Over the years the chain evolved to sell overstock, surplus and irregular merchandise, from books to clothes to furniture and rugs.

It even sold odd items over the years, including prison uniforms, pedal-powered lawnmowers, and Canadian army motorcycles.

Andler died in 1978.

Ellis called himself the chain's commander-in-cheap and had a self-deprecating sense of humor about the no-frills, disorganized stores, which often had shelves made of unfinished plywood propped up by cinder blocks. One recent circular urged shoppers to "Suffer a little. Save a lot."

The chain has stores in Weymouth, Burlington, Natick, Norwood, Haverhill, Hanover and New Bedford, Mass.; Cranston and Pawtucket, R.I.; and Manchester, N.H.

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Information from: The (Quincy, Mass.) Patriot Ledger, http://www.patriotledger.com

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BlackBerry abandons sale process, CEO out

TORONTO — BlackBerry abandoned its sale process on Monday, and announced it will replace its chief executive.

Fairfax, BlackBerry's largest shareholder with a 10 percent stake, said it won't buy the struggling smartphone company and take it private but said it and other investors will inject $1 billion as part of a revised investment proposal.

BlackBerry said CEO Thorsten Heins is stepping down. Heins took over in early 2012 after the company lost billions in market value.

John Chen has been appointed as chair of BlackBerry's board of directors and will serve as interim CEO. Fairfax head Prem Watsa will be appointed to the board. .

BlackBerry announced in September that Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd. signed a letter of intent that contemplated buying BlackBerry for $9 a share, or $4.7 billion, and taking it private. Fairfax said then it wouldn't increase its 10 percent stake and the company went about trying to attract other investors.

Watsa said they did due diligence and worked with a consulting company that recommended that taking it private with borrowed money was not the way to go.

"To load this company with too much debt was not appropriate," Watsa said. "We didn't want it leveraged. We didn't even bother to go there. Once we decided that a leveraged buy-out with high debt was not appropriate we didn't push it any further. We backed off completely."

Watsa said BlackBerry needs financial flexibility. "We probably could do it, but we decided not to add high yield debt to the company's capital structure," he said.

He said five or six investors had been interested in a buyout.

Chen said he'll be looking for a CEO with a software background. He noted that BlackBerry Messenger, the popular messaging application, has been downloaded by over 20 million users since it became available on Google's Android and Apple's IOS platforms.

"I'd like to find somebody to help me monetize that," Chen said.

Watsa said Chen did a terrific job as CEO of Sybase, an enterprise data management company.

Watsa said he remains a fan of Heins. "I think Thorsten did a terrific job given the hand he was dealt with," Watsa said.

In morning trading, BlackBerry shares dropped $1.02, or 13.1 percent, to $6.75

BGC analyst Colin Gillis said the failure to complete a successful sale was not an unexpected outcome for the market because the stock was trading well below the possible $9 bid price.

"They never had any money beyond the Fairfax money," Gillis said. "It's an under $5 billion market cap company with $2 billion in cash, you put up a $1 billion and you couldn't get the rest?"

The BlackBerry, pioneered in 1999, had been the dominant smartphone for on-the-go business people and other consumers before Apple debuted the iPhone in 2007 and showed that phones can handle much more than email and phone calls. In the years since, BlackBerry Ltd. been hammered by competition from the iPhone as well as Android-based rivals.

This year's much-delayed launch of the BlackBerry 10 system and the fancier devices that use it was supposed to rejuvenate the brand and lure customers. It did not work. Waterloo, Ontario-based BlackBerry recently announced 4,500 layoffs, or 40 percent of its global workforce, and reported a quarterly loss of nearly $1 billion.

Although BlackBerry was once Canada's most valuable company with a market value of $83 billion in June 2008, the stock has plummeted to less than $8 from over $140 a share. That gives it a market value of about $3.5 billion.

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Greece's debt inspectors back amid austerity anger

ATHENS, Greece — Inspectors from Greece's bailout creditors have restarted talks on spending reforms that the government is resisting, with one senior official bemoaning the negotiators' "punitive approach."

The officials from the "troika" of the European Commission, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund will, after preliminary talks Monday, start high-level meetings Tuesday. The sides are at odds over the size of a 2014 budget gap and whether a plan to cover it will require more austerity measures.

EU Commission spokesman Simon O'Connor said the troika's schedule was finalized after Greece sent 2014 budget data to the EU late Friday.

"This was information largely related to fiscal issues, to the closure of the fiscal gap for 2014, but also to other elements of the (bailout) program conditionality," he told reporters in Brussels.

Greek officials insist no additional austerity measures can be implemented, arguing they would be unproductive in an economy that is contracting for a sixth year and with unemployment near 28 percent.

Unions are planning a general strike Wednesday, with ferries to halt for 24 hours and flights grounded for three hours on that day.

Development Minister Costis Hadzidakis said eurozone nations needed to express their solidarity toward Greece instead of exerting more pressure.

"This constant sense of doubt is very negative for the economy and a punitive approach never helps the situation. What we need now is for our European partners to explicitly express their trust in Greece's prospects," Hadzidakis told a business conference.

Greece has survived on international rescue loans after dismal financial stewardship and loss of investor confidence brought it near bankruptcy in 2010. It has pushed through drastic spending cuts and tax hikes in return for a total of 240 billion euros ($324 billion) in financial aid.

After a month-long suspension, talks with creditors are aimed at resolving differences so Athens receives the next 1 billion-euro ($1.35 billion) loan installment.

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