LONDON – The Conservatives captured the largest number of seats Thursday in Britain's national election but did not get a majority, according to television projections based on exit polls, a result that triggered uncertainty over who will form the next government.
An analysis by Britain's main television networks suggested David Cameron's Conservative party will win 305 House of Commons seats, short of the 326 seats needed for a majority.
The projections also showed a substantial drop for Prime Minister Gordon Brown's ruling Labor Party, giving it 255 seats — its smallest number since 1987. Nick Clegg's Liberal Democrats were seen as winning 61 seats — far less than had been expected. Smaller parties got 29 other seats.
The three top parties immediately began jockeying for position.
If the vote does not give any party a majority, that could produce a destabilizing period of political wrangling and uncertainty. Brown could resign if he feels the results have signaled he has lost his mandate to rule, or he could try to stay on as leader and seek a deal in which smaller parties would support him.
The projection suggests that the Conservatives will gain 95 seats, Labour will lose 94 and the Liberal Democrats will lose one.
The result did not bode well for Brown, Britain's prime minister since 2007.
"Let's see how it pans out, Gordon will know whether he should stay on or not," Labour Home Secretary Alan Johnson said. "I think Gordon deserves the dignity to look at these things and make up his own mind."
Hard results began to trickle in about an hour after polls closed. The first seat to declare, Houghton and Sunderland South in northern England, was retained by Labour.
Voters in some British districts reported that they were turned away from polling stations after large queues formed shortly before polls closed at 10 p.m. (2100 GMT; 5 p.m. EDT). Problems were reported in Milton Keynes in southern England, and in Sheffield — the city where Liberal Democrat leader Clegg holds a seat — and Newcastle in northern England.
Theresa May, a senior Conservative Party lawmaker, said the exit poll result showed Labour's heaviest losses since 1931, and that the incumbent party had lost "the legitimacy to govern."
But Labour's Business Secretary, Peter Mandelson, pointed out that the sitting prime minister is traditionally given the first chance to form a government.
"The rules are that if it's a hung Parliament, it's not the party with the largest number of seats that has first go, it's the government," he said. "I have no problem in principle in trying to supply this country with a stable government."
He extended an olive branch to the Liberal Democrats, who have called to end the first-past-the-post system, where the number of districts won — not the popular vote — determines who leads the country.
"There has to be electoral reform as a result of this election," Mandelson said. "First-past the-post is on its last legs."
The results may yet change. Projecting elections based on exit polls is inherently risky — particularly in an exceptionally close election like this one. Polls are based on samples — in this case 18,000 respondents — and always have some margin of error.
Britain's census is nine years out of date and the polling districts haven't caught up to population shifts. Many voters also refuse to respond to exit polls.
Thousands have also already cast postal ballots but those results don't factor into the exit polls. About 12 percent cast postal ballots in 2005.
"I think we're going to see a very interesting night," Conservative Party chairman Eric Pickles said.
The Tories are hoping to regain power for the first time since 1997, when they were ousted by Labour under Tony Blair. After three leaders and three successive election defeats, the party selected Cameron, a fresh-faced, bicycle-riding graduate of Eton and Oxford who promised to modernize the party's fusty, right-wing image.
Whoever wins faces the daunting challenge of introducing big budget cuts to slash Britain's huge deficit.
The election result would be disastrous news for the Liberal Democrats, Britain's longtime third party, who enjoyed a big poll surge after the charismatic Clegg appeared in televised TV debates.
"It's obviously going to be very close. What is clear is that the country is going to need a strong and stable government to take us through the recession," Labour's deputy leader Harriet Harman told BBC News.
Liberal Democrat deputy leader Vince Cable described the outcome of the exit poll as "very strange" and insisted they had been "horribly wrong" in the past.
WASHINGTON – A surprisingly busy month for U.S. factories and a surge in home buying are the latest signs that the economic recovery is picking up.
Orders to U.S. factories rose 1.3 percent in March, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. That was much better than the 0.1 percent decline analysts had expected. Excluding the volatile transportation sector, orders gained 3.1 percent, the biggest increase since August 2005.
Widespread activity in many industries offset a big drop in commercial aircraft. The increase offers further evidence that U.S. manufacturers are helping drive the recovery.
A separate report showed that more people signed contracts on previously owned homes in March than was expected. The jump was in large part the result of tax incentives that have propelled the housing market this spring.
The National Association of Realtors said its seasonally adjusted index of sales agreements for previously occupied homes rose 5.3 percent from a month earlier to a reading of 102.9. It was the highest level since October and a 21 percent increase from the same month a year earlier. The index provides an early measurement of sales activity because there is usually a one- to two- month lag between a sales contract and a completed deal.
The two reports offered more evidence that the recovery is strengthening. They also follow a government report Monday that said consumers stepped up their spending in March by the largest amount in five months. As evidence of that trend, MasterCard Inc. on Tuesday said its first-quarter profit jumped 24 percent as more shoppers are feeling comfortable enough about the economy and their jobs to reach for the plastic again.
But Wall Street appeared to be more focused on the growing debt crisis in Europe. Stocks dropped sharply around the world over concerns that European countries would fail to approve a $144 billion bailout package for Greece. By early afternoon the Dow Jones industrial average was down more than 230 points, erasing a 143-point gain on Monday.
At the moment, manufacturing is the leading star of the economic rebound and economists are predicting that will continue for the rest of the year, helping to offset weakness in other areas. Manufacturers are benefiting not only from the rebound in the United States but also rising demand for U.S. exports as the global economy recovers at a faster rate than had been expected.
Factory orders have jumped in 11 of the past 12 months, and economist anticipate more gains in the coming months.
"Businesses slammed on the brakes too hard in reducing inventories during the recession," said Tim Quinlan, an economist at Wells Fargo Securities. "Now that the recession is over, the shelves are bare and that means they have to ramp up their orders to restock. We are seeing pretty broadbased strength in a lot of industries."
But Quinlan said factory orders are only 44 percent of their pre-recession peak from July 2008. Even with manufacturers producing more, Quinlan expects high unemployment and low housing values to slow economic growth.
"We are not out of the woods yet in terms of the job market," he said. "The biggest ongoing burden for the economy is that about 10 percent of the workforce is out of a job and another 10 percent are not working as much as they would like to work. That will be a drag on growth."
For March, demand for durable goods, items expected to last at least three years, fell 0.6 percent, a better showing than a preliminary report on April 23 which had put the decline in durable goods at 1.3 percent.
The overall durable goods number was heavily influenced by a big swing in commercial aircraft, a volatile category, which plunged 66.9 percent in March after having posted huge gains in the two previous months.
Total transportation orders were down 12.3 percent. That was the biggest drop since June of last year as a 2.7 percent rise in demand for motor vehicles and parts only partially offset the plunge in aircraft.
But excluding transportation, factory orders posted a 3.1 percent rise, the best showing since a 3.6 percent increase in August 2005.
The strength in other industries was widespread, Orders for primary metals, including iron and steel, increased 4.7 percent while demand for machinery was up 8.6 percent, led by a 28.1 percent surge in construction machinery.
Orders for computers and other electronics products increased 22.7 percent.
The report showed that demand for nondurable goods, products such as oil and chemicals, rose 2.9 percent in March. The strength in nondurables included strong increases in demand for petroleum, chemicals and tobacco.
The Institute for Supply Management reported Monday that its closely watched gauge of manufacturing activity rose to 60.4 in April, up from 59.6 in March.
That was the strongest reading in nearly six years and represented the ninth straight month that the index has signaled growth in manufacturing. A reading above 50 indicates manufacturing is expanding while readings below 50 signal that the factory sector is contracting.
Home sales have received a boost from the federal government's tax credit of up to $8,000 for home buyers.
These incentives have stimulated the market, but the deadline to get a signed sales contract was April 30. Many analysts project sales will drop sharply in the second half of the year.
"Strength in the spring was all but certain," wrote Dan Greenhaus, chief economic strategist at Miller Tabak. "A slump following the credit's expiration is likely although the exact timing is difficult to predict."
Some analysts expect prices to slump as well, especially if mortgage rates rise and more foreclosed homes hit the market.
Nevertheless, economists and real estate agents alike hope the economy will be strong enough to bring down the unemployment rate from the current 9.7 percent. If that happens, it "could be enough to stabilize the housing market," wrote Jennifer Lee, an economist with BMO Capital Markets.
The joy and fantasy of comic books and video games are often looked upon as fleeting childhood experiences. That was not the case for Gareb Shamus, who, as founder and chairman of Wizard Entertainment Group has successfully turned the nostalgia of his childhood into a multimillion-dollar enterprise. Since the first publication of Wizard Magazine in 1991, Shamus has built a pop culture empire that boasts several award-winning insider comic book magazines, with millions of readers in more than 40 countries, and has emerged as one of the leading faces of the growing pop culture industry.
As a child, Shamus had a passion for comic books and sports cards. He explains how growing up around his parents' Rockland County, N.Y., comic book store rooted pop culture in his blood. "The store, the items, the collectibles were always something we did together," Shamus says. The frequent family trips to comic book shows are etched in his memory. However, he never imagined that comics would become such a significant part of his future.
After graduating from State University of New York/University at Albany in 1991, Shamus began writing a small newsletter for the family store. The newsletter grew in popularity, and people seemed genuinely interested in the production of a larger publication. At age 21--and with little savings--Shamus borrowed money from friends and family and launched Wizard Magazine, the first color magazine devoted strictly to the comic book industry.
Since then, Wizard Entertainment has produced several leading industry publications, including ToyFare, InQuest Gamer, Anime Insider, Special Forces and Toy Wishes, all of which have become centerpieces in the world of comic books, video games and action figures. Wizard Magazine has been named one of the country’s top 20 magazine launches in the past 20 years. The popular magazine covers just about everything relevant in popular culture today, from the newest video games to toys and comic books.
"If there is something the collector, or the first adopter, is involved with, we are delivering it through print, online and at our conventions around the country," Shamus says. As the company evolved, the business transformed from newsletters and magazines to growing digital arm--including podcasts, newsletters and exclusive interviews--and convention business.
Shamus attributes this success to knowing what consumers are interested in and connecting them with what is hot today. "You have to want to be a leader and not go by the status quo all the time," Shamus says. "You also have to not be afraid to take chances and sometimes have to make unpopular decisions for the good of the brand. This cannot be an emotional process to be successful; it has to be very focused on progress."
Cultivating a positive working environment is key to sustaining that success. By surrounding himself with individuals who love the work they do, Shamus has created what he calls a "culture of success" within the Wizard Entertainment family. This, Shamus says, has enabled him to establish a strong foundation for his business.
He credits his father for instilling in him an unwavering entrepreneurial spirit. Shamus says that watching his father make sound decisions, he learned to follow his own path in business and stick to what he believes in, despite opposition. He adds that he enjoyed the freedom of growing up in an entrepreneurial environment as well as the process of building his own business. He realized that in order to do what he wanted to, he had to do it on his own. Despite collaborating with several major corporations to build his brand, Shamus still found a way to stamp the work with his personality.
What advice would Shamus give to young entrepreneurs looking to follow their dreams? Once they get the capital they need to launch their business and follow their dream, to , Shamus says, guard it like it’s a child. "As great, as unique as your ideas are, you must be properly funded and understand what it takes to get a business running successfully," he says. "The worst things we see are great ideas with not [enough] capital to execute them. You need the capital to make the business run properly and give you the chance to be successful."