These days at Microsoft Corp., you cant take anything at Surface value.

The launch of Windows 8 and the Surface tablet in October was supposed to be a revolution for the company, with investors hoping to finally see some capital gains after a lost decade of stagnant share value. But signs of shaky foundations at the software company emerged Monday when Windows chief Steven Sinofsky announced his departure.

The news sent Microsofts shares down 4 per cent Tuesday, exacerbating the stocks poor performance since Surfaces Oct. 26 release. While the stock rose more than 8 per cent in the week and a half following the release, it has since lost that premium and more its now worth 2.8 per cent less than it was at Surfaces launch.

With Mr. Sinofsky gone, some analysts are growing concerned.

While the departure of Sinofsky is just one additional data point, it is a negative and further calls into question the early momentum of the Windows 8 ecosystem, Barclays Capital analyst Raimo Lenschow said in a research note late Monday.

Analyst Rick Sherlund of Nomura Equity Research said in a note that he believes Mr. Sinofskys departure would continue to weigh on Microsofts stock in the near term. We hold Sinofsky in high regard as a technical visionary and his ability to deliver complex products on a timely basis, Mr. Sherlund wrote.

Mr. Sinofskys success in the Windows division led many to speculate he would eventually take the CEO reins from Steve Ballmer. After finding success with the highly profitable Office software suite, Microsoft appointed Mr. Sinofsky head of its Windows division as the company sought to recover from the flop of Windows Vista. He led its successor, Windows 7, to success, and Microsoft hoped to one-up that victory by using Windows 8 to gain traction in the mobile computing sector, where the company has long fallen behind competitors, such as Apple Inc. and Google Inc.

By leaving, Mr. Sinofsky has drawn negative speculation not only of tension within Microsofts upper ranks, but also of the positioning of Windowss future within the brand.

[Mr.] Ballmers been a controversial CEO at best, and people were hoping there would be a succession plan, Michael Turits, an analyst with Raymond James & Associates. said in an interview. With the success of Office and Windows 7, [Mr.] Sinofsky was a rock star, he said.

With the visionary gone, Mr. Turits said, theres a concern whether Microsoft has a succession plan in place that will keep investors happy.

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Microsoft stock sheds 4% after Windows boss departs

Just over a year after implementing a much publicized surcharge on food with saturated fat, Denmark has repealed its fedtafgiften, the contentious fat tax that was believed to be the first of its kind in the world.

The fat tax, along with a proposed tax on food with high sugar content that was scheduled to come into effect in January, both fell victim to the 2013 budget deal reached Saturday after weeks of negotiations between Denmarks coalition minority government and the left-wing Enhedslisten (Red-Green Alliance ) party.

The agreement, which also scrapped a number of other levies, was described in a statement by Danish Tax Minister Holger Nielsen as what is needed in the current economic situation.

The fat tax had been criticized for affecting lower-income households. To make up for the lost revenue, the government lowered the standard deduction and raised the basic rate paid by all taxpayers, the Copenhagen Post reported.

A fact sheet released by Denmarks Tax Ministry said the fat tax had been criticized for increasing consumer prices, increasing corporate administrative costs and putting Danish jobs at risk.

The statement also blamed the tax for pushing lipo-craving Danes into cross-border shopping in neighbouring Germany and Sweden.

The end of the tax on saturated fat came just as two economists at the University of Copenhagen published a paper showing that market demand for butter, margarine and oils dropped between 10 to 20 per cent in the three months after the levy was introduced.

The authors, Jrgen Dejgrd Jensen and Sinne Smed, cautioned however that it was too early to draw firm conclusions about the taxs impact. They noted that the market changes could be caused by pre-tax hoarding.

The Danish tax, which came into effect last October, applied to food with more than 2.3 per cent saturated fat. The price of butter went up 22 per cent while margarine cost 20 per cent more.

It was believed to be the first such levy in the world and other countries considered emulating Denmark.

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Denmark sheds its maligned fat tax

Dhubri, Nov. 13: Nearly 22,000 riot-hit people living in camps under Bilasipara subdivision will be shifted to the sheds constructed at Runikhata and Bamunigaon in Dhubri district shortly.

It is expected that all the schools will be reopened for the students within this month and regular classes will resume.

An official source in Bilasipara subdivision said the process of rehabilitation of riot-hit people, which got under way last month, is still continuing in a phased manner.

"Though the process of rehabilitation of all the riot-hit people in BTAD will take some more time, but schools could be opened as all the 22,000 camp inmates now staying there will be shifted to temporary sheds soon," a source said.

Bilasipara subdivisional officer (civil) J.V.N. Subramaniam said the process was on to rehabilitate the displaced soon but because of some misunderstanding among the inmates, the process was a bit delayed.

"However, now the leaders as well as the subdivisional administration campaigned hard to clear the cloud of confusion among the inmates and now they have understood and willing to go back," Subramaniam said.

He said all the 22,000 inmates taking shelter in 56 camps would be first shifted to temporary sheds at Bamunigaon and Runikhata shortly and from there further verification and official formalities for rehabilitation and compensation would be carried out.

Official sources said there was confusion when some members of families were shifted while others were left behind, and the latter raised strong objection to it. However, after being pacified and with the launch of an awareness campaign regarding the issue, they understood the technical problems in taking all the members of the same family in one go as members were scattered in various camps, the source said.

The Bilasipara subdivision had 83 camps with 74,602 inmates in July, August and middle of September but rehabilitation has brought down the number to 22,000 inmates at present.

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Deadline set to shift inmates

MORE blue gum plantations owned by Agricultural Land Trust will be sold.

The trust, 49 per cent owned by Elders Ltd, has plantations in the green triangle area of western Victoria near Hamilton and also in Queensland and Western Australia.

Trust chairman Peter Zachert said his board was monitoring the sale of Elders Rural Services division. Elders has loaned the trust $9.3 million.

With holdings valued at $80.5 million, the trust already has plantations valued at $39.1 million for sale.

"The board has since resolved to classify additional properties with a book value of $10.3 million as held for sale," Mr Zachert added. Elders will on Monday unveil its annual report, which analysts already predict will continue the grim tidings.

Its biggest shareholder and merger hopeful, Ruralco, expects its profits to be 5-10 per cent lower this year because of weaker sheep and wool prices.

The heat came off Elders shares in the past week with lower numbers traded and prices hitting bottom at about 15c.

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Elders sheds more plantations

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Watch the timelapse of the spectacular solar eclipse.

Nature has bestowed a treat on solar scientists. About an hour after sunrise in north Queensland, the moon passed directly in front of the sun.

Those fortunate enough to be in Cairns enjoyed an early morning total eclipse lasting two minutes with the sun roughly 14 degrees above the eastern horizon.

For astrophysicists, it meant an opportunity to glimpse the outermost workings of the sizzling sun.

Eclipses give scientists their best chance to study the corona, the immensely hot outer atmosphere of the sun that boils off into space and wafts past the planets.

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Even with modern Earth- and space-based telescopes, scientists can only observe parts of the corona normally because of the sun's overwhelming brightness.

"At eclipse, we can observe the whole thing!" says Monash University solar physicist Paul Cally. "The striking thing about the corona at total eclipse is its beautiful fine structure dominated by the magnetic fields associated with active regions - called sunspots - and coronal holes."

These phenomena change over days or weeks, and so the corona appears to be quite different at every solar eclipse.

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Eclipse sheds light on sizzling sun

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