Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Stock indexes churned
NEW YORK -- Major batch indexes finished churned Thursday on some-more justification that the economy is convalescent strength at a delayed pace.
The Dow Jones industrial normal rose for an eighth true day, the longest consecutive stand given August. The Dow gained 46 points whilst broader indexes were small changed.
Reports indicated that acceleration stays in check and production is growing. The supervision said, however, that first-time claims for stagnation benefits usually inched lower.
"The marketplace has been harsh higher on what has been benignly certain news," pronounced Alan Gayle, comparison investment strategist for RidgeWorth Investments. "There is a flourishing clarity the economy is plodding along in the right direction."
Renewed regard about mercantile troubles in Greece kept the gains in check. The nation pronounced it competence spin to the International Monetary Fund for await if European leaders cant determine to a bailout plan subsequent week.
Stocks have been in a solid stand for about five weeks as mercantile reports vigilance the economy is saying medium improvement.
The Dow rose 45.50, or 0.4 percent, to 10,779.17. That outlines the top close given Oct. 1, 2008. The Dow last rose for eight true days in the duration finished Aug. 27.
The broader Standard & Poors 500 slipped 0.38, or less than 0.1 percent, to 1,165.83, whilst the Nasdaq rose 2.19, or 0.1 percent, to 2,391.28.
The Labor Departments Consumer Price Index was flat. Excluding flighty appetite and food prices, it rose 0.1 percent. Economists polled by Thomson Reuters foresee an enlarge of 0.1 percent in both measures of inflation. On Wednesday, the supervision pronounced that indiscriminate prices hardly rose in February.
The Federal Reserve steady this week that it expects acceleration to sojourn low. That would concede the executive bank to keep seductiveness rates low to assistance revitalise lending and progress the economy.
The Labor Department pronounced that primary jobless claims fell by 5,000 to a seasonally practiced 457,000 last week. Although the dump was short of expectations, it was the third true weekly slide. A four-week normal of claims is up by 30,000 given the commencement of the year.
Initial claims have hovered around 450,000 in new weeks, that Gayle called a "tipping point" in between employers adding or slicing jobs.
The Conference Boards index of heading indicators rose 0.1 percent in February. That suited expectations but the enlarge in the sign of destiny mercantile wake up was the smallest in eleven months.
Overseas, Britains FTSE 100 fell less than 0.1 percent, Germanys DAX index forsaken 0.2 percent, and Frances CAC-40 fell 0.5 percent. Japans Nikkei batch normal fell 1 percent.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Halliburton agrees to buy Boots & Coots
NEW YORK Fri April 9, 2010 9:29pm EDT Related News Constellation Brands ends partnership talksWed, April 7 2010UPDATE 1-Constellation Brands ends partnership talksWed, April 7 2010Constellation Brands ends talks with Australian VintageWed, April 7 2010RealD plans IPO of up to $1 bln-FTTue, April 6 2010Valmont sees $365 mln Q1 revenueMon, April 5 2010 Stocks & &
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Halliburton (HAL.N) pronounced on Friday it concluded to buy Boots Coots (WEL.A), a association that provides vigour carry out services for oil and gas wells, in a batch and money understanding value about $240 million.
Halliburton pronounced Boots Coots shareholders will embrace about $3 for each share of Boots Coots they hold. That $3 consists of $1.73 in money and $1.27 in Halliburton stock, according to the matter from Halliburton.
Shares in Boots Coots sealed at $2.35, down about 1.3 percent. Halliburton shares sealed at $31.57, down 9 cents or about 0.3 percent.
The understanding will be accretive in the initial full year of operation, Halliburton said.
The second largest oilfield services association will emanate a new product use line mixing the existent coiled tubing and hydraulic workover operations with Boots Coots" involvement services and the vigour carry out business.
(Reporting by Elinor Comlay; modifying about Carol Bishopric)
DealsFriday, August 27, 2010
Frank Lampard penetrating to mangle Chelseas Double steep Chelsea
Russell Kempson, Peter Lansley & ,}
In these Eurocentric times, the Champions League has spin an all-consuming beast. It represents the apex of bar success, a majority macho of arenas in which to be at home muscles and shape metal reputations. It is roughly as if made at home supremacy is of delegate importance.
Far from it for Chelsea. After their European exit at the hands of Inter Milan last month, they have had to route their energies. It is at home, in the Barclays Premier League and FA Cup, that their ambitions right away lie.
It might harm still, seeking on enviously as Inter, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Lyons do conflict for the European Cup, but completing the Double would go a long towards easing the pain. And it is well inside of their grasp. They can smell it, feel it.
To do it would be huge, Frank Lampard, the midfield player, said. As a club, we havent finished that. At the finish of a really prolonged season, were in a situation where we can do this. Its a great on all sides to be in. Certain times of the deteriorate have been formidable but, we have to remember, we are still in there with that opportunity.
Related LinksWeekend previews: Cole lapse revealedAncelotti: Cole will be fit for World CupO"Neill takes low-key proceed to semi-finalBefore the better to Inter, couple of at Stamford Bridge had talked about the Double, so focused were they on their mania with European glory. The League and Cup were deliberate as merely teenager voters of a intensity triple triumph.
Now, even Carlo Ancelotti, the customarily impassive Chelsea manager, is vehement about the new twin target. Would it have up for the round-of-16 agonise at the hands of Jos Mourinho, the Inter physical education instructor and former Special One of Stamford Bridge? Yes it would, Ancelotti said. For sure.
Chelsea are on track. They lead the joining by dual points from Manchester United whom they degraded 2-1 at Old Trafford last week finish with five matches superfluous and proceed the penultimate jump in the Cup when they take on Aston Villa in their semi-final at Wembley Stadium today.
That Chelsea demolished the West Midlands bar 7-1 in West London a fortnight ago suggests that Villa, the knocked about Carling Cup finalists at Wembley this season, might have to continue an additional vehement encounter.
It is, though, a idea that Lampard is penetrating to dismiss. It was a great feeling to flog Villa similar to that, Lampard told Match of the Daymagazine. Its going to be a flog up the crippled for them but it is by no equates to sure that well usually hurl them over again.
These games are one-offs. If you spin up a bit exhausted or off the pace, a group like Villa are going to flog you.
Villa share that view. Martin ONeill, their manager, sees the rematch some-more as a probable matter explanation that they can take on the big boys, flog them and flog on to the subsequent level.
To book a initial Cup Final coming for a decade, to lift the prize for the first time given 1957, could usually accelerate Villas development.
Wanting to experience in the Cup Final at the finish of the deteriorate is as big an incentive as anything, ONeill said. Youre not worrying about possibly youre removing revenge.
Chelsea are a really excellent side but we are able of winning and thats not bravado. If you see at the jot down altogether this season, defensively weve been flattering sound. It [7-1] was patently a vital blip and were usually going to have to try and redress it.
Winning a prize establishes something initial of all. You have something tangible to show. Its not usually removing to the final, the the winning of it, the outcome it has on a football club.
Ive seen it in the past as physical education instructor and player. The lift it gives players, the lift it gives the bar for destiny big matches is so important.
If the Villa players are still smarting, John Terry, the captain of Chelsea, the Cup holders, is well wakeful of it.
Ive oral to Steve Sidwell [the Villa and former Chelsea midfield player] since we flog them and he told me that they were seething over the approach they got knocked about and the approach they played, Terry said. But it is going to be a totally opposite game.
Yet it is story that beckons for Chelsea. They have never finished the Double and Ancelotti has never snared a made at home one-two, either.
It is in the mind to do it, the Italian said. We are really close but zero is decided.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Questor share tip: ENRC could measure from World Cup energy outages
By Garry White, Questor Editor 700AM GMT twenty-six March 2010
Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation
ENRC
11.86 -15p
FTSE 100 falls 2.7pc after S&P warns on UK debt Questor Hochschild will gleam from china exposure Investors should be galvanized by Hill & Smith Unilever has all in place to obscure cynics UKs disastrous opinion pulls FTSE 100 down Plunge in car sales takes the gleam off LonminQuestor says BUY
Yesterday, economists at Citigroup pronounced that China appeared on lane for an "asset boom, burble and bust". However, it pronounced this would take about 3 years to fool around out and it "probably" would not be thwarted by tighter mercantile policy.
China will need to import tender materials at an startling rate for a little time to come. This should good Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC).
The dual majority poignant line as far as ENRC is endangered are ferrochrome and iron ore. In 2009, ferroalloys constituted 48pc of the gain prior to interest, tax, debasement and amortisation (EBITDA), with iron ore generating 33pc. The opinion for both these products this year is positive.
Kazakhstan-focused ENRC is the world"s largest writer of ferrochrome, that is used in the prolongation of immaculate steel. It is a reduce cost writer than South African mining groups, that additionally face appetite supply issues. Smelters that furnish ferrochrome, an amalgamate of chromium and iron, are really appetite complete and there is conjecture that vital mining groups in South Africa have been asked to extent appetite use during the World Cup after this year. There are genuine fears of rolling blackouts in the nation as tellurian media and hundreds of thousands of fans arrive. These energy interruptions would be certain for ENRC.
Ferrochrome stipulate prices are set in quarterly cost talks but there has been no allotment of the second entertain price. It is approaching that prices will climb by in between twenty thirty cents per pound, compared $1.01 in the initial quarter.
An engaging direction has additionally been function not long ago that could progress direct further. John Meyer, head of mining at attorney Fairfax, remarkable this week that there has been marketplace share expansion for 400-series immaculate steel that contains some-more chrome, mostly at the responsibility of higher-nickel 300 series.
The marketplace share of 400 array in the initial entertain of 2009 was 25.2pc of production, but this rose to 31.1pc by the fourth entertain of the year. However, the direction could reverse, as 300 array is some-more corrosion-resistant than 400 series.
The association is additionally rarely unprotected to iron ore. The largest producers in the universe Vale, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto are seeking for an enlarge in prices close to 100pc. BHP and Vale have additionally been really outspoken about wanting to move afar from annual pricing talks to some-more short-term cost setting, that is certain for producers in a longhorn market.
ENRC released the 2009 formula on Wednesday, that showed a pointy tumble in earnings. After last year"s tumult, this was expected. Revenues fell 44pc to $3.8bn (2.5bn) and pre-tax increase fell 62pc to $1.44bn.
The association has a process of profitable out 15pc of gain as the division and as increase fell the division was cut too. The last division was 6p a share, bringing the sum payout for the year to 12p compared with 31p in 2008. However, gain should miscarry this year and the division is expected to be raised.
The last remuneration will be done on Jun sixteen and the shares go ex-dividend for this remuneration on Apr 4.
Perhaps the majority critical piece of the formula is headlines that the organisation is on the acquisitions trail. The association has already done a little purchases in Africa together with cobalt and copper organisation Camec and we can design some-more to come as the organisation diversifies by commodity and by region.
The organisation stream has net money of $402m, but pronounced it could move to a debt incident of a limit of dual times EBITDA. Obviously, there is regularly merger risk when the organisation pursues such as strategy, but the right purchases in the stream marketplace will be certain for the company"s medium-term prospects.
The shares were initial endorsed on Dec twelve last year at 886p a shares and they are right away up 34pc compared with a marketplace up 9pc. They are trade on a Dec 2010 gain mixed of 11.9, descending to 9.6 in 2011.
The position on the shares stays buy.
Long-term cannabis make use of can stand in risk of psychosis
Kate Kelland LONDON Mon Mar 1, 2010 7:50am EST Related News Can fish oil assistance ensure opposite schizophrenia?Mon, February 1 2010 
A immature lady smokes pot prior to the 10th annual Marijuana Mar in downtown Toronto May 3, 2008.
Credit: Reuters/Mark Blinch
LONDON (Reuters) - Young people who fume cannabis or pot for 6 years or some-more are twice as expected to have crazy episodes, hallucinations or delusions than people who have never used the drug, scientists pronounced on Monday.
The commentary adds weight to prior investigate that related psychosis with the drug -- quite in the majority manly form as "skunk" -- and will feed the discuss about the turn of controls over the use.
Despite laws opposite it, up to 190 million people around the universe make make make make make make make use of cannabis, according to United Nations estimates, equating to about 4 percent of the adult population.
John McGrath of the Queensland Brain Institute in Australia complicated some-more than 3,801 men and women innate in in in between 1981 and 1984 and followed them up after twenty-one years to ask about their cannabis make make make make make make make use of and assessed them for crazy episodes. Around eighteen percent reported utilizing cannabis for 3 or fewer years, sixteen percent for 4 to five years and fourteen percent for 6 or some-more years.
"Compared with those who had never used cannabis, immature adults who had 6 or some-more years given initial make make make make make make make use of of cannabis were twice as expected to rise a non-affective psychosis (such as schizophrenia)," McGrath wrote in a investigate published in the Archives of General Psychiatry journal.
They were additionally 4 times as expected to have high scores in clinical tests of delusion, he wrote, and a supposed "dose-response" attribute showed that the longer the generation given initial cannabis use, the higher the risk of psychosis-related symptoms.
A investigate by British scientists last year referred to that people who fume skunk, a manly form of cannabis, are roughly 7 times some-more expected to rise crazy illnesses such as schizophrenia than those who fume "hash" or cannabis resin.
Previous studies had additionally referred to smoking cannabis can stand in the risk of psychosis, but the British investigate was the initial to see privately at skunk. Skunk has higher amounts of the psychoactive piece THC that can furnish crazy symptoms such as hallucinations, delusions and paranoia.
McGrath said, however, that "the inlet of the attribute in in in between psychosis and cannabis make make make make make make make use of is by no equates to simple" and some-more investigate was indispensable to inspect the mechanisms at work.
As piece of his study, McGrath and his organisation looked at links in in in between cannabis make make make make make make make use of and crazy symptoms between a organisation of 228 kin pairs and found the organisation still held. This suggests alternative influences similar to genes or the sourroundings were less expected to be obliged for the psychosis, they said.
A general organisation of drug process experts published a book progressing this year arguing that laws opposite cannabis have unsuccessful to cut the make make make make make make make use of but instead led to immeasurable numbers of arrests for drug receive in countries similar to Britain, Switzerland and the United States, that means amicable multiplication and purposeless supervision expense.
(Editing by Myra MacDonald)
Health for acne crude associations between acne and high intake of chocolate and chips and low intake of vegetablesMonday, August 23, 2010
Bank warns on residence prices as QE stress hits sterlingBusiness Business
Stark warnings about the prospects for the economy and the housing marketplace have come from the Governor, Mervyn King, and alternative policymakers at the Bank of England.
Giving justification to the Treasury Select Committee, Kate Barker, a part of the Banks Monetary Policy Committee and the writer of dual government-sponsored reports on the skill market, pronounced that "there are still adjustments to come in the housing market". She added: "It seems some-more expected than not to me that debt monetary is obviously not going to be accessible going brazen on the conditions it used to be... I was rather astounded by the strength of prices in the housing marketplace by last year and the probable a little people behind decisions to move or put houses on the market. In a little clarity that cant continue."
An "aftershock" in the blurb skill zone was additionally possible, Ms Barker said, as values competence have "further to fall".
Mr King sounded some-more downbeat than he did at the Inflation Report press discussion last week, and again kept open the choice of expanding the Banks quantitative easing programme (QE), that is now on hold and that has pumped �200bn of new income in to the economy over the past year.
But a separate at the tip of the Bank appears to be building over the knowledge of some-more QE.
In a debate yesterday, the Deputy Governor for Financial Stability, Paul Tucker, warned that "the monetary authorities need to be supportive to when a noted high regard in item prices is apropos fuelled by fast credit expansion and looks expected to get carried afar over anything fitting by fundamentals". He added: "The odds that acceleration is expected to sojourn on top of aim for a duration equates to there is a larger possibility that expectations of medium-term acceleration competence move upwards."
Last Nov the Banks arch economist, Spencer Dale, additionally uttered concerns that QE competence be engineering new item "bubbles".
Still, Mr Kings "doveish" tinge on seductiveness rates sent argent reduce opposite the euro and the dollar. "This nascent liberation is fragile. The tensions that underlay the rave of large universe imbalances have not been resolved," he said.
One cause that will subdue the supply of supports for residence squeeze is the withdrawal of the Bank of Englands Special Liquidity Scheme and alternative arrangements to yield await for the banks. Mr King pronounced that the Bank is dynamic to repel the await by 2012, and that the banks had been urged to block the "funding gap" of coming �200bn that will result. Some institutions, likely Mr King, will have to accept a not as big change sheet.
Mr Kings fears were partly reliable yesterday with the recover of the ultimate interpretation from the British Bankers" Association. These showed debt advances behind to the levels last seen in the summer, though most of this was a thoughtfulness of the pour out for monetary to kick the finish of the stamp avocation legal holiday in December. Approvals fell to an eight-month low of 35,083, from a 26-month high of 45,650 at the finish of 2009.
Asked either he judged that a serve injection of income without delay in to the economy by "quantitative easing" competence be needed, the Governor said: "It competence be. We"ll have to see how things vessel out. My sold concerns at benefaction get from the state of the universe economy. Recovery in the largest trade marketplace the euro area appears to have stalled."
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Sepsis and pneumonia caused by hospital-acquired infections kill 48000 patients cost $8.1 billion to treat
This is the largest nationally deputy investigate to date of the fee taken by sepsis and pneumonia, dual conditions mostly caused by fatal microbes, together with the antibiotic-resistant germ MRSA. Such infections can lead to longer sanatorium stays, critical complications and even death.
In majority cases, these conditions could have been avoided with improved infection carry out in hospitals, pronounced Ramanan Laxminarayan, Ph.D., principal questioner for Extending the Cure, a plan examining antibiotic insurgency formed at the Washington, D.C. think-tank Resources for the Future.
Infections that are acquired during the march of a sanatorium stay cost the United States a towering volume in conditions of lives lost and health caring costs, he said. Hospitals and alternative health caring providers contingency action right away to strengthen patients from this flourishing menace.
Laxminarayan and his colleagues analyzed 69 million liberate annals from hospitals in 40 states and identified dual conditions caused by health care-associated infections: sepsis, a potentially fatal systemic reply to infection and pneumonia, an infection of the lungs and respiratory tract.
The researchers looked at infections that grown after hospitalization. They zeroed in on infections that are mostly preventable, similar to a critical bloodstream infection that occurs since of a relapse in waste technique during surgery, and detected that the cost of such infections can be utterly high: For example, people who grown sepsis after surgery stayed in the sanatorium eleven days longer and the infections cost an additional $33,000 to provide per person.
Even worse, the group found that scarcely twenty percent of people who grown sepsis after surgery died as a outcome of the infection. Thatthe tragedy of such cases, pronounced Anup Malani, a investigate co-author, questioner at Extending the Cure, and highbrow at the University of Chicago. In a little cases, comparatively full of health people check in to the sanatorium for slight surgery. They rise sepsis since of a relapse in infection carry out -- and they can die.
The group additionally looked at pneumonia, an infection that can set in if a disease-causing bacillus gets in to the lungs -- in a little cases when a unwashed ventilator blood vessel is used. They found that people who grown pneumonia after surgery, that is additionally thought to be preventable, stayed in the sanatorium an additional fourteen days. Such cases cost an additional $46,000 per chairman to treat. In eleven percent of the cases, the studious died as a outcome of the pneumonia infection.
According to the authors, HAIs often are caused by microbes that challenge diagnosis with usual antibiotics. These superbugs are increasingly formidable to provide and, in a little cases, trigger infections that in conclusion means the bodyorgans to close down, pronounced Malani.
In 2002, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that all hospital-acquired infections were compared with 99,000 deaths per year. While the Extending the Cure investigate looked at usually dual of the majority usual and critical conditions caused by these infections, it additionally distributed deaths essentially caused by, rather than only compared with, infections patients get in the hospital.
Based on their research, investigate authors were means to guess the annual series of deaths and health caring costs due to sepsis and pneumonia that is essentially preventable.
The republic urgently needs a extensive proceed to revoke the risk acted by these fatal infections, he added. Improving infection carry out is a transparent approach to both urge studious outcomes and reduce health caring costs.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Americans Sneeze More As Allergies Mysteriously Increase
If you think youre saying some-more people sneezing and tearingup this allergy season, you competence be right. Studies show that allergies are onthe climb in grown countries, together with the United States not justseasonal allergies, but allergies of all kinds.
An allergyis a greeting of your defence complement to what are customarily harmless, run-of-the-millsubstances, such as pollen, cat hair, or even a peanut. About 54 percent ofAmericans are supportive to at slightest one allergy-inducing substance, accordingto a inhabitant consult conducted from 1988 to 1994 by the National Institutes ofHealth (NIH). Thats about dual to five times higher, depending on the allergen,than the rates found by NIH in in between 1976 and 1980.
The result: Americans are sneezing and wheezing and rubbingitchy eyes some-more than ever.
The word claims that people record when they see anallergist additionally request an increase, according to Dr. Jacqueline S.Eghrari-Sabet, an allergist at Family Asthma & Allergy Care inGaithersburg, Md., and a associate of the American Academy of Allergy Asthma &Immunology.
And foodallergies in young kids have additionally experienced an uptick. From 1997 to 2007,the series of young kids with food allergies rose eighteen percent, according to theCenters for Disease Control and Prevention.
"You travel in to any kindergarten, and theyre all peanut-freekindergarteners since of the high occurrence of peanut allergy," pronounced Eghrari-Sabet."Those kids are real, and they werent there the era before."
While no one knows for certain whats fueling the enlarge in allergies,Eghrari-Sabet and others indicate a little possibilities, including:
Were as well clean
Cleanliness could be to blame. The "hygienehypothesis" proposes young kids arent unprotected to sufficient dirt, bacteriaand alternative swelling agents early on, and their under-stimulated defence systemsgoes on the offense when unprotected to soft things similar to food.
"Their wearied defence complement goes out and attacks apeanut, an egg, wheat, divert dishes that are in everybodys diet quitenormally," Eghrari-Sabet said.
Previous studies have shown that young kids in daycares, knownto be hotbeds for swelling germs, have fewer allergies than those lifted athome with less hit with alternative kids, pronounced Dr. Richard Honsinger, an allergist and immunologist at LosAlamos Medical Care Clinic in New Mexico.
However, Eghrari-Sabet records that whilst both statements aretrue young kids are kept in cleanser environments, and young kids have some-more foodallergies than ever prior to this doesnt have the hygiene supposition true.
Global warming
The climb in CO dioxide levels in the ambience andwarming tellurian temperatures could additionally be contributing to the allergy increase.
A 2005 investigate found that plants areflowering progressing in the year, and sum pollen prolongation is increasing. Amore new investigate in Italy found that not usually had pollen levels increasing inthe area, but the populations attraction to pollen had increasing as well.While genetics plays a large purpose in all allergies, a longer and some-more intensepollen deteriorate could intensify symptoms.
Were as well dirty
All the fog and alternative sorts of air wickedness competence additionally be creation allergies worse, particularlyasthma. However, whilst there is great justification for the couple in in between pollutionand allergies in a exam tube, it stays difficult to infer in large populations ofpeople, Eghrari-Sabet said.
Just some-more diagnoses
Its probable that the rising numbers are simply due to morepeople being diagnosed with allergies, Eghrari-Sabet said. "Whereas beforepeople were told you only have dry skin or a rash, right away theyre told, you haveeczema," she said.
With improved allergy treatments, some-more sufferers competence go totheir doctor, bumping up diagnoses more. However, some-more diagnoses alone simplycant insist the complete increase, generally for food allergies Eghrari-Sabetsaid.
Mystery remains
The genuine law-breaker stays a mystery. Were as well clean, weretoo unwashed and all in between; all of these hypotheses could be operatingsimultaneously, or all could be untrue.
"Theyre unequivocally flattering majority all on the same level, andthe reason for that is since they are all similarly tough to prove," Eghrari-Sabetsaid.
However, Honsingerthinks that the hygiene supposition has the majority subsidy in conditions of evidence,and is apropos some-more supposed between those in the field. But he agrees that therise in snifflesand sneezes stays unexplained.
"I dont think we have a singular cause, and I dont knowif we have an answer for sure," he said.
And it stays misleading if an answer will come anytime soon. Fundingtends to go toward investigate in to what to do about the allergy increase, ratherthan in to whats causing it, Eghrari-Sabet said.
What Causes Allergies? 7 Solid Health Tips That No Longer Apply Why Are Humans Always So Sick?Sunday, August 8, 2010
Colombian rebels give warrant handover coordinates
Patrick Markey BOGOTA Thu Mar 11, 2010 3:40pm EST
BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia"s FARC guerrillas have issued coordinates for the release of two soldiers held in rebel camps deep in the jungles, a leftist senator involved in mediation efforts said on Thursday.
Pablo Emilio Moncayo, held hostage for a dozen years, and Josue Daniel Calvo are now closer to freedom after their handover became mired in wrangling between the rebels and President Alvaro Uribe"s hard-line government.
"We have in our possession the coordinates, that means the location for the people who are going to be handed over in a unilateral manner by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia," said Senator Piedad Cordoba, who previously has brokered the release of hostages.
Cordoba did not say when they would be freed, but said there would be two handovers. Calvo, kidnapped last year and now ill, would be released first.
The FARC is holding 24 police officers and soldiers as leverage in its four-decade-old war against the state.
Once a powerful force that kidnapped and bombed at will, it has been driven back into remote mountains and jungles by Colombia"s U.S.-backed military campaign. Rebels are now deeply engaged in cocaine trafficking and have very little support among Colombians.
Uribe said his government has provided safeguards for the guerrillas to free the men to Cordoba, the Red Cross and observers from Brazil. The safeguards will only come into effect after a weekend vote, officials said.
Colombians go to the polls on Sunday for legislative elections and again in May for a presidential vote to decide who succeeds Uribe after two terms highlighted by his drive against rebels and cocaine traffickers.
Uribe accuses the rebels of trying to use the release to win a temporary halt in security operations before the election.
"We"ve always been ready to facilitate the release of our men," Defense Minister Gabriel Silva said. "But we can"t allow our men and the release to be used so we stop protecting people during elections."
Moncayo has become a symbol for those left behind in the jungles even as Colombia"s war ebbs. He was snatched in a 1997 attack on an army post.
Guerrilla commanders had promised to release the two soldiers more than a year ago.
(Reporting by Patrick Markey; Editing by Xavier Briand)
WorldThursday, August 5, 2010
MGM Mirage NJ exit greases wheels for HK inventory
Deena Beasley and Sui-Lee Wee LOS ANGELES/HONG KONG Thu Mar 18, 2010 8:04am EDT Related News NJ says MGM has ties to Chinese criminalsWed, Mar 17 2010UPDATE 4-NJ says MGM has ties to Chinese criminalsWed, Mar 17 2010New Jersey OKs MGM plan to sell its Borgata stakeWed, Mar 17 2010UPDATE 2-Macau gov"t to regulate the building of casinosTue, Mar 16 2010MGM Mirage to sell stake in New Jersey casinoFri, Mar 12 2010
LOS ANGELES/HONG KONG (Reuters) - MGM Mirage"s plan to exit the mature Atlantic City market in favor of booming Macau removes a year of overhang from the company and should clear the way for a share offering in Hong Kong by June.
MGM Mirage said it planned to give up its New Jersey gambling license by selling its 50 percent stake in Borgata, its lone Atlantic city casino, after New Jersey gambling regulators said the company"s Macau partner had links to Chinese organized crime.
In a previously confidential report released on Wednesday, the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement said that "from the beginning of its efforts to enter Macau, MGM (Mirage) pursued partnerships with persons that it knew were associated with those aspects of gaming in Macau most heavily penetrated by organized crime."
The enforcement division had previously labeled as "unsuitable" MGM Mirage"s Macau partner, Pansy Ho, daughter of Macau gambling tycoon Stanley Ho, whom the report said had links with Chinese triad members, citing documents from a U.S. Senate hearing in 1992.
Analysts have said MGM Mirage"s decision to quit New Jersey should help prospects for a planned Hong Kong IPO for its Macau unit, whose main asset is a 50-50 joint venture casino with Pansy Ho.
"It comes as no surprise that they will focus on Macau, which is growing year on year, whereas they are seeing significant declines in the U.S.," said Aaron Fischer, head of CLSA"s Asia gaming research. "The news clears the way for MGM to be more serious about its business in Macau. The operating performance has not been as good as expected. Hopefully, this paves the way for a Hong Kong IPO."
MGM Mirage hopes to raise up to $500 million as early as the second quarter of this year, sources told Reuters in January.
If the initial public offering goes ahead, MGM Mirage, whose largest shareholder is billionaire Kirk Kerkorian, would be the third U.S. casino marquee name since November to float its Macau operations on the Hong Kong stock exchange after Wynn Macau and Sands China.
ORGANISED CRIME
MGM Mirage"s plan to sell its stake in Borgata and give up its New Jersey gambling license, first proposed in February, was approved on Wednesday by state regulators.
MGM Mirage Chief Executive Jim Murren said in a statement: "The DGE"s (Division of Gaming Enforcement) report acknowledges there is no evidence that Pansy Ho has engaged in any wrongdoing or been accused of any illegal activity."
Macau"s transformation from a seedy gambling haven into a Las Vegas-style entertainment paradise since 2002 has meant stiff competition for the elder Ho, although he still controls one of six gambling licenses in the former Portuguese colony.
Sometimes known as the godfather of gambling, Stanley Ho, a patriarch of mixed European and Chinese parentage, heads an extended clan of 17 children born to his four wives.
The report from the New Jersey enforcement division cites documents such as 1992 testimony at a U.S. Senate Subcommittee hearing stating that Ho had direct associations with known members of Chinese triads.
Ho denies these allegations and hasn"t ever been charged with a crime.
The report concluded that Pansy Ho"s relationship and financial ties to her father, as well as "her associations with persons alleged to be associated with organized crime render her susceptible to influence by unsuitable persons."
JUXTAPOSITION
In choosing to put its Borgata stake on the block, MGM Mirage is going where the money is.
Atlantic City, once the gaming capital of the U.S. eastern seaboard, has been hammered by the recession as consumers cut spending. Revenue from its 11 casinos dived almost 16 percent in February to $261.6 million, hurt also by snowstorms that blanketed the northeastern United States.
In contrast, Macau gambling revenue in February was 70 percent higher than a year earlier at about $1.8 billion.
The report also said Las Vegas-based MGM Mirage"s conduct in pursuing and consummating the Macau joint venture "raises concerns about its commitment to corporate regulatory integrity."
The gaming enforcement division said MGM Mirage"s due diligence and compliance efforts were deficient.
But even as New Jersey"s verdict removes the overhang on MGM Mirage, it is unlikely to remove challenges that still face the company in Macau -- weak market share and lack of a growth story.
MGM Mirage, which has come close to defaulting on its debt, has only one casino in Macau, the MGM Grand Macau, and has not shed light on its expansion plans.
MGM Mirage once had plans to build a multi-tower project on 55 acres of land it owns adjacent to the Borgata, but those plans were put on hold several years ago. The company owns the Borgata through a 50-50 joint venture with Boyd Gaming Corp.
MGM said it would place its interest in the Borgata and related leased land in a divestiture trust. The settlement mandates the sale of the trust property within a 30-month period.
If the company has not found a buyer within 18 months, the trustee would then take over the sales process, having another 12 months to conclude a deal.
Shares of MGM fell 4 cents to close at $12.26 on the New York Stock Exchange.
U.S. DealsSunday, August 1, 2010
Two hundred people arrested on guess of terrorism as stop and poke total tumble
The number of people stopped and searched under controversial anti-terror powers dropped off dramatically last year, figures showed today.
Across Great Britain in the year ending September 2009, 200,444 people were stopped under Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000, a 12 per cent fall on the previous year.
The powers allow officers to stop anyone in a specified area without the need for reasonable suspicion.
The number of people stopped and searched in 2009 was down 12 per cent on the previous year (file image)
The Government"s anti-terror policy was thrown into turmoil inJanuary after the European Court of Human Rights ruled that police whouse Section 44 without grounds for suspicion are violating individualfreedoms and acting illegally.
Police continued to use the powers pending an appeal.
Of those stopped under the powers last year only 965 (0.5 per cent) were arrested, the Home Office figures showed.
The use of stop and search under Section 44 continued to fall, down53 per cent in the period from July to September 2009 compared to the previousyear.
In the year ending September 2009, the Metropolitan Police also made1,896 stop and searches under Section 43 of the Terrorism Act 2000,which allows an officer to stop a person they suspect to be a terrorist.
Only four arrests resulted, at a rate of just 0.2 per cent.
While 15 per cent of those stopped under Section 44 classified themselves asAsian or Asian British, 20 per cent stopped under Section 43 said they wereAsian.
British Transport Police use the section 44 stop and search rule to investigate a passenger carrying a suspicious package
Anti-terrorism chiefs ordered an escalation in the use of Section 44powers after the failed bomb attack against the Tiger Tiger nightclubin London"s Haymarket in 2007.
That resulted in more than a quarter of a million people beingsearched in 2008-09 - the highest on record and more than twice thelevel of the previous year.
But after a public outcry over the use of searches, whichdisproportionately effect minority groups, Metropolitan PoliceCommissioner Sir Paul Stephenson ordered them to be scaled back.
Photographers and protesters have claimed the powers are used excessively against them.
Corinna Ferguson, barrister at Liberty, said: "The recent fall inthe number of Section 44 stops is welcome and demonstrates a growingunderstanding on the part of the police of the dangers of such asweeping anti-terror power.
"But Parliament now needs to do its job, respond to the damningCourt of Human Rights judgment and tighten up the law without delay."
Home Office figures also released today showed a total of 201 peoplewere arrested on suspicion of terrorism to the year ending Septemberlast year, up from 178 arrests the previous year.
Of those, 66 (33 per cent) were eventually charged - a slightly higher ratethan for indictable offences - 17 under terror laws, and another 7 withterrorism related offences.
There have been 1,759 terrorism arrests since September 11 2001, with 383 suspects charged with terrorism related offences.
Since 9/11, a total of 230 people have been convicted of a terrorism related offence, with 24 suspects awaiting prosecution.
The overall conviction rate following a terrorism arrest is 74 per centcompared to a conviction rate of 86 per cent for the 29 terror trials completedin the year ending September 2009.
There are now 132 terror or extremist related prisoners in Great Britain.
Policing and security minister David Hanson said: "We face a realand serious threat from terrorism and the figures released todayunderline the success of the police, security service and intelligenceagencies in disrupting terrorists. We must all be grateful for theirhard work and dedication.
"The statistics also show the success of the Crown ProsecutionService in prosecuting individuals and bringing them to justice. Sincerecording began in September 2001, 230 people have been convicted of aterrorism-related offence.
"There can be no doubt about the complexity of the threat we faceand the aspiration of those intent on committing acts of terrorism.
"That is why the Government is committed to wherever possibleprosecuting those involved in terrorism. And where we can"t prosecute,we seek to deport or disrupt."
Alex Deane of civil liberties campaign group Big Brother Watch said: "These figures show that actual terrorism-related charges are rare,demonstrating the relatively small objective threat that these peoplepose.
"This shows that we should not have allowed our whole way of life tobe changed by intrusive technology like ID cards and body scanners onaccount of Government-manufactured hysteria about terrorism."
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