Mighty Ducks Goalies and Actor Erik Estrada Will be in Attendance to Help Spread the Word on the Importance of Child Safety Seats Through Special Charity Drive and Event at Arrowhead Pond.
ANAHEIM, Calif.--(HISPANIC PR WIRE - BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 8, 2004--On Saturday, Jan. 10, 2004, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in partnership with the California Highway Patrol (CHP) and 21st Century Insurance will host a safety fair at the Arrowhead Pond, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., where local residents will receive a free child safety seat inspection and installation. In support of the safety program, Mighty Ducks' goalies J.S. Giguere and Martin Gerber will both be on hand at the event.
At the fair, parents can have specially trained CHP officers inspect and, if necessary, replace and install a new car seat donated by 21st Century and the Mighty Ducks. In this unique, life-saving program, 21st Century will donate $10 toward the purchase of new car seats for every save made by the Ducks' goalies this year. "This is a terrific program that allows us to directly contribute to our local community and most importantly, help save the lives of children," said Mighty Ducks goalie J.S. Giguere.
The hundreds of saves by Ducks' goalies Giguere and Gerber thus far have helped 21st Century purchase and donate car seats for the annual statewide campaign. The insurance company will continue to donate several hundred more safety seats to underserved families at upcoming events during the year.
Actor Erik Estrada will also join fair participants to spread the word on child seat safety. Estrada, best known for his role as CHP Officer Frank Poncherello, stated, "It is a documented fact that child safety seats save lives. As a concerned parent of a young child, I urge every parent to get the right car seats for their children! As well, always make sure child safety seats are installed safely and correctly."
Children must accompany their parent or guardian at the safety fair and inspections are done on a first-come, first-served basis.
ABOUT THE MIGHTY DUCKS
The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim are the reigning Western Conference Champions in the National Hockey League. The team is coming off the best season in franchise history and returns a core group of players for the 2003-04 campaign. For more information about the Mighty Ducks, visit the team's Web site at http://www.mightyducks.com 21st Century Insurance Founded in 1958, 21st Century Insurance is a pioneer of the direct-to-consumer marketing of personal automobile insurance, serving customers in California, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.
The company provides full service 24 hours a day, 365 days a year at 1-800-211-SAVE and its company Web site, http://www.21st.com. 21st Century Insurance insures more than 1.2 million vehicles in California, holds an A+ (Superior) financial rating from A.M. Best, the world's oldest independent insurance rating and information service, and an A+ from Standard and Poors. --30--ST/np* CONTACT: Mighty Ducks of Anaheim Jesse Tyler, 714-940-2962
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Securing a home equity credit line has pros, cons
By JEFF BROWN.- After watching an unemployed friend pay bills by drawing on a home equity line of credit, a reader asks if it's wise to set up a credit line for an emergency fund.
It's not a bad idea, so long as you note the hazards.
A home equity line of credit, or HELOC, is basically a second mortgage on your home, with a floating interest rate that can go up or down each month. If your home were currently worth $300,000 and you owed $200,000 on your first mortgage, you'd have $100,000 in equity that could serve as collateral on a home equity loan.
Of course, this means that if you stop making payments, the lender can foreclose and sell your home to cover the debt, as with a regular mortgage.
To qualify for an equity loan, you generally must prove that you earn enough to make the payments. So if you're thinking about an emergency fund, you'd be wise to get such a loan while you have a job.
Because equity loans are secured by a property, the lender takes less risk than with unsecured loans such as credit cards. That's why HELOCs usually have fairly low interest rates - currently 6 percent to 7.5 percent, depending on the borrower's credit rating.
With a line of credit, you are authorized a maximum amount to borrow, and you can take any amount up to that limit any time you want. HELOCs typically provide borrowers with checkbooks and debit cards. Your monthly statement will show the current debt and minimum payment required, just as a credit card statement would.
A second type of home equity loan, the installment loan, gives the borrower a lump sum when the loan is approved, and the borrower begins making payments right away.
The interest rate is fixed for the life of the loan, as with a traditional mortgage. Although that's an advantage, installment loans are not as suitable for an emergency fund, because you must begin payments even if you have no immediate use for the money.
With both types of equity loans, interest payments on debts of up to $100,000 are generally deductible on the federal income tax return, which is not the case for credit-card loans. That means the real, after-tax rate on a 7 percent equity loan would be 5.25 percent, assuming a 25 percent tax bracket.
To shop for a HELOC, you can go online - but first, some warnings:
Many HELOCs have low introductory "teaser" rates. Focus instead on the annual percentage rate, or APR, which accounts for fees and the true interest rate after any teaser period ends.
Look for the index that will be used to adjust the interest rate every month after the teaser period.
Know the maximum the loan can charge. I saw one that started with a 3.99 percent teaser but could go as high as 24 percent.
Beware of balloon payments. Some HELOCs offer dirt-cheap minimum payments that cover interest only, so that the whole debt remains due some years down the road.
Understand that even if you don't use it, a big line of credit can hurt your ability to get other loans. Lenders worry that you could go on a spending spree and rack up more debt than you can handle.
Jeff Brown is a syndicated columnist for Knight Ridder News. His column appears every Tuesday in The Record.
It's not a bad idea, so long as you note the hazards.
A home equity line of credit, or HELOC, is basically a second mortgage on your home, with a floating interest rate that can go up or down each month. If your home were currently worth $300,000 and you owed $200,000 on your first mortgage, you'd have $100,000 in equity that could serve as collateral on a home equity loan.
Of course, this means that if you stop making payments, the lender can foreclose and sell your home to cover the debt, as with a regular mortgage.
To qualify for an equity loan, you generally must prove that you earn enough to make the payments. So if you're thinking about an emergency fund, you'd be wise to get such a loan while you have a job.
Because equity loans are secured by a property, the lender takes less risk than with unsecured loans such as credit cards. That's why HELOCs usually have fairly low interest rates - currently 6 percent to 7.5 percent, depending on the borrower's credit rating.
With a line of credit, you are authorized a maximum amount to borrow, and you can take any amount up to that limit any time you want. HELOCs typically provide borrowers with checkbooks and debit cards. Your monthly statement will show the current debt and minimum payment required, just as a credit card statement would.
A second type of home equity loan, the installment loan, gives the borrower a lump sum when the loan is approved, and the borrower begins making payments right away.
The interest rate is fixed for the life of the loan, as with a traditional mortgage. Although that's an advantage, installment loans are not as suitable for an emergency fund, because you must begin payments even if you have no immediate use for the money.
With both types of equity loans, interest payments on debts of up to $100,000 are generally deductible on the federal income tax return, which is not the case for credit-card loans. That means the real, after-tax rate on a 7 percent equity loan would be 5.25 percent, assuming a 25 percent tax bracket.
To shop for a HELOC, you can go online - but first, some warnings:
Many HELOCs have low introductory "teaser" rates. Focus instead on the annual percentage rate, or APR, which accounts for fees and the true interest rate after any teaser period ends.
Look for the index that will be used to adjust the interest rate every month after the teaser period.
Know the maximum the loan can charge. I saw one that started with a 3.99 percent teaser but could go as high as 24 percent.
Beware of balloon payments. Some HELOCs offer dirt-cheap minimum payments that cover interest only, so that the whole debt remains due some years down the road.
Understand that even if you don't use it, a big line of credit can hurt your ability to get other loans. Lenders worry that you could go on a spending spree and rack up more debt than you can handle.
Jeff Brown is a syndicated columnist for Knight Ridder News. His column appears every Tuesday in The Record.
SAS is offering special Christmas presents this festive season
Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) has special Christmas presents for those travelling to Europe this December – and all Travel Agents have the chance to receive a special giveaway too…
SAS offers passengers flying Business Class, Business Combination or Economy Extra Combination a free stopover night at the new Adina Apartment Hotel Copenhagen and a free entrance ticket to the famous Tivoli Gardens Christmas Market. Economy Class passengers will each receive a free ticket to the Tivoli Gardens Christmas Market. These special offers are valid for passengers travelling with SAS this December and must be booked by 1 November.
(Conditions apply)
Travel Agents booking a SAS Special Christmas Stopover offer have the chance to win a special Christmas present – a weekend getaway for two at a Medina Apartment Hotel in Australia ! Each ticket booked automatically enters you into the lucky draw.
Adina Apartment Hotel Copenhagen
The new Adina Apartment Hotel Copenhagen opens on 12 December next to Copenhagen 's new ferry terminal, approximately five minutes walk to the Little Mermaid and 15-20 minutes walk to the central shopping streets and other major sights. The upmarket apartment hotel is owned by Australia 's Toga Hospitality Group, which operates the Medina brand. Adina Copenhagen offers 126 spacious apartments, as well as a restaurant, pool, gym, meeting rooms and parking. The room included with the SAS Offer is a 1-bedroom apartment.
Christmas in Copenhagen
A Christmas stopover in Copenhagen promises something special. Thousands of lights illuminate the cobbled streets and old buildings, each square has its own Christmas tree and every shop window is decorated. There's fantastic Christmas shopping in major international retail stores along the major pedestrian street 'Strøget' or in small and individual neighbourhood shops.
Christmas markets are a city tradition and the most famous is in Tivoli with its beautiful lamp-lit gardens, skating lake, miniature villages cloaked in snow, and small shops full of unique gifts and goodies. The market is open daily from 12-8pm until 31 December 2005.
SAS Special Christmas Fares
The SAS Special Christmas Fares are on sale now and start from: Economy Class: $1999, Economy Extra*: $2450, Business Combination: $3199 and Business all the way: $5150. Fares are Nett to travel agents. Taxes are additional from $250.
*Economy Extra gives you a lot more for a little extra: Fly Economy Class from Australia to Asia, then continue to your final destination in Europe with SAS in Economy Extra – the class in between Business and Economy - which includes a separate cabin of 24 seats, almost a metre of leg room, wider seats with adjustable head, neck and foot rests, personal TV screen, speed lane check-in and upgraded personal in-flight service.
For more information please call SAS on 1300 727 707 or visit www.flysas.com.
SAS offers passengers flying Business Class, Business Combination or Economy Extra Combination a free stopover night at the new Adina Apartment Hotel Copenhagen and a free entrance ticket to the famous Tivoli Gardens Christmas Market. Economy Class passengers will each receive a free ticket to the Tivoli Gardens Christmas Market. These special offers are valid for passengers travelling with SAS this December and must be booked by 1 November.
(Conditions apply)
Travel Agents booking a SAS Special Christmas Stopover offer have the chance to win a special Christmas present – a weekend getaway for two at a Medina Apartment Hotel in Australia ! Each ticket booked automatically enters you into the lucky draw.
Adina Apartment Hotel Copenhagen
The new Adina Apartment Hotel Copenhagen opens on 12 December next to Copenhagen 's new ferry terminal, approximately five minutes walk to the Little Mermaid and 15-20 minutes walk to the central shopping streets and other major sights. The upmarket apartment hotel is owned by Australia 's Toga Hospitality Group, which operates the Medina brand. Adina Copenhagen offers 126 spacious apartments, as well as a restaurant, pool, gym, meeting rooms and parking. The room included with the SAS Offer is a 1-bedroom apartment.
Christmas in Copenhagen
A Christmas stopover in Copenhagen promises something special. Thousands of lights illuminate the cobbled streets and old buildings, each square has its own Christmas tree and every shop window is decorated. There's fantastic Christmas shopping in major international retail stores along the major pedestrian street 'Strøget' or in small and individual neighbourhood shops.
Christmas markets are a city tradition and the most famous is in Tivoli with its beautiful lamp-lit gardens, skating lake, miniature villages cloaked in snow, and small shops full of unique gifts and goodies. The market is open daily from 12-8pm until 31 December 2005.
SAS Special Christmas Fares
The SAS Special Christmas Fares are on sale now and start from: Economy Class: $1999, Economy Extra*: $2450, Business Combination: $3199 and Business all the way: $5150. Fares are Nett to travel agents. Taxes are additional from $250.
*Economy Extra gives you a lot more for a little extra: Fly Economy Class from Australia to Asia, then continue to your final destination in Europe with SAS in Economy Extra – the class in between Business and Economy - which includes a separate cabin of 24 seats, almost a metre of leg room, wider seats with adjustable head, neck and foot rests, personal TV screen, speed lane check-in and upgraded personal in-flight service.
For more information please call SAS on 1300 727 707 or visit www.flysas.com.
Business looking up at IBM despite profit dip
COMPUTER giant IBM has topped Wall Street expectations with its latest figures, on the back of a recovery in its consulting and services business, despite overall profits cooling.
Earlier this year, the firm, dubbed Big Blue, suffered a slowdown in services, which accounts for about 50 per cent of its revenues. But business has picked up after landing a series of lucrative deals.
In May, IBM said it was to cut 13,000 jobs, or about four per cent of its workforce, with lay-offs hitting hardest in Europe, and taking its global workforce down to around 310,000.
Third-quarter net profits at the world's largest computer company dipped to £866 million from some £887m a year earlier.
Sales fell 7.8 per cent to £12.3 billion, reflecting the disposal of IBM's personal-computer division which was sold to China's Lenovo Group.
Lenovo, now the third-biggest PC maker in the world, bought Big Blue's loss-making unit in May in a deal worth around £700m.
Chief executive Sam Palmisano said: "IBM had a good quarter. It showed the strength of our business model across hardware, software and services, and we continued to see the benefit of the strategic transitions that we've implemented in past quarters."
Mr Palmisano added that restructuring actions and streamlined management in Europe were starting to yield results.
"Many of the businesses that are central to our strategy - including middleware, midrange servers, and business performance transformation services, especially in our engineering and technology services - performed well, especially in emerging markets."
And he pointed out that IBM was well positioned in its microelectronics business as the game console industry moves to its next generation of products. "Our clients are leveraging IBM's unique ability to apply innovative, high-value skills and solutions to transform their businesses and industries," he explained.
Analsyst Ed Crotty said: "Overall I think it was a solid quarter. The bookings came through as we expected."
The fall in net profits can be partially blamed on a £300m tax charge that the computer firm had to make as it repatriated £5.14bn in profits earned overseas.
Meanwhile, IBM warned currency translation effects from its global business were likely to cut fourth-quarter revenue by around three per cent at current rates.
Earlier this year, IBM leapt ahead in the market for supercomputers used to solve the world's toughest research problems, according to a survey.
The firm now claims to have just over half of the world's top 500 supercomputers - 259 machines - up 8.8 per cent on November 2004, giving it a 51.8 per cent share of the global market.
IBM shares have slumped 16 per cent this year compared with the 2.5 per cent gain of the American Stock Exchange Computer Hardware Index.
business.scotsman.com
Earlier this year, the firm, dubbed Big Blue, suffered a slowdown in services, which accounts for about 50 per cent of its revenues. But business has picked up after landing a series of lucrative deals.
In May, IBM said it was to cut 13,000 jobs, or about four per cent of its workforce, with lay-offs hitting hardest in Europe, and taking its global workforce down to around 310,000.
Third-quarter net profits at the world's largest computer company dipped to £866 million from some £887m a year earlier.
Sales fell 7.8 per cent to £12.3 billion, reflecting the disposal of IBM's personal-computer division which was sold to China's Lenovo Group.
Lenovo, now the third-biggest PC maker in the world, bought Big Blue's loss-making unit in May in a deal worth around £700m.
Chief executive Sam Palmisano said: "IBM had a good quarter. It showed the strength of our business model across hardware, software and services, and we continued to see the benefit of the strategic transitions that we've implemented in past quarters."
Mr Palmisano added that restructuring actions and streamlined management in Europe were starting to yield results.
"Many of the businesses that are central to our strategy - including middleware, midrange servers, and business performance transformation services, especially in our engineering and technology services - performed well, especially in emerging markets."
And he pointed out that IBM was well positioned in its microelectronics business as the game console industry moves to its next generation of products. "Our clients are leveraging IBM's unique ability to apply innovative, high-value skills and solutions to transform their businesses and industries," he explained.
Analsyst Ed Crotty said: "Overall I think it was a solid quarter. The bookings came through as we expected."
The fall in net profits can be partially blamed on a £300m tax charge that the computer firm had to make as it repatriated £5.14bn in profits earned overseas.
Meanwhile, IBM warned currency translation effects from its global business were likely to cut fourth-quarter revenue by around three per cent at current rates.
Earlier this year, IBM leapt ahead in the market for supercomputers used to solve the world's toughest research problems, according to a survey.
The firm now claims to have just over half of the world's top 500 supercomputers - 259 machines - up 8.8 per cent on November 2004, giving it a 51.8 per cent share of the global market.
IBM shares have slumped 16 per cent this year compared with the 2.5 per cent gain of the American Stock Exchange Computer Hardware Index.
business.scotsman.com
Sometimes the Best Christmas Presents Are the Smallest Ones
BookSurge proudly announces the publication of So, This is Christmas!
UNITED KINGDOM (PRWEB) October 12, 2005 -- Booksurge announces the publication of So, This is Christmas!Each year as the holiday season approaches, and everyone is rushing around shopping for the latest toys, it seems that many have forgotten the true meaning of Christmas.
Fredericks has written So, This is Christmas! to remind us of why we are celebrating in the first place. His cleverly narrated stories about three children in very different situations around the world remind us to be thankful for: the kindness of strangers, the importance of having love rather than gifts, and that Christ is always by our side.Fredericks has often found himself noticing how people were “so predominantly focused on the modern commercial trappings” of Christmas.
Sadly, amid all the frantic shopping for the latest trends, there weren’t many things that even referred to Christ. This got him thinking about those youngsters throughout the world who have never even had the chance to participate in this “commercial experience” of the Christmas season. Fredericks says it was interesting to imagine what would prompt those who are less fortunate financially to still have “a true appreciation of Christmas.”
Through his short stories about Manuela (a young girl living in a refugee camp), Simon (a well-to-do boy), James (an orphan), and finally, Santa Claus, Fredericks wants to impart to his readers that sometimes the most “ordinary” of experiences can provide just the right spiritual uplift for someone to truly appreciate the joy and hope that Christ and his birthday should bring to people all over the world.About the Author:Fredericks has lived and worked on three different continents (Europe, Africa and North America) and is a British citizen, although he acquired his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Business Administration degrees in the U.S.
As a youth, he was the first and only black boy in an exclusive boarding school in England in the ‘60s, yet states that he never felt out of place and remembers it as a “rugged adventure.” Blessed with a sense of humor, a keen ability to interact with strangers, and adapt to his environment, neither language nor culture has hindered his ability to communicate with others. Frederick affirmed his talent for storytelling while visiting friends in Alsace (the French Alps).
Since there was no electricity (and thus no television!), he spent his evenings entertaining the children with his gripping stories. The interesting part is that the children only spoke French! Yet, each day/night the demand for more stories grew…Fredericks now has four children of his own; he loves to travel and has an insatiable appetite for new experiences.
He hopes that people of all ages, races, cultures and religions will enjoy So, This is Christmas! and receive from it the universal notions of goodwill, love and kindness.For more information, please contact the author at e-mail protected from spam bots or check out his website at www.frederickstheauthor.com. Books are available to order at BookSurge.com, Amazon.com, Alibris.com, and Abebooks.com
UNITED KINGDOM (PRWEB) October 12, 2005 -- Booksurge announces the publication of So, This is Christmas!Each year as the holiday season approaches, and everyone is rushing around shopping for the latest toys, it seems that many have forgotten the true meaning of Christmas.
Fredericks has written So, This is Christmas! to remind us of why we are celebrating in the first place. His cleverly narrated stories about three children in very different situations around the world remind us to be thankful for: the kindness of strangers, the importance of having love rather than gifts, and that Christ is always by our side.Fredericks has often found himself noticing how people were “so predominantly focused on the modern commercial trappings” of Christmas.
Sadly, amid all the frantic shopping for the latest trends, there weren’t many things that even referred to Christ. This got him thinking about those youngsters throughout the world who have never even had the chance to participate in this “commercial experience” of the Christmas season. Fredericks says it was interesting to imagine what would prompt those who are less fortunate financially to still have “a true appreciation of Christmas.”
Through his short stories about Manuela (a young girl living in a refugee camp), Simon (a well-to-do boy), James (an orphan), and finally, Santa Claus, Fredericks wants to impart to his readers that sometimes the most “ordinary” of experiences can provide just the right spiritual uplift for someone to truly appreciate the joy and hope that Christ and his birthday should bring to people all over the world.About the Author:Fredericks has lived and worked on three different continents (Europe, Africa and North America) and is a British citizen, although he acquired his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Business Administration degrees in the U.S.
As a youth, he was the first and only black boy in an exclusive boarding school in England in the ‘60s, yet states that he never felt out of place and remembers it as a “rugged adventure.” Blessed with a sense of humor, a keen ability to interact with strangers, and adapt to his environment, neither language nor culture has hindered his ability to communicate with others. Frederick affirmed his talent for storytelling while visiting friends in Alsace (the French Alps).
Since there was no electricity (and thus no television!), he spent his evenings entertaining the children with his gripping stories. The interesting part is that the children only spoke French! Yet, each day/night the demand for more stories grew…Fredericks now has four children of his own; he loves to travel and has an insatiable appetite for new experiences.
He hopes that people of all ages, races, cultures and religions will enjoy So, This is Christmas! and receive from it the universal notions of goodwill, love and kindness.For more information, please contact the author at e-mail protected from spam bots or check out his website at www.frederickstheauthor.com. Books are available to order at BookSurge.com, Amazon.com, Alibris.com, and Abebooks.com
Settlement in Marketing of a Drug for AIDS
By ERIC LICHTBLAU
WASHINGTON, Oct. 17 - A Swiss biotechnology company agreed on Monday to pay more than $700 million to settle federal charges that it illegally marketed an AIDS drug by concocting a dubious medical test for those with the disease and offering doctors an all-expenses-paid trip to France to prescribe the drug.
The agreement between the Justice Department and the company, Serono, is the third-largest settlement recovered by the federal government in a health care fraud case, officials said.
Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales said the company "put its desire to sell more drugs above the interest of patients."
Serono Labs, the company's Massachusetts-based American arm, received a patent in 1996 to market a drug called Serostim, aimed at reversing the effects of AIDS wasting, or profound weight loss. But that same year, federal officials said, the rapid development of AIDS cocktails caused a sharp decline in AIDS wasting - and in the demand for Serostim - which prompted the company to develop a much more aggressive marketing strategy for its product.
As a result, prosecutors said in a criminal filing as part of the settlement, Serono sought to "redefine AIDS wasting" beginning in the late 1990's and developed a computerized medical test that ostensibly would determine "body cell mass."
The test results signaled that patients had lost body cell mass and "were wasting, even if they had lost no weight or had actually gained weight," prosecutors said in the filing. With the test results in hand, doctors would then prescribe Serostim to treat the supposed problem - at a cost of more than $21,000 a treatment.
But Michael J. Sullivan, the United States attorney in Boston whose office handled the investigation, said on Monday that 85 percent of the prescriptions were unnecessary. He told reporters that the medical testing procedure was "almost voodoolike" and that he suspected some patients may have also suffered unnecessary side effects as a result of taking the AIDS drug.
Thomas Gunning, general counsel for the company's American division, disputed that assertion in an interview. "We have no reason to think anyone was harmed," he said. "This product is human growth hormone, and it's a product with a very good safety profile."
Serono agreed to plead guilty to two criminal counts, admitting that it had violated federal law by conspiring to provide fraudulent medical devices without proper approval from the Food and Drug Administration.
"We acknowledge that this device was not approved for the purposes of diagnosing AIDS wasting," Mr. Gunning said, "but it's important to understand that we stopped distributing those testing machines more than three years ago."
The company also admitted that it provided what amounted to illegal remuneration to a group of AIDS doctors by paying for them to attend a medical "conference" in Cannes, France, in 1999 in exchange for the doctors' writing more prescriptions for Serostim.
The conference grew out of a plan, conceived by Serono executives in Massachusetts in 1999 and called the "$6m-6 Day Plan," to increase lagging sales by $6 million in six days.
Prosecutors said select physicians who treated AIDS patients, including several unnamed doctors in New York City, were given all-expenses-paid trips to France, "in return for the physicians' writing additional prescriptions of Serostim for patients." Mr. Sullivan refused to say whether any physicians who attended the conference were targets of the federal inquiry.
Two people who worked on the sales and manufacturing of the company's products have already pleaded guilty to criminal charges in connection with the scheme, and four other former executives at Serono have also been indicted.
As part of its settlement with the Justice Department, Serono agreed to pay $704 million in penalties, including $136.9 million in criminal fines and $567 million in civil penalties.
State Medicaid agencies that paid for Serostim from 1996 to 2004 will be reimbursed under the terms of the settlement, and the company's lab will also be banned from taking part in federal health care programs for five years, officials said.
But the company stressed that the ban would not prevent patients who currently take Serostim or the company's other drugs from being reimbursed under Medicaid and Medicare programs, and it said all its products would remain available to the public.
The federal investigation, lasting four years, began after a company lab employee in Massachusetts came forward in 2000 to accuse the company of filing false claims. Four other company whistle-blowers in Maryland and Connecticut later brought similar claims; all five now stand to divide $51 million from the settlement under federal whistle-blower or qui tam law.
AIDS treatment advocates applauded the settlement.
"We are extremely pleased by the news that Serono is being held accountable for its conduct and that state and federal governments are being reimbursed for their payments for what has been shown to be an almost completely unnecessary drug," said Michael Weinstein, president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which brought one whistle-blower suit against Serono last year.
Serono said it could not provide an exact tally on how many people with AIDS had taken Serostim, but it said the number was "in the thousands" since the drug was introduced.
WASHINGTON, Oct. 17 - A Swiss biotechnology company agreed on Monday to pay more than $700 million to settle federal charges that it illegally marketed an AIDS drug by concocting a dubious medical test for those with the disease and offering doctors an all-expenses-paid trip to France to prescribe the drug.
The agreement between the Justice Department and the company, Serono, is the third-largest settlement recovered by the federal government in a health care fraud case, officials said.
Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales said the company "put its desire to sell more drugs above the interest of patients."
Serono Labs, the company's Massachusetts-based American arm, received a patent in 1996 to market a drug called Serostim, aimed at reversing the effects of AIDS wasting, or profound weight loss. But that same year, federal officials said, the rapid development of AIDS cocktails caused a sharp decline in AIDS wasting - and in the demand for Serostim - which prompted the company to develop a much more aggressive marketing strategy for its product.
As a result, prosecutors said in a criminal filing as part of the settlement, Serono sought to "redefine AIDS wasting" beginning in the late 1990's and developed a computerized medical test that ostensibly would determine "body cell mass."
The test results signaled that patients had lost body cell mass and "were wasting, even if they had lost no weight or had actually gained weight," prosecutors said in the filing. With the test results in hand, doctors would then prescribe Serostim to treat the supposed problem - at a cost of more than $21,000 a treatment.
But Michael J. Sullivan, the United States attorney in Boston whose office handled the investigation, said on Monday that 85 percent of the prescriptions were unnecessary. He told reporters that the medical testing procedure was "almost voodoolike" and that he suspected some patients may have also suffered unnecessary side effects as a result of taking the AIDS drug.
Thomas Gunning, general counsel for the company's American division, disputed that assertion in an interview. "We have no reason to think anyone was harmed," he said. "This product is human growth hormone, and it's a product with a very good safety profile."
Serono agreed to plead guilty to two criminal counts, admitting that it had violated federal law by conspiring to provide fraudulent medical devices without proper approval from the Food and Drug Administration.
"We acknowledge that this device was not approved for the purposes of diagnosing AIDS wasting," Mr. Gunning said, "but it's important to understand that we stopped distributing those testing machines more than three years ago."
The company also admitted that it provided what amounted to illegal remuneration to a group of AIDS doctors by paying for them to attend a medical "conference" in Cannes, France, in 1999 in exchange for the doctors' writing more prescriptions for Serostim.
The conference grew out of a plan, conceived by Serono executives in Massachusetts in 1999 and called the "$6m-6 Day Plan," to increase lagging sales by $6 million in six days.
Prosecutors said select physicians who treated AIDS patients, including several unnamed doctors in New York City, were given all-expenses-paid trips to France, "in return for the physicians' writing additional prescriptions of Serostim for patients." Mr. Sullivan refused to say whether any physicians who attended the conference were targets of the federal inquiry.
Two people who worked on the sales and manufacturing of the company's products have already pleaded guilty to criminal charges in connection with the scheme, and four other former executives at Serono have also been indicted.
As part of its settlement with the Justice Department, Serono agreed to pay $704 million in penalties, including $136.9 million in criminal fines and $567 million in civil penalties.
State Medicaid agencies that paid for Serostim from 1996 to 2004 will be reimbursed under the terms of the settlement, and the company's lab will also be banned from taking part in federal health care programs for five years, officials said.
But the company stressed that the ban would not prevent patients who currently take Serostim or the company's other drugs from being reimbursed under Medicaid and Medicare programs, and it said all its products would remain available to the public.
The federal investigation, lasting four years, began after a company lab employee in Massachusetts came forward in 2000 to accuse the company of filing false claims. Four other company whistle-blowers in Maryland and Connecticut later brought similar claims; all five now stand to divide $51 million from the settlement under federal whistle-blower or qui tam law.
AIDS treatment advocates applauded the settlement.
"We are extremely pleased by the news that Serono is being held accountable for its conduct and that state and federal governments are being reimbursed for their payments for what has been shown to be an almost completely unnecessary drug," said Michael Weinstein, president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which brought one whistle-blower suit against Serono last year.
Serono said it could not provide an exact tally on how many people with AIDS had taken Serostim, but it said the number was "in the thousands" since the drug was introduced.
Les Brown to Keynote Millionaire Marketing Wealth Seminar on
Les Brown, world renowned, motivational speaker and leading expert on personal and professional development, along with a world-class team of marketing experts will share the stage October 20 as they present the Millionaire Marketing Wealth Seminar.
San Ramon, CA (PRWEB) October 18, 2005 -- An evening filled with inspiration, education and implementation is planned at the San Ramon, CA Marriott Hotel for Thursday, October 20. Les Brown, world renowned, motivational speaker and leading expert on personal and professional development, along with a world-class team of marketing experts will share the stage as they present the Millionaire Marketing Wealth Seminar. The event is part of a series of Millionaire Marketing Wealth Seminars which continues to receive favorable reviews from past attendees.
It is designed to capture the entrepreneurial spirit that gives individuals in the marketing and sales disciplines a distinction of their own. "I used to dream of my future, but I wasn't really sure what the next step was," stated Thelma Tilman, an entrepreneur from Chicago, Illinois. "The last time Millionaire Marketing Seminar came to town, I learned proven steps to overcome my personal obstacles. I actually started to making my dreams happen... I thank the incredible and awesome motivational speakers for giving me that jump start I needed," she concluded.
Attendees can expect "door prizes," free gifts and other giveaways. Topics will address dynamic strategies for achieving business and marketing success and include:
"Information Products and Instant Income," and "Profiting With Direct Mail and Trade Shows." The event -- which is expected to be sold out, early -- is scheduled for Thursday, October 20, 2005.
Registration begins promptly at 5:30 P.M.A percentage of the proceeds will go towards the American red Cross Fund for Hurricane Relief and Dynamic Development Consortium for Youth at Risk. Featured Speakers:Kevin Bracey - CEO of LifeChangers International Mitch Carson - Direct Mail Strategist. Impact Products, LLCLakita Long-White - New Beginnings Enterprises, Inc. (NBE) Founder and PresidentJanet Switzer -Professional Speaker, Co-author with Jack Canfield of the Best-Seller, "The Success Principles:
How to Get From Where You Are to Where You Want to Be"Date: Thursday, October 20, 2005
Time: 6:15 PM -10:00 PM
Location: San Ramon Marriott Hotel 2600 Bishop DriveSan Ramon, CA USA 94583
Phone: 925.867.9200
Parking: Free
General Admission: $32.50
Space is Limited.
For additional information and accommodations for media representatives who plan to attend, contact Kevin Lynch.Mobile: 1.510.682.4104e-mail: e-mail protected from spam bots web: http://www.prolificseminars.com Host: Prolific Concepts, LLCSource: eMediaCampaigns!http://www.franbriggs.com/emc.html This news release contains forward-looking statements and projections concerning the organizer's plans, strategies, expectations, predictions, operations and future events or conditions. They are "forward-looking statements" as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "expect," "believe," "anticipate," "may," "will" "plan," "intend," "estimate," "could," and other similar expressions, are intended to identify these forward-looking statements.
San Ramon, CA (PRWEB) October 18, 2005 -- An evening filled with inspiration, education and implementation is planned at the San Ramon, CA Marriott Hotel for Thursday, October 20. Les Brown, world renowned, motivational speaker and leading expert on personal and professional development, along with a world-class team of marketing experts will share the stage as they present the Millionaire Marketing Wealth Seminar. The event is part of a series of Millionaire Marketing Wealth Seminars which continues to receive favorable reviews from past attendees.
It is designed to capture the entrepreneurial spirit that gives individuals in the marketing and sales disciplines a distinction of their own. "I used to dream of my future, but I wasn't really sure what the next step was," stated Thelma Tilman, an entrepreneur from Chicago, Illinois. "The last time Millionaire Marketing Seminar came to town, I learned proven steps to overcome my personal obstacles. I actually started to making my dreams happen... I thank the incredible and awesome motivational speakers for giving me that jump start I needed," she concluded.
Attendees can expect "door prizes," free gifts and other giveaways. Topics will address dynamic strategies for achieving business and marketing success and include:
"Information Products and Instant Income," and "Profiting With Direct Mail and Trade Shows." The event -- which is expected to be sold out, early -- is scheduled for Thursday, October 20, 2005.
Registration begins promptly at 5:30 P.M.A percentage of the proceeds will go towards the American red Cross Fund for Hurricane Relief and Dynamic Development Consortium for Youth at Risk. Featured Speakers:Kevin Bracey - CEO of LifeChangers International Mitch Carson - Direct Mail Strategist. Impact Products, LLCLakita Long-White - New Beginnings Enterprises, Inc. (NBE) Founder and PresidentJanet Switzer -Professional Speaker, Co-author with Jack Canfield of the Best-Seller, "The Success Principles:
How to Get From Where You Are to Where You Want to Be"Date: Thursday, October 20, 2005
Time: 6:15 PM -10:00 PM
Location: San Ramon Marriott Hotel 2600 Bishop DriveSan Ramon, CA USA 94583
Phone: 925.867.9200
Parking: Free
General Admission: $32.50
Space is Limited.
For additional information and accommodations for media representatives who plan to attend, contact Kevin Lynch.Mobile: 1.510.682.4104e-mail: e-mail protected from spam bots web: http://www.prolificseminars.com Host: Prolific Concepts, LLCSource: eMediaCampaigns!http://www.franbriggs.com/emc.html This news release contains forward-looking statements and projections concerning the organizer's plans, strategies, expectations, predictions, operations and future events or conditions. They are "forward-looking statements" as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "expect," "believe," "anticipate," "may," "will" "plan," "intend," "estimate," "could," and other similar expressions, are intended to identify these forward-looking statements.
Construction Industry: Success And Challenges
New Era (Windhoek).- THE role-players in the construction industry in Namibia are the suppliers, the contractors, the consultants and the financiers. The government being the biggest employer in the industry is mainly responsible for creating jobs through public works, for example, buildings, railways and roads.
The suppliers are mainly importing building materials from the Republic of South Africa (RSA) with very limited local manufacturing, for example, cement bricks, paint and precast concrete products.
It is worth mentioning that there are only few suppliers of building material in Namibia. This has led to high prices of goods since there is no competition in many towns and villages. The long established suppliers tend to cede contracts of SMEs while they only give them small credit on material, thus controlling their growth. There are even very few black suppliers of building material.
The contractors are the "pistons" in the "engine" of the construction industry. They get things done. The traditional body representing the contractors in Namibia is known as the Construction Industries Federation (CIF).
This body has been representing the well-established contractors with very low, if any, membership from the historically disadvantaged community. After independence, the government facilitated small historically disadvantaged contractors to participate in the government construction tenders. This was through unbundling of large tenders and by standardizing documentation of a classroom program initiated by the Ministry of Education to address a huge backlog left by the colonial administration. These contractors formed their own association in order to be counted. As an example, the Namibia National Constructors Association (NANCA) was formed with members in the Omusati, Oshana, Oshikoto, Ohangwena, Kavango, Caprivi and Khomas regions. Small contractors were also trained in labour-based works in the construction of rural gravel roads.
The government saw it necessary to have one body representing all the stakeholders in the construction industry. The first meeting was therefore convened in Windhoek in 1993. Apart from the Construction Industries Federation (CIF), the majority of such contractors were from the historically advantaged backgrounds. A national committee was elected and it sent a delegation to several SADC initiative meetings on the construction industry.
Also, after independence, our government introduced an open market economy which brought international construction firms to Namibia. This brought tough competition in the construction industry. The introduction of black firms and international companies helped to stabilize the escalation of the capital costs for the past ten years - the profit margin was reduced to 10%-15%. Thus, our government was able to buy more with less. This was achieved by empowering the historically disadvantaged Namibians while promoting free trade at the same time.
The consultants in the construction industry are mainly architects, engineers, quantity surveyors and project managers. Most of them are white male and females with an exception of five black Namibian registered professionals who are running their own consulting firms. Two architects and three engineers. This skewed image has resulted in many communication problems between the white consultants and the black contractors with heavy racial overtones. Most of the project specifications are written in a way which exclude most black contractors. The few who qualify to be evaluated are out-motivated for the reason that they are not known to consultants. This is against the government policy and regulations. There is therefore a need to train government officials in scrutinizing the project specifications not only to be inclusive but also to be user-friendly. There is also a need to have a clear policy which encourages designers to specify local building materials. I strongly believe that the ultimate solution in empowering our small builders is in training our own young people here in Namibia to become professional staff and consultants. They will be responsible for our building environment. This will help to fulfill the goals of our Vision 2030.
The financiers have an important role to play in the industry. They are expected to issue letters of intent as well as bank ratings to their clients who are tendering on construction jobs. The historically disadvantaged individuals in the high-risk industry like construction find it difficult to be creditworthy at their banks. The small black companies are still struggling to get performance guarantees from their banks to start and finish small government building projects within a stipulated time frame of four months. Staying longer on site means losing their profits.
In order to redress the historical imbalance, our government introduced some legal "tools" and "vehicles" which include:
-The Policy on Equity
- The Tender Board Act of 1996
- The Affirmative Action Policy
-The Nation Wide Improvement of Physical Facilities Programme
-The White Paper on Labour Based Works
-The Recruitment of Ex-Combatants
-The Social Security Commission
-The Employment Equity Commission, and
- The Rural Electrification Programme.
The Nation Wide Improvement of Physical Facilities Programme was introduced 14 years ago by the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Works, Transport and Communication to tackle the backlog of school buildings especially in the rural areas that were affected by the war. The programme was based on the concept of unbundling to allow small contractors to tender even for one school, which meant even one small building, according to their financial, managerial and technical capacity. The performance guarantee was reduced from 10% to 5%. At the moment more than 150 small contractors are participating in this programme countrywide.
The Labour Based Roads Construction Programme was also started by the Department of Transport 12 years ago with pilot projects. More than 10 small black contractors were trained. This training programme needs to be continued. The Ministry of Mines and Energy have also started engaging small contractors in rural electrification projects by unbundling large tenders. Many more programmes could be implemented to ensure job access for SMEs throughout the year.
The Success Story
The empowerment success story should be measured by the maximum participation of the target groups in empowerment schemes and having tangible results on the ground.
At least 90% of the budget of the National Wide Improvement of Physical Facilities Programme is directly spent by the black businesses in the construction industry. This includes women owned businesses. The rest of the government construction tenders are also partly benefiting the historically disadvantaged target group through joint ventures and sub-contracting.
It is also important to mention that small contractors are joining hands by meeting at marketing level in order to gain strength and recognition. This free association has guaranteed the government that:
- When one member contractor fails to deliver, other members will complete the project within budget, time and of good quality while they discipline the other member.
- Member contractors are sharing skills and knowledge.
- Material suppliers will be encouraged to do business with a large group.
- Workers employed by the contractors of the same associations will earn uniform wages which promote health labour negotiations.
- Training is easy to do through one office which represents its members.
- Follow-up on latent defects is possible through the association's office.
The government manages to spend the budget while empowering the SMEs. More people, including ex-combatants, are employed in the construction industry and the risk of losing their jobs is spread thin by the number of SMEs.
Challenges
- There are challenges which need to be addressed in order to speed up the empowerment process and widen the scope thereof.
- As there is no uniformity in the way different levels of government procure, the policy on policy works which will eventually lead to the Public Works Act is needed to bring harmony the way we procure with public funds.
- There is a limited scope in empowerment programmes and projects. The few which are running are only seasonal. It is therefore essential to widen the scope to include other sectors and stagger them throughout the financial year. This will ensure job availability to our SMEs at all times.
- Target groups do not have a guarantee to remain in business due to the unfair competition from bigger businesses and international companies. It is therefore necessary to categorize construction tenders and professional appointments. It is also better to guarantee SMEs an incubation period of at least three years.
- The banks are still reluctant to issue performance guarantees to SMEs which win government tenders. It will be good to create a package which will automatically guarantee SMEs all necessary support especially in financial and management issues.
The manufacturing of local building material like granite, marble, flat stones and lime needs to be promoted. This will help to develop our buildings and infrastructure with local content. It will create jobs to more Namibians. The continuous research and documentation of our building material is long overdue.
The education and training in Namibia does not adequately address the needs of the construction industry. This is why we still have more than 75% of the professionals (engineers, architects, quantity surveyors and project managers) above the age of 50 years. This is also why more than 90% of the SME contractors cannot fill out traditional tender documents. A sustainable training budget is therefore needed. We need to legislate a Training Levy concept to address this problem.
The construction industry gives direct benefit to the economy through capital projects and maintenance contracts. The impact is normally felt instantly on the ground as the buying power is brought to the people in all corners of Namibia. It is therefore important that empowerment tools and vehicles be redefined and streamlined in order to benefit the target groups. Most of all there is a need for a collaborative effort by all players - especially the political commitment cannot be substituted by any other effort. The number of employees in the construction industry could be tripled if co-ordination is done with dedication and these proposals are implemented without delay.
The suppliers are mainly importing building materials from the Republic of South Africa (RSA) with very limited local manufacturing, for example, cement bricks, paint and precast concrete products.
It is worth mentioning that there are only few suppliers of building material in Namibia. This has led to high prices of goods since there is no competition in many towns and villages. The long established suppliers tend to cede contracts of SMEs while they only give them small credit on material, thus controlling their growth. There are even very few black suppliers of building material.
The contractors are the "pistons" in the "engine" of the construction industry. They get things done. The traditional body representing the contractors in Namibia is known as the Construction Industries Federation (CIF).
This body has been representing the well-established contractors with very low, if any, membership from the historically disadvantaged community. After independence, the government facilitated small historically disadvantaged contractors to participate in the government construction tenders. This was through unbundling of large tenders and by standardizing documentation of a classroom program initiated by the Ministry of Education to address a huge backlog left by the colonial administration. These contractors formed their own association in order to be counted. As an example, the Namibia National Constructors Association (NANCA) was formed with members in the Omusati, Oshana, Oshikoto, Ohangwena, Kavango, Caprivi and Khomas regions. Small contractors were also trained in labour-based works in the construction of rural gravel roads.
The government saw it necessary to have one body representing all the stakeholders in the construction industry. The first meeting was therefore convened in Windhoek in 1993. Apart from the Construction Industries Federation (CIF), the majority of such contractors were from the historically advantaged backgrounds. A national committee was elected and it sent a delegation to several SADC initiative meetings on the construction industry.
Also, after independence, our government introduced an open market economy which brought international construction firms to Namibia. This brought tough competition in the construction industry. The introduction of black firms and international companies helped to stabilize the escalation of the capital costs for the past ten years - the profit margin was reduced to 10%-15%. Thus, our government was able to buy more with less. This was achieved by empowering the historically disadvantaged Namibians while promoting free trade at the same time.
The consultants in the construction industry are mainly architects, engineers, quantity surveyors and project managers. Most of them are white male and females with an exception of five black Namibian registered professionals who are running their own consulting firms. Two architects and three engineers. This skewed image has resulted in many communication problems between the white consultants and the black contractors with heavy racial overtones. Most of the project specifications are written in a way which exclude most black contractors. The few who qualify to be evaluated are out-motivated for the reason that they are not known to consultants. This is against the government policy and regulations. There is therefore a need to train government officials in scrutinizing the project specifications not only to be inclusive but also to be user-friendly. There is also a need to have a clear policy which encourages designers to specify local building materials. I strongly believe that the ultimate solution in empowering our small builders is in training our own young people here in Namibia to become professional staff and consultants. They will be responsible for our building environment. This will help to fulfill the goals of our Vision 2030.
The financiers have an important role to play in the industry. They are expected to issue letters of intent as well as bank ratings to their clients who are tendering on construction jobs. The historically disadvantaged individuals in the high-risk industry like construction find it difficult to be creditworthy at their banks. The small black companies are still struggling to get performance guarantees from their banks to start and finish small government building projects within a stipulated time frame of four months. Staying longer on site means losing their profits.
In order to redress the historical imbalance, our government introduced some legal "tools" and "vehicles" which include:
-The Policy on Equity
- The Tender Board Act of 1996
- The Affirmative Action Policy
-The Nation Wide Improvement of Physical Facilities Programme
-The White Paper on Labour Based Works
-The Recruitment of Ex-Combatants
-The Social Security Commission
-The Employment Equity Commission, and
- The Rural Electrification Programme.
The Nation Wide Improvement of Physical Facilities Programme was introduced 14 years ago by the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Works, Transport and Communication to tackle the backlog of school buildings especially in the rural areas that were affected by the war. The programme was based on the concept of unbundling to allow small contractors to tender even for one school, which meant even one small building, according to their financial, managerial and technical capacity. The performance guarantee was reduced from 10% to 5%. At the moment more than 150 small contractors are participating in this programme countrywide.
The Labour Based Roads Construction Programme was also started by the Department of Transport 12 years ago with pilot projects. More than 10 small black contractors were trained. This training programme needs to be continued. The Ministry of Mines and Energy have also started engaging small contractors in rural electrification projects by unbundling large tenders. Many more programmes could be implemented to ensure job access for SMEs throughout the year.
The Success Story
The empowerment success story should be measured by the maximum participation of the target groups in empowerment schemes and having tangible results on the ground.
At least 90% of the budget of the National Wide Improvement of Physical Facilities Programme is directly spent by the black businesses in the construction industry. This includes women owned businesses. The rest of the government construction tenders are also partly benefiting the historically disadvantaged target group through joint ventures and sub-contracting.
It is also important to mention that small contractors are joining hands by meeting at marketing level in order to gain strength and recognition. This free association has guaranteed the government that:
- When one member contractor fails to deliver, other members will complete the project within budget, time and of good quality while they discipline the other member.
- Member contractors are sharing skills and knowledge.
- Material suppliers will be encouraged to do business with a large group.
- Workers employed by the contractors of the same associations will earn uniform wages which promote health labour negotiations.
- Training is easy to do through one office which represents its members.
- Follow-up on latent defects is possible through the association's office.
The government manages to spend the budget while empowering the SMEs. More people, including ex-combatants, are employed in the construction industry and the risk of losing their jobs is spread thin by the number of SMEs.
Challenges
- There are challenges which need to be addressed in order to speed up the empowerment process and widen the scope thereof.
- As there is no uniformity in the way different levels of government procure, the policy on policy works which will eventually lead to the Public Works Act is needed to bring harmony the way we procure with public funds.
- There is a limited scope in empowerment programmes and projects. The few which are running are only seasonal. It is therefore essential to widen the scope to include other sectors and stagger them throughout the financial year. This will ensure job availability to our SMEs at all times.
- Target groups do not have a guarantee to remain in business due to the unfair competition from bigger businesses and international companies. It is therefore necessary to categorize construction tenders and professional appointments. It is also better to guarantee SMEs an incubation period of at least three years.
- The banks are still reluctant to issue performance guarantees to SMEs which win government tenders. It will be good to create a package which will automatically guarantee SMEs all necessary support especially in financial and management issues.
The manufacturing of local building material like granite, marble, flat stones and lime needs to be promoted. This will help to develop our buildings and infrastructure with local content. It will create jobs to more Namibians. The continuous research and documentation of our building material is long overdue.
The education and training in Namibia does not adequately address the needs of the construction industry. This is why we still have more than 75% of the professionals (engineers, architects, quantity surveyors and project managers) above the age of 50 years. This is also why more than 90% of the SME contractors cannot fill out traditional tender documents. A sustainable training budget is therefore needed. We need to legislate a Training Levy concept to address this problem.
The construction industry gives direct benefit to the economy through capital projects and maintenance contracts. The impact is normally felt instantly on the ground as the buying power is brought to the people in all corners of Namibia. It is therefore important that empowerment tools and vehicles be redefined and streamlined in order to benefit the target groups. Most of all there is a need for a collaborative effort by all players - especially the political commitment cannot be substituted by any other effort. The number of employees in the construction industry could be tripled if co-ordination is done with dedication and these proposals are implemented without delay.
Monday, October 17, 2005
Jazz For Herbie - a benefit for Toronto's Sick Kids Hospital
“Jazz For Herbie 2005” musical benefit for The Herbie Fund will take place from 1:00 PM to 6:00 PM at the original “Jazz For Herbie” home…the fabulous and funky “Rex Hotel & Jazz Bar”. Doors open at 12:00 noon with the young sound of the Matt Fruchtman Quartet.
The event will be a great time for all ages—perfect for the whole family! “Jazz For Herbie” is being presented by Canada’s only 24-hour jazz station, JAZZ.FM91 and The Herbie Fund. Larry Green, on-air personality from JAZZ.FM91 will be handling the hosting duties, and there will be a number of “Giveaways” sponsored by Eagle Rock Entertainment, Justin Time Records, Universal/Verve Music and JAZZ.FM91.
Producing this glorious event once again, are jazz pianist, composer and arranger, Ron Davis and jazz vocalist and composer, Leah State. As always, the “Jazz for Herbie” event directly supports The Herbie Fund. Since its inception in 1979, The Herbie Fund has provided over 400 children from around the world with lifesaving surgery at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children.
Earlier this year, people across the world followed the story of the Zimbabwean conjoined twins, who, with the assistance of The Herbie Fund, successfully underwent separation surgery at The Sick Kids’ Hospital. Putting out the call for performers for the fourth year in a row “Jazz for Herbie” producers, Leah State and Ron Davis continue to marvel at the huge and enthusiastic response they receive from Toronto’s jazz community.
“Once again, Toronto’s jazz community, has shown that it has a world-class heart to match its world-class talent, ” says State. “Over 40 players have agreed to come down and donate their time and music to this fantastic cause….that’s in addition to the 150 musicians who have performed at previous Jazz for Herbie benefits. Amazing.
” Every “Jazz For Herbie” fundraising concert features a new group of talented and generous artists—this way, the event stays fresh, entertaining, and gives many artists a chance to give of themselves to this incredibly worthy cause. “Jazz For Herbie - 05” is committed to including the entire jazz community, and most especially…the new, young, emerging jazz artists.
“Jazz For Herbie 2005” benefit will feature performances from Daniel Barnes, Tara Davidson, Artie Roth, Pat LaBarbera, Rosanne Agasee, Chris Plock, Beverly Taft, Ed Vokurka, Chris Hunt, Serafin, Mike Downes, Scott Morin (Universal Music Jazz Label Manager!), Kiki Misumi, Fern Lindzon, Billy Newton-Davis, Ted Quinlan, Bobby Hsu, Greg de Denus, Thyron Lee Whyte, Ted Warren, Richard Whitehouse, Mirobolus, Gordon Sheard, Corry Sobol, David Occhipinti, Hilario Duran, Angela Scappatura, Larra Skye, Jason Hunter, Leah State and Ron Davis …as well as some very special guests! The rotating A-List “House Band” will include Daniel Barnes, Terry Clarke, Brian Dickinson, Aubrey Dayle, Mike Downes, Hilario Duran, David Occhipinti, Ted Quinlan, Artie Roth, Gordon Sheard, Steve Wallace, Ted Warren and Richard Whitehouse.
According to Co-Producer, Ron Davis, “Where does all this talent come from? Toronto is blessed with terrific musicians. And just as our local jazz people have international stature, the equally blessed Sick Kids’ Hospital and The Herbie Fund, are local institutions saving the lives of children from all over the world.”
The artistic theme this year is “My First Song”, which is bound to result in some delightful and surprising performances that will no doubt be a whole lot of fun as well as highly entertaining—for adults and children alike. Throughout the event children’s activities (for all ages) will be sponsored and supervised by “The Sandbox Club”, under the direction of Lily Champniss.
www.home.nestor.minsk.by
The event will be a great time for all ages—perfect for the whole family! “Jazz For Herbie” is being presented by Canada’s only 24-hour jazz station, JAZZ.FM91 and The Herbie Fund. Larry Green, on-air personality from JAZZ.FM91 will be handling the hosting duties, and there will be a number of “Giveaways” sponsored by Eagle Rock Entertainment, Justin Time Records, Universal/Verve Music and JAZZ.FM91.
Producing this glorious event once again, are jazz pianist, composer and arranger, Ron Davis and jazz vocalist and composer, Leah State. As always, the “Jazz for Herbie” event directly supports The Herbie Fund. Since its inception in 1979, The Herbie Fund has provided over 400 children from around the world with lifesaving surgery at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children.
Earlier this year, people across the world followed the story of the Zimbabwean conjoined twins, who, with the assistance of The Herbie Fund, successfully underwent separation surgery at The Sick Kids’ Hospital. Putting out the call for performers for the fourth year in a row “Jazz for Herbie” producers, Leah State and Ron Davis continue to marvel at the huge and enthusiastic response they receive from Toronto’s jazz community.
“Once again, Toronto’s jazz community, has shown that it has a world-class heart to match its world-class talent, ” says State. “Over 40 players have agreed to come down and donate their time and music to this fantastic cause….that’s in addition to the 150 musicians who have performed at previous Jazz for Herbie benefits. Amazing.
” Every “Jazz For Herbie” fundraising concert features a new group of talented and generous artists—this way, the event stays fresh, entertaining, and gives many artists a chance to give of themselves to this incredibly worthy cause. “Jazz For Herbie - 05” is committed to including the entire jazz community, and most especially…the new, young, emerging jazz artists.
“Jazz For Herbie 2005” benefit will feature performances from Daniel Barnes, Tara Davidson, Artie Roth, Pat LaBarbera, Rosanne Agasee, Chris Plock, Beverly Taft, Ed Vokurka, Chris Hunt, Serafin, Mike Downes, Scott Morin (Universal Music Jazz Label Manager!), Kiki Misumi, Fern Lindzon, Billy Newton-Davis, Ted Quinlan, Bobby Hsu, Greg de Denus, Thyron Lee Whyte, Ted Warren, Richard Whitehouse, Mirobolus, Gordon Sheard, Corry Sobol, David Occhipinti, Hilario Duran, Angela Scappatura, Larra Skye, Jason Hunter, Leah State and Ron Davis …as well as some very special guests! The rotating A-List “House Band” will include Daniel Barnes, Terry Clarke, Brian Dickinson, Aubrey Dayle, Mike Downes, Hilario Duran, David Occhipinti, Ted Quinlan, Artie Roth, Gordon Sheard, Steve Wallace, Ted Warren and Richard Whitehouse.
According to Co-Producer, Ron Davis, “Where does all this talent come from? Toronto is blessed with terrific musicians. And just as our local jazz people have international stature, the equally blessed Sick Kids’ Hospital and The Herbie Fund, are local institutions saving the lives of children from all over the world.”
The artistic theme this year is “My First Song”, which is bound to result in some delightful and surprising performances that will no doubt be a whole lot of fun as well as highly entertaining—for adults and children alike. Throughout the event children’s activities (for all ages) will be sponsored and supervised by “The Sandbox Club”, under the direction of Lily Champniss.
www.home.nestor.minsk.by
Governor's office, business leaders to discuss health care
Officials from the governor's office will meet with the top level business leaders on Tuesday to discuss health care issues, including the increasing problem of the uninsured working poor.
Gov. Janet Napolitano wants to help increase health coverage for the working poor, as well as for employees of small businesses and retailers who do not offer insurance.
The Democratic governor plans on making health care a top issue next year.
Rising health care insurance and prescription drug costs make it difficult for some small businesses to offer coverage to their employees. A number of retailers and service companies also do not offer health benefits to part-time workers.
Possible solutions being discussed by state officials and the private sector include tax credits for small businesses to help them provide health insurance, expanding a state program aimed at the working poor and finding ways to decrease private sector health costs.
Labor unions are particularly critical of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) -- the state's largest employer -- because a number of the retailer's employees are on the state's version of Medicaid.
Republican legislative leaders are also meeting with top business lobbyists and executives this week to talk about next year's session at the state Capitol. Those discussions include possible tax cuts and regulatory relief.
Relations between the governor and state Assembly Republicans are poor and both sides are expected to push competing tax programs next year, which is also an election year.
www.phoenix.bizjournals.com
Gov. Janet Napolitano wants to help increase health coverage for the working poor, as well as for employees of small businesses and retailers who do not offer insurance.
The Democratic governor plans on making health care a top issue next year.
Rising health care insurance and prescription drug costs make it difficult for some small businesses to offer coverage to their employees. A number of retailers and service companies also do not offer health benefits to part-time workers.
Possible solutions being discussed by state officials and the private sector include tax credits for small businesses to help them provide health insurance, expanding a state program aimed at the working poor and finding ways to decrease private sector health costs.
Labor unions are particularly critical of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) -- the state's largest employer -- because a number of the retailer's employees are on the state's version of Medicaid.
Republican legislative leaders are also meeting with top business lobbyists and executives this week to talk about next year's session at the state Capitol. Those discussions include possible tax cuts and regulatory relief.
Relations between the governor and state Assembly Republicans are poor and both sides are expected to push competing tax programs next year, which is also an election year.
www.phoenix.bizjournals.com
GM, UAW reach tentative health plan
General Motors has reached a tentative deal with the United Auto Workers to cut health care costs.
GM Chairman Rick Wagoner says the company will save millions of dollars because of the new deal, which still has to be ratified by the rank and file.
Those specific details aren't being released by Wagoner. But we can tell you GM's UAW workers and retirees will be certainly be paying more for health care.
The tentative agreement covers more than 750,000 hourly workers and dependents, retirees and surviving spouses in the United States.
Wagoner also indicated some manufacturing plants will be closed by the end of the year. He wouldn't indicate how many or which ones.
The company also is considering selling a portion of its profitable GMAC subsidiary.
All of this is done to save the company money at a time when it's reported a quarterly loss of $1.6 billion.
Wagoner also announced GM will contribute to a new voluntary independent employee benefit plan. Similar plans are widely used by companies all over the U.S.
So if this is ratified, GM workers and retirees will be more in line with other companies when it comes to health care.
www.abclocal.go.com
GM Chairman Rick Wagoner says the company will save millions of dollars because of the new deal, which still has to be ratified by the rank and file.
Those specific details aren't being released by Wagoner. But we can tell you GM's UAW workers and retirees will be certainly be paying more for health care.
The tentative agreement covers more than 750,000 hourly workers and dependents, retirees and surviving spouses in the United States.
Wagoner also indicated some manufacturing plants will be closed by the end of the year. He wouldn't indicate how many or which ones.
The company also is considering selling a portion of its profitable GMAC subsidiary.
All of this is done to save the company money at a time when it's reported a quarterly loss of $1.6 billion.
Wagoner also announced GM will contribute to a new voluntary independent employee benefit plan. Similar plans are widely used by companies all over the U.S.
So if this is ratified, GM workers and retirees will be more in line with other companies when it comes to health care.
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Michelle Wie finds out it's not always easy being 16 and famous
Michelle Wie was surrounded all week by a protective cocoon that included her parents, her agents, her caddie and her Nike people for her eagerly awaited pro debut. All were in the California desert to make sure things went smoothly for the future star.
None of them, though, could help her as she sat alone in the press tent Sunday night, fighting back tears and trying to explain what went wrong.
She should have been $53,126 US richer, her first tournament cheque in her purse. She should have been eager to wing her way back to Hawaii and tell her friends at school about how they pay you to play a game you love.
Instead, she looked as if she had just been called into the principal's office for punishment.
If her name was Jeong Jang, Marisa Baena or any of the other anonymous players in the Samsung World Championship, she would have escaped without anyone saying a word. But this was Michelle Wie, who might as well replace the swoosh on her shirt and hat with big targets instead.
Her crime? You might stretch it and say she cheated, dropping her ball closer to the hole in Saturday's third round so she could salvage a par after hitting it into a bush.
Those more charitable would say she was simply a careless teenager who made a mistake.
Another group - which includes Wie and her entourage - would argue she did nothing wrong at all.
"I don't feel like I cheated," Wie said.
Don't ask Michael Bamberger which group he stands in. He said he was simply trying to protect the integrity of the game when he walked up to a rules official late Sunday afternoon to say he had concerns about how Wie handled the drop from a day before.
Bamberger is a writer for Sports Illustrated, a job that gives him up-close access to the play of field in golf. He and some other writers were following Wie around the course when she declared an unplayable lie in a Gold Lantana bush, then took a drop onto some nearby grass that to Bamberger seemed was closer to the hole - a no-no in golf.
The problem wasn't just that Bamberger made a case about it, though most journalists would argue that their job is to report the news, not make it. But he didn't have his fit of conscience until late the next day, which was way too late for Wie to make any remedy.
"I thought about it more and was just uncomfortable that I knew something," Bamberger said. "Integrity is at the heart of the game. I don't think she cheated. I think she was just hasty."
Being hasty, of course, is part of being a 16-year-old, which is part of the reason the LPGA Tour has a rule that you have to be 18 before you can become a full-time touring pro. Wie's caddie even warned her before she took the drop that she had to be careful not to drop the ball any closer to the hole.
www.canada.com
None of them, though, could help her as she sat alone in the press tent Sunday night, fighting back tears and trying to explain what went wrong.
She should have been $53,126 US richer, her first tournament cheque in her purse. She should have been eager to wing her way back to Hawaii and tell her friends at school about how they pay you to play a game you love.
Instead, she looked as if she had just been called into the principal's office for punishment.
If her name was Jeong Jang, Marisa Baena or any of the other anonymous players in the Samsung World Championship, she would have escaped without anyone saying a word. But this was Michelle Wie, who might as well replace the swoosh on her shirt and hat with big targets instead.
Her crime? You might stretch it and say she cheated, dropping her ball closer to the hole in Saturday's third round so she could salvage a par after hitting it into a bush.
Those more charitable would say she was simply a careless teenager who made a mistake.
Another group - which includes Wie and her entourage - would argue she did nothing wrong at all.
"I don't feel like I cheated," Wie said.
Don't ask Michael Bamberger which group he stands in. He said he was simply trying to protect the integrity of the game when he walked up to a rules official late Sunday afternoon to say he had concerns about how Wie handled the drop from a day before.
Bamberger is a writer for Sports Illustrated, a job that gives him up-close access to the play of field in golf. He and some other writers were following Wie around the course when she declared an unplayable lie in a Gold Lantana bush, then took a drop onto some nearby grass that to Bamberger seemed was closer to the hole - a no-no in golf.
The problem wasn't just that Bamberger made a case about it, though most journalists would argue that their job is to report the news, not make it. But he didn't have his fit of conscience until late the next day, which was way too late for Wie to make any remedy.
"I thought about it more and was just uncomfortable that I knew something," Bamberger said. "Integrity is at the heart of the game. I don't think she cheated. I think she was just hasty."
Being hasty, of course, is part of being a 16-year-old, which is part of the reason the LPGA Tour has a rule that you have to be 18 before you can become a full-time touring pro. Wie's caddie even warned her before she took the drop that she had to be careful not to drop the ball any closer to the hole.
www.canada.com
IBM, Rambus dominate late trading
Shares of International Business Machines dominated trade after the closing bell Monday, while shares of Rambus Inc. spiked after blowing past analyst expectations.
The Nasdaq-100 After Hours Indicator, which tracks the evening action of the technology-heavy index's leading shares, was down 0.68 point to 1549.20.
Shares of IBM (IBM) ticked modestly higher after the company reported a third-quarter profit of $1.5 billion, or 94 cents a share, compared to $1.6 billion, or 92 cents a share a year ago. Revenue came in at $21.5 billion, below Wall Street expectations and down from $23.4 billion. Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call had forecast IBM to earn $1.13 a share on revenue of $21.7 billion.
Rambus Inc. (RMBS) shares rose over 6% to $12.31 at one point after the company reported third-quarter net earnings of $14.5 million, or 14 cents a share on revenue of $36 million. The chip technology company was expected to post earnings of 2 cents a share on revenue of $33 million.
Shares of Novellus Systems Inc. (NVLS) fell more than 1% at one point to $24.61 after the company said that its third-quarter profit fell to $23.4 million, or 17 cents a share, from $64.7 million, or 45 cents, a year ago. Revenue slid 18.5% to $338.9 million as chip manufacturers placed fewer orders for equipment.
The results missed Wall Street's per-share estimate of 21 cents but topped the revenue estimate of $321 million.
Copyright ©2005 MarketWatch, Inc. All rights reserved. Please see our Terms of Use. MarketWatch, the MarketWatch logo, and BigCharts are registered trademarks of MarketWatch, Inc."
The Nasdaq-100 After Hours Indicator, which tracks the evening action of the technology-heavy index's leading shares, was down 0.68 point to 1549.20.
Shares of IBM (IBM) ticked modestly higher after the company reported a third-quarter profit of $1.5 billion, or 94 cents a share, compared to $1.6 billion, or 92 cents a share a year ago. Revenue came in at $21.5 billion, below Wall Street expectations and down from $23.4 billion. Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call had forecast IBM to earn $1.13 a share on revenue of $21.7 billion.
Rambus Inc. (RMBS) shares rose over 6% to $12.31 at one point after the company reported third-quarter net earnings of $14.5 million, or 14 cents a share on revenue of $36 million. The chip technology company was expected to post earnings of 2 cents a share on revenue of $33 million.
Shares of Novellus Systems Inc. (NVLS) fell more than 1% at one point to $24.61 after the company said that its third-quarter profit fell to $23.4 million, or 17 cents a share, from $64.7 million, or 45 cents, a year ago. Revenue slid 18.5% to $338.9 million as chip manufacturers placed fewer orders for equipment.
The results missed Wall Street's per-share estimate of 21 cents but topped the revenue estimate of $321 million.
Copyright ©2005 MarketWatch, Inc. All rights reserved. Please see our Terms of Use. MarketWatch, the MarketWatch logo, and BigCharts are registered trademarks of MarketWatch, Inc."
Saturday, October 15, 2005
Genting Group's Founder Wins "Travel Entrepreneur Of The Year"
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 14 (Bernama) -- Genting Group Founder and Honorary Life Chairman, Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong, won the prestigious Travel Entrepreneur of the Year Award at the TTG Travel Awards 2005.The special inaugural award pays tribute to an individual for his outstanding achievements and positive contributions to the region's tourism and travel industry, Genting said in a statement.
It was a double celebration for the group as Star Cruises, a member of the group won the Best Cruise Operator in the Asia-Pacific for the eighth time, a record-breaking feat and an exemplary record of its cruise products and service excellence.
The awards, hosted by TTG Asia, were presented to the Genting Group Thursday, in a grand ceremony in Pattaya, Thailand, attended by members of the travel trade including key industry figures, the media and other invited guests.
The TTG Travel awards presentation is an annual highlight in the travel industry calendar of events which recognises the most outstanding organisations in the travel industry within the Asia-Pacific.The Genting Group is a leading resort development specialist with international gaming expertise, having developed numerous major tourism projects in Asia, Australia and the US.
It was a double celebration for the group as Star Cruises, a member of the group won the Best Cruise Operator in the Asia-Pacific for the eighth time, a record-breaking feat and an exemplary record of its cruise products and service excellence.
The awards, hosted by TTG Asia, were presented to the Genting Group Thursday, in a grand ceremony in Pattaya, Thailand, attended by members of the travel trade including key industry figures, the media and other invited guests.
The TTG Travel awards presentation is an annual highlight in the travel industry calendar of events which recognises the most outstanding organisations in the travel industry within the Asia-Pacific.The Genting Group is a leading resort development specialist with international gaming expertise, having developed numerous major tourism projects in Asia, Australia and the US.
Dubai gets strong endorsement of German Travel Industry Convention
The 55th annual convention of the German Association of Travel Agents and Tour Operators (DRV) opened at the Dubai International Convention Centre (DICC) on Thursday night with over 1200 delegates who included the top-brass of Europe's leading tour operators like Thomas Cook and TUI and German government officials and envoys.
DRV is the world's third largest travel association with over 5,000 members, including the biggest European tour operators like TUI, Thomas Cook and Rewe Touristik. More than 80 % of Germans organize their holidays through the DRV member-companies. The Director General of Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM), Mr. Khalid A bin Sulayem, in his welcome address at the opening ceremony of the four-day event, said: 'Both the Government and the private sector travel and tourism industry are delighted and honored that the DRV selected Dubai as the venue for this prestigious convention.' He said: 'In the first half of 2005, we recorded a 24% growth in German hotel guests in Dubai compared with the corresponding period last year. In 2004, more than 236,000 hotels guests came from Germany, an impressive increase of 51 per cent.
The growth level provides clear evidence that Dubai has what it takes to become even more popular with visitors in the years ahead.' He said German investment in Dubai continues to grow strongly and currently there are over 430 German companies based in Dubai and 145 in Jebel Ali Free Zone.
Mr. bin Sulayem said under the guidance and leadership of H H General Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and UAE Minister of Defense, Dubai's infrastructure was being innovatively and continuously developed to ensure that visitors experience the finest facilities available anywhere. He said: 'The DTCM has been actively working to support the German travel industry both through the marketing efforts and by constantly enhancing the facilities, attractions and services that Dubai offers visitors.
The DTCM Germany office has completed 15 years of its successful operation during which the number of German visitors to Dubai has seen consistent year-on-year growth.' In his opening address, Mr. Klaus Laepple, President of DRV, said: 'We are gathered here to confirm to Dubai the professional support of the German travel industry for the next years. Over many years and together with the DTCM, the German tour operators have established the brand Dubai in the German market. The brand Dubai stands for highest expectations when traveling.
Also in the future, Dubai has to position itself via its quality. He added: 'Dubai can continue to count on the strong support of the German travel agents and tour operators. Until 2008, Dubai is planning on doubling its hotel capacities. In order to be able to master this great challenge, the emirate needs professional tourism partners on the side of tour operators and sales.' The German ambassador to the UAE, Mr. Jurgen Stelzer, said: 'The UAE is a safe destination for the German visitors given the safety levels. The bulk of the German visitors come to Dubai to enjoy the many facilities the emirate offers.' Mr. Awadh Seghayer Al Ketbi, Director of Dubai Convention Bureau (DCB), said: 'It is a privilege to host this convention in Dubai - the seventh venue outside Europe in the DRV's history.
The convention is a milestone of our hard work in Germany over the last 15 years. We are keen on building long-lasting relationship with powerful institutions like the DRV.' A promotional film was screened to the high-impact gathering in addition a presentation by a group of Emirati school girls. For the first time, the German Travel Agencies Day was observed in Dubai by the DRV on October 13th. The convention is being sponsored by 20 hotels and 10 local tour operators. The convention is being attended by the DRV board members, government officials and envoys.
DRV is the world's third largest travel association with over 5,000 members, including the biggest European tour operators like TUI, Thomas Cook and Rewe Touristik. More than 80 % of Germans organize their holidays through the DRV member-companies. The Director General of Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM), Mr. Khalid A bin Sulayem, in his welcome address at the opening ceremony of the four-day event, said: 'Both the Government and the private sector travel and tourism industry are delighted and honored that the DRV selected Dubai as the venue for this prestigious convention.' He said: 'In the first half of 2005, we recorded a 24% growth in German hotel guests in Dubai compared with the corresponding period last year. In 2004, more than 236,000 hotels guests came from Germany, an impressive increase of 51 per cent.
The growth level provides clear evidence that Dubai has what it takes to become even more popular with visitors in the years ahead.' He said German investment in Dubai continues to grow strongly and currently there are over 430 German companies based in Dubai and 145 in Jebel Ali Free Zone.
Mr. bin Sulayem said under the guidance and leadership of H H General Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and UAE Minister of Defense, Dubai's infrastructure was being innovatively and continuously developed to ensure that visitors experience the finest facilities available anywhere. He said: 'The DTCM has been actively working to support the German travel industry both through the marketing efforts and by constantly enhancing the facilities, attractions and services that Dubai offers visitors.
The DTCM Germany office has completed 15 years of its successful operation during which the number of German visitors to Dubai has seen consistent year-on-year growth.' In his opening address, Mr. Klaus Laepple, President of DRV, said: 'We are gathered here to confirm to Dubai the professional support of the German travel industry for the next years. Over many years and together with the DTCM, the German tour operators have established the brand Dubai in the German market. The brand Dubai stands for highest expectations when traveling.
Also in the future, Dubai has to position itself via its quality. He added: 'Dubai can continue to count on the strong support of the German travel agents and tour operators. Until 2008, Dubai is planning on doubling its hotel capacities. In order to be able to master this great challenge, the emirate needs professional tourism partners on the side of tour operators and sales.' The German ambassador to the UAE, Mr. Jurgen Stelzer, said: 'The UAE is a safe destination for the German visitors given the safety levels. The bulk of the German visitors come to Dubai to enjoy the many facilities the emirate offers.' Mr. Awadh Seghayer Al Ketbi, Director of Dubai Convention Bureau (DCB), said: 'It is a privilege to host this convention in Dubai - the seventh venue outside Europe in the DRV's history.
The convention is a milestone of our hard work in Germany over the last 15 years. We are keen on building long-lasting relationship with powerful institutions like the DRV.' A promotional film was screened to the high-impact gathering in addition a presentation by a group of Emirati school girls. For the first time, the German Travel Agencies Day was observed in Dubai by the DRV on October 13th. The convention is being sponsored by 20 hotels and 10 local tour operators. The convention is being attended by the DRV board members, government officials and envoys.
Monday, October 10, 2005
U.S. Puts Pressure on Europe to Open Its Farm Markets
By TOM WRIGHT International Herald Tribune
ZURICH, Oct. 10 - The European Union came under pressure today to make new concessions to open its agricultural markets after the United States offered to slash farm subsidies to restart global trade talks.
But it remained unclear whether the American offer would bring about concessions by the European Union and other members of the World Trade Organization, which are meeting here this week to work on an outline for negotiations on a global trade deal scheduled for December in Hong Kong.
The United States trade representative, Rob Portman, pledged to cut some farm subsidies by 60 percent over five years. He also called for an "ambitious" reduction of export tariffs on agriculture products - which is considered a key sticking point in global trade talks - of 55 percent to 90 percent. Such reductions would disproportionately hit European markets, which are protected by much larger tariffs than those imposed by the United States.
Mr. Portman said it was now up to "those that subsidize more than the U.S." - referring to Europe and Japan - to move now to open their protected farm markets to American agricultural products.
"We are offering real cuts to U.S. farmers in exchange for market access," Mr. Portman said. "And if we are not able to achieve the market access, they can not be supportive."
The European Union's trade commissioner, Peter Mandelson, called the American move a "constructive step" and said Brussels would be willing to cut agricultural subsidies by 70 percent, exceeding its previous offer to reduce them by 65 percent.
But the European Union did not signal that it would agree to cut contentious farm tariffs on agriculture exports to the levels that Washington wants to see. Mr. Portman is seeking a reduction in export tariffs of 55 percent to 90 percent over five years as a condition of cutting its farm subsidies.
Japan also said it would not accept the American proposal as a basis for further discussions. "The reductions demanded of the E.U. and Japan are out of balance" of those the United States is making, the Japanese agriculture minister, Mineichi Iwanaga, said.
Many trade experts questioned whether the E.U.'s executive arm - which has already angered some European government for a promise last year to completely phase out farm export subsidies - will be able to secure further commitments from its 25 member nations.
Brussels also faces resistance within its own ranks. A letter, signed by 13 European trade ministers, including France, Italy and Ireland, was sent last week to the European Union's agriculture commissioner, Mariann Fischer Boel, in which the ministers raised concerns that concessions by Brussels have not been matched by the American offer.
By moving now, the United States has "upped the ante," said Jean-Pierre Lehmann, a professor of international economics at the Swiss business school IMD. "But Mandelson is not in a position to match that ante."
Mr. Mandelson acknowledged some European governments are "concerned about imbalances," but he said the United States' new proposals could help assuage those fears by showing that Washington is also making concessions.
The United States had been under pressure for months to provide detail's the Bush administration's commitment to cut farm subsidies. Mr. Portman's proposal comes after weeks of closed-door meeting with members of Congress who were opposed to any deal unless American farmers, led by the politically strong corn and beef industries, get better market access to Europe's 500 million consumers.
Europe has agreed to end export subsidies, which dampen world prices and hurt developing nations, but it still has high tariffs on farm imports and domestic subsidies worth about $60 billion each year. The United States has relatively low tariffs and officially spends about $19 billion on subsidies, although trade experts say the real number could be much higher.
Trade talks begun in Doha, Qatar, in 2001 under the World Trade Organization were termed a "development round" meant to help lift the world's poor nations out of poverty by giving their farmers better access to developed world markets. But rich countries have not met these promises, advocacy groups like Oxfam International say.
Developing countries said the American proposal could give some momentum to the talks, which have been stalled for more than a year. "It's a positive step," Egypt's trade minister, Rachid Mohamed, said. "There's a willingness from the U.S. to get things moving."
Trade officials, including those from the U.S. and the European Union, will meet again on Tuesday and Wednesday at the World Trade Organization's headquarters in Geneva for further talks. Other than agriculture, discussions are likely to center on American and European demands for large developing countries like Brazil, China and India to open their markets to Western industrial goods and services.
Meanwhile, the United States and Europe said they would discuss in Geneva ways to solve a growing trade dispute over state support for Boeing and Airbus.
Mr. Portman reiterated today Washington's concern that a European pledge this month to postpone aid for the development of Airbus's A350 aircraft was not a meaningful concession. The United States, which is demanding that Europe eliminate the subsidies, does not want to get involved in a negotiation that is "unlikely to result in any meaningful success," Mr. Portman said.
For its part, Europe wants the United States to make a commitment to reduce indirect support that it contends that Boeing receives in the form of research contracts.
ZURICH, Oct. 10 - The European Union came under pressure today to make new concessions to open its agricultural markets after the United States offered to slash farm subsidies to restart global trade talks.
But it remained unclear whether the American offer would bring about concessions by the European Union and other members of the World Trade Organization, which are meeting here this week to work on an outline for negotiations on a global trade deal scheduled for December in Hong Kong.
The United States trade representative, Rob Portman, pledged to cut some farm subsidies by 60 percent over five years. He also called for an "ambitious" reduction of export tariffs on agriculture products - which is considered a key sticking point in global trade talks - of 55 percent to 90 percent. Such reductions would disproportionately hit European markets, which are protected by much larger tariffs than those imposed by the United States.
Mr. Portman said it was now up to "those that subsidize more than the U.S." - referring to Europe and Japan - to move now to open their protected farm markets to American agricultural products.
"We are offering real cuts to U.S. farmers in exchange for market access," Mr. Portman said. "And if we are not able to achieve the market access, they can not be supportive."
The European Union's trade commissioner, Peter Mandelson, called the American move a "constructive step" and said Brussels would be willing to cut agricultural subsidies by 70 percent, exceeding its previous offer to reduce them by 65 percent.
But the European Union did not signal that it would agree to cut contentious farm tariffs on agriculture exports to the levels that Washington wants to see. Mr. Portman is seeking a reduction in export tariffs of 55 percent to 90 percent over five years as a condition of cutting its farm subsidies.
Japan also said it would not accept the American proposal as a basis for further discussions. "The reductions demanded of the E.U. and Japan are out of balance" of those the United States is making, the Japanese agriculture minister, Mineichi Iwanaga, said.
Many trade experts questioned whether the E.U.'s executive arm - which has already angered some European government for a promise last year to completely phase out farm export subsidies - will be able to secure further commitments from its 25 member nations.
Brussels also faces resistance within its own ranks. A letter, signed by 13 European trade ministers, including France, Italy and Ireland, was sent last week to the European Union's agriculture commissioner, Mariann Fischer Boel, in which the ministers raised concerns that concessions by Brussels have not been matched by the American offer.
By moving now, the United States has "upped the ante," said Jean-Pierre Lehmann, a professor of international economics at the Swiss business school IMD. "But Mandelson is not in a position to match that ante."
Mr. Mandelson acknowledged some European governments are "concerned about imbalances," but he said the United States' new proposals could help assuage those fears by showing that Washington is also making concessions.
The United States had been under pressure for months to provide detail's the Bush administration's commitment to cut farm subsidies. Mr. Portman's proposal comes after weeks of closed-door meeting with members of Congress who were opposed to any deal unless American farmers, led by the politically strong corn and beef industries, get better market access to Europe's 500 million consumers.
Europe has agreed to end export subsidies, which dampen world prices and hurt developing nations, but it still has high tariffs on farm imports and domestic subsidies worth about $60 billion each year. The United States has relatively low tariffs and officially spends about $19 billion on subsidies, although trade experts say the real number could be much higher.
Trade talks begun in Doha, Qatar, in 2001 under the World Trade Organization were termed a "development round" meant to help lift the world's poor nations out of poverty by giving their farmers better access to developed world markets. But rich countries have not met these promises, advocacy groups like Oxfam International say.
Developing countries said the American proposal could give some momentum to the talks, which have been stalled for more than a year. "It's a positive step," Egypt's trade minister, Rachid Mohamed, said. "There's a willingness from the U.S. to get things moving."
Trade officials, including those from the U.S. and the European Union, will meet again on Tuesday and Wednesday at the World Trade Organization's headquarters in Geneva for further talks. Other than agriculture, discussions are likely to center on American and European demands for large developing countries like Brazil, China and India to open their markets to Western industrial goods and services.
Meanwhile, the United States and Europe said they would discuss in Geneva ways to solve a growing trade dispute over state support for Boeing and Airbus.
Mr. Portman reiterated today Washington's concern that a European pledge this month to postpone aid for the development of Airbus's A350 aircraft was not a meaningful concession. The United States, which is demanding that Europe eliminate the subsidies, does not want to get involved in a negotiation that is "unlikely to result in any meaningful success," Mr. Portman said.
For its part, Europe wants the United States to make a commitment to reduce indirect support that it contends that Boeing receives in the form of research contracts.
Delphi CEO says collapse would harm world auto industry - FT
LONDON (Reuters) - The collapse of auto car parts supplier Delphi Corp. (DPH.N: Quote, Profile, Research) would damage most of the world's auto makers, the company's chief executive officer, Steve Miller, said in an interview published on Tuesday.
Speaking to the Financial Times, Miller said that could be avoided if the company makes enough cuts to ensure its survival.
Michigan-based Delphi filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Saturday, piling pressure on General Motors Corp. (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research), its biggest customer and former owner.
"If we do this right, Delphi will remain one of the world's leading global automotive suppliers," Miller said. "If we do it badly, Delphi may be broken up into small pieces, and America will have lost some of its precious industrial treasures.
"The impact of a collapse could potentially injure most of the world's automakers, and perhaps fatally wound General Motors. I am absolutely determined not to let that happen."
GM is closely tied to the unit it spun off in 1999 through complicated supply and labour agreements.
Miller said no decision had been made on Delphi's pension plans.
"We have about a $5 billion (2.85 billion pounds) shortfall in our plan assets to our plan liabilities," he told the FT. "Some have suggested that Chapter 11 (bankruptcy) means termination of the plans. That is simply not true, at least at this point in time.
"At Delphi, we have made no decision to terminate our pension plans."
He said unions would have to accept cuts to wages and benefits at Delphi to repay the pension plan shortfall.
"This will put the unions in the difficult position of perhaps having to make trade-offs between maximising the pay and benefits for active workers versus maximising the chances for saving the pension plans," he said.
Miller said Delphi's case was a "flash point, a test case" for a wider global conflict between the interests of current workers and retired employees.
"I fear something like inter-generational warfare, as young people increasingly resent having their wages reduced and taxed away to support social programs for their grandparents' income and health care concerns," he said.
Speaking to the Financial Times, Miller said that could be avoided if the company makes enough cuts to ensure its survival.
Michigan-based Delphi filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Saturday, piling pressure on General Motors Corp. (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research), its biggest customer and former owner.
"If we do this right, Delphi will remain one of the world's leading global automotive suppliers," Miller said. "If we do it badly, Delphi may be broken up into small pieces, and America will have lost some of its precious industrial treasures.
"The impact of a collapse could potentially injure most of the world's automakers, and perhaps fatally wound General Motors. I am absolutely determined not to let that happen."
GM is closely tied to the unit it spun off in 1999 through complicated supply and labour agreements.
Miller said no decision had been made on Delphi's pension plans.
"We have about a $5 billion (2.85 billion pounds) shortfall in our plan assets to our plan liabilities," he told the FT. "Some have suggested that Chapter 11 (bankruptcy) means termination of the plans. That is simply not true, at least at this point in time.
"At Delphi, we have made no decision to terminate our pension plans."
He said unions would have to accept cuts to wages and benefits at Delphi to repay the pension plan shortfall.
"This will put the unions in the difficult position of perhaps having to make trade-offs between maximising the pay and benefits for active workers versus maximising the chances for saving the pension plans," he said.
Miller said Delphi's case was a "flash point, a test case" for a wider global conflict between the interests of current workers and retired employees.
"I fear something like inter-generational warfare, as young people increasingly resent having their wages reduced and taxed away to support social programs for their grandparents' income and health care concerns," he said.
Study: Cribs cut SIDS riskChance of newborns succumbing to sudden death fall when babies sleep alone with a a pacifier, report says
BY SYLVIA ADCOCKSTAFF WRITER
Babies should be put to sleep with pacifiers in their own cribs -- not in their parents' beds -- to minimize the risk of sudden infant death syndrome, according to new recommendations issued yesterday from the nation's largest organization of pediatricians.The first new guidance in five years on preventing SIDS deaths from the American Academy of Pediatrics is likely to be controversial, particularly among breast-feeding moms who sleep with their babies in their beds.
"We appreciate that the American Academy of Pediatrics is trying to protect the lives of newborns," said Lisa Parker, a spokeswoman for the Tennessee-based Attachment Parenting International, a support group that advocates the so-called "family bed" approach. "But we have concerns about these blanket recommendations. ... If there are working parents ... nighttime is the only time they can be with their babies."The new policy, which updates the academy's 2000 SIDS guidelines, also says that the only appropriate sleep position for infants is on their backs. Doctors have recommended that for years, but have also told mothers it is OK to let babies sleep on their sides. That is now considered too risky to even be considered an option, because infants could roll over onto their stomachs.Andrew Adesman, chief of developmental and behavioral pediatrics at Schneider Children's Hospital, said he recognized that some of the guidelines would be controversial. "I think that the academy is taking a view focusing on safety first," he said. Adesman says he tells his own kids that as a parent, his three main jobs are keeping them safe, healthy and happy, in that order. "More than 2,000 babies die each year from SIDS," he said.Melissa Mitchell of Sag Harbor is the mother of a 9-month-old and she recently returned to work as a teacher. She said the co-sleeping arrangement works well in her household. "I was sleeping with him at the hospital," she said of her son, Tyler. "It just felt like it was the natural thing to do. ... I can sense him wake up before he even starts to wake up." It would be exhausting, she said, to get out of bed every time the baby needed to be fed instead of being able to fall back asleep with him at her side."The huge upside is the connection with the baby," said Nadgia James, of East Hampton, who shares her bed with 11-month-old Nia. "The physical connection with the baby is crucial."The death rate from SIDS has fallen sharply in recent years, now that parents are warned not to let their babies sleep on their stomachs or amid fluffy bedding or stuffed toys. But it remains the leading case of death in U.S. infants between ages 1 month and 1 year.The academy addressed concerns that have been raised about pacifiers in the past, Adesman said. The use of a pacifier until age 1 will not increase ear infections, which typically occur at older ages, and pacifiers used in infancy will not cause damage to permanent teeth, a longtime concern of parents.The academy recommends delaying pacifier use for breast-fed infants during the first month of life -- when SIDS risks are low -- "to ensure that breast-feeding is firmly established." And it says placing the crib near the parents' bed makes breast-feeding more convenient. Infants may be brought into the bed to nurse, but should be returned to their cribs afterward, the policy says.Laura Reno, spokeswoman for First Candle/SIDS Alliance, a national advocacy group, said her organization strongly supports the new recommendations. She lost a baby son to SIDS 21 years ago.The academy's recommendations are based on new research, including studies that have suggested that sucking pacifiers might help keep vulnerable infants from slumbering too deeply to rouse themselves.James, the mother of the 11-month-old, said there's only one thing for parents to do: "Read up as much you can and go with your good instincts."The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Babies should be put to sleep with pacifiers in their own cribs -- not in their parents' beds -- to minimize the risk of sudden infant death syndrome, according to new recommendations issued yesterday from the nation's largest organization of pediatricians.The first new guidance in five years on preventing SIDS deaths from the American Academy of Pediatrics is likely to be controversial, particularly among breast-feeding moms who sleep with their babies in their beds.
"We appreciate that the American Academy of Pediatrics is trying to protect the lives of newborns," said Lisa Parker, a spokeswoman for the Tennessee-based Attachment Parenting International, a support group that advocates the so-called "family bed" approach. "But we have concerns about these blanket recommendations. ... If there are working parents ... nighttime is the only time they can be with their babies."The new policy, which updates the academy's 2000 SIDS guidelines, also says that the only appropriate sleep position for infants is on their backs. Doctors have recommended that for years, but have also told mothers it is OK to let babies sleep on their sides. That is now considered too risky to even be considered an option, because infants could roll over onto their stomachs.Andrew Adesman, chief of developmental and behavioral pediatrics at Schneider Children's Hospital, said he recognized that some of the guidelines would be controversial. "I think that the academy is taking a view focusing on safety first," he said. Adesman says he tells his own kids that as a parent, his three main jobs are keeping them safe, healthy and happy, in that order. "More than 2,000 babies die each year from SIDS," he said.Melissa Mitchell of Sag Harbor is the mother of a 9-month-old and she recently returned to work as a teacher. She said the co-sleeping arrangement works well in her household. "I was sleeping with him at the hospital," she said of her son, Tyler. "It just felt like it was the natural thing to do. ... I can sense him wake up before he even starts to wake up." It would be exhausting, she said, to get out of bed every time the baby needed to be fed instead of being able to fall back asleep with him at her side."The huge upside is the connection with the baby," said Nadgia James, of East Hampton, who shares her bed with 11-month-old Nia. "The physical connection with the baby is crucial."The death rate from SIDS has fallen sharply in recent years, now that parents are warned not to let their babies sleep on their stomachs or amid fluffy bedding or stuffed toys. But it remains the leading case of death in U.S. infants between ages 1 month and 1 year.The academy addressed concerns that have been raised about pacifiers in the past, Adesman said. The use of a pacifier until age 1 will not increase ear infections, which typically occur at older ages, and pacifiers used in infancy will not cause damage to permanent teeth, a longtime concern of parents.The academy recommends delaying pacifier use for breast-fed infants during the first month of life -- when SIDS risks are low -- "to ensure that breast-feeding is firmly established." And it says placing the crib near the parents' bed makes breast-feeding more convenient. Infants may be brought into the bed to nurse, but should be returned to their cribs afterward, the policy says.Laura Reno, spokeswoman for First Candle/SIDS Alliance, a national advocacy group, said her organization strongly supports the new recommendations. She lost a baby son to SIDS 21 years ago.The academy's recommendations are based on new research, including studies that have suggested that sucking pacifiers might help keep vulnerable infants from slumbering too deeply to rouse themselves.James, the mother of the 11-month-old, said there's only one thing for parents to do: "Read up as much you can and go with your good instincts."The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Vee-Dub's one top war machine
ROBOT-guided Volkswagen won a $2.5 million race across the Nevada desert yesterday, beating four other vehicles in a contest aimed at making warfare safer for humans.
The Pentagon-sponsored race displayed huge technological leaps since last year's inaugural race, when none of the self-driving vehicles crossed the finish line.
Stanley the Volkswagen, a VW Touareg designed by Stanford University, zipped through the 212km Mojave Desert course in six hours and 53 minutes. It used only its computer brain and sensors to navigate rough and twisting desert and mountain trails designed to imitate conditions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Stanford computer scientist Sebastian Thrun said he wanted to design automated systems to make next-generation cars safer for everyone, not just the military.
The vehicles were decked out with the latest sensors, lasers, cameras and radar that feed data to onboard computers, which helped them distinguish dangerous boulders from tumbleweeds and decide whether chasms were too deep to cross.
The course comprised winding dirt trails and dry lake beds filled with overhanging brush. – AP
The Pentagon-sponsored race displayed huge technological leaps since last year's inaugural race, when none of the self-driving vehicles crossed the finish line.
Stanley the Volkswagen, a VW Touareg designed by Stanford University, zipped through the 212km Mojave Desert course in six hours and 53 minutes. It used only its computer brain and sensors to navigate rough and twisting desert and mountain trails designed to imitate conditions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Stanford computer scientist Sebastian Thrun said he wanted to design automated systems to make next-generation cars safer for everyone, not just the military.
The vehicles were decked out with the latest sensors, lasers, cameras and radar that feed data to onboard computers, which helped them distinguish dangerous boulders from tumbleweeds and decide whether chasms were too deep to cross.
The course comprised winding dirt trails and dry lake beds filled with overhanging brush. – AP
People: Boy George, Robbie Williams, Madonna
International Herald Tribune.- The singer Boy George has returned to Britain after his drug arrest in New York, refusing to comment on the affair as he arrived at London's Heathrow airport. The British musician, known for his hits with Culture Club, was arrested Saturday after the police found a small amount of cocaine at his New York apartment. He was released after appearing at Manhattan Criminal Court, but he must return to New York for another hearing on Dec. 19. "I am not speaking to anybody about it," George told reporters at Heathrow. "Don't ask me any questions because you are not going to get any answers at all." His lawyer, Lou Freeman, told the New York Post that "it was a small amount of drugs" and that Boy George "does not know where it came from. He's had a lot of people in his house." Boy George himself had called the police to his apartment to investigate a burglary. The drugs were found during that investigation, the police said.
The British pop star Robbie Williams launched his first album in two years this weekend with a high-tech concert in Berlin that was also shown live across Europe in select cinemas and on mobile phones. Williams beamed his 90-minute performance into 27 cinemas and nightclub venues in high-definition with surround sound technology in 11 countries. More than 100,000 mobile phone users also watched a live stream of the concert for the first time. "To everyone in the cinema and watching on your phones, this is the future, baby, and I'll see you next year," Williams said after his crowd-pleasing performance, seen by 7,500 in Berlin and another 10,000 in cinemas from Amsterdam to Dublin and Zagreb, Croatia. His new album is "Intensive Care."
A song on Madonna's next album dedicated to a Kabbalist rabbi is drawing criticism from other rabbis, the Israeli Maariv daily reported. The album, "Confessions on a Dance Floor," is to be released on Nov. 15 and features a track entitled "Isaac" about Yitzhak Luria, a 16th-century Jewish mystic and Kabbalah scholar. Rabbis who oversee Luria's tomb and a seminary in the northern town of Safed are unimpressed with Madonna's musical tribute and see the inclusion of the song about Luria on the album as an attempt by the pop star to profit from his name.
Jackie Chan hit back at reports he is anti-South Korea and accused the media of distorting his comments, according to reports. Speaking at a promotional event in South Korea for his latest movie "The Myth," Chan denied that he said South Korean stars were feted in the Chinese media, but the same could not be said for Chinese stars in South Korea. South Korean popular culture, from TV series to pop idols, has taken Hong Kong and the rest of Asia by storm.
The actor Nathan Lane got an unwanted accessory only days before the much-anticipated Broadway revival of "The Odd Couple" began for previews: a broken finger swathed in a huge white bandage. Lane, who teams again with "The Producers" co-star Matthew Broderick in the comedy, accidentally slammed his right index finger in a door and required 14 stitches, Time magazine reported. Lane said he would take off the splint and bandage for the performance. Lane plays slovenly Oscar and Broderick is fastidious Felix in the show opening Oct. 27. Nearly every show scheduled through April is sold out, giving it an advance box office of $21.5 million - the most of any play in the history of Broadway.
The singer Boy George has returned to Britain after his drug arrest in New York, refusing to comment on the affair as he arrived at London's Heathrow airport. The British musician, known for his hits with Culture Club, was arrested Saturday after the police found a small amount of cocaine at his New York apartment. He was released after appearing at Manhattan Criminal Court, but he must return to New York for another hearing on Dec. 19. "I am not speaking to anybody about it," George told reporters at Heathrow. "Don't ask me any questions because you are not going to get any answers at all." His lawyer, Lou Freeman, told the New York Post that "it was a small amount of drugs" and that Boy George "does not know where it came from. He's had a lot of people in his house." Boy George himself had called the police to his apartment to investigate a burglary. The drugs were found during that investigation, the police said.
The British pop star Robbie Williams launched his first album in two years this weekend with a high-tech concert in Berlin that was also shown live across Europe in select cinemas and on mobile phones. Williams beamed his 90-minute performance into 27 cinemas and nightclub venues in high-definition with surround sound technology in 11 countries. More than 100,000 mobile phone users also watched a live stream of the concert for the first time. "To everyone in the cinema and watching on your phones, this is the future, baby, and I'll see you next year," Williams said after his crowd-pleasing performance, seen by 7,500 in Berlin and another 10,000 in cinemas from Amsterdam to Dublin and Zagreb, Croatia. His new album is "Intensive Care."
A song on Madonna's next album dedicated to a Kabbalist rabbi is drawing criticism from other rabbis, the Israeli Maariv daily reported. The album, "Confessions on a Dance Floor," is to be released on Nov. 15 and features a track entitled "Isaac" about Yitzhak Luria, a 16th-century Jewish mystic and Kabbalah scholar. Rabbis who oversee Luria's tomb and a seminary in the northern town of Safed are unimpressed with Madonna's musical tribute and see the inclusion of the song about Luria on the album as an attempt by the pop star to profit from his name.
Jackie Chan hit back at reports he is anti-South Korea and accused the media of distorting his comments, according to reports. Speaking at a promotional event in South Korea for his latest movie "The Myth," Chan denied that he said South Korean stars were feted in the Chinese media, but the same could not be said for Chinese stars in South Korea. South Korean popular culture, from TV series to pop idols, has taken Hong Kong and the rest of Asia by storm.
The actor Nathan Lane got an unwanted accessory only days before the much-anticipated Broadway revival of "The Odd Couple" began for previews: a broken finger swathed in a huge white bandage. Lane, who teams again with "The Producers" co-star Matthew Broderick in the comedy, accidentally slammed his right index finger in a door and required 14 stitches, Time magazine reported. Lane said he would take off the splint and bandage for the performance. Lane plays slovenly Oscar and Broderick is fastidious Felix in the show opening Oct. 27. Nearly every show scheduled through April is sold out, giving it an advance box office of $21.5 million - the most of any play in the history of Broadway
The British pop star Robbie Williams launched his first album in two years this weekend with a high-tech concert in Berlin that was also shown live across Europe in select cinemas and on mobile phones. Williams beamed his 90-minute performance into 27 cinemas and nightclub venues in high-definition with surround sound technology in 11 countries. More than 100,000 mobile phone users also watched a live stream of the concert for the first time. "To everyone in the cinema and watching on your phones, this is the future, baby, and I'll see you next year," Williams said after his crowd-pleasing performance, seen by 7,500 in Berlin and another 10,000 in cinemas from Amsterdam to Dublin and Zagreb, Croatia. His new album is "Intensive Care."
A song on Madonna's next album dedicated to a Kabbalist rabbi is drawing criticism from other rabbis, the Israeli Maariv daily reported. The album, "Confessions on a Dance Floor," is to be released on Nov. 15 and features a track entitled "Isaac" about Yitzhak Luria, a 16th-century Jewish mystic and Kabbalah scholar. Rabbis who oversee Luria's tomb and a seminary in the northern town of Safed are unimpressed with Madonna's musical tribute and see the inclusion of the song about Luria on the album as an attempt by the pop star to profit from his name.
Jackie Chan hit back at reports he is anti-South Korea and accused the media of distorting his comments, according to reports. Speaking at a promotional event in South Korea for his latest movie "The Myth," Chan denied that he said South Korean stars were feted in the Chinese media, but the same could not be said for Chinese stars in South Korea. South Korean popular culture, from TV series to pop idols, has taken Hong Kong and the rest of Asia by storm.
The actor Nathan Lane got an unwanted accessory only days before the much-anticipated Broadway revival of "The Odd Couple" began for previews: a broken finger swathed in a huge white bandage. Lane, who teams again with "The Producers" co-star Matthew Broderick in the comedy, accidentally slammed his right index finger in a door and required 14 stitches, Time magazine reported. Lane said he would take off the splint and bandage for the performance. Lane plays slovenly Oscar and Broderick is fastidious Felix in the show opening Oct. 27. Nearly every show scheduled through April is sold out, giving it an advance box office of $21.5 million - the most of any play in the history of Broadway.
The singer Boy George has returned to Britain after his drug arrest in New York, refusing to comment on the affair as he arrived at London's Heathrow airport. The British musician, known for his hits with Culture Club, was arrested Saturday after the police found a small amount of cocaine at his New York apartment. He was released after appearing at Manhattan Criminal Court, but he must return to New York for another hearing on Dec. 19. "I am not speaking to anybody about it," George told reporters at Heathrow. "Don't ask me any questions because you are not going to get any answers at all." His lawyer, Lou Freeman, told the New York Post that "it was a small amount of drugs" and that Boy George "does not know where it came from. He's had a lot of people in his house." Boy George himself had called the police to his apartment to investigate a burglary. The drugs were found during that investigation, the police said.
The British pop star Robbie Williams launched his first album in two years this weekend with a high-tech concert in Berlin that was also shown live across Europe in select cinemas and on mobile phones. Williams beamed his 90-minute performance into 27 cinemas and nightclub venues in high-definition with surround sound technology in 11 countries. More than 100,000 mobile phone users also watched a live stream of the concert for the first time. "To everyone in the cinema and watching on your phones, this is the future, baby, and I'll see you next year," Williams said after his crowd-pleasing performance, seen by 7,500 in Berlin and another 10,000 in cinemas from Amsterdam to Dublin and Zagreb, Croatia. His new album is "Intensive Care."
A song on Madonna's next album dedicated to a Kabbalist rabbi is drawing criticism from other rabbis, the Israeli Maariv daily reported. The album, "Confessions on a Dance Floor," is to be released on Nov. 15 and features a track entitled "Isaac" about Yitzhak Luria, a 16th-century Jewish mystic and Kabbalah scholar. Rabbis who oversee Luria's tomb and a seminary in the northern town of Safed are unimpressed with Madonna's musical tribute and see the inclusion of the song about Luria on the album as an attempt by the pop star to profit from his name.
Jackie Chan hit back at reports he is anti-South Korea and accused the media of distorting his comments, according to reports. Speaking at a promotional event in South Korea for his latest movie "The Myth," Chan denied that he said South Korean stars were feted in the Chinese media, but the same could not be said for Chinese stars in South Korea. South Korean popular culture, from TV series to pop idols, has taken Hong Kong and the rest of Asia by storm.
The actor Nathan Lane got an unwanted accessory only days before the much-anticipated Broadway revival of "The Odd Couple" began for previews: a broken finger swathed in a huge white bandage. Lane, who teams again with "The Producers" co-star Matthew Broderick in the comedy, accidentally slammed his right index finger in a door and required 14 stitches, Time magazine reported. Lane said he would take off the splint and bandage for the performance. Lane plays slovenly Oscar and Broderick is fastidious Felix in the show opening Oct. 27. Nearly every show scheduled through April is sold out, giving it an advance box office of $21.5 million - the most of any play in the history of Broadway
Russian-US crew, space tourist return to Earth
MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian Soyuz capsule touched down in Kazakhstan on Tuesday, bringing a Russian cosmonaut, a U.S. astronaut and an American space tourist back to Earth, mission control said.
The two-man crew returned home after half a year in orbit on the International Space Station. Millionaire scientist and entrepreneur Gregory Olsen spent just over a week with them in space, paying a reported $20 million for the trip.
The two-man crew returned home after half a year in orbit on the International Space Station. Millionaire scientist and entrepreneur Gregory Olsen spent just over a week with them in space, paying a reported $20 million for the trip.
Intel Unwraps Dual-Core Xeon Server Processor
Company says chip is 50 percent more powerful than single-core version.
Tom Krazit, IDG News Service
San Francisco--Intel's first dual-core Xeon server processor is about 50 percent more powerful than its single-core predecessor, but it will cost around 40 percent more than that chip, company executives said today.
Intel unveiled its first dual-core Xeon chips for two-processor and four-processor servers, previously known by the Paxville code name. The version for two-chip servers is available immediately at 2.8 GHz, says Kirk Skaugen, general manager of Intel's server platforms group. The Dual-Core Xeon 2.8 GHz for two-chip servers costs $1043 in quantities of 1000 units, compared with the $690 Intel is charging for its 3.8-GHz single-core Xeon processors.
Pricing details about the Dual-Core Xeon 7000 processor--a version for multichip servers--will be released in the next 60 days. This chip will run at up to 3 GHz and will incorporate advanced reliability features such as Intel's Pellston technology, which repairs data errors in cache memory.
Power Management Feature
The Dual-Core Xeon 2.8 GHz uses 2MB of Level 2 cache memory per core. From an architectural standpoint, it is very similar to the dual-core Pentium D processor unveiled earlier this year for desktop PCs. However, the Dual-Core Xeon comes with a power-management feature called demand-based switching, which turns off portions of the chip that are not in use, Skaugen says. It also comes with Intel's hyperthreading technology, allowing each core to process two independent software threads at the same time.
Intel had originally planned to introduce its first dual-core Xeon server processor in the first quarter of next year. However, the company has faced increased competition this year from Advanced Micro Devices' Opteron processor, which has been available in a dual-core version since May. Intel announced plans in August to accelerate the launch of Paxville and build two versions, one for two-way servers and one for four-way servers.
Even though it is Intel's first dual-core processor for two-chip servers--the largest segment of the server market--the company does not expect the Dual-Core Xeon to ship in heavy volumes, says Boyd Davis, general manager of server platforms group marketing at Intel. The Dempsey processor will carry the dual-core load for Intel starting in the first quarter of next year when it debuts as part of the Bensley platform, the umbrella code name for a system with the Dempsey processor and the Blackford chip set.
New Technologies
Bensley will introduce several new technologies to Intel's server customers. It will have hardware support for virtualization technologies delivered by companies like VMware and XenSource, and will speed up the transfer of data from the network to the processor with Intel's I/O Acceleration Technology. The processor and chip set will also make use of a faster 1066-MHz dual-independent bus that has individual connections to the processor core, rather than forcing the two cores to share a single connection to the memory.
Bensley will account for the vast majority of Intel's dual-core server processor shipments next year, Skaugen says. It will also cost the same amount as Intel's current single-core Xeon chips, unlike the $353 premium Intel is charging for the Dual-Core Xeon 2.8 GHz.
"If you absolutely, positively need a dual-core Xeon today, they'll sell it to you. But it won't be cheap," says Kevin Krewell, editor in chief of The Microprocessor Report in San Jose, California. Most server customers will wait for Bensley-based products, but delivering a product ahead of schedule is always a good move for a chip vendor, he says.
Intel needed a dual-core response to the momentum generated by AMD's dual-core Opteron, Krewell says. "It's clearly recognition that they are under pressure and that the dual-core Opteron had them under the gun," he says.
Dell, Hewlett-Packard, and IBM have all announced support for the new Dual-Core Xeon, and customers interested in the product can now order systems from all three vendors.
Tom Krazit, IDG News Service
San Francisco--Intel's first dual-core Xeon server processor is about 50 percent more powerful than its single-core predecessor, but it will cost around 40 percent more than that chip, company executives said today.
Intel unveiled its first dual-core Xeon chips for two-processor and four-processor servers, previously known by the Paxville code name. The version for two-chip servers is available immediately at 2.8 GHz, says Kirk Skaugen, general manager of Intel's server platforms group. The Dual-Core Xeon 2.8 GHz for two-chip servers costs $1043 in quantities of 1000 units, compared with the $690 Intel is charging for its 3.8-GHz single-core Xeon processors.
Pricing details about the Dual-Core Xeon 7000 processor--a version for multichip servers--will be released in the next 60 days. This chip will run at up to 3 GHz and will incorporate advanced reliability features such as Intel's Pellston technology, which repairs data errors in cache memory.
Power Management Feature
The Dual-Core Xeon 2.8 GHz uses 2MB of Level 2 cache memory per core. From an architectural standpoint, it is very similar to the dual-core Pentium D processor unveiled earlier this year for desktop PCs. However, the Dual-Core Xeon comes with a power-management feature called demand-based switching, which turns off portions of the chip that are not in use, Skaugen says. It also comes with Intel's hyperthreading technology, allowing each core to process two independent software threads at the same time.
Intel had originally planned to introduce its first dual-core Xeon server processor in the first quarter of next year. However, the company has faced increased competition this year from Advanced Micro Devices' Opteron processor, which has been available in a dual-core version since May. Intel announced plans in August to accelerate the launch of Paxville and build two versions, one for two-way servers and one for four-way servers.
Even though it is Intel's first dual-core processor for two-chip servers--the largest segment of the server market--the company does not expect the Dual-Core Xeon to ship in heavy volumes, says Boyd Davis, general manager of server platforms group marketing at Intel. The Dempsey processor will carry the dual-core load for Intel starting in the first quarter of next year when it debuts as part of the Bensley platform, the umbrella code name for a system with the Dempsey processor and the Blackford chip set.
New Technologies
Bensley will introduce several new technologies to Intel's server customers. It will have hardware support for virtualization technologies delivered by companies like VMware and XenSource, and will speed up the transfer of data from the network to the processor with Intel's I/O Acceleration Technology. The processor and chip set will also make use of a faster 1066-MHz dual-independent bus that has individual connections to the processor core, rather than forcing the two cores to share a single connection to the memory.
Bensley will account for the vast majority of Intel's dual-core server processor shipments next year, Skaugen says. It will also cost the same amount as Intel's current single-core Xeon chips, unlike the $353 premium Intel is charging for the Dual-Core Xeon 2.8 GHz.
"If you absolutely, positively need a dual-core Xeon today, they'll sell it to you. But it won't be cheap," says Kevin Krewell, editor in chief of The Microprocessor Report in San Jose, California. Most server customers will wait for Bensley-based products, but delivering a product ahead of schedule is always a good move for a chip vendor, he says.
Intel needed a dual-core response to the momentum generated by AMD's dual-core Opteron, Krewell says. "It's clearly recognition that they are under pressure and that the dual-core Opteron had them under the gun," he says.
Dell, Hewlett-Packard, and IBM have all announced support for the new Dual-Core Xeon, and customers interested in the product can now order systems from all three vendors.
America and EU offer free trade olive branch
Offers of farm subsidy cuts to revive global talks· Oxfam says proposals would do next to nothing Larry Elliott and David Gow in BrusselsTuesday October 11, 2005
The Guardian
Washington and Brussels yesterday launched a coordinated attempt to revitalise stalled global trade talks with carefully choreographed announcements of cuts in support for farmers in the United States and the European Union.
Amid concern that talks in Geneva this week provide the last real chance of a breakthrough before a week-long meeting of the World Trade Organisation in Hong Kong in December, the EU and the US announced a series of dovetailed concessions agreed over the weekend.
The US trade representative, Robert Portman, led the way with an offer to cut the most trade-distorting American farm support by 60% by 2013, provided Europe responded with its own 80% reduction.
Peter Mandelson, the EU trade commissioner, responded by calling the US blueprint constructive and announced a plan to cut Europe's farm subsidies by 70% and to set a ceiling of 10% for industrial tariffs.
The joint move was seen as helpful by the WTO, which sees agriculture as the key to making progress in the other areas covered by the round of negotiations launched in Doha almost four years ago. These include industrial tariffs, services and special assistance for developing countries.
"This proposal from the Americans is constructive and we hope that in the coming days it can be used by the ministers and their officials to bridge the differences in agriculture and in all areas of negotiations across the round," said a WTO spokesman.
Developing countries responded far more cautiously to the US and EU announcements, which took place as 23 trade and farm ministers gathered in Zurich to seek common ground ahead of the next round of talks in Geneva later this week. They believe that the cuts proposed by the US and the EU will be less significant than the headline numbers suggest and that the deal offers more to rich countries than to poor countries.
Céline Charveriat, head of Oxfam International's make trade fair campaign, said: "What looks on the surface like a genuine attempt to move the talks forward is in fact a very clever piece of manoeuvring by the US. This proposal would allow them to get away with doing next to nothing in return for some very painful concessions from developing countries. The devil is in the details, and these details are very devilish indeed."
Oxfam added that the Americans and the Europeans were "trying to get a round for free". Washington would be able to get away with cutting agricultural support by less than $2bn (£1.1bn), while the EU would cut by only €3bn (£2.1bn).
Trade sources in Geneva agreed that there was room for deeper cuts in support for western farmers, but said the proposals provided an opportunity it break the logjam. Pascal Lamy, the WTO director-general, is looking for the bare bones of a deal to emerge from a meeting of the organisation's general council next week.
The US and EU made it plain that their offers would have to be matched by proportional cuts in agricultural subsidies among other developed countries, including Japan, and by progress in liberalising trade in manufacturing and services.
Mr Mandelson insisted that "there will certainly be no deal on agriculture unless and until there is a balanced outcome across the board" and that, while the poorest countries should not be forced to open their markets in the current round, the richer developing countries should.
"If we do not advance this negotiation in concrete terms this week ... we will have to acknowledge that we may simply run out of time for Hong Kong. Within the limits of our mandate, the EU will make moves to prevent it and others must do likewise."
The Guardian
Washington and Brussels yesterday launched a coordinated attempt to revitalise stalled global trade talks with carefully choreographed announcements of cuts in support for farmers in the United States and the European Union.
Amid concern that talks in Geneva this week provide the last real chance of a breakthrough before a week-long meeting of the World Trade Organisation in Hong Kong in December, the EU and the US announced a series of dovetailed concessions agreed over the weekend.
The US trade representative, Robert Portman, led the way with an offer to cut the most trade-distorting American farm support by 60% by 2013, provided Europe responded with its own 80% reduction.
Peter Mandelson, the EU trade commissioner, responded by calling the US blueprint constructive and announced a plan to cut Europe's farm subsidies by 70% and to set a ceiling of 10% for industrial tariffs.
The joint move was seen as helpful by the WTO, which sees agriculture as the key to making progress in the other areas covered by the round of negotiations launched in Doha almost four years ago. These include industrial tariffs, services and special assistance for developing countries.
"This proposal from the Americans is constructive and we hope that in the coming days it can be used by the ministers and their officials to bridge the differences in agriculture and in all areas of negotiations across the round," said a WTO spokesman.
Developing countries responded far more cautiously to the US and EU announcements, which took place as 23 trade and farm ministers gathered in Zurich to seek common ground ahead of the next round of talks in Geneva later this week. They believe that the cuts proposed by the US and the EU will be less significant than the headline numbers suggest and that the deal offers more to rich countries than to poor countries.
Céline Charveriat, head of Oxfam International's make trade fair campaign, said: "What looks on the surface like a genuine attempt to move the talks forward is in fact a very clever piece of manoeuvring by the US. This proposal would allow them to get away with doing next to nothing in return for some very painful concessions from developing countries. The devil is in the details, and these details are very devilish indeed."
Oxfam added that the Americans and the Europeans were "trying to get a round for free". Washington would be able to get away with cutting agricultural support by less than $2bn (£1.1bn), while the EU would cut by only €3bn (£2.1bn).
Trade sources in Geneva agreed that there was room for deeper cuts in support for western farmers, but said the proposals provided an opportunity it break the logjam. Pascal Lamy, the WTO director-general, is looking for the bare bones of a deal to emerge from a meeting of the organisation's general council next week.
The US and EU made it plain that their offers would have to be matched by proportional cuts in agricultural subsidies among other developed countries, including Japan, and by progress in liberalising trade in manufacturing and services.
Mr Mandelson insisted that "there will certainly be no deal on agriculture unless and until there is a balanced outcome across the board" and that, while the poorest countries should not be forced to open their markets in the current round, the richer developing countries should.
"If we do not advance this negotiation in concrete terms this week ... we will have to acknowledge that we may simply run out of time for Hong Kong. Within the limits of our mandate, the EU will make moves to prevent it and others must do likewise."
Wallace & Gromit: the curse of the warehouse FERGUS SHEPPARD MEDIA
Key points• Fire at storage depot destroys Wallace and Gromit sets and props• Models and props from latest film unaffected• New film tops United States box office at weekend
Key quote"Even though it is a precious and nostalgic collection and valuable to the company, in light of other tragedies, today isn't a big deal." - NICK PARKS, WALLACE AND GROMIT CREATOR
Story in full THE creators of Wallace and Gromit were last night counting the cost of a devastating blaze at their storage depot which destroyed hundreds of sets and props from films including A Grand Day Out, The Wrong Trousers and Creature Comforts.
Aardman Animations said the fire, at a Victorian warehouse in Bristol used to archive sets, storyboards and models, had wiped out its 30-year history of production.
Items lost included the set of Chicken Run, Aardman's first feature-length release; several Plasticine and latex figures of Wallace; Shorn the Sheep from A Close Shave, and the Evil Penguin from The Wrong Trousers.
Also destroyed were the Plasticine figures of the animals in Creature Comforts, including Frank the tortoise, Fluffy the hamster, Pickles the dog and Terry the octopus.
However, the well-known rocket from A Grand Day Out was spared, as it had been on display at the company's studio, while models and props from Aardman's latest feature, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit, were kept at the company's Bristol studios and were unaffected.
Ironically, the fire came after an opening weekend in which the new film topped the United States box office, taking more than £9 million.
Wallace and Gromit's creator, Nick Park, was philosophical as fire crews continued to damp down the storage building close to Bristol Temple Meads station, saying the fire was "no big deal" compared with the earthquake in Pakistan. "Even though it is a precious and nostalgic collection and valuable to the company, in light of other tragedies, today isn't a big deal," he said.
The props and other equipment kept in the warehouse had been used for tours and exhibitions to feed the intense public interest in how Aardman's unique productions are made.
The production archive lost in the fire dates back to the late 1970s, and the days of the pioneering Morph character who became a big hit on the BBC children's art series Take Hart.
Aardman Animations was established in 1976 by the cartoonists Peter Lord and David Sproxton. The duo hired animator Park while he was still a student at Sheffield City Polytechnic and by then he had already begun making the first Wallace and Gromit film, A Grand Day Out.
Park's genius won Aardman an Oscar in 1990 for Creature Comforts, a short film in which zoo animals discuss how they feel about living behind bars. The company won two further Oscars for the Wallace and Gromit films The Wrong Trousers (1993) and A Close Shave (1995).
Aardman's creative talents were also seen in the pop world, with the studio collectively working on the ground-breaking 1986 video for the Peter Gabriel song Sledgehammer. An award from music channel MTV for that video was one of the items lost in the blaze.
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit, is the second film in a £155 million five-picture deal with Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks empire and revolves around a plan by the inventor and his canine friend to use a complex vacuum system to protect vegetables from a monster rabbit in their village.
The first film, Chicken Run, loosely based on the plot of Steve McQueen's war classic, The Great Escape, became the third highest-grossing British movie in the US on its release in 2000.
The enormous popularity of the characters from Creature Comforts opened up a new line for Aardman in advertising as the public lapped up the comic combination of Plasticine figures and vox-pop interviews with real people. Aardman now produces up to 30 commercials a year for clients such as Chevron, PG Tips, Tennents, Homepride, Nike and Dr Pepper. Aardman's animators also turned BBC pundit and former England soccer captain Gary Lineker into a Mr Potato Head in an advert for Walkers crisps. Creature Comfort characters were used in TV and cinema ads to help publicise the new Countryside Code last year.
Despite the fact Wallace and Gromit inhabit a peculiarly English world of flat caps and Wensleydale cheese, the appeal of the hapless pair has translated into dozens of markets abroad. The films have been shown in 46 countries, ranging from Iran to Lithuania and Uruguay to Japan.
The Plasticine models of Aardman's characters have a short shelf-life and are continually remade for new productions. Every second of film requires about 25 tiny adjustments to each character featured in any scene.
Key quote"Even though it is a precious and nostalgic collection and valuable to the company, in light of other tragedies, today isn't a big deal." - NICK PARKS, WALLACE AND GROMIT CREATOR
Story in full THE creators of Wallace and Gromit were last night counting the cost of a devastating blaze at their storage depot which destroyed hundreds of sets and props from films including A Grand Day Out, The Wrong Trousers and Creature Comforts.
Aardman Animations said the fire, at a Victorian warehouse in Bristol used to archive sets, storyboards and models, had wiped out its 30-year history of production.
Items lost included the set of Chicken Run, Aardman's first feature-length release; several Plasticine and latex figures of Wallace; Shorn the Sheep from A Close Shave, and the Evil Penguin from The Wrong Trousers.
Also destroyed were the Plasticine figures of the animals in Creature Comforts, including Frank the tortoise, Fluffy the hamster, Pickles the dog and Terry the octopus.
However, the well-known rocket from A Grand Day Out was spared, as it had been on display at the company's studio, while models and props from Aardman's latest feature, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit, were kept at the company's Bristol studios and were unaffected.
Ironically, the fire came after an opening weekend in which the new film topped the United States box office, taking more than £9 million.
Wallace and Gromit's creator, Nick Park, was philosophical as fire crews continued to damp down the storage building close to Bristol Temple Meads station, saying the fire was "no big deal" compared with the earthquake in Pakistan. "Even though it is a precious and nostalgic collection and valuable to the company, in light of other tragedies, today isn't a big deal," he said.
The props and other equipment kept in the warehouse had been used for tours and exhibitions to feed the intense public interest in how Aardman's unique productions are made.
The production archive lost in the fire dates back to the late 1970s, and the days of the pioneering Morph character who became a big hit on the BBC children's art series Take Hart.
Aardman Animations was established in 1976 by the cartoonists Peter Lord and David Sproxton. The duo hired animator Park while he was still a student at Sheffield City Polytechnic and by then he had already begun making the first Wallace and Gromit film, A Grand Day Out.
Park's genius won Aardman an Oscar in 1990 for Creature Comforts, a short film in which zoo animals discuss how they feel about living behind bars. The company won two further Oscars for the Wallace and Gromit films The Wrong Trousers (1993) and A Close Shave (1995).
Aardman's creative talents were also seen in the pop world, with the studio collectively working on the ground-breaking 1986 video for the Peter Gabriel song Sledgehammer. An award from music channel MTV for that video was one of the items lost in the blaze.
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit, is the second film in a £155 million five-picture deal with Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks empire and revolves around a plan by the inventor and his canine friend to use a complex vacuum system to protect vegetables from a monster rabbit in their village.
The first film, Chicken Run, loosely based on the plot of Steve McQueen's war classic, The Great Escape, became the third highest-grossing British movie in the US on its release in 2000.
The enormous popularity of the characters from Creature Comforts opened up a new line for Aardman in advertising as the public lapped up the comic combination of Plasticine figures and vox-pop interviews with real people. Aardman now produces up to 30 commercials a year for clients such as Chevron, PG Tips, Tennents, Homepride, Nike and Dr Pepper. Aardman's animators also turned BBC pundit and former England soccer captain Gary Lineker into a Mr Potato Head in an advert for Walkers crisps. Creature Comfort characters were used in TV and cinema ads to help publicise the new Countryside Code last year.
Despite the fact Wallace and Gromit inhabit a peculiarly English world of flat caps and Wensleydale cheese, the appeal of the hapless pair has translated into dozens of markets abroad. The films have been shown in 46 countries, ranging from Iran to Lithuania and Uruguay to Japan.
The Plasticine models of Aardman's characters have a short shelf-life and are continually remade for new productions. Every second of film requires about 25 tiny adjustments to each character featured in any scene.
Depression, Epilepsy, Suicide May Be Linked
(www.foxnews.com).- Symptoms of major depression, especially suicidal attempts, are associated with an increased risk of unprovoked seizure.
A provocative new study shows, that the same brain disorder that causes epilepsy may also be associated with whether a person also has an increased risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors.
It has long been recognized that depression is common among people with epilepsy. “The assumption has been that having epilepsy increases the risk of depression and, in a subgroup, completed suicide,” the authors write.
But the new research hints that suicidal behavior is a specific threat in people with epilepsy even before the disease is diagnosed. “The relationship between depression and unprovoked seizures is much more complex than previously appreciated,” researchers add.
Researchers examined a history of depression and suicidal behavior among people who were diagnosed with an unprovoked seizure and who later developed seizures associated with epilepsy.
Children and adults with unprovoked seizures were more likely to have suffered from major depression before unprovoked seizure than people in the general population. They show that the higher the number of depressive symptoms the greater the risk of unprovoked seizures.
However, the researchers also show that children and adults with unprovoked seizures were four times as likely to have attempted suicide compared with those in the general population.
“This tells us that there is probably a common underlying brain dysfunction that links epilepsy and suicidal behavior,” researcher Dale C. Hesdorffer, PhD, tells WebMD.
Missing Exercise Can Be Depressing
Seizures Don’t Explain Depression
Roughly 2.7 million Americans have epilepsy or other seizure disorders, and 200,000 new cases are diagnosed each year.
Depression has been shown to be at least three times more common among people with epilepsy than among the general population. It is clear that the difficulties of living with seizures can cause depression, but this does not appear to fully explain the link.
For example, people with a history of depression have been shown to have a higher risk of developing epilepsy. And studies have failed to show a link between the length and severity of seizures and depressive symptoms.
In an effort to clarify the relationship between depression, suicide, and epilepsy, Columbia University researchers compared people with unprovoked seizures with those without the condition who were enrolled in a health registry in Iceland.
An unprovoked seizure was defined as a seizure without an identified precipitant such as fever, head trauma, or brain infections.
Among the symptoms associated with depression, only suicidal attempts were shown to be a risk factor for developing unprovoked seizures. The association remained strong after other suicide risk factors were considered.
The study is published in the November issue of the journal Annals of Neurology.
One in Ten Americans Experience Depression
Treatment-Related Risk?
Hesdorffer says the findings have implication for the management of patients who have recently been diagnosed with epilepsy.
“Increasingly, clinicians treating people with epilepsy ask about current depression, but they may not ask about past suicide attempts or suicidal thoughts,” Hesdorffer says. “Our results may alert clinicians to the need to ask this question and offer any needed counseling to prevent [later] suicide.”
The findings may also help explain why the suicide rate among epileptics is so high.
In April, the FDA asked more than a dozen pharmaceutical companies to reexamine their study data involving seizure medications to determine if these drugs could be linked to suicidal thoughts or behaviors.
Psychologist Bruce Hermann, PhD, tells WebMD that there is evidence that depression and depression-related symptoms precede other neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.
Hermann is chair elect of the Epilepsy Foundation’s professional advisory board, and he is also a neurology professor at the University of Wisconsin.
“Clearly some people get depressed because they are living with a chronic disease, but depression could also be an early sign that something is not right within the brain,” he says.
He agrees that physicians need to evaluate their epileptic patients for depression. According to one study, more than half of patients with both disorders never get treated for depression.
“If it is true that mood disorders and these other problems occur before or close in time to when the epilepsy starts, it is important to look for these symptoms and treat them,” he says.
Quiz: Could You Be Depressed?
Salynn Boyles, reviewed by Brunilda Nazario, MD
SOURCES: Hesdorffer, D.C., Annals of Neurology, October 2005; vol 58: online edition. Dale C. Hesdorffer, PhD, Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center, Columbia University, New York City. Bruce Hermann, PhD, chair elect, professional advisory board, Epilepsy Foundation; and neuropsychologist and professor of neurology, University of Wisconsin.
A provocative new study shows, that the same brain disorder that causes epilepsy may also be associated with whether a person also has an increased risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors.
It has long been recognized that depression is common among people with epilepsy. “The assumption has been that having epilepsy increases the risk of depression and, in a subgroup, completed suicide,” the authors write.
But the new research hints that suicidal behavior is a specific threat in people with epilepsy even before the disease is diagnosed. “The relationship between depression and unprovoked seizures is much more complex than previously appreciated,” researchers add.
Researchers examined a history of depression and suicidal behavior among people who were diagnosed with an unprovoked seizure and who later developed seizures associated with epilepsy.
Children and adults with unprovoked seizures were more likely to have suffered from major depression before unprovoked seizure than people in the general population. They show that the higher the number of depressive symptoms the greater the risk of unprovoked seizures.
However, the researchers also show that children and adults with unprovoked seizures were four times as likely to have attempted suicide compared with those in the general population.
“This tells us that there is probably a common underlying brain dysfunction that links epilepsy and suicidal behavior,” researcher Dale C. Hesdorffer, PhD, tells WebMD.
Missing Exercise Can Be Depressing
Seizures Don’t Explain Depression
Roughly 2.7 million Americans have epilepsy or other seizure disorders, and 200,000 new cases are diagnosed each year.
Depression has been shown to be at least three times more common among people with epilepsy than among the general population. It is clear that the difficulties of living with seizures can cause depression, but this does not appear to fully explain the link.
For example, people with a history of depression have been shown to have a higher risk of developing epilepsy. And studies have failed to show a link between the length and severity of seizures and depressive symptoms.
In an effort to clarify the relationship between depression, suicide, and epilepsy, Columbia University researchers compared people with unprovoked seizures with those without the condition who were enrolled in a health registry in Iceland.
An unprovoked seizure was defined as a seizure without an identified precipitant such as fever, head trauma, or brain infections.
Among the symptoms associated with depression, only suicidal attempts were shown to be a risk factor for developing unprovoked seizures. The association remained strong after other suicide risk factors were considered.
The study is published in the November issue of the journal Annals of Neurology.
One in Ten Americans Experience Depression
Treatment-Related Risk?
Hesdorffer says the findings have implication for the management of patients who have recently been diagnosed with epilepsy.
“Increasingly, clinicians treating people with epilepsy ask about current depression, but they may not ask about past suicide attempts or suicidal thoughts,” Hesdorffer says. “Our results may alert clinicians to the need to ask this question and offer any needed counseling to prevent [later] suicide.”
The findings may also help explain why the suicide rate among epileptics is so high.
In April, the FDA asked more than a dozen pharmaceutical companies to reexamine their study data involving seizure medications to determine if these drugs could be linked to suicidal thoughts or behaviors.
Psychologist Bruce Hermann, PhD, tells WebMD that there is evidence that depression and depression-related symptoms precede other neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.
Hermann is chair elect of the Epilepsy Foundation’s professional advisory board, and he is also a neurology professor at the University of Wisconsin.
“Clearly some people get depressed because they are living with a chronic disease, but depression could also be an early sign that something is not right within the brain,” he says.
He agrees that physicians need to evaluate their epileptic patients for depression. According to one study, more than half of patients with both disorders never get treated for depression.
“If it is true that mood disorders and these other problems occur before or close in time to when the epilepsy starts, it is important to look for these symptoms and treat them,” he says.
Quiz: Could You Be Depressed?
Salynn Boyles, reviewed by Brunilda Nazario, MD
SOURCES: Hesdorffer, D.C., Annals of Neurology, October 2005; vol 58: online edition. Dale C. Hesdorffer, PhD, Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center, Columbia University, New York City. Bruce Hermann, PhD, chair elect, professional advisory board, Epilepsy Foundation; and neuropsychologist and professor of neurology, University of Wisconsin.
At Risk: A Warning That Babies Shouldn't Sleep on Sides
By ERIC NAGOURNEY
The American Academy of Pediatrics is warning parents again, in stronger terms, that babies should sleep on their backs in their own beds, and not share a bed with their parents.
In an article published yesterday in the journal Pediatrics, the group also recommended that babies sleep in the same room with their parents and be offered pacifiers. Both measures are intended to reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS.
"The statistics can't be argued with; the statistics are clear," said Dr. James Kemp, an associate professor of pediatrics at St. Louis University whose research was cited by the academy.
In its last recommendations on reducing the risk of SIDS, issued five years ago, the academy said that in some cases it was dangerous to allow a baby to share a bed.
But the new report clearly recommends against bed-sharing, even as it notes that the practice is increasing in the United States, in part to make breast-feeding easier. The new guidelines also state that babies should not be placed on their sides to sleep, a position that was previously considered acceptable.
The report recommends that babies instead be put in safety-certified cribs, bassinets or cradles, which can be placed next to the parents' bed. It also says that to prevent suffocation, babies need firm sleeping surfaces without soft objects or loose bedding.
The American Academy of Pediatrics is warning parents again, in stronger terms, that babies should sleep on their backs in their own beds, and not share a bed with their parents.
In an article published yesterday in the journal Pediatrics, the group also recommended that babies sleep in the same room with their parents and be offered pacifiers. Both measures are intended to reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS.
"The statistics can't be argued with; the statistics are clear," said Dr. James Kemp, an associate professor of pediatrics at St. Louis University whose research was cited by the academy.
In its last recommendations on reducing the risk of SIDS, issued five years ago, the academy said that in some cases it was dangerous to allow a baby to share a bed.
But the new report clearly recommends against bed-sharing, even as it notes that the practice is increasing in the United States, in part to make breast-feeding easier. The new guidelines also state that babies should not be placed on their sides to sleep, a position that was previously considered acceptable.
The report recommends that babies instead be put in safety-certified cribs, bassinets or cradles, which can be placed next to the parents' bed. It also says that to prevent suffocation, babies need firm sleeping surfaces without soft objects or loose bedding.
Saturday, September 24, 2005
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Monday, September 12, 2005
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Allowing me to let your picture form and wake
Rain. We are forced to fly,
Not daring to oppose
Shadows keep piling up as surfaces
They tear apart the mist, it is as though,
Empty streets I come upon by chance,
Seen. What you know is only manifest
In dense bare branches, or the ubiquitous
and turn it into something cartoon-funny.
giddy as good kids playing hookey. Now,
That only you and I can know. Les deux
Between the vertex that the far-lit gray
Centimeters—that the height of the canvas
Oh you builders,
Want anything said at all, which I still doubt)
Merely a mockery of spring
and the Splendid Splinter. For a few dreamy dollars,
The edge of that other square cut from the right
To watch me watch drowned snow lift from the lake.
Rain. We are forced to fly,
Not daring to oppose
Shadows keep piling up as surfaces
They tear apart the mist, it is as though,
Empty streets I come upon by chance,
Seen. What you know is only manifest
In dense bare branches, or the ubiquitous
and turn it into something cartoon-funny.
giddy as good kids playing hookey. Now,
That only you and I can know. Les deux
Between the vertex that the far-lit gray
Centimeters—that the height of the canvas
Oh you builders,
Want anything said at all, which I still doubt)
Merely a mockery of spring
and the Splendid Splinter. For a few dreamy dollars,
The edge of that other square cut from the right
To watch me watch drowned snow lift from the lake.
Sunday, September 11, 2005
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Tuesday, August 23, 2005
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Wednesday, August 03, 2005
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In dense bare branches, or the ubiquitous
Allowing me to let your picture form and wake
Traces of those deep cuts lie thickly upon
The earth beneath his feet, in its dark cape,
Dim, and die tonight?
will come, blighting our harbingers of spring,
To mark that square, perhaps: were Mère and Père
Down the road, at Cypress Gardens, a woman
Shadows keep piling up as surfaces
Event, the end of the painted road ends up
Stunned in their voiceless way to be alive
the foul pole relaxes. She's raged all afternoon
More beautiful than anything in this world.
His sightless eyes horribly watch the air;
What can we know of whatever picture-plane
Is dumb; he is the mute white stony shape
watching calisthenics from the grandstands.
And I would like
Seized from creation by nonentity,
Allowing me to let your picture form and wake
Traces of those deep cuts lie thickly upon
The earth beneath his feet, in its dark cape,
Dim, and die tonight?
will come, blighting our harbingers of spring,
To mark that square, perhaps: were Mère and Père
Down the road, at Cypress Gardens, a woman
Shadows keep piling up as surfaces
Event, the end of the painted road ends up
Stunned in their voiceless way to be alive
the foul pole relaxes. She's raged all afternoon
More beautiful than anything in this world.
His sightless eyes horribly watch the air;
What can we know of whatever picture-plane
Is dumb; he is the mute white stony shape
watching calisthenics from the grandstands.
And I would like
Seized from creation by nonentity,
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
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To continue with the German genders: a tree is male, its buds arefemale, its leaves are neuter; horses are sexless, dogs are male, cats arefemale -- tomcats included, of course; a persons mouth, neck, bosom,elbows, fingers, nails, feet, and body are of the male sex, and his head ismale or neuter according to the word selected to signify it, and NOT
without hyphens; it treats of fourteen or fifteen different subjects, eachenclosed in a parenthesis of its own, with here and there extra parentheses,
therefore, how necessary chipper, frivolous, and unimpressive it is. If a
Friday, July 29, 2005
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