Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Thursday, March 15, 2012
LSU Still Alive After Win Over Alabama
BATON ROUGE, La. - With a shake of one of his tree-trunk legs, JaMarcus Russell left an Alabama pass rusher flat on his face, turning a would-be sack into another chance to showcase his powerful right arm. The 6-foot-6, 257-pound Russell foiled the upset-minded Crimson Tide all night with his fancy footwork and three TD passes, helping No. 12 LSU keep its slim hopes for an SEC West title alive with a 28-14 victory Saturday night.
"He's incredible. He's the best quarterback I've faced and this team has faced all year," Alabama defensive end Wallace Gilberry said. "He makes perfect throws. He's big. ... On film he looks slow, but he's very deceiving. He gets those long strides and …
Veteran actor Richard Jenkins shares Oscar's glow
You've seen Richard Jenkins. He was the dead patriarch on HBO's "Six Feet Under" and the beleaguered gym director in 2008's "Burn After Reading." He's played lots of dads ("Step Brothers," "Rumor Has It," "North Country"), cops ("The Mod Squad," "Me, Myself and Irene") and scores of other supporting characters during his 25 years in film.
Now, with his first leading role, Jenkins is an Oscar nominee.
"It's unbelievable," said the 61-year-old actor, sitting in the lobby of his favorite hotel. "This happens to other people, not to me."
Jenkins caught the eye …
Lake Geneva pleasure parlay: Hike plus cruise
It's the intrepid hiker who is willing to take on the fullcircumference of the lake. But this fall brings an excellent chanceto combine an eight-mile hike from the town of Lake Geneva toWilliams Bay with a luncheon cruise.
On weekdays from Sept. 1 to Oct. 31, Geneva Lake Cruise Line'sBelle of the Lake will put out from Williams Bay Municipal Pier at12:30 p.m. for a narrated 1 1/2-hour luncheon …
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
WCup champion Gimpl skips snowboard season
VIENNA (AP) — Four-time World Cup big air champion Stefan Gimpl of Austria won't compete in the new freestyle snowboarding season, which starts in London on Saturday.
The 30-year-old Gimpl told Austria Press Agency on …
France grants political asylum to Georgia's former defense minister
France has granted political asylum to a former Georgian defense minister who was convicted last month of extortion in his home country, his lawyers said Wednesday.
Supporters of Irakli Okruashvili, who was dismissed from the Cabinet in 2006, say Georgian authorities targeted him because he has been critical of President Mikhail Saakashvili since the dismissal.
Okruashvili's lawyers welcomed Tuesday's decision of the French agency for political refugees to grant him asylum in France.
"It's a very good decision, good news," lawyer Christine Martineau told The Associated Press.
The French Foreign Ministry would not comment on …
'Pitch game for him'; Cubs 5 Nats 4; With 11-year-old nephew
Carlos Zambrano pitched the Cubs to victory with his longest, sharpest start of the season Tuesday on a night his heart was back home in Venezuela.
After the Cubs beat the Washington Nationals 5-4, Zambrano -- who allowed one run and five hits and struck out eight in 7� innings -- hurried to the airport for a late flight to Caracas to join his family at a hospital where his nephew is fighting a deadly bacterial infection.
''It's bad,'' a red-eyed Zambrano said softly. ''He's only 11 years old. And being close to death. ... Sometimes you say people should live till they're old, but when God has something in mind and calls us to heaven, what can we do? It's pretty …
chocolate passion
FIVE REASONS TO GET ALL STEAMED UP ABOUT CHOCOLATE-FOLLOWED BY DECADENT RECIPES WITH NO GLUTEN AND ALL-NATURAL SWEETENERS
You know by now that chocolate is good for you. But all those stats and scientific findings - it reduces the risk of stroke and heart disease, protects against cancer, boosts brain power, improves skin tone, and lowers inflammation - speak to the head, not the heart. And we all know that chocolate is all about love, excitement, and passion.
WHAT ARE SOME OF THE MORE EMOTIONAL REASONS TO GET SO WORKED UP RBOUT CHOCOLATE? HERE ARE THE TOP FIVE:
1 Chocolate makes the brain release opioids, chemicals found in morphine and heroin, that promote a …
Farmer killed in land mine explosion in south Lebanon
A land mine explosion in southern Lebanon on Thursday killed a Lebanese farmer and wounded a Syrian laborer working with him, security officials said.
The mine, left over from the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war, went off as the 35-year-old Hisham Ghosein was plowing his field with a bulldozer in his home village of Qantara, the officials said.
The blast killed Ghosein instantly and also destroyed the bulldozer, the officials added. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
The village is about 8 kilometers (5 miles) from the Israeli border.
Dalya Farran, a spokeswoman for the …
[ BIZ BRIEFS ]
Feds OK Yellow-USF deal
The Justice Department has allowed the 30-day antitrust period toend without objections to Yellow Roadway's proposed $1.37 billionacquisition of USF Corp., the two transportation companies said.Yellow and USF said they will hold special meetings next month forshareholders to vote on the deal. Overland Park, Kan.-based Yellowsaid in February that it plans to buy Chicago-based USF for $1.37billion in stock and cash.
Cutler leaving SEC
Stephen Cutler, who spearheaded the Securities and ExchangeCommission's crackdown on the corporate fraud and trading scandalsthat rattled U.S. investors following the collapse of Enron Corp.,said he will …
Dan Ryan reconstruction could offer $100 mil in jobs for minority companies
Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) Secretary Tim Martin is committed to significant minority participation in the $430 million Dan Ryan reconstruction project.
The overall economic impact of this commitment could bring in excess of $100 million to minority-owned companies. Additional funds will be dedicated to job and employment training, professional services and other needs associated with the project.
The funding for the Dan Ryan project is based upon current federal funding guidelines that would require IDOT to open bids for contracts in June of 2004. Secretary Martin has voiced concerns that if the project doesn't move forward soon, the federal funds could be …
Tina Fey: Anyone can imitate Sarah Palin's voice
Anyone can do Sarah Palin's voice, says comedian Tina Fey, who has done a pretty good job of it herself. "Not since 'Sling Blade' has there been a voice that anybody can do," Fey said. "Anybody can take a swing at this voice."
Appearing on CBS' "Late Show with David Letterman" scheduled to air Friday, Fey shared her formula for having spoofed the Alaska governor in recent "Saturday Night Live" sketches.
"It's a little bit `Fargo,' it's a little bit Reese Witherspoon in `Election,'" said Fey, adding she also borrowed the Midwestern accent of her friend Paula's grandma, "a sweet, sweet old lady from Joliet, …
Fountain celebrates Chicagoans' ties to Casablanca
Within the glass walls of Garfield Park Conservatory on Saturday,there was little evidence of the heightened tensions between theMuslim and Arab worlds and the United States.
There were no enemies here. Talk during a dedication ceremony fora new fountain on display at the conservatory was all about thefriendships made over the last decade between citizens of Chicago andits sister city in Morocco -- Casablanca.
The fountain itself -- a gift from Abdelkamel Lahlou, head ofGroupe Scolaire Le Cedre, a school in Casablanca -- was perhaps thestrongest indication of the strength of those relationships.
The elaborate 11-foot-tall by 8-foot-wide fountain was …
No Consensus in Lebanon Cease-Fire Talks
ROME - Top U.S. and European officials agreed Wednesday on the need for urgent action to halt the fighting in Lebanon and on the creation of a multinational force to keep the peace. But the two sides had starkly divergent views of what that means.
Most Europeans want Israel to stop its offensive against Hezbollah now - which would leave Hezbollah battered but defiant. The United States wants to give Israel more time to pound the militia into submission as part of the wider war on terror.
The foreign ministers and other senior officials from 15 nations, as well as U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and representatives from the European Union and the World Bank, agreed in Rome on a declaration that expressed "deep concern" for the high number of civilian casualties in Lebanon, where government officials say hundreds of people have been killed. Israel, Iran and Syria did not attend the meeting.
Deep differences in an approach to the crisis were abundantly clear.
In the presence of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema alluded to the discord in post-conference comments. He said many participants appealed for an immediate and unconditional truce "to reach, with utmost urgency, a cease-fire that puts an end to the current violence and hostilities."
Rice, for her part, deflected pressure to lean on Israel to end its 2-week-old offensive, insisting that any cease-fire must be "sustainable" and there could be "no return to the status quo ante."
Later, Rice briefed reporters, saying she told the conference: "The fields of the Middle East are littered with broken cease-fires. ... And every time there is a broken cease-fire, people die, there is destruction and there is misery."
She added that Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora issued an impassioned appeal for peace, asking if the Lebanese people were "children of a lesser God."
At the conference, Saniora had difficultly containing his disappointment, saying the conference made "some progress" but pleading with world leaders to keep working toward a cease-fire.
Saniora said the violence has brought his country, still rebuilding from its 1975-1990 civil war, "to its knees."
The Lebanese leader recognized that Israel's offensive had been sparked by Hezbollah's incursion across the "blue line" - the border recognized by the United Nations - when it killed eight soldiers and kidnapped two, but added that the military campaign was "disproportionate."
The Western-leaning moderate also appealed to Israel to enter a peace process with all its Arab neighbors - striking a markedly different tone from many previous Lebanese leaders.
The Rome conference did clinch a consensus on establishing a new multinational force for southern Lebanon - one far tougher than the existing, three-decade-old UNIFIL operation which has lacked a mandate to prevent hostilities.
"What we agreed upon is that there should be an international force under a U.N. mandate that will have a strong and robust capability to help bring about peace, to help provide the ability for humanitarian efforts to go forward and to bring an end to the violence," Rice told reporters.
"We all committed to dedicated and urgent action to try to bring about an end to violence that would be sustainable" and leave the Lebanese government in full control of its territory, she said.
She also pointed a finger at Iran and Syria, which she accused of stoking the violence. Rice said she expected both countries not to undermine any agreement reached between Israel and Lebanon and welcomed Annan's offer to use his office "to try to make sure that Syria and Iran behave responsibly."
Syria's U.N. ambassador Bashar Ja'afari said Damascus felt snubbed because it and other countries in the Middle East were not consulted at the Rome meeting.
Italian Premier Romano Prodi put a positive spin on the conference, saying in an interview with The Associated Press that "what could be achieved was achieved."
Prodi insisted Washington wasn't fully isolated with its insistence that a cease-fire should accompany a durable peace, including disarming of the Hezbollah militias. He said the United States received support from Britain and acceptance from Germany that an immediate truce wasn't in the works.
Ultimately, Washington's position seemed sustainable largely because the others - despite shock at the scale of destruction and hundreds of civilians killed - largely supported the goal of disarming Hezbollah and extending the control of the Lebanese government to the south, which the militia has in effect controlled for years.
D'Alema urged Hezbollah to release the Israeli soldiers whose capture helped ignite the latest hostilities.
"It's a gesture that could be done while asking Israel to make the same step, but it could be a way to bring the end of hostilities closer," D'Alema told Italian state TV Wednesday evening.
Prodi said the force must be "sizable" and drawn from a number of countries. He pledged that Italy would commit troops if it has a U.N. mandate.
Israel, which did not attend, said it expected those at the Rome conference to follow up and take action to support Lebanon's army and turn it into a force capable of disarming Hezbollah.
"Israel is forced to continue to defend its citizens, because of the failure to implement these resolutions so far," said a statement released by Israel's Foreign Ministry.
Israeli officials have expressed support in principle for the deployment of an international force, recognizing that the weak Lebanese government could not likely subdue the Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hezbollah without assistance.
Rice said the force's mandate would be discussed over the next several days. "We also have asked that those meetings be held urgently so that force can be put together."
She said she did not anticipate American combat troops being used in the force.
In Brussels, EU officials said a meeting of European foreign ministers would be held next Tuesday to discuss the violence.
Annan said the emerging force would help Lebanon assert its authority and implement existing U.N. resolutions, which would ultimately leave Hezbollah disarmed.
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Associated Press Washington correspondent Katherine Shrader, who is traveling with Rice, contributed to this report.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Advantage sun ; Sun pharma's hostile bid to take over Israeli drug major Taro Pharma received a fillip last fortnight. An Israeli court ruled in favour of Sun and against the motion of Taro to conduct a special tender offer.
Sun pharma's hostile bid to take over Israeli drug major TaroPharma received a fillip last fortnight. An Israeli court ruled infavour of Sun and against the motion of Taro to conduct a specialtender offer. Taro's directors had filed a suit in June this year,requesting a Tel Aviv court to force Sun to comply with specialtender offer rules. Such regulation is meant to protect minorityshareholders' interests under Israeli law.
Basically, this case is a big win for Sun. It proves that we havedone everything that was to be done and Taro was not doing what wasin the best interest of its shareholders, says a Sun Pharmaspokesperson commenting on the ruling.
It may be recalled Sun and Taro had signed a merger agreementlast May, which Taro withdrew from almost a year later. Since then,the two companies have been crossing swords in courts in Israel andthe US. Taro had pulled out of the merger agreement citing thatSun's offer price was too low considering Taro's improved financialperformance in calendar year 2007.
Sun had contested the claim saying that the performance would nothave been possible but for Sun's cash injections into Taro. Sun alsoheld the Taro board could not unilaterally terminate the agreementas per their original agreement and that its proposed revised offerof $10.25 per share was a fair price.
Market watchers believe the latest judgment is a positive forSun, although it might be too early to start dancing in the aisles. It's definitely a positive move for Sun Pharma but to say that Sunis closer to acquiring Taro is a bit too early. Taro can stillappeal with the Supreme Court of Israel, says Sarabjit Kour Nangra,VP, Research at Mumbaibased Angel Broking. However, the verdictmight help as a base for any further litigation, she adds. Butthat's just one front that Dilip Shanghvi, founder of Sun Pharma, isfighting Taro on. As a Morgan Stanley research report says: Separately, Sun continues to litigate with Taro promoters in NewYork courts, primarily on two counts.
One, the enforcement of the option agreement; and two, achallenge to Taro's purported termination of the merger agreement.The elimination of the special tender offer holds the key to theTaro acquisition, and now Taro promoters have limited defenseoptions left, we believe. Clearly, it's advantage Sun. T.V.Mahalingam
China reports 76 percent increase in gold reserves
China has increased its gold reserves by 76 percent since 2003 to 1,054 tons and now ranks fifth among nations with the biggest holdings, a state news agency reported Friday.
The figure reported by the Xinhua News Agency would rank China behind the United States, Germany, France and Italy in reserves, according to data from the World Gold Council, an industry group.
Xinhua said Hu Xiaolian, head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, disclosed the figures in an interview.
Beijing has steadily added to its holdings of foreign assets amid an export boom that has swelled its trade surplus. Its foreign currency reserves are the largest in the world at just over $1.9 trillion.
Premier Wen Jiabao expressed concern last month about the safety of Beijing's holdings of U.S. government debt and appealed to Washington to avoid doing anything, in response to its financial crisis, that might weaken the dollar.
Also last month, the central bank governor called for a new global currency to replace the dollar, which is widely used for trade and storing national reserves.
Beijing also added to its gold reserves twice earlier this decade, raising its holdings from 394 tons to 500 tons in 2001, and to 600 tonnes in 2003, Hu said.
___
State Administration of Foreign Exchange: http://www.safe.gov.cn/model_safe_en/index.jsp?id6
World Gold Council: http://www.reserveasset.gold.org
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