McClatchy posts lower 3Q earnings, revenue

(AP) ? The McClatchy Co. reported lower net income in the third quarter, hurt by declining circulation and ad revenue at its newspapers.

The owner of The Miami Herald, The Sacramento Bee and other newspapers said Thursday that it earned $5.1 million, or 6 cents per share, in the July-September period. That's down 46 percent from $9.4 million, or 11 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier.

Revenue fell 4 percent to $287.5 million from $300.2 million.

Circulation revenue slid 2 percent to $62.8 million from $64.1 million.

Advertising revenue fell 5.4 percent to $212 million from $224.2 million a year ago.

The company said its results show that it's "making progress in an uncertain economy." Third-quarter revenue declined at a slower pace than in the first quarter of this year, when it dropped 6.8 percent. In the second quarter ad revenue was down 5.7 percent.

"We were particularly pleased to see continued growth in our digital advertising revenues and are excited about initiatives under way to pursue new revenue in both advertising and subscriptions," said McClatchy president and CEO Pat Talamantes in a statement.

Shares slid 4 cents to $2.57 in afternoon trading.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-10-25-Earns-McClatchy/id-1e0ff9743b164b4c89cd1f6d4edbb992

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Hot Tips For Succeeding In The Tough Online Business World | The ...

Yet to a lot of people, that seems impossible. The prospects for work at home success are increased with good information. This article will outline several important tips every online business owner should consider.

Maintain adequate communication with your customer base. Share information, but don?t overwhelm them. Allow your customers to decide whether they would like to receive newsletters and information about your specials and discounts. However, do not abuse their trust by overwhelming them with a constant barrage of messages.

TIP! A business objective is a short description of your business and what it does. Be sure to include the purpose of the business, as well as any goals you have for it.

There are lots of home business enterprise owners congregating online. Visit several message boards or forums, both within and outside of your specific niches. Good advice about running home based businesses sometimes comes from unexpected places, especially even businesses that are not in your niche.

One cost-effective way to buy online advertising is by paying in kind: offer to host another webmaster?s ads in exchange for getting your own hosted on there site. Sharing advertising space can increase traffic to all of the participating sites and increase their search engine rankings. Make sure any ads accurately reflect what you are selling so that customers don?t feel duped.

TIP! No matter what guaranteed business program you use, you will not become an overnight success. Creating a successful home business requires an investment of time.

Dress professionally for your online business. It can be easy to not put any effort in your appearance when working at home. Instead, wear clothing that would be appropriate for an ordinary workday. Dressing appropriately places you in the frame of mind to work productively.

One way to keep yourself ahead of the competition is to react to your competitors? pricing decisions. By doing this, you will stay in competition and likely see better sales figures.

TIP! Make business cards for your home business. There are many websites online that offer free or inexpensive business card printing services.

Search engine optimization might be a valuable way for you to maximize the effectiveness of your work from home business online site. More traffic will likely be sent to your website as a result. There is more than one way to optimize and as a consequence, there are differing opinions. Take note of several approaches and use the ones you find to be the most fitting.

Always keep excellent financial records of all your spending and the costs of running your home business. Keeping track of your finances will make it simple to file your taxes, and will help prevent any problems if you were to get audited.

TIP! When you serve as the lone operator of a home-based business, it is important that you are the only one able to decide financial issues pertaining to it. Consider the choice to hand out your company credit card carefully, as your ability to include purchases in a tax write off may be negatively influenced.

If you are running your business out of an outside office, use that address instead of renting a PO box. Your customers will be more comfortable with your site if they know you have a physical address. By doing this, you will not only relieve your customers? concerns about whether or not you will reply, but you will also be showing your dedication to them.

Investigate the prices for what your competition offers. Use this market data to set your own prices. There?s nothing wrong with charging enough to cover your expenses and make a profit.

TIP! While it may initially seem like a luxury to make business calls and respond to customer emails in your robe and slippers, you?ll soon start to miss the camaraderie you shared with your former colleagues on a daily basis. Be sure you go out and have fun from time to time.

Protect your important business records by backing them up with cost effective removable storage. This may cost you a great deal of money and prevent you from paying taxes properly. There are online backup options as well, including services like Mozy.

Before you start your home business, you need to be sure to figure out what your start up expenses will be. Home businesses are really cheap compared to traditional businesses, but ?cheap? doesn?t mean ?free.? If you can figure out how much money you will need to successfully run your business, it will help your business make money and not lose it in the long run.

TIP! To really make huge profits when running a home business, you need to take what are known as ?prudent risks.? Trying new things will attract the attention of new customers and increase your profits.

When you are starting your online business, try to keep your costs down. You will save money by setting aside a place in your home for an office instead of renting a separate space. Maintain this low cost by avoiding purchasing items that you do not really need. With proper budgeting, you can keep your charges low.

Products that solve a problem or fill a need are a good thing to sell from a home business. Customers are interested in things that can address a need or problem that they are facing. If your product fixed a frequent problem, it is likely to be a top seller.

TIP! Determine how much you are going to charge for your products. If you make your own merchandise, add up your material costs, labor costs, shipping and anything other expenses to figure out what you pay.

An effective Internet marketing plan is crucial to the success of your home based business. There are many ways to bring customers to your business, including blogging, emails, participating in forums and writing articles.

Be sure to stay positive. Although it?s good to congratulate yourself for the triumphs of yesterday, you should not live for the past. You should focus on what the future will bring. You will then be able to prepare of things to come and things that might happen. By doing this, you won?t find yourself surprised.

TIP! Make certain that your home business fits in with your family. If your business will negatively impact your family?s daily activities, it might be best to rethink your approach.

You will succeed if you are motivated to make your home business successful. Since certain cities or counties have regulations that restrict you from operating a business in your home, consider building a business space on your property that you can tailor to your business, and also use it to keep customers separate from your home environment. This also helps you make a clean break between your home and business life.

TIP! A website for selling your product or service is a must nowadays for any home business. This gets your message out to the widest audience possible and will definitely increase sales.

Search engine optimization is a way to enhance your company?s visibility on the Internet. Search engine optimization, commonly referred to as SEO, helps to improve your visibility on the Internet. This can boost sales exponentially for home businesses. You can hire someone to help you with your SEO, or you can research it and find out how to do it yourself.

If you have decided to start a business at home, it is extremely important that your family and significant others buy into your plan. Running a business from home can be difficult and stressful, because it requires a large time commitment. Your family must be willing to give you alone time, so that you can dedicate a specific amount of time to your home business.

Apply ergonomics when designing the layout of your office. This includes the locations of your laptop or monitor. If you have to sit in an uncomfortable position to view your computer, you will end up in pain and discomfort. This could lead to permanent problems. If you plan to spend a while working at your desk, make sure you purchase the best seat your money can buy. Quality is an important focus when looking to buy keyboards, lighting fixtures and other office supplies. Spending $200 on these things can really improve your work space.

You need to ensure your website will get you sales. Many home based businesses only sell from the premises ? to give you a boost on the competition, choose a site that sells as well! You can even buy an pre-made online shopping package for a really reasonable price.

TIP! Track your business expenses carefully to save some money on taxes. Expenses, such as Internet service, business mileage and office supplies, should all be kept track of.

If you must take clients out, you can itemize these expenses. The IRS counts these types of meetings as business expenses that can be deducted. Just be careful that these clients are paying or potential clients, or you may not be able to get these deductions.

It is recommended that all your business contracts are together in a single location, so as to keep them organized. Also keep contracts like your phone or internet providers here, in case you need to reach them about a problem.

TIP! If you have a home business, record all of your business driving. As an entrepreneur, your tax status allows you to deduct driving expenses that stem from business operations.

You do not need to have a very complicated website for a home business. You should put your money into beta testing. Load your site with all of the major web browsers, including mobile browsers, and test your site?s appearance across several screen resolution settings. Make sure that the site looks the same each time. Doing this ensures that everyone can access and use your site, and will maximize your profits.

Make a habit of depositing payments as you receive them. If you?re currently waiting to deposit your money at the bank, you should instead do it more frequently. Deposit checks right away, so you do not lose them. Use a teller to deposit your money through, instead of an ATM, to make sure the money goes into your account.

Speak with an attorney to find out what regulations you may have to face when starting your home business. Many states have laws pertaining to home businesses. If you consult with a lawyer who deals in business, you can learn the laws of your state. You need to ensure you are abiding by them.

As noted back in the introduction, a home based business is a dream that lots of people share. Though many share this dream, few have a good idea about how to get started. In this article, we have provided some valuable advice that can lead to a profitable home business enterprise.

Are You Looking To Change Your Life & Experience Financial Freedom? At Virtual Assistant Live We Show You How...

Source: http://theboardmagazine.com/2012/10/hot-tips-for-succeeding-in-the-tough-online-business-world/

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Plants provide accurate low-cost alternative for diagnosis of West Nile Virus

ScienceDaily (Oct. 24, 2012) ? While the United States has largely been spared the scourge of mosquito-borne diseases endemic to the developing world -- including yellow fever, malaria and dengue fever -- mosquito-related illnesses in the US are on the rise. One pathogen of increasing concern in the U.S. is an arbovirus known as West Nile.

Now Qiang "Shawn" Chen, a researcher at Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute and a professor in the College of Technology and Innovation has developed a new method of testing for West Nile, using plants to produce biological reagents for detection and diagnosis.

The new research, conducted by Chen and his colleagues at the Center for Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology recently appeared in the Journal of Biomedicine and Biotechnology.

"One critical issue in WNV diagnosis concerns the difficulty of distinguishing WNV infection from other closely related diseases, such as St. Louis encephalitis and dengue fever, due to the cross-reactivity of antibodies among flaviviruses," Chen says. "It is important to develop better diagnostic tools with enhanced accuracy for both treatment and diagnostic purposes."

Thus far, the 2012 outbreak of West Nile in the United States is on track to be one of the worst on record. According to the Center for Disease Control, 48 states have reported West Nile virus infections in people, birds, or mosquitoes as of October 9th of this year.

To date, 4,249 cases of West Nile virus disease have been reported in humans, including 168 deaths. Of these cases 2,123 (50 percent) appeared in the more severe or neuroinvasive form of the disease, causing meningitis and encephalitis, while 2,126 cases were classified as non-neuroinvasive.

These figures represent the highest number of West Nile cases reported to the CDC since 2003, with nearly 70 percent reported from eight states: Texas, California, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Dakota, Michigan, Oklahoma, and Illinois. Over a third of total cases have been reported from Texas.

The alarming upswing in West Nile cases coupled with their broad geographic distribution demand new techniques for both diagnosis and treatment. Chen and his colleagues have been exploiting the power of plant biotechnology to achieve these goals.

Earlier, Chen's group developed the first successful plant-derived therapeutic to combat West Nile post-infection, reporting their results in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. The current study advances efforts to create a diagnostic test for West Nile that will overcome barriers of existing methods, including limited accuracy, prohibitive cost and scalability.

In nearly all cases, West Nile is transmitted to humans through the bite of an infected mosquito. Mosquitoes acquire the virus after feeding on infected birds. The virus then migrates to the mosquito's salivary glands, from which it may be injected into humans and animals. There, it can multiply and produce characteristic symptoms of West Nile disease. These may present as flu-like malaise including fever and chills, headaches, fatigue and pain in muscles and joints. Symptoms typically last three to six days, but may persist for weeks.

In around 1 in 150 WNV cases, individuals develop infections of the brain (encephalitis) or surrounding tissue (meningitis), often producing severe headache, fever, stiffness, confusion, convulsions, coma, tremors, muscle weakness and paralysis. Those with neurologic involvement may require weeks of hospitalization and may suffer permanent health effects including muscle weakness and paralysis. Around 10 percent of people with WNV encephalitis die.

Faced with the growing threat of mosquito-borne epidemics, researchers like Chen stress the necessity of developing rapid, low-cost platforms for diagnosis of West Nile. Traditionally, cell cultures from serum, cerebrospinal fluid or tissues have been examined but the short viremic phase and low viral count of WNV in blood and spinal fluid limit the sensitivity and accuracy of such tests. Protein-based methods like ELISA have become standard tests for West Nile, yielding better results but at considerably higher cost and with limited scalability.

In the current study, plants were exploited for their ability to produce large volumes of proteins that can be used for diagnostic testing. As Chen explains, proteins produced in this way traditionally require a lengthy time period before transgenic plant lines can be established. By contrast, the new method, which makes use of plant viral-based vectors like Tobacco Mozaic Virus and Gemini Virus, relies on the ability of plants to transiently express particular target genes, yielding the desired protein in 1-2 weeks.

The technique provides the speed and flexibility of a bacterial gene expression system while permitting the posttranslational modifications of proteins afforded by mammalian cell culture approaches.

Chen's group used plant transient expression systems to produce two varieties of protein reagents useful for the detection and diagnosis of WNV -- one a recombinant antigen and one a monoclonal antibody. High expression levels of both reagents were observed in two kinds of plants: Nicotiana benthamiana (a close relative of tobacco) and lettuce. The two reagents may be readily purified to greater than 95 percent and retain their native functionality and specificity.

The production of plant-derived antigens and monoclonal antibodies offers an attractive alternative to the use of mammalian, insect or bacterial cell cultures and demonstrates the capability of plants to provide accurate and flexible diagnostic reagents not only for WNV but a broad range of arboviruses affecting human health.

"Our test will improve the accuracy of diagnosis, leading to the proper treatment of patients affected by WNV," Chen says. "The plant-derived monoclonal antibody we examined is not only low-cost, but highly specific for WNV antigen and does not recognize antigens from other flaviviruses." Chen further notes that application of this research will ultimately allow a broad range of WNV surveillance capabilities, from clinical diagnosis to global distribution patterns in wild bird and mosquito populations.

West Nile Facts

The West Nile Virus (WNV) is an arbovirus belonging to the Flavivirus genus of the Flaviviridae family

Mosquitoes that have acquired the virus from infected birds transmit WNV.

First identified in the Eastern Hemisphere and widely distributed in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East, WNV entered the Western Hemisphere in 1999, via New York City.

Since its American debut, WNV has infected over 30,000 people with severe forms of the disease, with an untold number of additional cases remaining undiagnosed.

Infection with WNV can be asymptomtic or can lead to West Nile fever or severe West Nile disease.

Around 20 percent of people who become infected with WNV will develop West Nile fever, with symptoms including fever, headache, exhaustion and body aches, occasionally with a skin rash (on the trunk of the body) and swollen lymph glands. The illness can last from a few days to several weeks.

The symptoms of severe WNV disease -- also known as neuroinvasive disease, including West Nile encephalitis or meningitis or West Nile poliomyelitis -- include headache, high fever, neck stiffness, stupor, disorientation, coma, tremors, convulsions, muscle weakness, and paralysis.

Approximately 1 in 150 people infected with WNV develop a more severe form of disease. While serious illness can occur in people of any age, those over 50 as well as individuals with compromised immunity (including transplant patients) are at the highest risk for severe illness following WNV infection.

The incubation time for WNV is typically 2 to 15 days. It is believed that infection confers lifelong immunity to the virus.

This year (2012) has seen a serious uptick in West Nile cases and will go on record as among the most severe in terms of case numbers.

A mild winter and a hot, dry summer may have contributed to the rapid spread of WNV across the U.S. this year. Climate change has been implicated as a factor exacerbating the spread of WNV.

The susceptibility to severe symptoms of WNV disease appears linked to genetic traits. Further, advanced age is one of the primary risk factors for severe neurological disease, long-term morbidity and death.

Plant production for diagnostic protein reagents may easily be scaled up to suit existing need, as in the case of a sudden WNV epidemic.

Plants are ideal protein bioreactors, due to their capacity to produce large volumes or proteins at low cost and their ability to make appropriate posttranslational modifications of proteins.

Currently, there is no vaccine against WNV, nor effective therapeutics approved for human use. The best tactics of prevention are:

  • Cover exposed skin with long pants and long-sleeved shirts, particularly during early morning or evening hours when mosquitoes are most active
  • Use insect repellent
  • Keep window screens in good repair
  • Try to reduce or eliminate areas of standing water where mosquitoes breed, including bird baths, wading pools, tire swings, etc

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Arizona State University. The original article was written by Richard Harth.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Journal Reference:

  1. Junyun He, Huafang Lai, Christopher Brock, Qiang Chen. A Novel System for Rapid and Cost-Effective Production of Detection and Diagnostic Reagents of West Nile Virus in Plants. Journal of Biomedicine and Biotechnology, 2012; 2012: 1 DOI: 10.1155/2012/106783

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/6vbAOyuSvcg/121024164725.htm

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BP asks for Gulf spill deal ok despite objections

NEW ORLEANS (AP) ? Oil giant BP is asking a federal judge to disregard objections from a fraction of claimants and give final approval to a proposed multibillion-dollar settlement for economic damages from the Gulf spill.

BP is joined in the request by plaintiffs' attorneys who helped broker the class-action deal spawned by the 2010 disaster.

In court filings late Monday, BP PLC and plaintiffs' lawyers say the deal should not be derailed by a low number of individuals and businesses objecting or asking to opt-out.

BP estimates it will pay $7.8 billion to resolve claims through the uncapped settlement.

Roughly 200 people and groups have formally objected to the deal, while 983 potential claimants asked to opt out as of Oct. 19.

More than 100,000 plaintiffs could benefit from the deal.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bp-asks-gulf-spill-deal-ok-despite-objections-155341889.html

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PFT: Will NFL bid Aloha to the Pro Bowl?

Cam Newton, Warren MoonAP

Few have worked as closely with Cam Newton as Warren Moon, and the Hall of Fame quarterback is still defending last year?s pupil, even while acknowledging his need to improve.

Moon thinks placing too much of the blame for the Panthers? 1-5 start (and the firing of general manager Marty Hurney) at the second-year quarterback?s feet is wrong, and any suggestion he?s a bust is ridiculous.

?I think a lot of this is because so many people want to say ?I told you so? about him, but couldn?t because he was so good last year,? Moon told Yahoo?s Mike Silver in a wide-ranging interview. ?I think people are overreacting. How can he be a bust? He just had one of the great years a rookie has ever had, and now he can?t play? Come on.?

Moon acknowledged he?d like to see Newton adopt a more even-keeled approach, something he?s done more of in recent weeks. But as he did prior to the draft?last year, Moon thinks there?s an undertone of racism to some of the criticism.

?I don?t understand it,? Moon said. ?I heard somebody compare him to Vince Young. It?s the same old crap ? it?s always a comparison of one black to another black. I get tired of it. I get tired of defending it.

?If you want to compare him to someone because of his demeanor, compare him to Jay Cutler. There are a lot of guys who whine and moan. Cam?s not biting anybody?s head off or pushing his linemen. He?s just disgruntled, and not handling losing well, because, think about it, he basically didn?t lose in college.

?I don?t think Cam?s as bad as Cutler, because Cutler looks like he doesn?t give a damn sometimes, or he?s yelling and cussing at someone. Cam, he just looks down when they?re losing.?

Moon also doesn?t think the Panthers coaches are putting Newton in good positions to succeed by ignoring the run game with the talent they have, and leaning too heavily on the read-option principles he ran in college.

?I don?t know why they got away from what they were doing last year,? Moon said. ?They were running more of a pro-style offense, and now they?re going more to the read-option, the stuff he did in college. I think some of it is coaching. I think some of it is they don?t have enough good players yet. And there?s no question he?s not playing as well as last year.

?That offense doesn?t allow you to be an NFL-type quarterback. It?s a lot of tricks, sticking the ball into a running back?s stomach, trying to freeze the defense. Even though he can do that and had success with it in college, I don?t think it serves him well in the long run. You can?t keep going back and forth. I think he?s a little bit confused with the footwork, and I think that?s one of the problems with his accuracy ? his feet are crossed up. Why this change? I think it?s backfiring. I think they?re out-thinking themselves.?

Sounds familiar.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/10/22/pro-bowl-could-still-go-bye-bye/related

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TSX, U.S. stocks tumble amid earnings misses | Investing | Financial ...

The Toronto stock market tumbled almost 200 points Tuesday amid sliding commodity prices as U.S. earnings disappointments and a fresh round of worry centred on Europe?s debt crisis reminded investors about flagging global growth.

The S&P/TSX composite index fell 188.7 points to 12,214.85 with losses spread across all sectors, while the TSX Venture Exchange lost 18.59 points to 1,289.82.

U.S. markets were sharply lower in the wake of disappointments from Dow heavyweights DuPont and 3M.

The Dow industrials plunged 234.73 points to 13,111.63, the Nasdaq was down 27.12 points to 2,989.84 while the S&P 500 index fell 20.72 points to 1,413.1.

The Canadian dollar pared early losses as the Bank of Canada said it was keeping its key rate unchanged at one per cent while keeping intact language warning that it will raise rates at some point.

The currency dipped 0.02 of a cent to 100.73 cents US. It had earlier traded as low as 100.23 cents, its lowest level since early August, amid speculation that the central bank?s statement would take a less hawkish stance on raising rates.

Instead the bank maintained the key message of previous statements ? that there will need to be modest rate hikes ? with the slight modification that added ?over time? to the equation.

In a speech last week, Carney had omitted a statement that ?modest withdrawal of money policy will likely be required? ? leading observers to think the central bank was signalling a more definitive change to its policy.

Meanwhile, chemical maker DuPont reported net income of US$10 million Tuesday, or a penny per share. Excluding one-time items, DuPont earned 44 cents per share, compared with 69 cents per share for last year?s third quarter. The results fell short of the average estimate of 46 cents per share, and DuPont?s stock slid 8.9 per cent to US$45.33.

And conglomerate 3M said its third-quarter profit edged up to $1.16 billion, or $1.65 a share, which met estimates. Sales dipped 0.4 per cent to $7.5 billion, which missed expectations of $7.63 billion. 3M also cut its 2012 profit estimate to reflect ?current economic realities.?

3M makes everything from Post-it notes and Scotch tape to roofing granules, coatings for LCD screens and traffic sign coatings. The variety of its businesses and its worldwide footprint make it an economic bellwether and its shares fell $3.23 to US$89.30.

Some of the disappointing revenue is because of weakness in foreign markets. Multinational companies are having a hard time selling to Europe, which is struggling under a debt crisis and a spreading recession.

?The recession in Europe is very real,? said Bernard Schoenfeld, senior investment strategist for Bank of New York Mellon Wealth Management in New York. ?It?s not going to disappear very quickly, and it will certainly negatively affect earnings of exporters in the United States.?

The red-hot growth enjoyed by emerging markets like China and India is also slowing.

The news was more positive from Canadian National Railways (TSX:CNR), which said after the close Monday it was maintaining its earnings growth outlook for 2012 despite anticipating a difficult end to the year due to a weak economy.

CN said it earned $664 million, or $1.52 per diluted and adjusted share, for the period ended Sept. 30., beating analyst estimates by a penny. But its shares were down 36 cents to $86.71.
Expectations for this earnings season were already muted with analysts expecting the first year-over-year drop since 2009.

Analysts at Credit Suisse said in a report Tuesday that ?roughly 25 per cent of the way through the U.S. reporting season, annual earnings per share growth is broadly flat.?

The financial sector fell 1.5 per cent amid major acquisition news from the Canadian banking sector.

Royal Bank of Canada (TSX:RY) confirmed it will acquire the Canadian auto finance and deposit business of Ally Financial Inc. The bank says its net cost for the deal will be about $1.4 billion but its shares got caught in the overall market downdraft and lost $1.50 to $57.10.

And U.S. discount retailer Target is selling its credit card portfolio to TD Bank Group (TSX:TD) for about $5.9 billion. TD also agreed to a seven-year deal to underwrite, fund and own the retailer?s future credit card and Visa receivables in the United States. TD stock shed $1.09 to $81.83.

Commodities weakened amid a move by Moody?s Investor Services to downgrade five Spanish regions to below investment grade.

Spain has been the flashpoint of the eurozone?s credit crisis as the country endures its second recession in three years with near 25 per cent unemployment after the property market collapsed in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, at the same time crippling the country?s banks.

The base metals sector dropped 2.7 per cent as copper prices fell back with the December contract on the Nymex down five cents at US$3.57 a pound. Copper is viewed as an economic bellwether as it is used in so many applications and economic worries have sent prices 18 cents or five per cent in the past four sessions. Teck Resources (TSX:TCK.B) shed 84 cents to $30.49.

Oil prices headed lower with the December contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange losing $2.42 to US$86.23 a barrel.

The energy sector lost 2.3 per cent as Suncor Energy (TSX:SU) gave back 84 cents to $32.54.
December bullion gave back $16.90 to US$1,709.40 an ounce, its lowest close since early September, and the gold sector lost two per cent. Goldcorp Inc. (TSX:G) faded 77 cents to US$42.61.

Source: http://business.financialpost.com/2012/10/23/tsx-tumbles-amid-earnings-misses/

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South Korean firms win US$1 billion dam and hydroplant deal on Mekong - The China Post

Under the deal with the Laotian government, SK Construction will build three dams and a hydropower plant at the Mekong River in the southern plateau of Bolaven by 2018, an SK Construction spokesman told AFP.

The Xe-Namnoy plant ? with an estimated capacity of 410 megawatts ? will be owned and managed by Korean Western Power until 2045, after which it will be taken over by the Laotian authorities, he said.

The electricity generated at the plant will mostly be sold to Thailand while the Laos will earn an estimated 33 billion won (US$30 million) annually in taxes and other fees, he added.

Source: http://www.chinapost.com.tw/business/asia/korea/2012/10/24/358767/South-Korean.htm

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Deep Read: Tweeting out of poverty | News | Sci-tech | Mail ...

Social media and access to information and communication technology is a pathway out of poverty, according to new research. (AFP)

It will take a century for a poor household to tweet its way out of poverty. That's a very long time for anyone wondering where their next meal is coming from. But it's a significant new finding because it proves once and for all that social media and access to information and communication technology (ICT) is a pathway out of poverty.

This is one of the central findings of economist Professor Julian May, director of the Institute for Social Development at the University of the Western Cape, who released his study at the Towards Carnegie 3 conference in Cape Town recently. Based in the poorest 20 areas in four East African countries, the study found that access to ICT contributed about 0.5% to annual household income and had a measurable transformative role.

"The finding is significant because it shows that a mobile phone on its own leads to an increase in income," May told the conference which brought together the country's top academics, government officials and NGOs to focus on strategies to overcome poverty and inequality. "There aren't many things that cost so little and yet have this result. In the face of many other huge plans like land reform that lead to little measurable change, this study shows that a mobile phone can change lives ? we can say now that here is a resource that shows a difference."

He warned against becoming evangelical about ICT, but said "the availability of mobile phones is a potentially valuable tool to improve the livelihood of the very poor over the medium term (six to 10 years) and contribute towards their escape from poverty traps".

The starting point for his research was "the staggering uptake of mobile phones in Africa accompanied by persistent levels of poverty". He showed that by late 2010 Africa had exceeded Western Europe in terms of the number of mobile connections, and internet usage between 2000 and 2011 had grown by more than 2?000% - five times more than for the rest of the world.

"We wanted to find out whether this uptake of mobile phones could be a new tool in poverty reduction and what we found was that there is a small but positive benefit to the very poor," he said.

The study took place in 1 600 households in 2008 and 2010 during a period of dramatic food price increases and global economic crisis, and yet the income of the poorest people who had access to mobile phones went up. "Access to ICT buffered people against poverty," he said. "The gains made as a result of ICT access for the most poor were twice that for the non-poor. As a result there was a steady convergence between the income of the poor and the non-poor. Over a 10-year time horizon the modest additional gains from ICT can be seen to disproportionately benefit the very poor."

More than that, "if you put a mobile phone into the hands of someone with an additional year of education their income increased further and if you add skills and entrepreneurship training this income figure increases even more".

The poor used mobile phones to grow their income in a range of innovative ways such as developing better communication networks, hearing about jobs on offer and communicating more directly with those offering work. But a mobile phone also meant a household could deal more effectively with a crisis which would ordinarily have led to large expenses on travel, and a household could find more efficient ways of sending money to relatives. For instance in East Africa M-Pesa is a hugely successful mobile-phone-based service that enabled an estimated 17-million users to deposit, withdraw and transfer money.

But mobile phones also allowed users to check on things like food prices. "In Uganda where the main crop of small scale producers is plantain, farmers can find out what prices are being offered at markets and what the demand is and so decide when they harvest and when they take their produce to market," he said. In both Uganda and Rwanda there were government services where farmers could send an SMS to a free number and hear instantly what coffee prices were in regional markets.

May's study was particularly significant when viewed in the South African context where 70% of the unemployed were between the ages of 15 and 35, said Rumbidzai Goredema of the DG Murray Trust.

Speaking at the conference, which was funded by the National Planning Commission and UCT, Goredema said the Trust and NGO Career Planet had created a mobile tool aimed at putting job seekers in touch with job providers. Based on the Indian mobile tool babajob ? which connects up to 1?000 work seekers every working day and over the last three years 900?000 jobs have been posted by employers ? the mobile information hub is a bridge between a social networking and a job site. It allows employers to hire people that someone they know can vouch for.

"We are not the first to try replicate this model in South Africa," she said. Last year, the Praekelt Foundation launched Ummeli, a mobile jobs portal hosted on Vodafone Live!. In Ummeli's first two weeks, it attracted 20?000 members while Athlone-based RLabs launched Uusi, a MXit-based platform connecting work seekers and placement services attracted 100?000 users.

But the Career Planet platform was developed specifically for users with non-WAP enabled phones and basic feature phones that use an unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) platform. And this is where their problem lay: the costs of accessing the hub at 20 cents for 20 seconds prevented the poorest people from using it.

"The challenge here is to create platforms that bypass traditional barriers of cost and accessibility and equip youth with the skills and information they need to seek out opportunities," Goredema said. "The babajob platform in India is freely accessible to users, contributing to its success. We need to get bodies such as the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa to ensure such mobi sites can be subsidised or zero-rated so users who have limited airtime can get access," she said.

The high mobile and internet costs in South Africa, well documented by Research ICT Africa, were a major barrier to ICT's ability to change the lives of the poor.

"Measures need to be taken at a structural level so that the high access to mobile technology is translated into higher levels of access to information and services that could facilitate successful connections to opportunities," she said.

For May these structural changes also pointed to problems in our department of communications ? the very reason he did his research in the more forward-looking East African countries in the first place.

"The department of communications has not done a proper job in terms of providing clear and unambiguous policy, with the result that channels for the delivery of ICT are confusing and function poorly. Internet and mobile phone costs remain high compared to East Africa and as a result we are not doing justice to the many projects that could help alleviate poverty," he said.

Source: http://mg.co.za/article/2012-10-22-deep-read-tweeting-out-of-poverty

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ASUS announces three budget-friendly laptops with touchscreens, the VivoBook Q200, S400 and S500

ASUS announces three budget-friendly laptops with touchscreens, the VivoBook Q200, S400 and S500

Remember when Ultrabook prices dropped to around $700 and everyone cheered? Well, get ready for some one-upping: here at a New York City press event, ASUS just announced a line of lightweight, touchscreen laptops, and let's just say the prices are pretty aggressive. The new family, which will carry the name VivoBook, includes 11-, 14- and 15-inch models, with the 11.6-inch Q200 (aka the X202) starting at $499 with a Core i3 processor. The 14-inch S400, meanwhile, will start at $599, while the 15-inch S500 will go for $649 and up. Across the board, there will be configurations with Core i5 and i7 processors, but again, i3 is the starting spec here. As you can see in the photo above, the design isn't all that different from the current-gen Zenbook Prime family, though they lack some of that line's higher-end features -- namely, 1080p screens and solid-state storage. ASUS so far hasn't said when these laptops will ship here in the US, but we'll be sure to follow up with more specifics as we learn them.

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ASUS announces three budget-friendly laptops with touchscreens, the VivoBook Q200, S400 and S500 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Oct 2012 14:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/23/asus-vivobook-x202-q200-s400-s500/

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