The potential for pollution is less than scientists had expected. They estimate that far less oil will leak into the ocean than the BP oil spill of 2010, which spewed roughly 200 million gallons into the Gulf of Mexico alone.

However, six leaks are considered potentially significant coastal pollution problems. Study author Lisa Symons said Monday those six keep her up at night. Five are off the Florida coast, one just 15 miles from shore.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration which did the report doesn’t know exactly where half the shipwrecks are.

The government agency is studying whether oil can be removed from some vessels before they leak.

The post Govt. survey spots 87 shipwrecks that could foul US waters with oil; still less than BP spill appeared first on Canadian Business.

It’s the first time the governor acknowledged serious worries about the structural integrity of the $6.4 billion infrastructure project to build a new eastern span of the bridge. Brown had dismissed concerns about broken bolts earlier this month.

Now, the governor said the state is reviewing construction documents going back as far as the administration of former Gov. Gray Davis, who served from 1999 to 2003.

“It’s a pretty big issue,” Brown told reporters before delivering a graduation speech for University of California, Berkeley political science students. “I drive across that bridge, too.”

The new bridge is replacing a span damaged during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. It’s already years late and billions of dollars over budget.

State transportation officials recently disclosed that nearly three dozen seismic safety bolts on the eastern span of the bridge had broken. The bolts, or rods, each 17- to 24-feet long, connect the bridge deck to so-called shear keys, which are large shock absorbers that control movement during an earthquake.

“I take it very seriously, and that thing’s not going to open unless it’s ready,” Brown said Monday. “And the engineers are telling me that they’re doing the kind of work that will be needed for that.”

Just three months ago, Brown had participated in an event to count down the bridge’s opening.

The post After dismissing worries, Calif. governor acknowledges Bay Bridge might not open by Labor Day appeared first on Canadian Business.

The judge on Monday suggested that Wal-Mart attorneys had taken a “persnickety and narrow” approach to turning over documents requested by attorneys for large pension funds trying to find out what, and when, company directors knew of the payments.

The plaintiffs also want information about an internal investigation conducted by Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart into allegations that bribes were used to speed building permits and gain other favours.

The shareholders have alleged that Wal-Mart officials breached their fiduciary duties by allowing and covering up the alleged payments, which spurred federal bribery investigations in both the U.S. and Mexico.

The post Delaware judge orders Wal-Mart to give shareholders more info related to bribery allegations appeared first on Canadian Business.

A spokesman for the Guantanamo Bay prison says that officials have also blocked access to social networks such as Facebook and Twitter through military computer networks because of the threat.

Army Lt. Col. Samuel House says the precautions were taken because of online threats to disrupt activities at the base allegedly made by the international hacking group Anonymous. No disruptions have been reported so far.

The group had called for a global protest because of the ongoing hunger strike by prisoners protesting their conditions and indefinite confinement at the U.S. base. As of Monday, the military said 103 of the 166 prisoners were on strike.

The post US military halts Guantanamo WiFi, limits social networks because of hack threat appeared first on Canadian Business.

The seaside plant between San Diego and Los Angeles has been dark since January 2012, after a small radiation leak led to the discovery of unusual damage to hundreds of tubes that carry radioactive water.

Operator Southern California Edison wants permission to restart the Unit 2 reactor and run it at reduced power in hopes of stopping vibration and friction that was blamed for damaging tubing.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission delayed several earlier target dates for a ruling, with officials recently projecting a June announcement. But its website on Monday listed no date for a restart decision — only “to be determined.”

Agency spokesman Victor Dricks had no comment.

Last week, the NRC’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board sided with environmentalists who have called for lengthy hearings on the restart plan after concluding that firing up the plant would allow Edison “to operate beyond the scope of its existing license.”

A statement from SCE spokeswoman Jennifer Manfre noted that NRC Chair Allison Macfarlane indicated earlier that no decision would be made until at least mid-June on the company’s request to change its operating license to run at lower power, a critical step in the restart plan.

“SCE continues to adhere to the established regulatory process,” the statement said. The company “cannot restart Unit 2 until the NRC says that it is safe to do so.”

Last month, SCE’s parent, Edison International, raised the possibility of retiring the plant if it can’t get one reactor running later this year. The company also disclosed that costs tied to the long-running shutdown had hit $553 million.

Edison is facing a tangle of regulatory obstacles that include a separate state investigation into who should pay for the trouble — customers or shareholders.

Meanwhile, anti-nuclear activists and some lawmakers have said restarting the plant would lead to a disaster.

Friends of the Earth, an advocacy group challenging the restart, believes no decision can be made “until all the safety issues raised by the board are addressed,” spokesman Shaun Burnie said in an email.

Even with San Onofre sidelined, state power officials predict that there should be adequate power supplies in California this summer, but heat waves or wildfires that damage transmission lines could lead to potential shortages.

The problems at San Onofre centre on steam generators that were installed during a $670 million overhaul in 2009 and 2010. After the plant was shut down, tests found some generator tubes were so badly eroded that they could fail and possibly release radiation, a stunning finding inside the nearly new equipment.

San Onofre is owned by SCE, San Diego Gas & Electric and the city of Riverside.

The post Federal agency indefinitely delays decision on restart of troubled nuclear plant in California appeared first on Canadian Business.

Royalty said Monday it will pay $12.50 in cash for each share of Elan Corp. PLC. That adds up to a total value of about $7.5 billion.

Royalty had offered in February to buy Elan for $11 per share and later raised that bid to $11.25 per share.

Elan has said the $11.25 bid was much too low. It said Monday its board will assess Royal Pharma’s latest announcement and, in the meantime, Elan shareholders should take no action.

Royalty is a privately held New York company that buys royalty interests in drugs and late-stage drug candidates.

Elan earlier on Monday announced that it planned to pay about $338 million for a privately held, Austrian drug developer and at least $110 million for stakes in two other companies. The company also said last week it will pay $1 billion for the right to future royalties from four respiratory treatments being developed by Theravance Inc. and GlaxoSmithKline.

Last month, Elan closed a deal to sell its interest in the multiple sclerosis treatment Tysabri to Biogen Idec Inc., its former partner on the blockbuster drug, for $3.25 billion in cash and recurring royalty payments.

Royalty Pharma said in a statement that Elan “dramatically overpaid” for the Theravance deal. It also said that deal “was pursued in haste and without critical confidential information which could significantly impair the value of the asset.”

The company added that it suspects the same may be true of the deals Elan announced Monday. It said its increased offer is conditional on shareholders voting against the Theravance deal and the other transactions.

U.S.-traded shares of Elan climbed 3.5 per cent, or 41 cents, to $12.08 Monday afternoon, while broader trading indexes fell slightly. That put the stock up 18 per cent since the start of the year.

The post Royalty Pharma raises bid for drugmaker Elan to $12.50 per share or about $7.5 billion appeared first on Canadian Business.

Shares rose 31 per cent Monday. Through Friday’s close, before news of the offer, Pactera’s stock had lost about two-thirds of its value over the past year.

Blackstone and the group of Pactera leaders are offering $7.50 for each U.S.-traded share of the company that they don’t already hold. That’s 43 per cent higher than Friday’s close of $5.26 on the Nasdaq stock market and puts the value of the company at $680.4 million, based on Pactera’s the estimated 90.7 million shares outstanding.

The group of potential buyers working with Blackstone includes Pactera’s non-executive chairman, Chris Chen, its CEO, Tiak Koon Loh, and three of its executive committee members.

Pactera said that its board will likely form a special committee of independent directors to review the proposal.

It is one of several recent buyouts efforts by private equity firms of U.S.-listed Chinese companies.

Citic Capital Partners said last week that it, along with one of the company’s co-founders, would take technology services firm AsiaInfo-Linkage Inc. private in a roughly $890 million deal. Focus Media Holdings Ltd. shareholders agreed in April to a deal to sell the Chinese advertising company to private equity firm Carlyle Group and a handful of Chinese investors for $3.7 billion.

Shares of Pactera jumped $1.61 to $6.87 by early afternoon.

The post Blackstone, company leaders bid to take Chinese tech company Pactera private in $680M deal appeared first on Canadian Business.

Federal prosecutors say 52-year-old Bryan Shaw entered his plea Monday to one count of conspiracy. He’s scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 16 when he faces a maximum of five years in prison.

Authorities say Shaw made over $1 million in illicit profits by trading in advance of company announcements on earnings results or mergers. In exchange, he gave former KPMG accountant Scott London bags filled with cash, along with a Rolex watch and jewelry for his wife, among other items.

London also is charged with conspiracy and is scheduled to be arraigned next week.

The post Los Angeles jeweler pleads guilty in KPMG case; faces up to 5 years in prison appeared first on Canadian Business.

The kids, who are between 7 and 16 years old, are finalists in a contest tied to “The Secret Millionaire’s Club,” a cartoon narrated by Buffett that teaches kids about finance. The cartoon airs on the Hub cable network and online at www.smckids.com .

Five kids and three teams were flown to Omaha to present their ideas to Buffett and the judges. The finalists are from Maryland, Maine, Texas, New Jersey, Ohio, Kentucky and Washington.

The winning individual and team each receive $5,000. Runners-up get $500.

The Fairholme Foundation sponsors the contest, and By Kids For Kids oversees it.

The post Finalists in young entrepreneur contest pitch their business ideas to investor Warren Buffett appeared first on Canadian Business.

Prosecutor Olof Sahlgren says the three are “suspected of aggravated attempts to avoid tax controls” by allegedly falsifying parts of Saab’s accounts between 2010 and 2011 — a crime that carries a sentence of up to four years in prison.

Sahlgren wouldn’t identify the three, who worked for Saab while it was owned by Dutch luxury car maker Spyker, which had bought the Swedish company off General Motors.

Saab filed for bankruptcy in December 2011 after Spyker failed to revive the lossmaking brand. The Hong Kong-owned company National Electric Vehicle Sweden then bought the carmaker, saying it plans to make electric cars under the Swedish brand.

The post Former Saab executives arrested on accounting fraud charges appeared first on Canadian Business.

The brand first hit shelves in 1955 as a no-frills breakfast alternative but now caters to dieters who see its airy chips and pastries as a way to beat cravings and lose weight. And this summer, Kellogg Co. is building on its biggest moneymaker with a “hot cereal” called Special K Nourish that’s made with quinoa and other grains.

The new line, which promises to fill people up with 8 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber, reflects Special K’s push to move in step with evolving trends. Until now, Special K products largely gave dieters low-calorie imitations of their fantasy foods. But weight watchers are increasingly looking for added benefits nutritional benefits, rather than just counting calories.

“They’re eating better, not just eating less,” said Noel Geoffroy, vice-president of marketing for Kellogg Morning Foods.

The Special K Nourish hot cereal will come in individual serving cups; people add water and toppings that come in separate compartments on the lids. The products, which have less than 200 calories, are slated to hit stores in July and will come in Maple Brown Sugar, Cranberry Almond and Cinnamon Raisin Pecan. A line of Nourish bars will come in Dark Chocolate Nut, Cranberry Bliss and Lemon Twist.

Special K’s evolution to stay relevant is critical for Kellogg. The company, which also makes Frosted Flakes and Eggo waffles, has been struggling to grow sales at a time when Americans are looking for on-the-go options. Over the past decade, for example, sales of cold cereals in the U.S. have grown just 6 per cent to $8.9 billion, according to the market researcher Euromonitor International.

But Special K has been standout for Kellogg, with the brand’s market share increasing to 5 per cent, up from 3.3 per cent a decade ago, according to Euromonitor.

The broader transformation of Special K into a weight management tool is also a reflection of its “Special K Challenge” ad campaign that first aired in 2003. Those ads famously promised that women would be able to lose 6 pounds in two weeks by replacing breakfast and lunch with Special K and having a sensible dinner at night.

“It really hit on the need women had for easy, attainable way to manage their weight,” Geoffroy said.

For many looking to shed a few pounds, the Special K brand became a psychological stamp of approval and Kellogg has been churning out spinoff products ever since. Shakes and bars came in 2006, followed by cracker chips in 2009 and popcorn chips last year. Three types of breakfast sandwiches popped up in frozen food sections this past January.

Last year, Kellogg even transformed the Special K website into a more sophisticated weight management site. Visitors can sign up for meal plans that help them reach their diet goal; at least one Special K product is included each day’s plan, sometimes two or three. The site now has more than 2 million members.

Weight Watchers, meanwhile, says it doesn’t see Special K as a challenger. The company says its approach is more holistic and follows the adage that “teaching a man to fish” is better than giving him a fish to eat for just one meal.

Product-based diet plans are short-term solutions that fall into the latter category, said Karen Miller-Kobach, chief scientific officer for Weight Watchers International, which promotes learning to eat all foods in moderation.

“That approach is like giving a person a cod for breakfast and a mackerel for lunch — but the person still hasn’t learned how to fish,” she said.

Miller-Kobach also noted that people also get sick of eating the same thing all the time, which is why diet food makers have to roll out so many product extensions. Other healthy eating advocates question the nutritional credentials of such packaged snacks, and whether they have any role in a healthy diet.

Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, notes that there’s a difference between trying to lose weight and eating better.

So while the Special K cereal bars may only be 90 calories, for example, he notes that they’re full of corn syrup and a long list of other ingredients people may not recognize.

“It probably provides 90 calories of a tasty snack but it’s not a health food,” Jacobson said.

Still, Special K has its loyal followers.

Lindsay Cobb, a 30-year-old who works in finance in New York City, got into the habit of eating Special K with Red Berries for breakfast after trying it at her mother’s house four years ago.

“My metabolism was slowing down and it beat having a bagel in the morning,” she said.

She still eats it for breakfast on most weekdays, estimating that the generous bowls she pours herself clock in at around 250 calories with skim milk. And Cobb is usually willing to try whatever new Special K products she sees at the supermarket at least once.

Even though she doesn’t like to snack often, she trusts that a Special K treat won’t crash her diet.

___

Follow Candice Choi at www.twitter.com/candicechoi

The post Special K churning out new products as part of shift into a weight management tool appeared first on Canadian Business.

Benchmark oil for June delivery was up 86 cents, or 0.9 per cent, to $96.88 a barrel in midday trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Oil moved higher as U.S. stock markets reversed early losses. At midday, the Dow Jones industrial average showed a gain of 19.82, or 0.1 per cent.

A falling dollar also sparked interest in oil. Since oil is traded in dollars, a weaker dollar makes crude and other commodities more appealing to investors with other currencies. The euro rose to 1.2865 from $1.2829 Friday. The dollar fell to 102.46 yen from 103.18 Friday.

Later in the week, the U.S. government will release home sales and durable goods orders for April and HSBC will release its monthly survey on China’s manufacturing growth.

Analysts are also awaiting testimony Wednesday from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. Of special interest are any possible hints that the Fed might be preparing to scale back its loose monetary policy because recent data has pointed toward a sustained economic recovery.

Brent crude, a benchmark for many international oil varieties, rose 37 cents to $104.97 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

In other energy futures trading on Nymex:

— Wholesale gasoline was flat at $2.91 a gallon.

— Heating oil rose 2 cents to $2.95 a gallon.

— Natural gas gained 8 cents to $4.13 per 1,000 cubic feet.

__

Pamela Sampson in Bangkok contributed to this report.

The post Oil rises as US stocks erase earlier losses, dollar drops appeared first on Canadian Business.

The Democrat told the Associated Press in an interview that he has always been good at “keeping a couple of balls in the air.”

Schweitzer was among four new board members elected earlier this month after he led a group of shareholders unhappy with current management at Montana’s largest publicly traded company. The company announced Monday that he will also chair the board — ousting former chairman, and CEO, Frank McAllister.

Schweitzer clashed with McAllister over the course of the takeover battle. McAllister will continue as President and CEO of the company during an interim period while the board seeks a candidate to succeed him. He said in a statement from the company that he enjoyed his 12 years as chairman.

Schweitzer said his job as chairman will be to represent shareholders. The former governor, who left office in January due to term limits, aggressively manoeuvred during the takeover on a platform critical of the company’s 2011 decision to pay $450 million for a vast reserve of copper in Argentina. He and a New York hedge fund campaigned against alleged mismanagement by McAllister, who is also on the board and was among four members re-elected.

Schweitzer said the focus will now be to improve efficiency and profitability at the company’s palladium and platinum mines in Montana’s Beartooth Mountains, the only such mines in the United States.

Schweitzer has become the undeclared Democratic front-runner in next year’s contest for the Montana Senate seat since Max Baucus announced his retirement. There has been some speculation that Schweitzer — a rabble-rousing populist who often takes pragmatic stances on hot-button issues — could entertain a longshot bid in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary.

In the interview, Schweitzer also weighed in on national politics by mocking the Department of Justice’s secret seizure of two months of reporters’ phone records by jokingly calling the AP a “terrorist organization,” and earnestly lauding an idea to give student loans at the same low interest rates the government gives big banks.

“I am able to keep more than one ball in the air. When I was governor I was pretty good at also running my ranches,” Schweitzer said. “If I decided to run for something, depending on what I run for, I wouldn’t be sworn into until January 2015 or even later if I run for something else.

“I am not going to put my life on hold until then.”

Schweitzer said political decisions will be made later as he focuses on the mining business in the short term.

“Certainly over the next month or more I will be focused like a laser and learning everything I can about corporate governance at the Stillwater mine, working with management, working to increase production on a daily and weekly basis, increasing efficiencies,” Schweitzer said.

The company’s stock price rose slightly on the news Monday.

Securities filings with federal regulators show Schweitzer has bought 33,000 shares of Stillwater common stock, worth about $425,000 based on its Monday price on the New York Stock Exchange. He started buying the stock soon after leaving office in January.

Stillwater has a market value of $1.5 billion and employs more than 1,600 workers at its two mines in the Beartooth Mountains and a smelter and metals recycling plant in Columbus.

McAllister was bringing in about $5 million a year over the last years in the dual role of chairman and CEO. Schweitzer said it will be up to the board’s compensation committee to recommend how much to pay whoever fills those two positions now that they have been separated.

Under the prior board, company directors made roughly $200,000 annually, ranging in 2012 from a low of $187,240 to a high of $241,754 for directors who served the entire year.

It’s uncertain if that will change under the company’s new leadership.

___

Brown reported from Billings, Mont.

The post Former Montana Gov. Schweitzer elected chairman of mining company; Senate run still possible appeared first on Canadian Business.

The Russell 2000 index of small company stocks crossed 1,000 points for the first time Monday. It’s up 18 per cent this year, more than other major market indexes.

The rally in small stocks is a sign investors are more willing to take risk. It also means they’re more optimistic about the U.S. economy versus Europe, which is still mired in recession.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 28 points at 15,382, a gain of 0.2 per cent.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 was up four points at 1,671, or 0.3 per cent.

The Nasdaq rose nine points to 3,508, or 0.3 per cent.

Actavis rose 3 per cent after the pharmaceutical company said it’s buying Warner Chilcott.

The post Wall Street heads higher, led by small-company stocks; Russell index crosses 1,000 appeared first on Canadian Business.

Leonard Barshack and Erin Smith, the husband and wife, also said the San Francisco-based company should return the Internet handle to them because they had been using it for about three years and weren’t impersonating the Idaho resort.

The Idaho Mountain Express reports the resort sought to use the handle in October. That’s when Twitter sent Barshack an email, saying he was in violation of the Twitter’s rules.

“At that time, Twitter gave the following reason for the suspension, ‘We have received a valid report and determined that your account, (at)sunvalley, is engaged in non-parody impersonation,’” according to the Barshack’s complaint, filed earlier this month in Idaho’s 5th District Court in Blaine County.

Twitter’s policy — meant to curb unwanted or inappropriate Internet impersonation — mandates that an account’s profile information “should make it clear that the creator of the account is not actually the same person or entity” as the subject of the impersonation.

But Barshack contends he never impersonated Sun Valley and only periodically sent messages, or tweets, since registering for the handle around April 2010.

He said his tweets covered a variety of subjects, including Apple products like the iPhone, local weather, including ski conditions, a pig roast and skiing.

He told The Associated Press on Monday that he wasn’t trying to undermine the resort’s operation or reputation.

“My long-term plan was to promote local business,” Barshack said. “One day I woke up, and Twitter had taken my handle away.”

He contends that Twitter has provided him a “boiler plate” response to multiple emails he sent seeking to have the handle returned to his control.

“I never could get anywhere,” he said.

Jack Sibbach, Sun Valley’s spokesman, didn’t return a phone call. Twitter also didn’t respond to an email seeking comment.

The complaint acknowledges Barshack used an image of a sun to accompany his tweets, but he contends it was sufficiently different from the resort’s trademark so as not to cause confusion.

The resort’s logo consists of a sun, positioned above and to the right side of the words “Sun Valley,” according to the complaint, which adds that the resort allowed its registration for a stand-alone sun to lapse.

Barshack contends he used only a stand-alone sun to accompany his tweets.

In the lawsuit, he wants attorney’s fees and any other compensation the court deems appropriate.

___

Information from: Idaho Mountain Express, http://www.mtexpress.com

The post Idaho couple and Sun Valley Resort embroiled in Twitter tussle over social network handle appeared first on Canadian Business.

The Maine-based outdoors retailer informed its 5,000 full- and part-time workers Monday that Bean’s great-grandson Shawn Gorman is the latest family member to serve as chairman, underscoring a commitment to family ownership in an era in which most large retailers are publicly traded.

Gorman said there’s been a careful behind-the-scenes transition led by his 78-year-old uncle, Leon Gorman, who’s credited with modernizing the company after L.L. Bean’s death in 1967, setting it on a path of growth by transitioning from catalogues to online retailing.

“Leon is a walking legend around here,” Gorman told The Associated Press. “He made this business what it is. I’m here to make sure it continues for the next 100 years.”

L.L. Bean got its start in 1912 when Leon Leonwood Bean obtained a list of out-of-state hunters from the state of Maine and sent out mailings touting his rubber-soled hunting boots. He opened the first store five years later in Freeport. The company now has more than $1.5 billion in annual sales.

L.L. Bean’s family ownership is something of a rarity in a marketplace where consolidations mean more companies are publicly traded.

“What you have are publicly traded companies like Nordstrom and Dillard’s that are still run by family members, but there’s just not that many large private retailers anymore,” said Michael Appel, president of Appel Associates, a consultant focusing on retail and consumer goods in Purchase, N.Y.

In Maine, Leon Gorman served for 33 years as president and CEO, and as chairman of the board for 12 years. He’ll retain the title of “chairman emeritus” and a seat on the board. Chris McCormick, the first CEO from outside the family, retains that position, which he’s held for 12 years.

Shawn Gorman is a familiar face at L.L. Bean, having worked for more than 20 years at the company in a number of roles before becoming senior vice-president for brand communications, where he oversaw market research and advertising teams.

He and two cousins, Jennifer Wilson and Nate Clark, will comprise the family governance committee under the new structure announced Monday.

As for Leon Gorman, he told workers that he’s looking forward to spending more time with his family while hunting, fishing and hiking — and less time in a boardroom.

“I wish you all the best and hope to be seeing you on the trail,” he wrote in a company-wide memo.

___

Follow David Sharp at http://twitter.com/David_Sharp_AP

The post Outdoors retailer LL Bean keeps it in the family in naming new chairman appeared first on Canadian Business.

The official says the attack took place early Monday and targeted the Mellitah Oil and Gas complex near Zwara, about 110 kilometres (70 miles) from the capital, Tripoli. The complex is a joint venture between Libya’s National Oil Corp. and Italy’s largest energy company, Eni SpA. The militiamen fled the site briefly after seizing weapons and equipment from the guards.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief reporters.

A military official told Libya’s official news agency that military helicopters are searching for the attackers.

Over a year after toppling Moammar Gadhafi’s regime, Libya is plagued by lawlessness.

The post Militias attack gas complex western Libya, injuring 2 appeared first on Canadian Business.

The Food and Drug Administration on Monday released its review of the company’s sleep aid, suvorexant, ahead of a public meeting on Wednesday. The pill works by temporarily blocking chemical messengers that keep people awake.

The FDA said company trials show suvorexant is better than placebo at helping people fall asleep and stay asleep. And regulators said the drug’s effectiveness was consistent across several doses tested by Merck & Co. Inc.

But patients taking the higher doses of the drug showed an eight-fold increase in daytime drowsiness, which sometimes interfered with driving the next morning. Patients taking 20 milligrams and 40 milligrams of suvorexant had trouble staying in their driving lanes when tested by company researchers. FDA notes that four women actually had to stop the driving test due to excessive sleepiness.

The FDA review also notes that suvorexant was associated with increased risk of suicidal thinking. Over 12 months, there were eight cases of suicidal thinking or behaviour reported among patients taking the drug, compared with no cases among patients given placebo.

Merck has proposed a starting dose of 15 milligrams for seniors and 20 milligrams for non-seniors. Doctors would gradually raise these doses to 30 milligrams and 40 milligrams, respectively, or until the patient’s insomnia has been successfully treated.

On Wednesday the FDA will ask a panel of outside experts to vote on questions of the drug’s safety and effectiveness. The agency appears to favour eliminating most of the higher doses of the drug tested by Merck.

The FDA says Merck data suggest that a 10 milligram dose may be safer, while still being effective.

“Indeed, if a dosage strength lower than 15 milligrams is unavailable, we would need to consider if the drug could be marketed safely at all, if we believe that a substantial proportion of the indicated population needs a lower dose,” the agency states in its review.

The agency plans to ask its advisers whether there is enough data to support a 10 milligram dose, according to draft questions posted online.

ISI Group analyst Mark Schoenebaum called the FDA’s review “tough.”

“The high dose is deemed unsafe, and the FDA wonders if there is enough data at the safer low dose to draw firm safety conclusions,” Schoenebaum said in a note to investors. He says it could take Merck 18 months to resubmit its drug, if FDA requires another study of low-dose suvorexant. The potential impact on Merck’s revenue is relatively small, since the drug is only expected to generate peak sales of $650 million by 2018.

In January, the FDA required drugmakers of Ambien and similar sleeping pills to lower the dosage of their drugs, based on studies suggesting a link to drowsiness-related injuries. The agency cited research showing that the drugs remain in the bloodstream at levels high enough to interfere with driving.

In midday trading, shares of Whitehouse Station, N.J.-based Merck slipped 52 cents to $45.48.

The post FDA says Merck drug helps treat insomnia but may cause daytime drowsiness and driving issues appeared first on Canadian Business.

Deborah Turness, former editor of ITV News in Britain, replaces Steve Capus, who resigned earlier this year, and will begin her new job in August.

Turness will take over a news division bruised by the “Today” show losing its long-held dominant position in the morning to ABC’s “Good Morning America.” NBC’s flagship “Nightly News” broadcast still tops the evening news ratings, but anchor Brian Williams recently saw his “Rock Center” newsmagazine abruptly cancelled after less than two years on the air.

“It is quite simply the greatest imaginable honour to be named as the next president of NBC News,” Turness said.

In NBC’s new management structure, she reports to Pat Fili-Krushel, head of the NBC Universal News Group, as do MSNBC President Phil Griffin and CNBC President Mark Hoffman.

Fili-Krushel was not immediately available for comment. She said in a statement that Turness is “very familiar” with NBC News through a partnership the two networks have.

Turness, who is 46, became editor of ITV News in 2004, the first woman and youngest person to hold that job. Often overshadowed by the state-funded BBC, ITV is Britain’s largest commercial television network. ITN, which is 40 per cent owned by ITV, is Britain’s top commercial news producer. Turness joined the company in 1988 as a news producer and worked for four years during the 1990s in the company’s Washington bureau.

“Deborah epitomizes everything that is best about ITN, inspiring our newsrooms with her ideas, enthusiasm and energy,” said John Hardie, CEO of ITN. As editor of ITV News, Turness was in charge of news coverage and business operations.

The morning will no doubt be her top priority upon joining NBC. The decline of “Today” is a major blow to the company’s pride and bottom line. Women dominate the show’s viewership and the ham-fisted replacement of anchor Ann Curry with Savannah Guthrie last year tore at the show’s popularity. It has not gone unnoticed that men supervised the show during its turnover.

Within the next two years, Turness will likely be responsible for choosing Matt Lauer’s successor on “Today” should the long-running anchor decide to leave.

“Nightly News” still has a comfortable lead in evening news ratings over ABC and CBS. But Turness will probably face lingering morale issues related to the cancellation of “Rock Center” after being bounced around the network’s prime-time schedule.

___

Associated Press writer Raphael Satter in London contributed to this report.

The post NBC hires Deborah Turness of Britain’s ITV as news division president; 1st woman to hold job appeared first on Canadian Business.

The court voted 6-3 Monday to uphold an appeals court ruling in favour the Federal Communications Commission.

The case involves complaints to the FCC by telecommunications companies and the wireless industry that local authorities are delaying the placement and construction of wireless service facilities. The FCC said that local jurisdictions generally should act on applications within three months for existing structures and five months for new towers.

Several cities challenged the FCC’s authority.

Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for the court, rejected the cities’ claims.

Chief Justice John Roberts, joined by Justices Samuel Alito and Anthony Kennedy, dissented.

The post Supreme Court reinforces FCC authority in disputes over cell tower placements appeared first on Canadian Business.

Financial terms were not disclosed and it’s unclear what the combined company will be called. GrubHub CEO Matt Maloney will become CEO, while Seamless CEO Jonathan Zabusky will serve as president, the companies said in a joint statement.

Brian McAndrews, an independent director on the Seamless board, will serve as chairman. Both New York-based Seamless and Chicago-based GrubHub will have significant representation on the new company’s board.

The combined company’s name and marketing brands will be determined following regulatory approval, the companies said.

Online takeout ordering services work by contracting with restaurants, mostly in large metropolitan areas, to list themselves on the websites. Diners can search the menus, along with reviews posted by diners, to find the food they want and then order and pay online. In addition to websites, both companies also offer smartphone apps geared toward diners on the go.

“We are excited to combine the strengths of these two dynamic organizations in an industry that is rapidly gaining traction,” Maloney said in a statement. “We believe the merger will enhance the products we are able to offer both our diners and restaurants.”

Maloney, who co-founded GrubHub Inc. in 2004, said that by combining their complementary restaurant and diner networks the new company will be well positioned for continued growth in what’s become a huge market.

The services appeal to diners by eliminating the need for a kitchen drawer of takeout menus, while also helping them discover new pickup and delivery options in their neighbourhoods. Meanwhile, restaurants can benefit from new business and don’t have to deal with as many phone orders, which can be labour intensive and prone to error.

Last year, orders through the two privately held companies totalled about $875 million in gross food sales, resulting in combined revenue of more than $100 million. They also aggressively vied with each other for market share, boosting their ranks of sales representatives and heavily promoting themselves through social media and email offers and discounts.

The combination of the two should simplify online ordering for both consumers and restaurants, many of whom currently split their online business between not just Seamless and GrubHub, but other similar services as well.

Seamless North America LLC was spun off from Aramark Corp. last fall. Before that, Spectrum Equity Investors bought a minority stake in the company for $50 million. Seamless covers about 12,000 restaurants in 40 cities, mostly on the East and West Coasts, along with Houston and Austin, Texas, and overseas in London.

GrubHub’s ordering services cover 20,000 restaurants in about 500 cities. Since its inception, the company, which also owns Allmenus.com, has received about $84 million in funding.

In addition to Seamless and GrubHub, other similar services have popped up in recent years. Delivery.com, founded in 2004, lets users order from nearly 10,000 restaurants in 50 cities, while California-based Eat24.com, founded in 2008, covers 20,000 restaurants in 1,000 cities across the country.

Online deals site LivingSocial also launched a similar service late last year.

The post Online takeout ordering services Seamless and GrubHub to combine, terms not disclosed appeared first on Canadian Business.

The only three that cost more, Yahoo’s 1999 acquisitions of GeoCities and Broadcast.com and the 2003 purchase of Overture, were entirely or partially financed with Yahoo’s stock.

Here’s a look at Yahoo’s highest-priced acquisitions:

Broadcast.com for stock valued at $8.1 billion in July 1999

GeoCities for stock valued at $6.4 billion in May 1999

Overture for $1.3 billion in cash in stock in October 2003

Tumblr for $1.1 billion, announced in May 2013

Kelkoo for $571 million in April 2004

Right Media for $524 million in cash and stock in July 2007

Yahoo Europe and Yahoo Korea for $501 million in November 2005

HotJobs for $439 million in cash and stock in February 2002

eGroups Inc. for stock valued at $416 million in February 2000

Zimbra for $303 million in cash in October 2007

Inktomi for $290 million in March 2003

Interclick for $259 million in December 2011

BlueLithium, for $255 million in October 2007

WebCal Corp. for stock valued at $201 million in July 1998

Encompass Inc. for stock valued at $196 million in May 1999

Maktoob for $164 million in November 2009

Musicmatch for $158 million in October 2004

Kimo.com for stock valued at $157 million in January 2001

Maven for $143 million in February 2008

The post Yahoo’s $1.1 billion deal for Tumblr ranks as company’s 4th most expensive acquisition appeared first on Canadian Business.

Labour protests are uncommon across the Gulf Arab states, which depend on workers mostly from South Asia for vital construction jobs. Entire teams of workers are often housed in crowded labour camps with basic services.

UAE authorities have made arrests of strikers in the past but there also are concerns of wider protests.

Arabtec says an undisclosed number of workers in Dubai and Abu Dhabi stayed in camps for a second day Monday.

UAE construction workers earn on average $218 a month, according to the Abu Dhabi-based The National newspaper.

Arabtec leads high-profile projects such as the Louvre museum in Abu Dhabi, which it says was not affected by the strike.

The post UAE construction giant faces rare strike by workers demanding higher pay appeared first on Canadian Business.

Here is some background on Tumblr, where Generation Y is sharing everything from snaps of their pets to videos, and stories from Dadaab, a Kenyan refugee camp.

FOUNDED: February 2007 by software consultant David Karp and web developer Marco Arment.

HEADQUARTERS: New York

LEADERSHIP: Founder David Karp, 26, is CEO. He owns a 25 per cent stake in the company.

EMPLOYEES: 175

FINANCIALS: Tumblr’s 2012 revenue was $13 million. The company’s net worth was estimated by Forbes at $800 million in 2011.

USERS: 54 million

DAILY POSTS: 70 million

MONTHLY PAGE VIEWS: 17.5 billion

LANGUAGES: Localized in 12 languages, including Polish, Turkish and Japanese.

BIG MOMENTS: Singer Frank Ocean announced that his first love was a man on his Tumblr blog. Singers Beyonce and Jay-Z posted the first photos of their new baby on Tumblr.

SMALL DELIGHTS: “Sad Desk Lunch,” where users post photos of the lunches they’re eating at their desks. “Same Ocean, Different Day,” where users from all over the world post photos of the Pacific Ocean.

Sources: Tumblr; Forbes.

The post Background on the content-sharing site Tumblr appeared first on Canadian Business.

The Big Gossan underground training facility at the PT Freeport Indonesia mine collapsed last week when 38 workers were undergoing safety training. Ten injured miners were rescued.

The company said in a statement Monday that recovery efforts were continuing around the clock.

Mining operations at the Grasberg mine, owned by Phoenix, Arizona-based Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc., have been suspended since the accident to pay respects to the victims and to concentrate on the recovery effort.

The post 3 more bodies recovered, bringing death toll from collapse at US-owned Indonesian mine to 17 appeared first on Canadian Business.

The deal announced Monday is Mayer’s boldest move since she left Google 10 months ago to lead Yahoo’s latest comeback attempt. It marks Yahoo’s most expensive acquisition since the Sunnyvale, Calif., company bought online search engine Overture a decade ago for $1.3 billion in cash and stock.

Yahoo is paying mostly cash for Tumblr, dipping into what remains of a $7.6 billion windfall reaped last year from selling about half of its stake in Chinese Internet company Alibaba Holdings Group. Taking over Tumblr will devour about one-fifth of the $5.4 billion in cash that Yahoo had in its accounts at the end of March.

While hailing Tumblr as a fount of creativity that attracts 300 million visitors each month, Mayer told analysts Monday that she is “making a sincere promise to not screw it up.” David Karp, a high school dropout who started Tumblr six years ago, will remain in control of the service in an effort to retain the same “irreverence, wit and commitment to empower creators,” Yahoo said.

Karp, 26, may now have a managerial mentor in Mayer, 37. Tumblr, which will remain based in New York, has about 175 employees while Yahoo has 11,300 workers.

Mayer, who worked closely with Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin during her time at the company, had high praise for Karp during Monday’s conference call. “David Karp is one of the most inspiring, insightful entrepreneurs that I have ever met,” she said.

In his statement, Karp predicted Yahoo would help Tumblr grow even faster as he strives “to make the Internet the ultimate creative canvas. “

The deal is expected to close during the second half of this year.

Tumblr will now play a pivotal role in Mayer’s attempt to reshape Yahoo. To take on the challenge, Mayer ended a highly successful 13-year career at Google, which she helped surpass Yahoo as the Internet’s most influential company. Since coming to Yahoo, Mayer has concentrated on improving employee morale, redesigning services and bringing in more engineering talent through a series of small acquisitions that have collectively cost less than $50 million.

Yahoo will still focus on mostly small deals, Mayer said. She seized the opportunity to buy Tumblr because she believes the service can accelerate her efforts to turn around Yahoo.

“Tumblr is a game changer,” Mayer assured analysts.

As popular as Tumblr has become, the service remains unprofitable. That is likely to raise questions about whether Yahoo paid too much in Mayer’s zeal to gain control over a hot service. Facebook Inc. faced similar doubts last year when it bought Instagram, a rapidly growing photo sharing site, that also hadn’t been trying to make money. Facebook initially agreed to pay $1 billion in stock for Instagram, but the value had fallen to $715 million by the time that deal closed. Facebook still hasn’t proven it will be able to make money off of Instagram.

Mayer’s efforts at Yahoo have been well-received on Wall Street so far, although most of the roughly 70 per cent surge in Yahoo’s stock price under Mayer’s leadership has been driven by the rising value of Yahoo’s remaining 24 per cent in Alibaba. When Alibaba goes public within the next few years, analysts have estimated Yahoo could collect another $10 billion to $20 billion by selling the rest of its Alibaba stock.

If this deal pays off the way Mayer envisions, Tumblr could help Yahoo finally get its stock price to $33. That would be a major coup because many investors soured on Yahoo after a previous regime led by co-founder Jerry Yang squandered an opportunity five years ago to sell the entire company to Microsoft for $33 per share. The stock spent more than four years trading below $20 before the recent surge. The shares gained 14 cents to $26.66 in Monday’s afternoon trading.

The deal could backfire though if Yahoo’s effort to make more money alienate a Tumblr user base that so far has been subjected to hardly any advertising during the service’s six-year history.

“Yahoo has to manage this acquisition in a way that keeps Tumblr’s user base while trying to add advertising, which historically tends to turn off a lot of people,” said Forrester Research analyst Zachary Reiss-Davis.

Mayer said Yahoo will work with Tumblr to create ads that “are tasteful and seamless.” The company expects Tumblr to start increasing Yahoo’s revenue next year.

Mayer is betting that Tumblr will provide Yahoo with a captivating hook to reel in more traffic and advertisers on smartphones and tablet computers. That rapidly growing market is expected to become even more important during the next decade as people increasingly consume digital content on mobile devices instead of laptop and desktop machines.

More than half of Tumblr’s users connect to the service through the mobile app, and engage in an average of seven sessions per day.

“I would characterize Tumblr as being ahead of Yahoo in terms of its work on mobile,” Mayer said.

Besides offering one of the top mobile apps, Tumblr also runs one of the world’s busiest websites, featuring 75 million daily posts about everything from politics to pets. Advertising has been a missing ingredient so far as Tumblr, like many online services in their early stages, focused on building a loyal audience before turning its attention to making money.

The deal also has some symbolic significance for Yahoo, an 18-year-old company that had spent much of the past decade aimlessly drifting under different management teams while Google Inc. overtook it in terms of size and influence. At the same time, newcomers such as Facebook Inc. and Twitter began to command the attention of people who found themselves spending less and less time on Yahoo.

Part of Yahoo’s problems stemmed from missed chances to improve its service and technology.

Yahoo flirted with potential acquisitions of Google and Facebook in those two companies’ early days, only to have the talks unravel because Yahoo wasn’t prepared to pay asking prices that were far below the current market values of Google ($300 billion) and Facebook ($63 billion). Yahoo also considered buying YouTube in 2006, only to be outbid by Google, which snapped up the world’s leading online service for $1.76 billion — a price that now looks like a bargain.

Even when Yahoo did pull off deals, the company has been criticized for mismanaging a list of acquired services that includes photo-sharing Flickr, online help-wanted service HotJobs and content-sharing service Del.icio.us. Yahoo ended up selling HotJobs and Del.icio.us, but Mayer has been looking at ways to spruce up Flickr and blend its photos into more of Yahoo’s other services. Mayer is expected to discuss more changes for Flickr at an event in New York Monday evening.

Tumblr could help Yahoo recapture some of its cachet with teens and adults in their early 20s, a demographic that has become tougher for Yahoo to reach in recent years as it fell behind the technological curve and struggled to develop compelling services.

While Facebook has turned into a mainstream social network where even grandparents now connect family and friends, Tumblr has become one of the places where the cool kids hang out.

“Tumblr is redefining creative expression online,” Mayer said. “On many levels, Tumblr and Yahoo couldn’t be more different, but, at the same time, they couldn’t be more complementary.”

Tumblr emerged as a trendy online hangout by providing a service that makes it easy to share blog posts, photos, video and other content in an enthralling mosaic. The service says it has amassed more than 50 billion posts from 108 million blogs. Tumblr users rely on a dashboard to pinpoint the kinds of blogs that they want to track and also have tools to pass along the posts that interest them.

That wealth of content could be interwoven into Yahoo’s other services that provide coverage of general news, sports, finance and entertainment. Tumblr also will fill Yahoo’s gaping void in the realm of social media. Yahoo so far has had to connect its services to Facebook and Twitter to give its users a social networking outlet.

Having its own social networking service will also give Yahoo more insights into the things that people like — a key to distributing ads to consumers most likely to be interested in a specific products. That data, in turn, should help Yahoo sell more ads and accelerate its revenue growth. After three successive years of declines, Yahoo’s revenue rose slightly last year, but lagged far behind the growth at Google and Facebook. Mayer has vowed to bring Yahoo’s revenue growth back to at least the level of the overall Internet ad market.

Yahoo’s acquisition will deliver a jackpot to Karp, who dropped out of high school to concentrate on computer programming. He ended up being home schooled while taking classes in Japanese and working on gambling software. Later, he became a product executive at a parenting website called UrbanBaby. After CNet bought the site in 2006, Karp set up his own a development service called “Davidville” before deciding to create an outlet for personal expression — an endeavour that hatched Tumblr.

Karp’s cut from the Yahoo deal is about $275 million. Most of the rest of the money will be paid to the venture capitalists that invested about $125 million into Tumblr. That list includes Spark Capital, Sequoia Capital, Greylock Partners, Union Square Ventures and Insight Venture Partners.

The post Yahoo buys blogging forum Tumblr for $1.1 billion in boldest move yet under CEO Marissa Mayer appeared first on Canadian Business.

The appointment of the 46-year-old Lawler comes after a tough year during which Chesapeake’s board ousted its founder and the company worked to shore up its finances.

The new CEO takes over as Chesapeake continues selling assets to pare down an enormous debt burden. Chesapeake intends to sell $4 billion to $7 billion in assets this year. It has sold about $2 billion so far in deals that have either been signed or finalized.

Former CEO and Chairman Aubrey McClendon built Chesapeake into the nation’s second largest producer of natural gas by aggressively acquiring drilling rights on land throughout the country. When natural gas prices slumped to decade-lows in early 2012, the value of those rights plummeted, as did the revenue generated from the gas produced from the land. That put Chesapeake in a financial bind that it has been trying to free itself from by selling drilling rights to other oil and gas companies.

It also exposed some controversial perks that McClendon had arranged, including the right to invest personally in all of the company’s wells. Investor uproar in the spring of 2012 over the perks and the way McClendon financed his investments led the company to remove its founder from the position of board chairman.

Even though subsequent internal investigations into McClendon’s activities turned up no improper conduct, the company announced early this year that McClendon would leave the company because of “philosophical differences” between McClendon and the board.

Lawler is senior vice-president for international and deep-water operations at Anadarko Petroleum. He also will join the Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake’s board. The appointments are effective June 17.

Lawler is a petroleum engineer with 25 years of experience in the exploration and production industry.

Chesapeake shares rose 1.5 per cent to $20.57 in premarket trading Monday.

The post Chesapeake appoints Anadarko Petroleum’s Robert Douglas Lawler as its new CEO appeared first on Canadian Business.

The announcement Monday comes after the companies said earlier this month that they were in talks about a possible pairing of one of the world’s largest generic drugmakers, Actavis Inc., with an Irish company that has a portfolio of established, branded drugs.

The combined company will be incorporated in Ireland, and analysts say that country’s lower tax rate is a key to making the deal work. Actavis said it expects about $400 million in after-tax savings and cost cuts from the combination, counting the lower tax rate.

Generic drugmakers like Parsippany, N.J.-based Actavis have benefited the past couple years from the expiration of patents protecting top-selling drugs like the cholesterol fighter Lipitor. But many companies are competing for that revenue source, and analysts expect it to start drying up over the next few years.

The Warner Chilcott PLC deal will give Actavis an earnings jolt starting next year, Susquehanna Financial Group analyst Andrew Finkelstein said in a research note. But he added that he expects revenue from Warner Chilcott’s product portfolio to decline modestly.

Morningstar analyst Michael Waterhouse said Warner Chilcott’s pipeline of products under development also is weak, and he thought both companies were a bit overvalued heading into the deal.

“I would say we’re probably not as enthusiastic as the market has been (about the acquisition),” Waterhouse said.

Actavis was formed last fall through a $5.6 billion combination of generic drugmaker Watson Pharmaceuticals of New Jersey and Actavis of Switzerland. It sells inexpensive generic versions of Lipitor, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder drugs Adderall XR and Concerta, Lovenox for preventing or breaking up dangerous blood clots and many other products. Actavis also has a U.S. pharmaceutical distribution business called Anda.

Warner Chilcott’s products include the ulcerative colitis treatment Asacol, which is its top-selling drug, and Delzicol, another ulcerative colitis medication approved in February. Its revenue has been hurt the past couple years in part because low-cost generic versions of its osteoporosis drug Actonel went on sale in Western Europe and Canada in 2010, and U.S. sales have slipped as well.

In the deal announced Monday, Warner Chilcott shareholders will receive 0.160 shares of the new company for each share they own. This equals $20.08 per share, which is a 34 per cent premium to the stock’s closing price on May 9, the day before the companies said they were talking about a deal.

Warner Chilcott shareholders would then own a 23 per cent stake in the new company.

Actavis Inc. shareholders will receive one share of the new company for each share they own.

Actavis CEO Paul Bisaro said in a statement that the deal will provide support for the launch of new women’s health products over the next several years, including Minastrin 24 Fe birth-control pills, a progestin-only contraceptive patch and metronidazole gel for treating vaginal infections. Bisaro said it also gives Actavis a broader portfolio of specialty products that have sales potential outside North America.

Both companies’ boards unanimously approved the deal, which is expected to close by year’s end. It still needs the approval of the majority of shareholders of both companies.

The new company will be called Actavis PLC, and its U.S.-traded shares are expected to trade under the “ACT” ticker symbol on the New York Stock Exchange.

Monday’s announcement follows reports that Actavis had rebuffed takeover bids from generic drugmaker Mylan Inc. and Canada’s Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. and that Novartis AG was considering a bid, something the Swiss drugmaker later denied. Analysts say any companies interested in Actavis could still step in with a fresh offer before the Warner Chilcott deal is completed.

Shares of Actavis climbed 2.6 per cent, or $3211, to $128.71 in midday trading, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index was flat. The stock price has spiked 20 per cent since the companies said on May 10 that they were in talks about a combination.

U.S.-traded shares of Warner Chilcott climbed more than 3 per cent, or 59 cents, to $19.80. That price has climbed 32 per cent since closing at $15.01 on May 9.

__

AP Business Writers Tom Murphy in Indianapolis and Linda A. Johnson in Trenton, N.J., contributed to this story.

The post Actavis buying Warner Chilcott in all-stock transaction valued at about $8.5 billion appeared first on Canadian Business.

Basri will contend with slowing economic growth and an unpopular plan to reduce fuel subsidies.

He replaces Agus Martowardojo who earlier this year was tapped to head Indonesia’s central bank.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Monday that investment in Southeast Asia’s largest economy had grown significantly and contributed to economic growth under Basri’s leadership of the investment board.

Basri is an economist and former deputy finance minister.

Co-ordinating Economy Minister Hatta Rajasa has been acting finance minister.

The post Head of Investment Board Chatib Basri named Indonesia’s new finance minister appeared first on Canadian Business.

Smiling, he points to a young couple oblivious to their surroundings in the crowded, noisy cafe. They’re snuggled together behind a laptop, sharing a pair of earbud headphones, and engrossed in a video they’re streaming via the in-house WiFi.

“People look to Netflix when they have some time to relax, some time to kill and want some stimulation, and that’s not limited to the living room at 8 p.m.,” Hastings later says in an interview.

“What’s great about an Internet service, whether it’s YouTube or Netflix, is you can (use) it on many different platforms — that’s really where TV is going.”

Netflix recently published an 11-page letter to shareholders entitled “Netflix Long Term View,” outlining how the company believes it will thrive in the years ahead at the expense of conventional broadcast TV.

“People don’t love the linear TV experience where channels present programs at particular times on non-portable screens with complicated remote controls,” the letter reads.

“Finding good things to watch isn’t easy or enjoyable. While hugely popular, the linear TV channel model is ripe for replacement.”

Hastings sat down with The Canadian Press to talk about how the company is doing in Canada, its plans to disrupt the television industry, and the development of original content, which Netflix hopes will soon win some awards. The company confirmed it has submitted its star-studded political drama “House of Cards” for Emmy award consideration, and “Arrested Development” will also be eligible for nominations.

CP: “Arrested Development” fans have May 26 circled on their calendars and many will likely try to watch all 15 new episodes in the same day. Does it matter to you how quickly fans get through the new episodes?

Hastings: It does. We do a lot of research on what people are watching, what they’re enjoying, how quickly. So take the first three seasons of “Arrested Development,” there’s a difference between people watching them very rapidly, which shows they’re really into the content, versus they watch it once a month. And a lot of them never finish the series — that’s a mark of not really enjoying it. “Arrested Development” seasons 1, 2 and 3 had an incredible passion index, once (viewers) get into it they’re like, “More and more and more!” and loving it, so that helps us really zero in on the content people love as opposed to merely like. And so that’s when we knew season 4 had the potential to be a great success.”

CP: Cast members have expressed interest in continuing on with the series beyond the new episodes hitting Netflix soon. What’s your involvement in a next step for “Arrested Development”?

Hastings: We certainly hope they choose us, if they’re willing to do more. That would be very, very exciting, we’d certainly back them in doing more. But I think it’s up to them where do they want to take it after this. I imagine they’ll let the dust settle, get this season out, and then brainstorm.

CP: Is Netflix interested in reviving other cancelled cult-favourite shows?

Hastings: “Unfortunately, it’s probably not very repeatable for Netflix … It’s hard to get all the talent back. No one wants it to come back and be lousy, so it’s got to come back and be great, and that’s tricky. The characters have aged, they’ve gone on in their careers, various other things have happened, so it’s pretty unusual to be able to pull it off.”

CP: The last time you publicly updated your Canadian subscriber count was in the summer of 2011 after you hit the 1-million mark. Why no updates since then?

Hastings: We don’t give out for competitive reasons specific subscriber numbers, we’ve just said we’re continuing to grow in all our markets and as we grow we get to add more content … I think we’re probably done (releasing subscriber numbers), we’ll say we’re more than a million.”

CP: What’s the biggest challenge for Netflix in Canada?

Hastings: The biggest challenge is there’s a lot of new competition. Videotron has just formed a service, French-language oriented, Rogers is talking about launching a service, we’ll see if the Bell-Astral merger goes … In each nation people are adopting internet television, we’ll win part of the viewing and part of the affection, not the whole thing. The only thing we can really control is what we do, so we’re focused on how do we make the service a little bit better, how do we get the content a little bit better, how do we get the marketing a little bit better? We’ve been in this unusual phase where we’re the new kid on the block and the only one of our type and of course that’s going to change now.”

CP: YouTube recently unveiled a series of pay-per-view channels. To what extent is that competition for Netflix?

Hastings: Their ad-supported content is hugely viewed and so they’re a competitor for time — we break people up into competitors as competitors for time and competitors for content. We don’t compete with them for content, they don’t bid against us for the type of content we have. But when a person wants to relax, sometimes they’ll watch some YouTube and sometimes they’ll watch some Netflix, and in that sense we compete for how people relax.

CP: You’ve been quoted as saying that you’re always trying out a new smartphone or tablet to keep up on new technology. Have you tried one of the new BlackBerry 10 devices yet?

Hastings: No. Like many people I was a BlackBerry addict from 1997 or 1998 through to the iPhone but I haven’t tried it. We don’t currently support streaming on the BlackBerry, it’s a unique operating system you have to target, and unfortunately there’s just not enough volume for entertainment (apps). It’s a great device for getting work done but people don’t interact with it as an entertainment device the same way they do with say an iPhone or Android phone.

CP: How are you seeing mobile behaviours change among Netflix users?

Hastings: One of the biggest growth categories we have is tablet-based viewing and phone-based viewing. On a year-over-year basis it’s up quite a lot, as more and more tablets are sold and people experience the convenience and the satisfaction of it. But big-screen viewing is still the majority.”

CP: What do you watch on Netflix?

Hastings: I’m exotic so I watch mostly documentaries, I don’t watch much of the big, popular stuff. I just watched a Steve Jobs interview called “The Lost Interview” that’s incredibly prescient. It was incredible to see him talk in 1995, and of course he’s young and healthy then, about what he saw in the future and so much of it has come true. Another one is “Something Ventured,” which is about the roots of the venture capital industry and how this huge industry today 40 years ago was this tiny little group of people that were kind of crazy and I’ll watch “House of Cards.”

“Netflix Long Term View” letter to shareholders: http://bit.ly/18OeG9W

The post Interview: Netflix CEO on future of TV, ‘Arrested Development,’ BlackBerry appeared first on Canadian Business.

Yang Kun, a former vice-president of Agricultural Bank of China Ltd., was expelled from the party after investigators concluded he “took advantage of his position to seek favours for others and received huge bribes,” the Ministry of Supervision said.

The brief statement gave no details. But earlier news reports said Yang might be linked to an investigation into 3 billion yuan ($475 million) in improper loans used by a real estate developer to pay gambling debts.

In previous cases, once an official is expelled from the party on corruption allegations, a conviction in court follows almost automatically.

One of China’s four main state-owned commercial lenders, Agricultural Bank is also one of the world’s biggest banks, with some $2.1 trillion in assets.

Yang is the highest-ranking banker ensnared in a corruption case since a former president of China Construction Bank Ltd., the country’s fifth-biggest commercial lender, was jailed in 2006.

Yang has been in the custody of party investigators since last May, the business magazine Caixin had reported, citing unidentified sources.

Caixin said Yang was being investigated in three separate cases, one of which involved a real estate developer who improperly used bank loans to repay debts to Macau casinos. It said Yang blocked efforts to call in the loan.

___

Ministry of Supervision (in Chinese): www.mos.gov.cn

The post Former top Chinese banker expelled from party for graft, handed over to prosecutors appeared first on Canadian Business.

Ryanair’s share price also surged to an all-time high after the Dublin-based carrier predicted it would enjoy similar, if not better, earnings in the coming year.

The company’s net profit in the 12 months through March rose 13 per cent to 569.3 million euros ($729 million), eclipsing last year’s record. The airline, famous for its extra charges on everything from boarding cards to assigned seats, has thrived against higher-cost rivals amid recession and the eurozone debt crisis.

Sales rose 13 per cent to 4.9 billion euros for the fiscal year ending in March. This reflects a 6 per cent rise in average ticket prices and 217 new routes, taking Ryanair’s network to more than 1,600. During the year, Ryanair opened up new bases in Croatia, Greece, Morocco, the Netherlands and Poland.

Ryanair carried 79.3 million passengers, up 5 per cent, and continued to sell on average 82 per cent of its seats. It expects to carry 81.5 million customers in the 2013-14 fiscal year.

Shares in Ryanair surged nearly 10 per cent on the better-than-expected profits, and closed the day up 7 per cent at 6.77 euros. Ryanair shares a year ago were trading near 4 euros.

Analysts welcomed confirmation that Ryanair has secured 90 per cent of its 2013-14 fuel needs at an average cost of $98 per barrel, close to the current market price.

Fuel represents Ryanair’s biggest expense and, if not hedged against, is its most unpredictable threat to future profitability. Ryanair said its fuel costs rose 18 per cent in 2012-13 to 1.89 billion euros, or 45 per cent of total company expenses.

Ryanair offered an upbeat outlook, predicting a further increase in its net profits over the next 12 months despite recession across much of Europe. It forecast a profit in the range of 570 million euros to 600 million euros for the year ending in March 2014, making it far and away the best-performing airline in Europe.

Its network is expected to keep growing as quickly as its fleet of Boeing 737-800s expands. Ryanair already operates 305 aircraft, and in March ordered 175 more 737-800s to be delivered from 2014 to 2018.

“Our new-route teams continue to handle more growth opportunities than our current fleet expansion allows. Significant opportunities are opening up in Germany, Scandinavia and central Europe in particular, where Air Berlin, SAS and LOT continue to restructure,” Chief Executive Michael O’Leary said in a statement.

The post Ryanair increases profits to new record high, forecasts even better results for 2014 appeared first on Canadian Business.

Jorge Menezes said the two assailants used bricks to bash him on the head before fleeing in last week’s attack, which recalled the former Portuguese colony’s shady past when Chinese organized crime gangs known as “triads” fought for control of lucrative casino VIP rooms. Macau largely shed its reputation for triad violence as it grew into the world’s biggest gambling market.

Menezes said he believed the attack was an “act of intimidation” related to his legal work, which involves criminal and civil cases, but he wouldn’t say who he thought was behind it.

Macau was rocked by gangland killings in the run-up to its handover to China in 1999 but violence abated as new authorities took control, allowing the gambling industry to boom and foreigners to open casinos.

Authorities are eager to develop the city as a family-friendly travel and entertainment destination and diversify the economy away from its reliance on gambling revenues, which rose to $38 million last year.

Macau, an hour from Hong Kong by high-speed hydrofoil ferry, is a key market for foreign casino operators such as Las Vegas Sands Corp., Wynn Resorts Ltd. and MGM Resorts International, which are investing heavily in new casino resorts.

Menezes said the attack occurred while he was walking his five-year-old son to school on Thursday morning. He said one assailant hit him with a brick on the back of the head. Another man, also armed with a brick, joined in, and they both tried to rain blows on his head.

The bricks his attackers were using were tied to their hands, Menezes said.

“That’s a technique that I was told is used by nasty people in mainland China,” said Menezes, who injured his arm fending off the blows and required stitches to his head. He reported the attack to police.

Paulo Coutinho, editor-in-chief of the Macau Daily Times, said the assault had the hallmarks of an unsophisticated “old-school” triad intimidation attack.

“It’s a clear sign for people to remember that organized crime in Macau is part of the deal,” he said.

Gang violence has become rare in Macau, although a few other recent flickers have unsettled residents. Last year, a longtime operator of VIP casino junkets, Ng Man-sun, was beaten by six men in his hotel in what was reportedly a dispute with his ex-lover over ownership of the property.

Also last year, two mainland Chinese men were found murdered in a hotel and a mainland Chinese woman was found dead in a residential neighbourhood.

The city also braced in December for the release of a notorious gangster known as Broken Tooth Koi after 15 years in prison, but fears of a wave of violence never materialized.

Among Menezes’ clients is Taiwanese-American businessman Marshall Hao, who is suing U.S. billionaire Sheldon Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands for $375 million in a breach of contract dispute related to the company’s acquisition of its Macau casino license.

_______

Follow Kelvin Chan at twitter.com/chanman

The post Macau lawyer says broad daylight assault in Chinese gambling haven an attempt to intimidate appeared first on Canadian Business.

Rescuers were taking care to avoid setting off additional explosions as they searched the site of the explosion in Shandong province’s Caofan township, the China News Service said. The company website said the factory, run by the Baoli group, manufactures 10,000 tons of industrial explosives annually.

The force of the blast flung broken glass, smashed concrete, and other debris as far as 200 metres (660 feet), reports said. Walls in outlying buildings were flattened and glass shattered.

A total of 34 people were inside the factory at the time of the blast, and survivors were rushed to a hospital. The cause of the blast and condition of those injured were not immediately known.

A government spokesman for the surrounding city of Zhangqiu said a full accounting of the dead and injured was being compiled and would be released. Like many Chinese bureaucrats, he would only give his surname, Cao.

China has sought to tighten access to explosives used for quarrying following a series of attacks by people using homemade bombs. However, safety rules are often ignored and industrial accidents remain common.

The post At least 12 dead following blast at explosives factory in eastern China appeared first on Canadian Business.

Friction has been building between the Asian giants in recent years as they vie for regional influence and access to fuel needed to feed their growing economies. Li Keqiang’s trip to India, his first visit abroad since becoming Chinese premier, seems intended to minimize those tensions.

The three-day visit is part of an outreach mission by the new Chinese leadership to large emerging economies aimed at balancing Beijing’s fraught ties with the United States.

In that vein, Li — and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh — sought Monday to focus on the opportunities for co-operation between their nations.

“Both the prime minister and I believe that there are far more shared interests between China and India than the differences we have,” Li said at a joint news conference.

“Without the common development of China and India, Asia won’t become strong and the world won’t become a better place,” he said.

The summit was far heavier on symbolism than substance. The two sides signed eight minor agreements. But both leaders insisted the co-operation was important, and they promised to build on it, announcing that Singh would make a visit to China later in the year.

“I shared with Premier Li my view that the rise of China and India is good for the world and that the world has enough space to accommodate the growth aspirations of both our peoples. To make this a reality, it is important to build understanding between our two peoples,” Singh said.

“We agreed that both sides must work to strengthen greater trust and confidence, which, in turn, will permit much larger co-operation,” he added.

But the two nations have deep disputes, including China’s unwavering support of India’s archrival, Pakistan. The presence in India of Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and the self-declared Tibetan government-in-exile are a constant irritant to China.

China already sees itself as Asia’s great power, while India hopes its increasing economic and military might — though still far below its neighbour’s — will eventually put it in the same league.

While China has worked to shore up relationships with Nepal and Sri Lanka in India’s traditional South Asian sphere of influence, India has been venturing into partnerships with Southeast Asian nations.

Even their $61.5 billion in trade last year was a source of tension because it was heavily skewed in favour of China. Singh said he spoke to Li about getting greater access to Chinese markets for Indian goods.

Their most volatile dispute remains their border disagreement, which led to a bloody war in 1962 and flared up last month, just weeks before Li’s planned visit.

India said Chinese troops crossed the de facto border on April 15 and pitched camp in the Depsang Valley in the Ladakh region of eastern Kashmir. New Delhi responded with diplomatic protests and then moved its soldiers just 300 metres (yards) from the Chinese position.

The two sides negotiated a peaceful end to the standoff three weeks later by withdrawing troops to their original positions in the Ladakh area.

Li said they spoke candidly about the dispute. Both leaders said they agreed that preserving peace along the border was crucial to maintaining growth and asked mediators from both countries to work toward a framework for reaching a settlement.

During the talks, both sides agreed that Indian National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon will visit China within weeks to discuss the border issue, Indian Ambassador to China S. Jaishankar told reporters. He said Indian Defence Minister A.K. Antony is also scheduled to visit China soon.

Indian media reports said a border co-operation agreement under negotiation proposes a freezing of troop levels in the disputed border region as the two countries make efforts to settle the issue.

India says China is occupying 38,000 square kilometres (15,000 square miles) of its territory in the Aksai Chin plateau in the western Himalayas, while China claims around 90,000 square kilometres (35,000 square miles) in India’s northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh. The two sides have held 15 rounds of fruitless border talks over the past decade.

In a joint statement, the two sides agreed to co-operate on energy and environmental conservation and disaster management and to address their trade imbalance while trying to increase trade to $100 billion by 2015.

Li’s Indian mission is part of China’s broader international outreach intended to balance its relations with Washington.

“As the two largest economies of the world and the most important political powers of the Asia-Pacific region, China-U.S. relations in every respect still remain the pivot of China’s foreign policies,” said Wang Lian, an international relations scholar at Peking University in Beijing. But, Wang said, “as China’s political and economic influence increase continuously, China needs to boost its bilateral and multilateral relations with developing countries so as not to totally rely on its relations with the U.S.”

Chinese state media heralded Li’s India visit with headlines that the “Dragon and elephant dance together” and coverage that emphasized common interests — trade and regional peace — and played down divisions.

Ultimately, Beijing hopes that making common cause with India and the other big emerging economies will help them rewrite the rules of the U.S.-dominated international order. Li’s boss, Communist Party chief Xi Jinping, made his first overseas trip to Russia and then to South Africa for a summit of those new big economies, the BRICS nations of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

In an interview with the Xinhua News Agency, Chinese Ambassador to India Wei Wei said Beijing and Delhi are working together on climate change, world trade rules and revising the international finance system. The co-operation “shows the two countries’ crucial role on major issues of global governance,” the ambassador was quoted as saying.

Li is to visit Pakistan, Switzerland and Germany after leaving India.

___

Associated Press researcher Yu Bing in Beijing contributed to this report.

___

Follow Ravi Nessman on Twitter at twitter.com/ravinessman

The post Leaders of China, India say peace between Asian giants crucial for stability appeared first on Canadian Business.

Benchmark crude for June delivery was down 25 cents to $95.77 a barrel at midday Bangkok time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 86 cents to close at $96.02 a barrel on Friday.

Later in the week, the U.S. government will release home sales and durable goods orders for April and HSBC will release its monthly survey on China’s manufacturing growth.

Analysts are also awaiting testimony Wednesday from Ben Bernanke, who heads the U.S. central bank. Of special interest are any possible hints that the Fed might be preparing to scale back its super-loose monetary policy because recent data has pointed toward a sustained economic recovery.

“Markets will be watching closely for any signs of what the Fed’s next move will be,” said analysts at DBS Bank Ltd. in Singapore in a commentary.

Brent crude, a benchmark for many international oil varieties, fell 11 cents to $104.35 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

In other energy futures trading on Nymex:

— Wholesale gasoline rose 0.6 cent to $2.898 a gallon.

— Heating oil added 0.4 cent to $2.934 a gallon.

— Natural gas gained 0.7 cent to $4.123 per 1,000 cubic feet.

The post Price of oil falls below $96 per barrel as traders await data, Fed chief Bernanke’s speech appeared first on Canadian Business.

China is New Zealand’s largest export market and its largest consumer of sheep meat.

China has blocked all New Zealand frozen beef and sheep meat that has arrived there in the past two or three weeks, said Dan Coup, trade and economic manager for the Meat Industry Association of New Zealand.

The meat sitting in freezers at the docks is worth tens of millions of dollars. Because it is frozen, it will last months, Coup said.

Exporters changed the branding on their certificates in March after New Zealand government departments merged. Because the meat is transported in ships, he said, it would have taken several weeks before products with the new branding arrived.

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said Monday the issue is a technical hiccup that he expects will be resolved this week. He said China continues to have a big appetite for New Zealand meat and he doesn’t expect the problem will affect trade long-term.

No other country has halted imports over the matter, New Zealand authorities said.

Other trade between the two countries, including New Zealand’s dairy exports, has not been affected.

There are no health or safety concerns and officials are working to resolve the issue, Coup said.

But if the dispute drags on, he said, there’s a risk that Chinese buyers will look elsewhere for meat and that exporters will get hit with big storage fees.

New Zealand government figures show meat exports to China increased significantly in the months before the dispute began.

In the first quarter of 2013, New Zealand exported sheep meat worth 204 million New Zealand dollars ($165 million), beef worth NZ$73 million, and edible offal worth NZ$5 million to China. Over the past year, China consumed NZ$600 million of meat. If the pace of the latest quarter continued, the market this year would almost double to NZ$1.1 billion.

“We value our close working relationship with China and remain confident that this issue can be resolved,” said Nathan Guy, the Minister for Primary Industries, in a release.

The post Hundreds of tons of New Zealand meat stranded at Chinese ports over certification dispute appeared first on Canadian Business.

The economists predict that the U.S. economy will grow 2.4 per cent this year and 3 per cent next year. That’s unchanged from their forecast in February.

But they are more bullish on consumer spending and housing than they were three months ago, in part because of a more positive view about unemployment.

The survey was released Monday by the National Association for Business Economics, which periodically surveys economists for banks, manufacturers and universities.

The 49 economists who were questioned between April 16 and April 30 predicted that consumer spending will rise 2.3 per cent this year, up from a forecast of 1.9 per cent in February. They were also more upbeat about auto sales, predicting 15.4 million vehicles sales, an increase of 1 million over 2012.

Nayantara Hensel, chair of the NABE survey and a business professor at National Defence University, said consumer spending will get a boost from gains in the stock market, home values and lower unemployment.

“Home prices are going up, and with also the improvement in the unemployment rate, people will be more willing to buy,” Hensel said in an interview.

The economists predicted that home prices will rise 4.4 per cent this year and 4 per cent next year. Boosted by new construction, they predict a 15 per cent jump in residential housing investment this year.

Housing starts hit a 5-year peak in March then fell in April, with most of the decline due to less apartment construction, which can swing wildly from month to month.

Applications for building permits hit a 5-year high in April, suggesting that the housing market will continue to recover from the recession. A recent survey by the National Association of Home Builders found continued optimism among builders.

The NABE economists, who were surveyed before April unemployment was reported at 7.5 per cent, predicted that the rate will decline to 7.4 per cent in the fourth quarter and 6.8 per cent in late 2014.

Corporate profits after taxes are expected to rise 5.3 per cent in 2013 and 7.5 per cent next year. Both of those are more bullish forecasts than the economists offered in February.

While consumers might spend more, the government sector is expected to shrink 2.3 per cent this year — sharper than the 1 per cent cut that the economists predicted in February, before a series of automatic federal spending cuts kicked in when Congress and the White House failed to reach a deal to avoid them. The economists expect government spending to decline a more modest 0.9 per cent in 2014, but Hensel said the forecast could change to a bigger decline if it looks like the automatic cuts will continue into the next fiscal year.

Lower government spending, especially by the military, “has already had a sharp effect on GDP growth,” she said. GDP, or gross domestic product, is the measure of the economy’s total output of goods and services.

The NABE survey found little alarm about potential inflation. The economists expect the Consumer Price Index to rise 1.9 per cent this year and 2.1 per cent in 2014.

On Friday, the Conference Board reported that its index of leading economic indicators rose in April after dipping in March. A board economist said the economy was getting a lift from steady job gains and the housing market, offsetting government spending cuts.

The post In survey, economists says consumers poised to boost spending, offset government cuts appeared first on Canadian Business.

A United 787 flight took off from Houston on Monday morning and landed in Chicago.

United Continental Holdings Inc. has six 787s. Battery problems on planes owned by other airlines prompted the grounding. Federal authorities cleared the planes to fly again on April 19.

United plans to use its 787s on routes from Houston to other U.S. cities this week. It plans to restart international flights on June 10.

The Federal Aviation Administration lifted its grounding order last month, and Ethiopian Airlines resumed 787 flights on April 27.

Boeing never found the root cause of the smouldering batteries, but it has said that it believes its fix covers all possible causes.

The post United Airlines resumes 787 flights after 4-month halt, with flight from Houston to Chicago appeared first on Canadian Business.

The Intermediate People’s Court of Wenzhou, a centre for private sector business, says Lin Haiyan was convicted of “illegal fundraising” for collecting 640 million yuan ($101 million) from individual investors by promising high returns and low risk.

Chinese entrepreneurs who often cannot get loans from the state-owned banking system rely on such informal lending. Regulators have begun tightening controls after a surge of defaults prompted protests by lenders.

Another businesswoman from Wenzhou also was sentenced to death last year on illegal fundraising charges. That penalty was overturned following an outcry on the Internet and she was sentenced to prison.

The post Chinese court sentences entrepreneur to death in latest crackdown on underground banking appeared first on Canadian Business.