S.Africa’s Mandela admitted to hospital for tests

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Former South African president Nelson Mandela was admitted to hospital on Saturday for medical tests, although the government said there was no cause for alarm.

A statement from President Jacob Zuma‘s office gave no details of the condition of the 94-year-old anti-apartheid leader.

“Former President Mandela will receive medical attention from time to time which is consistent with his age,” the statement said.

“President Zuma assures all that Madiba is doing well and there is no cause for alarm,” it added, referring to Mandela by his clan name.

Mandela, who became South Africa‘s first black president after the country’s first all-race elections in 1994, was admitted to hospital in February because of abdominal pain but released the following day after a keyhole examination showed there was nothing seriously wrong with him.

He has since spent most of his time in his ancestral home in Qunu, a village in the impoverished Eastern Cape province.

His frail health prevents him from making any public appearances in South Africa, although in the last few months he has continued to receive high-profile visitors, including former U.S. President Bill Clinton.

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The Star is Dead. Her Film Isn’t

Three years after actress Brittany Murphy’s untimely death from pneumonia and anemia in 2009, her final film, an indie thriller called Something Wicked, finally completed post-production this week. The Eugene (Ore.) production company Merchant Films, which is currently seeking a distributor for the film, is caught in the unfortunate position of having to market a film without its most recognizable star. As of now, Merchant does not intend to include Murphy’s image in the main posters, says the movie’s writer and producer, Joe Colleran. Still, he says, many distributors have expressed interest in the past few days, and he is hoping for a spring 2013 release. Bloomberg Businessweek spoke with Colleran about how the filmmakers plan to manage in this difficult situation.

How have you had to change plans to market the film?
We did an original deal with Brillstein Entertainment Partners to represent the movie, and they have relationships with major studios. That hasn’t changed. What has changed is the time we delayed it to avoid exploitation. Normally it would be a two-year process. We shot it in Oregon, which takes longer than if you shoot it in Hollywood. The delay has been close to a year.

How will you walk that delicate line of promoting the film without being exploitative?
We don’t intend to run around marketing it as Brittany’s last movie. People know it is. I don’t think there’s any point in mentioning that any further. Her face is not on the key art. We will market it as a very suspenseful thriller. We’ll be marketing the genre of the movie. …You can go out virally, immediately [after her death] and build fan pages, and we didn’t. We thought that would be distasteful. We’re just starting that process now.

A lot of promoting the film involves doing interviews and red carpets.
That is a big difference. We won’t have [Brittany] promoting the movie nationally and internationally. We will not be able to have Brittany go on Letterman and Leno to do nationwide publicity, which she was excited to do. She was what they would have built the marketing campaign around. The other stars will have to replace her. The lead actress [Shantel VanSanten] is tremendous. They are very excited. They have larger responsibilities now, and they are anxious to promote it, because they really do look good in this movie.

Was the film altered after her death in any way?
No. There was only one scene she shot that was not in the film. It was one of the alternate endings. We’ll probably put it on the DVD so fans can see the different endings.

Tell me about finding a distributor for this film.
Genre movies—which are basically everything besides drama and comedy: action, thrillers, sci-fi—have a very loyal following. There’s a large segment of the younger audience, which is a key audience for distributors, that just goes to genre movies. The movie will probably get an R rating, which means the core audience will be 17 to 29, with a crossover of up to 34, because that’s what Brittany’s fan base is. That is the key audience that distributors go after, because they are easy to market to, they know where to find them, and they are frequent moviegoers.

Are you worried about critics?
Genre movies generally don’t tend to get critical acclaim anyway. Even if you’re a huge success like Twilight, critics trash it. Most critics don’t flock to genre movies. Fortunately, the audience we’re going after is not dependent on critics. They are dependent on word of mouth from their peers.

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Ghana election, test of democratic reputation

ACCRA, Ghana (AP) — Voters in Ghana were selecting their next president and a 275-seat parliament in elections Friday, solidifying the West African nation‘s reputation as a beacon of democracy in the region.

Some 14 million people are expected to turn out. President John Dramani Mahama, in office for only five months, is running against seven contenders. A former vice president, Mahama became president in July after the unexpected death of former President John Atta Mills. The 54-year-old is also a former minister and parliamentarian and has written an acclaimed biography, “My First Coup d’Etat.”

His main challenger is Nana Akufo-Addo, a former foreign minister and the son of one of Ghana’s previous presidents. The contender lost the 2008 election to Mills by less than 1 percent. Both men are trying to make the case that they will use the nation’s newfound oil wealth to help the poor.

Ghana, a nation of 25 million, is one of the few established democracies in the region as well as the fastest-growing economy. But a deep divide still exists between those benefiting from the country’s oil, cocoa and mineral wealth and those left behind financially.

In an interview on the eve of the vote, Akufo-Addo told The Associated Press that the first thing he will do if elected is begin working on providing free high school education for all. “It’s a matter of great concern to me,” he said, adding that he plans to use the nation’s oil wealth to educate the population, industrialize the economy and create better jobs for Ghanaians.

Policy-oriented and intellectual, Akufo-Addo is favored by the young and urbanized voters. He was educated in England and comes from a privileged family. The ruling party has depicted him as elitist, which Akufo-Addo calls “a little PR construct.”

“The idea that merely because you are born into privilege that automatically means you are against the welfare of the ordinary people, that’s nonsense,” he said.

Ghana had one of the fastest growing economies in the world in 2011. Allegations of corruption against the ruling party are rife.

Akufo-Addo said that if elected, he would not be able to weed out corruption in the government overnight.

“It’s a long fight,” he said. “But we build the institutions that can fight it.”

He said that in 30 years in politics he has never been accused of corruption.

Many analysts believe Mahama and Akufo-Addo are neck-and-neck.

Results are expected to be announced by Sunday, but could be delayed. If no one wins an absolute majority, a second round of voting will be held on December 28.

All candidates have signed a peace pact and have promised to accept the results of Friday’s poll.

Ghana, a nation of 25 million, has previously held five transparent elections in a row. Nearby Mali, which was also considered a model democracy, was plunged into chaos this March following a military coup.

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Associated Press writer Francis Kokutse contributed to this report from Accra, Ghana.

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Crowdfunding websites clamor for clearer regulation

LONDON (Reuters) – A new breed of internet-based financiers are calling for action to end regulatory uncertainty they say is preventing them from getting money to the small and medium-sized businesses that need it.

The so-called crowdfunding sector raises cash from members of the public to fund lending and investment. Regulators, however, have proved resistant to pleas for adjustments to rules that are tailored to more traditional markets.

“Operators of these platforms find it difficult to launch and flourish because existing EU and UK regulation does not fit the new models,” operators within the sector said in an open letter to EU and UK policymakers on Friday.

The plea coincides with a summit to discuss proposals for regulating a market that has developed in reaction to reduced bank lending to small and medium-sized enterprises because of tougher capital rules and greater regulatory scrutiny.

A host of alternative financing models have cropped up online, many allowing individuals to lend to, or invest in, companies with sums from as little as 10 pounds ($ 16). Massolution, a research and advisory firm specializing in the sector, says that 1.2 billion euros ($ 1.6 billion) was raised globally from crowdfunding last year.

Though some crowdfunding websites have tried to fit their operations within the existing regulatory framework, most remain largely outside it.

Part of the problem in drawing up appropriate regulation is the wide range of activities involved. Some offer debt, some equity, while others seek donations for charity or funding for creative projects in return for some non-financial reward.

With little or no expected returns from the latter, the main regulatory focus would be on equity crowdfunding and peer-to-peer lending.

As well as making sure that individuals are aware of the inherent risk involved with putting money in start-ups, the industry wants to avoid the risk of scams by ensuring that platforms vet businesses adequately.

LOST IN THE CROWD

Britain’s Financial Services Authority (FSA) warned in August that inexperienced investors should be aware of the risks in crowdfunding websites. A few days later United States securities regulators put crowdfunding at the top of their annual investment scams list.

Views differ about how to tackle these risks without stifling an increasingly important source of funding, and the matter is complicated by the varying rules already in place in different countries across Europe.

Measures taken by Seedrs, the only crowdfunding website to have received FSA approval, include requiring investors to pass a test to show that they understand the risks.

“It is hard to come up with a whole securities regulation; sometimes it does have to be a bit incremental and adaptive,” Seedrs founder Jeff Lynn said. “There is no question at all this is going to be a space that will continue to move.”

Some would like the operation of such platforms to be a distinct regulated activity, but others argue for smaller steps, such as a cap on the sums that people can invest or lend.

The British government, keen to improve the flow of finance to small businesses to boost the sluggish economy, has set up a working group to look at all aspects of policy on such sites.

The FSA said that it considers authorization of crowdfunding schemes case by case. The European Commission, meanwhile, is considered as so far having had a largely observational role.

Though the introduction of a separate regulated activity could still be some way off, the co-founder of peer-to-peer site Zopa, Simon Deane-Johns, believes that increased engagement with governments and regulators shows that things are moving in the right direction.

“Over the next year or two it should become progressively easier to set up a platform,” he said, “possibly through a combination of the FSA understanding more readily where things fit within the current regime and balancing that with some self-regulation.”

(Editing by Alexander Smith and David Goodman)

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Jackson’s Hobbit: the journey begins

WELLINGTON (Reuters) – Film maker Peter Jackson wants to scare children with his latest movie – and perhaps even a few grown ups.

The first of the Hobbit movie trilogy – “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” – is about to hit theatres, and Jackson says he’s tried to hold true to its roots as a children’s fantasy story, with scary bits.

“If they’re scared of the trolls great, if they’re scared of the goblins great, they know there are no goblins, they know there are no trolls, it’s a safe kind of danger,” he says.

The film, produced by MGM and Time Warner Inc, is the fourth in the Oscar-winning Jackson’s blockbuster “Lord of the Rings” film franchise, based on the books of author J.R.R. Tolkien.

It follows the journey of hobbit Bilbo Baggins, reluctantly pushed into travelling with 13 dwarves to steal treasure from a dragon and regain their homeland. During his travels, he comes by the ring that he later passes onto kinsman Frodo Baggins, which was at the core of the “Rings” trilogy.

Jackson says he’s worked to keep distance between the Hobbit, published in 1937, and the much darker Lord of the Rings, which came out nearly 20 years later.

“The Lord of the Rings has an apocalyptic sort of heavy themic end-of-the world quality to it, which the Hobbit doesn’t, which is one of the delights of it,” he said.

POMPOUS AND SMALL MINDED

The pointy eared, hairy footed hobbit Bilbo is played by British actor Martin Freeman, who says he’s tried to make Bilbo his own creation, a character audiences can root for despite his initial pomposity and small mindedness.

“You have to be able to follow him for the duration of the film, but I wanted him to be open and changeable and ready to be surprised,” Freeman said.

A key scene is an encounter in a cave between Bilbo and the creature Gollum, reprised in full computer generated splendor by Andy Serkis with the distinctive throaty whisper.

“It was a very rich experience,” he said, adding that playing Gollum again was “an absolute thrill”.

Such is the affection for the creature, who calls the magic ring “Precious”, that a 13 meter (42 feet) sculpture of Gollum hangs in the airport terminal at Wellington, which regards itself as the spiritual home of the Tolkien films and terms itself the “Middle of Middle Earth”.

Returning actors from the Rings trilogy, many of whom have only passing mention in the book, were no less enthusiastic. Ian McKellen returns for a leading role as the wispy-haired, grey bearded wizard, Gandalf, while Cate Blanchett is the elven queen Galadriel and Elijah Wood appears as Frodo Baggins.

“You couldn’t not come back, you had to come back,” says Hugo Weaving, the leader of the elves, Elrond.

HOBBIT – A FRAUGHT JOURNEY

The Hobbit film journey has not been without its setbacks.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, owners of the film rights to the Tolkien books, had financial woes, prompting original director Guillermo del Toro to pull out and Jackson, already script writer and executive producer, to step in.

A major labor dispute prompted threats to move production out of New Zealand, and was solved by changing labor laws, while Jackson suffered a perforated ulcer and underwent surgery, delaying the film still further.

Though only two films were planned originally, Jackson has tapped Tolkien’s appendices to the Rings to make it into three.

Audiences are also getting more visual bangs for their buck, with the movies filmed in 3D and at 48 frames per second (fps), double the industry standard.

This delivers clearer pictures, but opinion is divided, with some critics calling it cartoon-like and jarring.

Jackson says he wants to drag the iPad generation back into theatres and the romance, excitement and mystery they offer.

“It’s more realistic, it’s more immersive. I almost feel a responsibility as a film maker to try to do my part at encouraging people to come to the movies, to watch the film in a cinema,” he said.

The second film “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” will be released in December next year, with the third “The Hobbit: There and Back Again” is due in mid-July 2014.

(Reporting by Gyles Beckford, editing by Elaine Lies)

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House panel seeks compounder group papers in meningitis probe

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. congressional committee that oversees drug safety issues has asked a compounding pharmacists’ industry association to provide documents on the group’s role in helping pharmacies in their interactions with federal and state authorities.

The request to the International Academy of Compounding Pharmacists came as the House Energy and Commerce Committee continues an investigation into a deadly meningitis outbreak caused by contaminated compounded drugs.

In a letter released on Friday, 10 lawmakers cited a media report that the group “tutored pharmacists on how to sidestep” U.S. Food and Drug Administration requests for samples that would help the agency assess the quality of compounded drugs.

“Allegations that your association may have encouraged compounding pharmacists to attempt to impede the FDA from evaluating the efficacy and safety of their products, if true, raise serious concerns,” the lawmakers said.

The meningitis outbreak, linked to steroid injections from the Massachusetts-based New England Compounding Center, has sickened 541 people, 36 of whom have died, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

(Reporting by Ros Krasny; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

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Wall Street gains as Apple rebounds; fiscal talks eyed

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocks managed slight gains by midday on Thursday as Broadcom‘s upbeat guidance and a turnaround in Apple shares helped lift technology stocks, while investors monitored news from Washington for signs of progress on the “fiscal cliff” negotiations.

Apple erased initial losses of as much as 3.7 percent at the open, which briefly brought the market capitalization of the world’s largest publicly traded company below $ 500 billion. By midday, Apple‘s stock was up 2.3 percent at $ 551.35 – a day after its worst drop in four years.

Tech stocks also got a lift from chipmaker Broadcom , up 2.2 percent at $ 33.06 a day after it forecast fourth-quarter revenue at the high end of its target range, citing slightly better-than-expected sales in its mobile business.

The S&P technology index <.gspt> gained 1 percent and ranked as the best performer among the S&P 500‘s 10 major sectors. The PHLX semiconductor index <.sox> rose 0.9 percent.</.sox></.gspt>

But budget discussions commanded center stage for investors. President Barack Obama said there could be a quick deal to avert the “fiscal cliff” – huge tax hikes and spending cuts set to begin in January, possibly driving the U.S. economy back into recession next year – if Republican leaders agree to raise tax rates for those making more than $ 250,000 a year.

While Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives insist that raising tax rates on the rich is not negotiable, some GOP lawmakers now see it as inevitable to avoid the fiscal cliff.

“It’s really being held hostage to (the fiscal cliff negotiations) and the stock action of Apple,” said Bruce Zaro, chief technical strategist at Delta Global Asset Management in Boston.

“We’re back in the mode of there’s a direct correlation between the market and Apple – traders seems to be focused on the movement of Apple, and what its impact is on the indices.”

Without action from Congress in the next few weeks, tax cuts on capital gains and dividends will expire at the end of 2012.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> gained 8.64 points, or 0.07 percent, to 13,043.13. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index <.spx> added 2.66 points, or 0.19 percent, to 1,411.94. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> climbed 19.82 points, or 0.67 percent, to 2,993.52.</.ixic></.spx></.dji>

Apple Inc’s rank in China’s smartphone market fell to No.6 in the third quarter as it faces tougher competition from Chinese brands, research firm IDC said on Thursday. Apple‘s 6.4 percent drop on Wednesday was its worst daily performance since December 2008 and dragged the Nasdaq Composite Index down 0.8 percent for the day.

Sirius XM Radio shares rose 1.8 percent to $ 2.83 after its board approved a $ 2 billion stock repurchase and declared a special dividend, giving a big payout to its largest shareholder, Liberty Media .

Garmin shares rose 4.7 percent to $ 41.56 after Standard & Poor’s said it would add the navigation device maker to the S&P 500 index. Garmin will replace R.R. Donnelley & Sons after the close of trading on December 11.

(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Jan Paschal)

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Windows 8: A ‘Christmas gift for someone you hate’

Microsoft (MSFT) is no stranger to criticism these days, and the company’s new Windows 8 platform is once again the target of a scathing review from a high-profile user. Well-known Internet entrepreneur and MIT professor Philip Greenspun handed Windows 8 one of its most damning reviews yet earlier this week, calling the new operating system a “Christmas gift for someone you hate.” Greenspun panned almost every aspect of Microsoft’s new software, noting that Microsoft had four years to study Android and more than five to examine iOS, but still couldn’t build a usable tablet experience.

“The only device that I can remember being as confused by is the BlackBerry PlayBook,” Greenspun wrote on his blog after using Windows 8 on a Dell (DELL) XPS One All-in-One desktop PC. The acclaimed computer scientist noted that Microsoft omitted all of the best features from the most popular touch-focused platforms and instead created a user interface he describes as a “dog’s breakfast.”

“Suppose that you are an expert user of Windows NT/XP/Vista/7, an expert user of an iPad, and an expert user of an Android phone… you will have no idea how to use Windows 8,” Greenspun wrote.

He continued, “Some functions, such as ‘start an application’ or ‘restart the computer’ are available only from the tablet interface. Conversely, when one is comfortably ensconced in a touch/tablet application, an additional click will fire up a Web browser, thereby causing the tablet to disappear in favor of the desktop. Many of the ‘apps’ that show up on the ‘all apps’ menu at the bottom of the screen (accessible only if you swipe down from the top of the screen) dump you right into the desktop on the first click.”

The only praise Greenspun offered was that “some of the supplied apps are wonderful,” pointing to Microsoft’s Bing Finance application as an example.

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Breast Cancer Vaccine a Reality for Women With HER-2 Negative Cancers

COMMENTARY | NeuVax, a breast cancer vaccine, is entering phase III trials. The drug’s manufacturer, Galena Biopharma, announced on Dec. 5, that it signed a distribution deal with TEVA Pharmaceuticals. TEVA will handle the global commercialization and distribution of the drug once it is out of trials. It is about time this is moving forward. We need to make progress toward ending this disease.

What is NeuVax?

A vaccine called NeuVax is close to being a reality for breast cancer patients. NeuVax is a vaccine, the first of its kind, to prevent breast cancer from recurring. A recurrence is when breast cancer returns to the same breast. If breast cancer appears in the other breast, it is not a recurrence but a new cancer.

Most women have a 15-20 percent chance of breast cancer recurring, even after a mastectomy. The implications of the vaccine are huge. It reduces the chance of breast cancer recurrence in women with node-positive, HER-2 negative breast cancers. About 75 percent of all breast cancer is HER-2 negative. The vaccine is given after the standard course of treatment is completed. It is not a replacement for radiation or chemotherapy. I would gladly try a vaccine over the currently available long-term recurrence preventions — all are hormone based and carry awful side effects.

Phase III trials

Unfortunately for me, there are no trials available in Arkansas. Even if there were, I am not eligible because my cancer is HER-2 positive, and I am thankfully, node-negative. This means that the cancer is not in my lymph system. Phase III trials are when the drug is actually tested in random settings on humans. This drug seems to be very promising. Right now, phase III trials are open in the United States and Canada. Israel will have at least four phase III trials opening soon. You can see if there are trials near you at the NeuVax website.

This vaccine has the potential to replace hormone therapies like tamoxifen and aromatase inhibitors. Both types of drugs have serious side effects. A vaccine, taken over the course of three years, reduces the time a patient needs to take medications and it helps to prevent recurrence. Hopefully the phase III trials go well and we get this vaccine available to breast cancer patients soon.

Lynda Altman was diagnosed with breast cancer in November 2011. She writes a series for Yahoo! Shine called “My Battle With Breast Cancer.”

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Irish budget sees property tax

5 December 2012 Last updated at 12:20 ET

The Irish government has announced a fresh package of spending cuts and tax rises worth billions of euros in its budget for 2013.

These include a new property tax of 0.18% of the value of a home up to 1m euros ($ 1.3m; £800,000).

These are the latest in a long line of austerity measures imposed on Ireland by international lenders that bailed out the country in 2010.

The government said it would meet its deficit reduction target for this year.

It projected a budget deficit of 8.2%, compared with a target of 8.6%. The deficit would fall steadily to 2.9% by 2015, it added.

These forecasts were based on economic growth of 1.5% next year, rising to 2.9% in 2015.

“There are manifest signs that the country is emerging from the worst of the crisis and that the efforts of the Irish people, despite the hardship, are leading to success,” said Irish Finance Minister Michael Noonan.

Tax exemptions

He added that 2012 had seen the “first signs of stability in both the residential and commercial property markets in six years”.

To help “maintain momentum” in the domestic property market, any new or previously unoccupied homes bought between the beginning of next year and the end of 2016 will be exempt from the new property tax. Equally, any homes bought by first-time buyers in 2013 will be exempt.

For all other homes, the Local Property Tax will be introduced in July next year, and will include a higher rate of 0.25% that kicks in on the balance of any property over and above 1m euros.

However, local authorities will be able to vary the rates by 15% above or below the national rates “to better match their funding needs”.

The government also increased tax on alcohol and cigarettes, and announced that maternity benefit would become a taxable income in July 2013.

Income tax rates, as well as duty on petrol an diesel, were left unchanged.

“The individual measures are modest,” said Mr Noonan. “However, I believe that the combination of the measures will have a significant beneficial impact.”

Analysts highlighted the fact Ireland was taking tough decisions to meet its deficit reduction targets.

“It’s a fairly balanced budget from the market’s point of view,” said Owen Callan at Danske Markets.

“Ireland has gotten this tag that it is willing to do whatever it takes to remain on track, even if some of the measures are unpopular. They are taking a few measures that some other countries have been unwilling to look at.”

BBC News – Business

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