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Directed by: Steven Soderbergh Starring: Rooney Mara, Jude Law, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Channing Tatum Sassi?s Star Rating: 4/5
Often the hardest part of reviewing is striking just the right balance between enticing readers with plot details, and giving away all the best bits of the film. With a narrative as juicy as Side Effects it?s a shame to tell you anything more than the bare minimum.
We meet Emily (Rooney Mara) on the eve of her husband?s release from gaol. Martin (Channing Tatum) has been inside for four years after being prosecuted for insider trading. Reintegrating back into normal life isn?t easy for the pair ? particularly for Emily, who suffering from depression tries to kill herself. She comes under the care of Dr Jonathon Banks (Jude Law) at the local hospital, and following the recommendation of her former Psychologist (Catherine Zeta Jones) she is trialled on a new anti-depressant, Ablixa.
From there?I?d love to tell you more, but I fear I?ve already said too much. I can let slip one last comment though: we all know just how scary and unpredictable the side effects of new medications can be.
Soderbergh has hit the nail on the head again with this smart psychological thriller that pulls all the right punches. He?s also shot and edited the film under his usual pseudonyms (ten pints if you recognised them in the titles!). I think he probably deserves to pat himself on the back for this one ? the one man band has pulled through again with intriguing results.
Jude Law is in excellent form in his second Soderbergh movie of late (he starred in Contagion) while Channing Tatum has also been pinched from another Soderbergh hit Magic Mike. The former guides you through the twists and turns with confidence, while the later reveals himself still stand up as quite the charming lead away from romantic declarations and gyrating hips. But it is Rooney Mara who is the scene stealer with a stunning performance that is worlds apart, and above, from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
This review comes with a plea; please don?t read any more reviews of this film, and not just because we don?t want you checking out the competition. I?ve seen too many reviewers giving away too many details without even including the inane cry of SPOILER ALERT (because let?s face it, no one ever really stops reading when they see that shiny beacon of temptation do they?) It?s a shame because the best thing about this film is that there is no way to predict what is coming next. In fact you?re so busy trying to process the last mindtwist that you don?t even try. So if you want the pleasure of seeing the film the same way the critics did ? walk in with a blank slate. You?ll thank me for it.
Side Effects is in cinemas now. Make sure you see it now, doctor?s orders.
Gold prices hit their death cross last week, technically a bearish indicator, but what does that really mean for investing in gold stocks?
According to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) it means gold is headed down for the remainder of the year. In a Feb. 25 note to clients, Goldman lowered its three-month gold-price forecast to $1,615 an ounce from $1,825, its six-month forecast to $1,600 an ounce from $1,805 and its 12-month forecast to $1,550 an ounce from $1,800.
But, once again, Goldman is wrong.
"The fact is, despite this pullback, gold prices are consolidating at a relatively high level, which is rather bullish. As well, gold's price is forming a technical pattern known as a "symmetrical triangle,' which also provides a bullish setup," said Money Morning Global Resources Specialist Peter Krauth when the sell-off began earlier this month.
"The last time we had this was in 2008 to 2009," explained Krauth. "After that consolidation, gold began a multi-year climb that nearly doubled its price. I think we are in the first innings of another such cycle that could take the price much higher, and almost certainly to new all-time highs."
As for investing in gold stocks, Krauth said now's a good time to stock up on the yellow metal.
"I believe the best strategy, as gold remains in a secular bull, is to accumulate on dips," said Krauth. "So this very recent weakness has created a great opportunity for true contrarian investors to do just that and add to their gold positions."
Why Gold Prices Are Ready to Move
Krauth thinks gold prices could move up more than 30% in 2013 from current prices, and has a price target of $2,200 an ounce.
A main reason for this target is the explosion of stimulative monetary policies, which has led to rapid growth in fiat money and helped increase the demand for gold.
Not only are consumers and small investors looking at gold as a hedge against inflation and a way to store value, but central banks are also buying gold at a feverish pace.
In 2012 the world's central banks added the most gold to their reserves since 1964. Net official gold purchases totaled 536 metric tons, a gain of 17.4% from the previous year according to a report from Thomson Reuters GFMS. Central banks are forecast by GFMS to purchase 280 metric tons in the first half of 2013 alone.
And the intensifying currency wars are debasing global currencies, yet another bullish sign for gold prices.
How to Invest in Gold Stocks
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U of M researchers identify genetic variation behind acute myeloid leukemia treatment successPublic release date: 26-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Amy Leslie johns423@umn.edu 612-624-7654 University of Minnesota Academic Health Center
MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL (February 26, 2013) Researchers from the College of Pharmacy and Medical School working within the Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, have partnered to identify genetic variations that may help signal which acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients will benefit or not benefit from one of the newest antileukemic agents.
Their study is published today in Clinical Cancer Research.
In the latest study, U of M researchers evaluated how inherited genetic polymorphisms in CD33, a protein that naturally occurs in most leukemia cells, could affect clinical outcomes of patients treated with an existing chemotherapy drug, gemtuzumab ozogamicin (GO), an immuno-conjugate between anti-CD33 antibody and a cytotoxin known as calicheamicin, which binds to CD33 on leukemic cells. As GO is internalized by leukemia cells, the cytotoxin is released, causing DNA damage and generating leukemic cell death.
In recent clinical trials GO has been shown to induce remission and improve survival in subset of patients with AML, however there is wide inter-patient variation in response.
Jatinder Lamba, Ph.D., and colleagues identified and evaluated three genetic variations of CD33 in two groups of patients with pediatric AML one group that received the drug GO, and one group that did not. They found that specific genetic variation in CD33 that significantly affected the clinical outcome of AML patients who received GO based chemotherapy.
"Understanding how genetics play a role in how drugs work is extremely useful, particularly for a drug like GO which has shown a very heterogeneous response in AML patients," said Jatinder Lamba, Ph.D., the study's lead author and a researcher who holds appointments in both the College of Pharmacy and the Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota. "Our latest findings lead us to believe that genetic variation in CD33 influences how AML patients' leukemic cell responds to GO."
AML is a cancer of the blood and bone marrow, and is the second most common form of leukemia in children. Though the most common type of treatment for AML is chemotherapy, Lamba says the disease remains hard to treat and newer, more effective therapies are needed.
"The overall goal of our study was to use genetic data to predict beneficial or adverse response to a specific drug, thus opening up opportunities to use this information for drug optimization to achieve maximum therapeutic efficacy and minimum toxicity. Our hope is that our research could serve as a marker of prognostic significance for clinicians to select the therapy that has the greatest odds of being effective for individual patients based on their CD33 genotype."
###
Other University of Minnesota researchers involved in the study include Leslie Mortland, M.D., from the University of Minnesota Medical School and Betsy Hirsch, Ph.D., from the Medical School and the Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota.
The University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy, the only school of pharmacy in Minnesota, offers its program on the Twin Cities and Duluth campuses. Founded in 1892, the College of Pharmacy educates pharmacists and scientists and engages in research and practice to improve the health of the people of Minnesota and society. The college is part of the Academic Health Center, which is home to the University of Minnesota's six health professional schools and colleges as well as several health-related centers and institutes. Learn more at www.pharmacy.umn.edu.
The University of Minnesota Medical School, with its two campuses in the Twin Cities and Duluth, is a leading educator of the next generation of physicians. Our graduates and the school's 3,800 faculty physicians and scientists advance patient care, discover biomedical research breakthroughs with more than $180 million in sponsored research annually, and enhance health through world-class patient care for the state of Minnesota and beyond. Visit www.med.umn.edu to learn more.
Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota is part of the University's Academic Health Center. It is designated by the National Cancer Institute as a Comprehensive Cancer Center. For more information about the Masonic Cancer Center, visit www.cancer.umn.edu or call 612-624-2620.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
U of M researchers identify genetic variation behind acute myeloid leukemia treatment successPublic release date: 26-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Amy Leslie johns423@umn.edu 612-624-7654 University of Minnesota Academic Health Center
MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL (February 26, 2013) Researchers from the College of Pharmacy and Medical School working within the Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, have partnered to identify genetic variations that may help signal which acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients will benefit or not benefit from one of the newest antileukemic agents.
Their study is published today in Clinical Cancer Research.
In the latest study, U of M researchers evaluated how inherited genetic polymorphisms in CD33, a protein that naturally occurs in most leukemia cells, could affect clinical outcomes of patients treated with an existing chemotherapy drug, gemtuzumab ozogamicin (GO), an immuno-conjugate between anti-CD33 antibody and a cytotoxin known as calicheamicin, which binds to CD33 on leukemic cells. As GO is internalized by leukemia cells, the cytotoxin is released, causing DNA damage and generating leukemic cell death.
In recent clinical trials GO has been shown to induce remission and improve survival in subset of patients with AML, however there is wide inter-patient variation in response.
Jatinder Lamba, Ph.D., and colleagues identified and evaluated three genetic variations of CD33 in two groups of patients with pediatric AML one group that received the drug GO, and one group that did not. They found that specific genetic variation in CD33 that significantly affected the clinical outcome of AML patients who received GO based chemotherapy.
"Understanding how genetics play a role in how drugs work is extremely useful, particularly for a drug like GO which has shown a very heterogeneous response in AML patients," said Jatinder Lamba, Ph.D., the study's lead author and a researcher who holds appointments in both the College of Pharmacy and the Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota. "Our latest findings lead us to believe that genetic variation in CD33 influences how AML patients' leukemic cell responds to GO."
AML is a cancer of the blood and bone marrow, and is the second most common form of leukemia in children. Though the most common type of treatment for AML is chemotherapy, Lamba says the disease remains hard to treat and newer, more effective therapies are needed.
"The overall goal of our study was to use genetic data to predict beneficial or adverse response to a specific drug, thus opening up opportunities to use this information for drug optimization to achieve maximum therapeutic efficacy and minimum toxicity. Our hope is that our research could serve as a marker of prognostic significance for clinicians to select the therapy that has the greatest odds of being effective for individual patients based on their CD33 genotype."
###
Other University of Minnesota researchers involved in the study include Leslie Mortland, M.D., from the University of Minnesota Medical School and Betsy Hirsch, Ph.D., from the Medical School and the Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota.
The University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy, the only school of pharmacy in Minnesota, offers its program on the Twin Cities and Duluth campuses. Founded in 1892, the College of Pharmacy educates pharmacists and scientists and engages in research and practice to improve the health of the people of Minnesota and society. The college is part of the Academic Health Center, which is home to the University of Minnesota's six health professional schools and colleges as well as several health-related centers and institutes. Learn more at www.pharmacy.umn.edu.
The University of Minnesota Medical School, with its two campuses in the Twin Cities and Duluth, is a leading educator of the next generation of physicians. Our graduates and the school's 3,800 faculty physicians and scientists advance patient care, discover biomedical research breakthroughs with more than $180 million in sponsored research annually, and enhance health through world-class patient care for the state of Minnesota and beyond. Visit www.med.umn.edu to learn more.
Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota is part of the University's Academic Health Center. It is designated by the National Cancer Institute as a Comprehensive Cancer Center. For more information about the Masonic Cancer Center, visit www.cancer.umn.edu or call 612-624-2620.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Pete Holmes, voice of the beloved E*Trade baby and host of the "You Made It Weird" podcast, is coming to TBS with a late-night comedy show, the network said Tuesday.
The as-yet-untitled series, which has received a four-week order, will premiere in the fall and will air at midnight following "Conan" Monday through Thursday.
Conan O'Brien is executive producing through Conaco LLC, which is producing the series. Jeff Ross, David Kissinger, Nick Bernstein and Dave Rath are also executive producing the show, which will be taped in front of a live audience.
The half-hour series will combine sketches, short films, live comedy, field pieces and in-studio guest interviews.
"The first half of my meeting with Conan was spent making sure this wasn't all part of a new TBS prank show called You Got Coned!" Holmes joked of the new gig. "The second half was spent expressing my sincerest enthusiasm and gratitude for this incredible dream come true."
"Pete Holmes is an enormously likable performer with an agile and innovative mind," OBrien added. "I'm really looking forward to his show, and I've already had my son program my DVR."
MONTEREY, Calif. (AP) ? Crews planned to search by sea and air through the night Monday as they ramped up efforts to find a husband, wife and two young children who sent a series of distress calls saying their sailboat was sinking far off the Central California coast and they were fashioning a raft from a cooler and a life ring.
The unidentified family had been sailing a small vessel Sunday west of Monterey Bay, where strong winds, cold water and big swells made for perilous conditions. Forecasters had issued a weekend advisory warning boaters of rough seas in the area.
The group ? which included two children under 8 ? made its first distress call late Sunday afternoon, Coast Guard Lt. Heather Lampert said. Investigators used the boat's radio signal and radar to determine the call came from an area about 60 miles west of Monterey.
The boaters reported that their 29-foot sailboat was taking on water and the electronics were failing.
An hour later, the family members reported they had to abandon the boat and were trying to make a life raft out of a cooler and life-preserver ring, Lampert said. The Coast Guard then lost radio contact.
The agency looked for the family through the night and on Monday, with help from the California Air National Guard.
They planned to continue into Monday night, using lights from aircraft and boats, and other technologies to search the area.
"We will just saturate the search area with as many assets as we can, so we can hopefully rescue them," said Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Mike Lutz.
The Coast Guard on Monday also released one of the family's recorded distress calls (http://bit.ly/W90cyv ), in hopes that it will lead to new information from the public that could help in the search. So far the agency has received no reports of missing persons in the case.
The agency believes the boat may have been called "Charmblow." In the crackling recording, a man's voice is heard saying, "Coast Guard, Coast Guard, we are abandoning ship. This is the (Charmblow), we are abandoning ship."
The agency has not identified the family, although investigators were able to determine from the broken distress calls that they were a husband and wife, their 4-year-old son and his cousin, Lampert said.
The family's location initially was reported farther north, but Lampert said investigators using the boat's radio signal and radar now believe the call came in west of Monterey Bay, which is about 100 miles south of San Francisco. The boat did not have a working GPS system.
The National Weather Service had issued an advisory throughout the weekend warning boaters of strong winds and rough seas around the San Francisco Bay Area. Water temperatures in the area typically are in the 40s and 50s, making long-term survival difficult.
Mariners "operating smaller vessels should avoid navigating in these conditions," the advisory said.
Calls to harbors in California have failed to locate the boat, and database searches have come up empty too, Lampert said. The Coast Guard was expanding its search to Hawaii, the Seattle area and north into Canada.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) ? Gov. Tom Corbett argued in a court document filed late Monday that the NCAA has been trying to use his antitrust lawsuit against it over the Penn State penalties in the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal to combat what he describes as a groundswell of public criticism.
Corbett said the judge should not grant the NCAA's request to dismiss the case, saying college sports' governing body made a factual error when it said the penalties were voted on by the university's trustees.
Corbett, who as governor is a trustee, said the NCAA's motion to dismiss the lawsuit he filed in early January "appears to have been written more to advance the NCAA's broader agenda, and to combat the recent groundswell of public criticism against the embattled organization, than to raise legal issues appropriate to a motion to dismiss."
NCAA spokeswoman Emily Potter offered no immediate comment on the latest filing.
The Republican governor's lawsuit asks the judge to throw out all the penalties, including a $60 million fine, a four-year bowl ban and the loss of football scholarships. He claims the consent agreement has harmed students, business owners and others.
"The NCAA wrongly claims that its arbitrary decimation of the PSU football program is no different than its enforcement of rules regulating player eligibility or uniforms ? which do enhance collegiate competition ? although PSU was not found to have violated a single NCAA rule and the NCAA's own president insisted that the consent decree was not an enforcement action," Corbett's lawyers wrote.
The NCAA has said the penalties are unrelated to regulation of economic activity so antitrust law doesn't apply.
Sandusky, a former defensive coordinator at the college football powerhouse, was convicted last summer of sexually abusing several boys, some on campus. He is serving a 30- to 60-year state prison sentence. He is appealing and maintains his innocence.
The consent agreement between the NCAA and Penn State was signed a few weeks after Sandusky was found guilty of 45 criminal counts. Penn State is not a party to Corbett's antitrust lawsuit or to the NCAA's lawsuit filed last week against Corbett and three state officials over a newly enacted state law that is designed to keep the $60 million within the state.
This week's round-up of Good Reads include foreign policy advice for President Obama, how entrepreneurs are slowly revitalizing North Korea, a look at what makes a millionaire in the United States, and a dizzying visit to the window washers who clean the nation's highest buildings.
By David T. Cook,?Staff writer / February 21, 2013
Private access gates surround multimillion- dollar homes in Dana Point, Calif.
Reed Saxon/AP/File
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US presidents traditionally turn to foreign policy in their second terms. The executive branch operates with greater freedom in the international realm than in domestic policy, and world affairs are an appealing arena in which to cement a presidential legacy.
Skip to next paragraph David T. Cook
Senior Editor and Washington Bureau Chief
Cook is senior editor and Washington bureau chief of The Christian Science Monitor and host of the Monitor's newsmaker breakfasts.
Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS of The Christian Science Monitor Weekly Digital Edition
The January/February issue of Foreign Policy magazine observes tongue in cheek that the paper required to print all of the white papers and op-eds urging President Obama to take various actions on the international scene ?would probably require chopping down the Amazon rain forest.?
The magazine counters with 10 tightly written essays on what Foreign Policy editor Susan Glasser calls ?ideas for what Obama could really accomplish in these next four years to make the world a better place ? concrete, achievable goals that, for the most part, wouldn?t even require the cooperation of Congress.?
Among the recommended actions: having Mr. Obama send the Senate the 1997 treaty on banning land mines (as 161 countries have already done); taking a tougher stance toward allies ? like Saudi Arabia and Bahrain ? with less-than-stellar human rights records; and working with Russia to reduce the hair-trigger, launch-ready alert status on both nations? nuclear-tipped missiles.
Capitalism and North Korea?s leaders
With North Korean leader Kim Jong-un having just overseen his nation?s third nuclear weapons test, The Economist magazine?s Feb. 9 cover story takes a very timely look at how ?capitalism is seeping through the bamboo curtain? with consequences the despotic Mr. Kim may not be able to control.
The North Korean famine of the 1990s, which killed up to 1 million people, triggered a breakdown in the government?s control over food distribution. So individual entrepreneurs began selling food grown in family plots. That market impulse has grown. ?It has become clear that other merchants today operate on a far more ambitious scale, exporting raw materials to China and bringing back consumer goods,? the Economist reports. So, the magazine says, money talks in today?s North Korea in ways that have a variety of destabilizing consequences.
For example, traders bring in computers, radios, and mobile phones, which diminish the Kim regime?s control of information. That allows some North Koreans to have a more acute sense of how impoverished their lives are compared with those of citizens of neighboring South Korea.
The role of the sexes has changed as women, who run some black markets, have become the breadwinners in their families. And there is a widening gap between the lives of market-involved elites centered in Pyongyang and the lives of the chronically underfed rest of the country.
Who are the millionaires?
The debate over how to reform the US tax code will be one of the top political stories of 2013. Whether America?s richest individuals are paying their fair share will be a key aspect of the debate. So it is useful to get a clearer picture of the financially fortunate.
?[T]he common conception of millionaires, on whom so much of the nation?s long-term fiscal viability depends, is largely a caricature,? writes Graeme Wood in the conservative National Review.
The first step in understanding millionaires, Mr. Wood writes, is a matter of definition. One group of millionaires are those who have assets like homes, savings accounts, and pensions that are worth a million dollars. ?The majority are working people,? Wood writes, and some 5.26 million households meet that definition. The second group of millionaires consists of those who earn a million dollars or more a year. This much more rarefied group includes fewer than half a million households a year. Wood notes that many in this group are ?lucky one-timers,? folks who won the lottery or inherited from wealthy parents.
Only the 200,000 households with $20 million or more in assets have ?the financial equivalent of a perpetual-motion machine, capable of spontaneously replenishing itself and fairly reliably producing large amounts of money for its fortunate owner,? Wood says.
The window washers? life at the top
The New Yorker provides a vicarious glimpse into the dangerous, silent, and exhilarating world of skyscraper window washers for readers whose own jobs may offer less excitement.
The advent of computer design software made it practical for architects to create buildings with a different window configuration on every floor, ?turning Manhattan into a crystal garden of geometric forms and irregular shapes,? writes Adam Higginbotham. At the same time, the work of men with buckets and squeegees has remained just outside the reach of automation.
Thus it is that window washers still have to step out onto an 18-inch-wide walkway outside the 103rd floor of the Empire State Building. When Mr. Higginbotham joined a window washer there, briefly, he writes, ?I sank to my knees in what may have resembled an attitude of pure terror.?
Editor's note:?Mike Ghaffaryis?the vice president of business development at Yelp. Marc Andreessen and Reid Hoffman recently debated whether software would eat traditional retail, leaving no brick-and-mortar presence behind. Both noted that e-commerce is currently only 5 percent of retail in the U.S., while the other 95 percent is brick and mortar.
People across the Midwest are digging out from the snow after a big storm passed through, resulting in difficult commutes and school closures. NBC's John Yang reports.
By Ian Johnston, Staff Writer, NBC News
Parts of New England were expected to be hit by heavy snowfalls that could down tree limbs and cause power outages late Saturday into Sunday, forecasters warned.
The National Weather Service??issued a winter storm watch?at about 10 p.m. ET Friday for southern New Hampshire, northern Rhode Island, and much of central, northern and eastern Massachusetts, including Boston.
It said the area could be hit by up to 8 inches of snow, which some parts potentially getting nearly 10 inches.
Connecticut was also expected to get snow with rain further south.
Read more from weather.com
?Snow will overspread the region tomorrow [Saturday] afternoon. The heaviest snow will occur tomorrow night into Sunday morning, when 1 to 2 inch per hour snowfall rates will be possible,? the NWS said.
?The biggest concern is that this will be a heavy wet snow. This will bring the potential for downed tree limbs and scattered power outages. Untreated roads are also expected to become snow covered and slippery,? the weather service said.
Temperatures were expected to be in the lower 30s with winds of 5-10 mph.
?Anyone traveling in the next 24 to 36 hours should monitor later forecasts and be prepared to modify travel plans should winter weather develop,? the NWS notice added.
NBC.Connecticut.com meteorologist Bob Maxon said the state would also see snow and rain from a weekend storm. He expected up to 4 inches of snow or more in the Litchfield Hills and northeast Connecticut.
Weather.com reported that it expected that an areas from New York City to Philadelphia would ?primarily? see rain.
Record snowfall in Wichita, Kansas, creates havoc at the airport where crews had to dig out a plane stuck on the tarmac. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.
It said it expected 2 to 5 inches of snow in Boston, adding ?the amount of rain versus snow that falls will dictate whether snowfall amounts are on the higher or lower end of this range.?
The storm on Friday hit parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan.
In Minnesota alone, the State Patrol said there were 124 crashes during the morning commute, killing one driver and injuring 23, NBC affiliate KARE in Minneapolis reported.
Meanwhile, a storm in the Pacific Northwest was expected to bring strong winds through Saturday and dump 2 to 3 feet of snow on the Cascade Mountains through Monday, the NWS said.
Much of the Midwest is covered in a blanket of white as a massive winter storm has covered parts of Missouri, Oklahoma, and Kansas with over a foot of snow. NBC's John Yang reports.
?Considerable blowing and drifting snow and an increased avalanche risk are expected in the high terrain for portions of the region,? it said.
The NWS issued?winter storm warnings?for parts of Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Utah.
"Period of heavy snowfall" were also expected Saturday in parts of Hawaii, according to another winter storm warning notice. Up to 12 inches were possible at high altitudes in an area including Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, with temperatures in the mid-20s to mid-30s.
BANGKOK (Reuters) - The day after PepsiCo Inc's bottling deal in Thailand expired, its partner of 59 years launched its own soft drink that has knocked Pepsi off store shelves.
Serm Suk Pcl, backed by the billionaire owner of Thai Beverage Pcl, Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, said its new soda called "est" garnered 19 percent of Thailand's $1.8 billion cola market in just two months following its November 2 launch.
Pepsi's breakup with its bottler meant it also lost access to Serm Suk's vast distribution network, which delivers drinks to about 200,000 stores, restaurants and vending machines serving Thailand's market of 67 million people.
The two companies had a non-compete clause that expired when their contract ended on November 1. Pepsi has similar non-compete clauses with bottlers in other markets such as China, but the decision backfired in Thailand.
The following day, est hit the market, costing about the same as Pepsi and sold in the same bottles, with a red, white and blue logo reminiscent of Pepsi's. Pepsi declined to comment on whether it was pursuing any trademark violation claim.
"We did not deliberately set out to push Pepsi off the shelves but we have a very strong distribution network and if we stop distributing for one company, that company's products will disappear from the shelves," Pragnee Chaipidej, advertising manager at Serm Suk, said in an interview.
She declined to comment on similarities of est to Pepsi.
Thailand was one of the few countries where Pepsi's cola drink outsold arch-rival Coca-Cola Co's, but Coke caught up in 2011 and built a lead last year, according to data from research firm Euromonitor International.
Euromonitor's figures show Pepsi's share of the cola market dipped by 2.6 percentage points to 36.1 percent in 2012, compared with Coke's 40.1 percent. Est, a name that has no meaning in Thai but was intended as a play on superlatives such as "biggest" or "tastiest", debuted at 2.1 percent even though it was available for only two months of the year.
"We welcome competition, and short-term fluctuation in market share is not our barometer for success," said Jeff Dahncke, senior communications director at PepsiCo in Purchase, New York.
Pepsi has opened a $170 million bottling plant in Rayong, 179 kilometers southeast of Bangkok, which it said can produce enough drinks to serve every consumer in Thailand. It partnered with Deutsche Post AG's DHL for distribution. Dahncke said the first phase of distribution, which involves getting drinks into chain stores, was in place. The next phase is smaller mom-and-pop shops.
The Thailand trouble stands in contrast to PepsiCo's global performance, which has propelled its shares to their highest level since 2008. The company reported stronger-than-expected fourth-quarter results last week and raised its dividend.
Much of its recent success stems from a turnaround in its North American operations, which account for half of the company's global revenue, and strong growth in sales of food. The Middle East, Asia and Africa unit contributed only about 10 percent of total revenue in 2012. The company does not break out figures for Thailand.
Pepsi uses its own distribution for snacks in Thailand, so that business is unaffected. But its soft drinks aren't reaching the same market as they were before the Serm Suk partnership ended.
"What we have seen is a major drop in distribution and availability of Pepsi products," said Shakir Moin, Coca-Cola's marketing director for Southeast Asia.
Customers have also noticed Pepsi's absence from restaurant menus and store shelves, and this has become a hot topic of discussion on blog posts and social media.
"It's pretty much impossible to find a bottle of Pepsi these days," said Itiporn Lakarnchua who works for an English-language radio station in Bangkok, adding that est tasted "much sweeter and more peppery" than Pepsi or Coke.
THE BREAKUP
Pepsi has a long history in Thailand, entering the market in 1952 with Serm Suk at its side. But the relationship shifted in 2010 when Pepsi and its joint-venture partner Strategic Beverages launched a hostile takeover bid.
Pepsi's group failed to acquire the targeted number of shares and dropped the tender. ThaiBev's Charoen later bought Pepsi's stake.
By January 2011, Serm Suk's board was developing plans for how it might operate without Pepsi, according to documents filed with the securities exchange. Their exclusive bottling agreement was terminated in April 2011, and the two officially parted ways on November 1, 2012.
Serm Suk's "Future Business Plan" laid out two scenarios, one in which the company continued its Pepsi partnership, and one that envisioned a future flying solo, according to the filings.
Under the standalone scenario, the plan called for expanding its offering of non-carbonated drinks such as juices; building up the drinking water business; distributing more food and drinks - and making carbonated soft drinks under a different brand.
"There's a very good chance that est cola will become the number two cola brand in Thailand after Coca-Cola, pushing Pepsi to third place," said Pragrom Pathomboorn, an analyst at KGI Securities in Bangkok.
Pepsi declined to comment on why its non-compete clause expired immediately upon conclusion of the Serm Suk deal. It was not clear whether Coke or other companies also have non-compete clauses that run only through the life of the contract.
In China, where Pepsi has a bottling and distribution deal with Tingyi Holding Corp, it also included a non-compete clause that ends in 2050 when the contract does, according to terms of the agreement filed with the Hong Kong stock exchange. A Tingyi spokesman declined to comment.
In other major markets such as Russia, Pepsi's second largest, it uses its own bottling subsidiary. Dahncke said PepsiCo uses different distribution models to fit each location's economics and stage of development.
TRIP OR BLIP?
Distribution is the secret to Serm Suk's swift success in Thailand. With 200,000 outlets selling its products, it was able to quickly flood the market.
Thais are the biggest carbonated soft drink consumers in Southeast Asia, drinking on average 39.2 liters per year, more than four times the per capita consumption across Asia-Pacific, according to Euromonitor.
That helps explain why drinks companies are investing so heavily in this market.
Serm Suk spent about $10 million on a marketing campaign starring three Thai teen pop idols to introduce est, and has budgeted triple that amount for the full year. It plans to launch more flavored soft drinks later this year.
Pepsi's new plant is part of a $600 million investment that also includes new marketing campaigns and a partnership with Bodyslam, a popular Thai music group.
PepsiCo's Dahncke said the new bottling plant and DHL deal would soon get its soft drinks back into the hands of customers.
"This is a business model we use successfully in other markets around the world," he said. "There is a brief transition period to get our new system ramped up, but we are very much on track."
(Additional reporting by Pairat Temphairojana in Bangkok and Martinne Geller in New York; Editing by Emily Kaiser)
This Oscar season has seen a bumpy ride for some of the early favorites. Back when the nominations were announced, many thought "Lincoln" had a lock on best picture, but "Argo" is riding a wave of controversy, thanks in part to Ben Affleck getting snubbed for a best director nomination.
Warner Bros., DreamWorks, Univer
"Argo," "Lincoln," "Zero Dark Thirty" and "Les Miserables" are among the Oscar contenders.
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And best actress is a toss-up too -- with Jennifer Lawrence, Jessica Chastain, and 85-year-old Emmanuelle Riva all being touted by various awards observers. Best actor looks a little more solid, but really, who knows?
Who are your picks to win Sunday night? Vote and tell us.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Friday as Dow component Hewlett-Packard surged on strong results and comments from Fed officials allayed fears that the central bank would curtail its stimulus measures.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke downplayed worries that the Fed has fueled asset bubbles that could hurt the economy in a private meeting with bond dealers and investors earlier this month, Bloomberg reported on Friday.
Bernanke's view helped ease fears that the central bank may end its easy money policies. Minutes from the Federal Reserve's January meeting hit markets on Wednesday as investors interpreted divergent opinions on the benefit of stimulus as a sign the measures may be halted sooner than thought.
"They are in uncharted territory with divergent views," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at BMO Private Bank in Chicago. "I could see some pretty heated opinions on what the ultimate outcome is, so I do believe there is dissension."
Hewlett-Packard Co shares jumped more than 12 percent and gave one of the biggest boosts to both the Dow and the S&P 500 after the personal computer maker's quarterly revenue and forecasts beat expectations. Hewlett-Packard's stock rose to $19.20 at the close, up 12.3 percent for the day.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> gained 119.95 points, or 0.86 percent, to 14,000.57 at the close. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> rose 13.18 points, or 0.88 percent, to 1,515.60. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> added 30.33 points, or 0.97 percent, to end at 3,161.82.
With Bernanke's reported comments much on their minds in Friday's session, investors will want the Fed chairman to reiterate his remarks publicly when he speaks before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday. That would echo comments made by two top Fed officials on Friday.
Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren and Fed Governor Jerome Powell both defended the U.S. central bank's asset-buying program, arguing that the policy helps the U.S. economy.
The S&P 500 shed 1.9 percent over the previous two sessions, its worst two-day drop since early November, following the release of the Fed's minutes on Wednesday. The selloff marked the end of seven back-to-back weeks of gains for stocks.
For the week, the S&P 500 slipped 0.3 percent and the Nasdaq lost nearly 1 percent. Only the Dow ended the week with a gain - up just 0.1 percent.
HP's results come near the end of a relatively strong earnings season in which 70 percent of S&P 500 companies beat analysts' expectations, compared with a 62 percent average since 1994 and 65 percent over the past four quarters, according to Thomson Reuters data.
"Overall, the earnings supports were better than expected in this cycle," said Peter Jankovskis, co-chief investment officer at OakBrook Investments LLC in Lisle, Illinois. "We may see the market rising during the month of March."
Fourth-quarter earnings for S&P 500 companies are estimated to have risen 6 percent, according to the data, above a 1.9 percent forecast at the start of the earnings season.
But with only a handful of companies left to report earnings, investors are looking ahead to the possibility of hefty automatic budget cuts that could happen on March 1.
A large option investor appeared to be adjusting a bearish view on the SPDR S&P 500 Trust fund while locking in previously established gains, in a possible hedge ahead of the automatic budget cuts that are set to take effect at the beginning of next month. The play involved weekly puts, expiring next Friday.
"An institutional investor appears to be rolling down and increasing in size a defensive hedge timed to match the March 1 deadline for the sequester," said Henry Schwartz, president of options analytics firm Trade Alert.
The trader sold 132,000 $149 to $150 weekly put spreads for 22 cents as shares of the exchange-traded fund had traded near $151.14 on Friday morning. The transaction entailed the sale of $150 weekly puts to buy the $149 weekly puts. In addition, the investor purchased another 42,000 $149 weekly puts, which increases the size of the hedge to 174,000 contracts.
"It is likely this large position protects an existing underlying long position in a portfolio," Schwartz said.
In another political risk factor, Italians go to the polls this weekend in an election that could threaten reforms in the indebted country. Silvio Berlusconi's resurgence has thrown the vote wide open, with deep uncertainty over whether the poll can produce the strong government the country needs.
Inconclusive Greek elections last year sparked a protracted selloff and a period of uncertainty in markets.
In the tech sector, Marvell Technology Group Ltd forecast results this quarter that were largely above analysts' expectations. Marvell gained market share in the hard-disk drive and flash-storage businesses. The stock rose 4.4 percent to $9.89.
Texas Instruments Inc raised its dividend by a third and boosted its stock-buyback program, driving its stock up 5.2 percent to $34.18.
The PHLX semiconductor index <.sox> gained 2.1 percent.
"Dividends growing are another way the market's level is justified, if not especially attractive at these levels," said Rex Macey, chief investment officer of Wilmington Trust in Atlanta, who manages about $20 billion in assets.
On the downside, Abercrombie & Fitch dropped 4.5 percent to $46.86 after the youth-oriented clothing retailer reported a drop in fourth-quarter comparable sales, even as its latest quarterly earnings topped estimates.
Insurer American International Group Inc posted fourth-quarter results that beat analysts' expectations. AIG's stock advanced 3.1 percent to $38.45.
About three stocks rose for every one that fell on both the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq.
Around 5.8 billion shares changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and NYSE MKT, below the 20-day moving average of around 6.51 billion shares.
(Additional Reporting by Ryan Vlastelica and Doris Frankel; Editing by Kenneth Barry and Jan Paschal)
Feb. 21, 2013 ? The first scientific examinations of data recorded during a record-setting expedition have yielded new insights about the diversity of creatures that live and thrive in the cold, dark, and highly pressurized habitats of the world's deepest points and their vastly unexplored ecosystems.
Natalya Gallo of Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego will present preliminary findings from the DEEPSEA CHALLENGE expedition, a project led by James Cameron in collaboration with Scripps, and supported by National Geographic and Rolex, on Feb. 22 (GS09: Community Ecology Session, 8:45 a.m. PST) at the 2013 Aquatic Sciences Meeting of the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography in New Orleans.
Gallo, a graduate student with biological oceanographer Lisa Levin's group, analyzed 25 hours of video captured during Cameron's historic March 26, 2012, solo dive 11 kilometers (6.8 miles) below the ocean surface to the Challenger Deep in the Pacific Ocean's Mariana Trench, as well as separate dives (also during the DEEPSEA CHALLENGE expedition) to the New Britain Trench and Ulithi, also in the Pacific Ocean. The footage was taken from five cameras equipped on the DEEPSEA CHALLENGER submersible that Cameron piloted to the Challenger Deep. Additional footage came from specialized "lander" deep ocean vehicles developed in collaboration with Scripps engineer Kevin Hardy that captured samples at various depths.
Early results of Gallo's analysis reveal a vibrant mix of organisms, different in each trench site. The Challenger Deep featured fields of giant single-cell amoebas called "xenophyophores," sea cucumbers, and enormous shrimp-like crustaceans called amphipods. The New Britain Trench featured hundreds of stunning stalked anemones growing on pillow lavas at the bottom of the trench, as well as a shallower seafloor community dominated by spoon worms, burrowing animals that create a rosette around them by licking organic matter off the surrounding sediment with a tongue-like proboscis. In contrast, Ulithi's seafloor ecosystem in the Pacific atolls featured high sponge and coral biodiversity.
As the submersible and landers pushed into deeper waters, the variety of species declined, with each depth dominated by a handful of key organisms. At shallow depths in the New Britain Trench, Gallo observed strange rotund but graceful animals called sea cucumbers swimming in the water column. Different species of sea cucumbers were present even in the great depths of the Challenger Deep but appear to have adapted to these depths by decreasing in size, not swimming, and feeding by orienting themselves with the currents. The sea cucumbers seen in the Challenger Deep at approximately 11 kilometers (approximately 36,000 feet) likely represent a new species and are the first recorded abundant population of the animals found in the deepest part of the ocean.
Proximity to land also played a role in the makeup of the deep-sea environment. Deep in the New Britain Trench, located near Papua New Guinea, Gallo identified palm fronds, leaves, sticks, and coconuts-terrestrial materials known to influence seafloor ecosystems. The Challenger Deep and Ulithi, both more removed from terrestrial influence, were absent of such evidence. Gallo also spotted a dive weight in the Challenger Deep footage, likely used as ballast on another deep-submergence vehicle.
"These data add valued information to our limited understanding of deep-sea and trench biology," said Gallo. "Only a small fraction of the deep seafloor has been fully explored, so this expedition allows us to better understand these unique deep-sea ecosystems."
Gallo and Ralph Pace, a master's student in the Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation at Scripps, are compiling an image reference collection of all organisms identified during these dives to help expand the scientific impact of the expedition.
"New knowledge about life in the deep sea becomes increasingly important as humans ramp up their exploitation of the fish, energy, mineral, and genetic resources of the deep sea," said Levin. "Natalya's observation of a dive weight from a past expedition in the Challenger Deep reminds us that our presence in the ocean is pervasive."
Gallo noted that her findings were largely consistent with discoveries made in the 1950s, '60s, and '70s, the first "golden age" of deep-sea exploration. New high-definition video capabilities used during Deepsea Challenge expand exploration potential by allowing scientists to view organisms in their natural habitat and observe how these unique biological communities function, she said.
"The DEEPSEA CHALLENGE expedition made possible the discovery of the deepest examples of gigantism known thus far," said Doug Bartlett, a Scripps marine microbiologist and chief scientist of the expedition. "Among the many values of collecting deep-sea samples is the possible isolation of microbes adapted to the extreme conditions of life in the trenches. These microbes inform us of the evolution, diversity, and adaptations of life and perhaps even life's origins and its possible presence elsewhere in the solar system."
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MOSCOW (AP) ? Moscow should "temper emotions" over the death of a Russian boy adopted by an American family, President Vladimir Putin's spokesman said Friday after the U.S. ambassador urged Russian authorities and the media to stop their "sensational exploitations" of the case.
Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the harsh statements by Russian officials and lawmakers were driven by the "zero tolerance" of Russians to the deaths of children adopted by Americans. Still, he acknowledged it's too early to know the cause of the Jan. 21 death of 3-year-old Max Shatto, born Maxim Kuzmin, in West Texas.
"I think it's necessary to temper emotions a bit," Peskov said on independent Rain TV. "One thing is obvious and undisputable: bruises were found on the child's body. We hope that forensic experts will determine their origin."
The medical examiner's office in West Texas has not officially pronounced the cause of death and presented only early results, but its report of bruises on Max's body ? although their origin has not been established ? has prompted some Russians to jump to conclusions.
Russian children's rights ombudsman Pavel Astakhov branded the death as a "killing" by his adoptive American mother, Laura Shatto. The State Duma's petition to the U.S. Congress on Friday said the death is "connected to the fact of violence" by the Shattos.
The Russian theory that the boy was killed has topped the news on state-controlled media, which have been using the case to justify Russia's Dec. 28 move to ban all adoptions by Americans. The ban sparked criticism abroad and a protest rally in Moscow.
U.S. Ambassador Michael McFaul said he was "troubled by how my people and my country are being portrayed by some in the Russian press."
"It is time for sensational exploitations of human tragedy to end and for professional work between our two countries to grow, on this issue and many others," he wrote in a blog post Friday.
Texas authorities said this week that Max's adoptive mother told them that Max and his half-brother were playing outside the family's home near Odessa, Texas. Shatto said she came out and found the boy unconscious on the ground.
Shirley Standefer, the chief investigator for the Ector County Medical Examiner's Office, said there were signs of bruising on Max's lower abdominal area, but added that a full autopsy would be needed to determine what kind of bruising that was. Authorities also have not received a toxicology report that would have details on whether Max was being given any medication.
The Texas Child Protective Services spokesman said that they had received allegations of physical abuse and neglect, but had not determined whether those allegations were true.
Russia's state-controlled Rossiya TV channel aired a live talk show Thursday featuring the biological mother of the boy, Yulia Kuzmina, who lost parental custody for Max and his half-brother Kirill Kuzmin over negligence and serious drinking problems.
In a tightly choreographed interview, Kuzmina insisted that Russian custody officials took advantage of her absence from her hometown to seize her children. The program's host Mikhail Zelenin introduced Kuzmina as "mourning for Maxim and hoping to get Kirill back." The experts commenting on the case were largely Kremlin loyalists, including author Maria Arbatova, who insisted that Kuzmina's children were "stolen" from their mother.
Kuzmina said she gave up drinking, had found a job and pledged to fight to get back Kirill.
Valentina Chernova from the children's welfare office said on the talk show that Kuzmina was stripped of custody for drinking bouts during her pregnancy and her negligence with her first-born.
The RIA Novosti and Interfax news agencies reported Friday that Kuzmina and her boyfriend, who were traveling Thursday night from Moscow to their home town, were taken off the train by police after a drunken brawl.
Peskov said a court will "take into account all the information about what kind of mother she is."
Highlight, a location-based people discovery app that made a splash at last year's SxSW Interactive in Austin, TX, just released a big 1.5 update that adds photo-sharing and event-creation to its set of features. Sharing snapshots has a whiff of the Color app to it: whenever you take a picture of something, that photo will automatically appear on your friends' Highlight stream as long as they're in the vicinity. You can add captions, tag it with a name of the place, your friends' names, and share them to Facebook or Twitter. The pics will automatically be geotagged of course, but if you don't like sharing that info, you can remove the lat-long information afterward. However, it appears that untagging is not yet available, which is why the tagging is limited to just friends for now.
Creating events, on the other hand, is entirely different from what you might imagine. As opposed to planned invitations that you would create on eVite or Facebook, Highlight's Events are entirely spontaneous. You can only create an event "here and now" and the only people who are invited are those nearby (within a 250 mile radius or so). There isn't even a dedicated events tab; instead, you create or attend an event by tapping the map marker in the new post window. After you're done partying it up, the event will automatically end when people leave and stop posting due to the location and context-aware nature of the app.
At the announcement in San Francisco, CEO Paul Davison said that both photos and event features intend to create a "new way to hangout." "They're not for thousands of friends," he said, "They're for the people around you in the room." Yet, all the photos and event information will be available publicly, so he emphasized the entirely opt-in nature of Highlight: "You're in the service because you want it." As the next SxSW Interactive is only weeks away, the company is keen to see how users will take to the new features in a high-density environment like the popular Austin conference. To give it a go yourself, you can download both iOS and Android versions right now from the App Store and Google Play.
It can be a tough life out there for mobile-social gaming platforms. With Apple?s Game Center covering the bare basics and GREE?s recent shutdown of OpenFeint, it?s arguable that there isn?t that much room for another mobile gaming platform.
Yet there are a few startups that are trying to do it by offering something differentiated.
Nextpeer launched about a year and half ago as a way for independent game developers to add multi-player mode to mobile apps.
While building these gaming platforms can be slow-going at first, a breakout game called A Bike Race of Ninja Temple is helping to add about 100,000 users per day to the Israeli?startup?s network.
Muoyo Okome, a Microsoft business manager who moonlights as an indie game developer, used some open source code for games that resemble last year?s hit Tiny Wings. Tiny Wings is an indie hit out of Northern Germany and a physics game that has you press the screen to roll a bird off different hills. He then re-skinned it with a ninja-bike theme.
He called the game A Bike Race of Ninja Temple. The difference between it and Tiny Wings though is that you can?t play it in single-player mode. You have to find someone else to compete against in real-time using Nextpeer?s network.
Given that the game is blowing up and is currently ranked #14 on the free charts in the U.S., it?s adding between 60,000 and 70,000 ?users a day to Nextpeer?s network. Yesterday, Nextpeer served 200,000 multiplayer tournaments, with a peak of 300 players per second. The startup has about 100 games on its platform.
Okome says he?s now making between $2,000 and $3,000 per day from advertising and in-app purchases of different racing characters and power boosts.
?It?s pretty cool to be making money from something that isn?t my job and is fun,? he said. Initially he used Game Center, but got feedback from players that they wanted to compete against others.
?In the beginning, we didn?t have tons and tons of players,? Okome said. ?You?d always just have to wait for people to come and play. We?d get reviews saying that the game was cool but that people wanted to play against somebody.?
In a networking group about building games, he learned about Nextpeer and quickly integrated the company?s SDK or software development kit with an engineer he had hired off of oDesk.
He says he?s now going to focus on creating more racing characters for the game and building out its freemium model.
As for Nextpeer, the startup has pivoted its model a little bit since launching a year and a half ago. It used to have a virtual currency-centric model where players would have to top up to continue playing in multi-player mode. Initially, they would get some free currency to start and whenever they would compete, a player would have to put up a bet with some of that virtual currency. Whoever won would take the entire pool of coins.
Nextpeer?s CEO Shai Magzimof says the company is now moving toward more of a game promotion and advertising model. The early virtual currency model didn?t work because it took too much effort for developers to integrate it. The company also found that prompting players to spend on multi-player mode dissuaded them from continuing in the game. They play more without being asked to pay, naturally.
So Nextpeer instead is launching something called GameStream, which shows off what players and friends in the network are doing in real-time. In that sense, it?s a news feed of gaming activity just like Facebook?s Ticker or what OpenFeint used to offer.
Magzimof says GameStream is free for now but eventually they?ll move toward a paid model where advertisers will pay to acquire users. Nextpeer has raised about $1 million in angel funding.
Sure, it's possible to get remote access to home theater devices through raw methods like a Slingbox, but KDDI has a slightly more elegant solution for those living in Japan. Its tiny Remote TV box puts a Blu-ray DVR on the local WiFi network to both schedule recordings while away and stream the video itself. Locals can watch from a Mac, Windows PC or Android device, although they'll be limited to 480p when they're outside of the home. iOS support is coming soon, the carrier says. KDDI ships the device on February 23rd for an estimated ¥19,800 ($213) and is keen to note that it doesn't require a subscription -- it sees Remote TV more as an incentive to splurge on smartphone data, which just might work for commuters wanting to catch up on their shows.
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