Today's business headlines
WA Business News, Australia -
Page 1: Workplace Relations Minister Kevin Andrews has handed himself sweeping powers to monitor every workplace in the nation, forcing the Industrial Relations Commission to send him weekly reports on any application to take strike action. Up to 150 remote indigenous communities on the brink of social collapse will be helped to restore law and order, health and leadership under an ambitious intervention plan being drawn up by the Howard Government.
2006-03-19
Remote reporting and the Green Zone
Asia Times Online, Hong Kong -
The Green Zone houses almost everything that matters in Iraq: the so-called "US embassy", which has taken up residence in Saddam Hussein's old Republican Palace; other favored foreign legations (the British, but not the French, who remain across the river on their own); a remnant United Nations mission; the offices of big construction firms such as KBR and Bechtel; US military command centers; a Pizza Inn; a bar called The Bunker; and CNN and the Wall Street Journal. All have sought haven in the Green Zone. There is also the Convention Center, future home for the new Iraqi parliament, as well as important offices of the new Iraqi government. Just as the foreign "concessions" in such cities as Shanghai once allowed "Westernized" Chinese to live inside them, together with expatriates enjoying extraterritorial rights, select Iraqis are protected in the Green Zone.
2006-03-18
SCHELL: Baghdad: The Beseiged Press
jihadunspun.com, Canada -
Since then, the insurgent attacks on the US forces and Iraqi government and the sectarian fighting between Sunnis and Shiites have become destructive beyond what most journalists have been able to convey. Every morning, the residents of Baghdad find piles of bodies, hands manacled, skulls riddled with bullet holes, that have been dumped without identity cards beside some road. Insofar as there is any semblance of government control, it is all too often by the new Iraqi Ministry of the Interior, which remains in Shia hands but is widely suspected of complicity in the sectarian killings. According to official announcements, the ministry is supposed to be carrying out a comprehensive new plan by U.S. Lieutenant General Martin Dempsey and Major General Joseph Peterson to construct a reformed national army and police force. In fact, as I was told by those few Iraqis I was able to meet, the Ministry of the Interior has a deserved reputation for lawless, Shia partisanship. Until Edward Wong's story on the ministry in the New York Times of March 7, no journalist I know of has been able to show in any detail just how the ministry works and what relations it may have with the Shia militias.
2006-03-17
Ghost of Lennox Lewis Still Haunts Heavyweight Division
SecondsOut -
One of the more popular themes associated with this fight is that a hungry Rahman has been revving his engine for months, waiting for his opportunity to score a big win and break back into the elite ranks of the sport. This is because his fight with ex-WBC champ Klitschko was postponed numerous times in 2005, with Klitschko finally calling it off and calling it a career. A Rahman-Klischko fight could have been compelling, especially since a Klitschko win over a Don King fighter would have drastically changed the dynamics of the division. But as the months passed and the fight kept getting pushed further and further back, perhaps Rahman's reputation grew a little bit bigger than it should have. Klitschko's detractors didn't help this situation by suggesting that his retirement had something to do with him being "scared" of Rahman. The Rahman legend has grown due to circumstance, rather than actual accomplishments inside the ring.
2006-03-16
Financial services stocks still favoured by institutional pooled
CNW Telbec (Communiqu�s de presse), Canada -
TORONTO, March 15 /CNW/ - Institutional pooled equity investment funds continued to favour financial services stocks during the fourth quarter of 2005. This sector was the most popular among both Canadian and foreign-focused funds, according to data collected by Morningstar Canada and released through its Principia for Pooled Funds software. On the performance side, funds focused on foreign equities outperformed their Canadian counterparts for the most part during the three-months ending Dec. 31, 2005. However, Canadian equities were among the top performers for the 2005 calendar year. The Morningstar Asian Equity Pooled Fund Index gained 12% during the three months ending Dec. 31, the best return among Morningstar's 15 institutional pooled fund indices. Next best was Emerging Markets, which rose 7.7% during the quarter. The Canadian Equity (Pure) and Canadian Equity pooled fund indices gained 2.5% and 2.4% respectively during the quarter, lagging International, Global and U.S. Equity, which rose 4.3%, 4% and 2.8% respectively. Funds in the Canadian Equity (Pure) category must be 95% invested in the Canadian market, while the broader Canadian Equity category requires just 70%. These two indices also underperformed the benchmark S&P/TSX Composite Index, which rose 2.9% during the quarter. Canadian Small Cap Equity fared better at 4.5%, producing the quarter's fourth-best return, just behind third-place Real Estate's 4.7%. Fixed-income pooled funds brought up the rear, with Canadian Mortgage, Canadian Money Market and Canadian Bond returning just 0.6%, 0.7% and 0.9% respectively. Foreign Bond did somewhat better, returning 1.2%. The flat Canadian fixed-income returns held the Balanced Pooled Fund Index to a 1.8% return, as the average fund in the corresponding asset category decreased its Canadian Equity holdings to 32.6% at Dec. 31 from 33.1% at Sept. 30. For all of 2005, Emerging Markets Equity was the top performer, gaining 27.8%. The next best one-year performers were Canadian Equity (Pure), up 23.7%; Canadian Small Cap Equity, up 21.7%; and Canadian Equity, up 20.6%. The year's worst performer was Foreign Bond, which lost 0.6%. The fourth quarter's top performing fund overall was AIG Canada Small Companies, which had a three-month return of 20.6%, followed by MCBT Japan Mid-Cap, up 18.6%, and Fidelity Japan MF, up 16.3%. AIG Canada Small Companies was also 2005's best performer, with a one-year return of 66.3%, followed by Co-Operators Canadian Resource, up 54.7%, and Fidelity Latin American MF, up 52.8%. Morningstar tracks more than 900 institutional pooled funds and releases data each month through its Principia for Pooled Funds desktop software. For information on Principia for Pooled Funds, go to www.morningstaradvisor.ca. Five star performance Among pooled-fund management firms, Acuity Investment Management Inc. had the most funds with a Morningstar Rating of five stars at the end of the fourth quarter. Eight of its 11 funds rated by Morningstar received the highest rating at Dec. 31, up from three at Sept. 30. Acuity's five-star newcomers were Acuity Pooled Canadian Small Cap, Acuity Pooled Social Values Canadian Equity, Acuity Pooled Income Trust Fund, Acuity Pooled Canadian Balanced and Acuity Pooled Pure Canadian Equity. Burgundy Asset Management was tied with four other firms with three five-star funds, down one from the previous quarter, as Burgundy Partners Global slipped to four-star status. The other firms with three five-star funds apiece at Dec. 31 were Desjardins Financial Securities, SEI Investments Canada Co., State Street Global Advisors and TD Mutual Funds, with their totals unchanged from the previous quarter-end. The overall number of five-star funds slipped to 59 at the end of the fourth quarter, down one from three months earlier. There were 911 funds in Morningstar Canada's institutional database at Dec. 31, 82% of which received Morningstar Ratings. That compared with 915 funds (79% rated) at Sept. 30. Morningstar Ratings are calculated for institutional pooled funds using the same methodology applied to assign Morningstar's industry-leading retail fund ratings. Funds with a track record of at least three years are eligible for a rating of one to five stars. Balanced fund portfolio holdings Balanced funds' asset allocation was little changed from the previous quarter. The only change of note was a slight decrease in the average Balanced fund's equity position. The average Balanced fund's asset allocation at Dec. 31 was: - 7.4% cash, unchanged from Sept. 30, 2005; - 33.4% Canadian bonds, down from 33.5%; - 32.6% Canadian equity, down from 33.1%; - 19.7% foreign equity, down from 19.8%. The fourth quarter's top performing Balanced fund was Acuity Pooled Canadian Balanced, which had a three-month return of 4.2%. The fund was 52.5% invested in Canadian equities, 30.3% in Canadian bonds and 2.6% in cash at Dec. 31. The category's second-best performer was Acuity Pooled Growth and Income, which gained 4.1% during the three months ending Dec. 31. This fund held 43.8% in Canadian equities and 36% in income trusts at Dec. 31. Cash stood at 1.1%. Domestic stock fund holdings Financial services remained the most popular sector among mainstream domestic stock funds during the fourth quarter. The average Canadian Equity (Pure) fund was invested 32.3% in this sector at Dec. 31, up from 30.6% three months earlier, while the average Canadian Equity fund's financial services position rose to 30.7% from 29.5%. Those holdings were similar to that of the benchmark S&P/TSX Composite's 31.6% at Dec. 31, which was down from 30.8% at Sept. 30. The next biggest average position for these categories remained in the energy sector, although both categories' average positions decreased slightly during the fourth quarter. Canadian Equity (Pure)'s weighting slipped 40 basis points to 24.2%, while the average Canadian Equity fund's holding fell 80 basis points to 20.8%. Both categories' energy weightings continued to be below that of the S&P/TSX Composite, which rose to 27.4% from 27.1% three months earlier. The average Canadian Equity (Pure) fund's cash level slipped to 2.5% from 2.6%, while the average Canadian Equity fund's cash dropped to 4.9% from 5.4%. The top-performing Canadian Equity (Pure) fund during the quarter was GWL Canadian Equity (CCM), with a 7% return. The fund was 47.9% in the financial services sector and 22.2% in energy at Dec. 31, with just 0.2% in cash. The second best performer was Twenty-First Century Canadian Equity, up 5.9%, with a fairly even split between energy (25.1%), financial services (22.9%) and materials (22.2%), and 2.6% cash. The top performer in the Canadian Equity category was Acuity Pooled Canadian Equity, up 5.5%, with 28.9% in financial services and 26.1% in energy, and 1.2% cash. Tied for second with a 5.4% return were two related Great-West Life-managed funds, LL Ethics (GWLIM) and GWL Ethics, each with roughly 28% in financial services, 22% in energy and 19% in materials. The LL fund had 8.9% in cash, while the GWL fund had 6.6%. By far the best fourth-quarter performer in the Canadian Small Cap Equity category was AIG Canadian Small Companies, which gained an impressive 20.6%. The fund's biggest positions at Dec. 31 were materials (35%) and information technology (31%). It was fully invested on that date. The average fund in the category was 22.1% in energy, 19.1% in materials and just 10% in information technology. U.S. equity funds The average U.S. Equity fund's largest position continued to be in financial services, at 19.4% on Dec. 31, compared with 18% three months earlier. That was underweight the benchmark S&P 500 Composite Index, which held 21.3% in that sector (1.2% percentage points higher that at Sept. 30). The second biggest average position remained information technology at 15.5%, little changed from the previous quarter and continuing to be slightly overweight the index, which stood at 15.1%. The average U.S. Equity fund's cash position fell to 3% from 3.7%. LL American Growth (AGF) was the top performing U.S. equity fund in the fourth quarter, gaining 8%. The fund was invested 27.5% in information technology, 16% in consumer discretionary and 15.6% in financial services. It held 4.8% in cash. International Equity funds Europe remained the most popular region among funds in the International Equity category, which have mandates to focus on markets outside North America. However, the average fund in this category decreased its position in continental Europe at Dec. 31 to 39.1% from 40.2% three months earlier, while its United Kingdom allocation fell to 18.7% from 19.8%. By contrast, the MSCI EAFE Index's weightings in continental Europe decreased to 45.9% at Dec. 31 from 47% and in the U.K. to 17.8% from 18.4%. Funds continued to differ from their benchmark in their Japanese positions; the funds showed an average weight of 19.2% (up from a quarter- earlier 17.2%), compared with 27.6% for the index (up from 25.5%). In terms of industry sector allocation, as in North America, financial services continued as this category's biggest position. The average International Equity fund was 23.2% in the sector at Dec. 31, up from 21.4% at Sept. 30. Meanwhile, the MSCI EAFE Index's financial services position rose to 27.8% from 26.9%. Consumer discretionary was the second most popular sector among funds in this category, at 11.8% versus 11.4% three months earlier. The index's weighting stood at 12.7%, up from 12.5%. The average International Equity fund's cash position slipped to 6.1% from 7%. The top performing International Equity funds were HSBC International Equity and Fidelity Overseas MF, up 8.8% and 8.7% respectively for the three months ended Dec. 31. The HSBC fund was 29.7% in financial services and 12.2% in industrials at the quarter-end, with cash at 6.1%. It was 35.5% in Japan, 33.9% in continental Europe and 10.1% in the U.K. (Fidelity does not report its funds' holdings on a quarterly basis.) Canadian Bond funds Holdings among funds in the Canadian Bond category changed little during the third quarter. Federal government bonds remained the most popular bond- issuer type, with an average position of 39.8%, down 20 basis points from the earlier quarter, while the average corporate bond position was down slightly at 35.4%, compared with 36.3%. That compared to Dec. 31 weightings in the benchmark S&P/TSX Canadian Bond Broad Market Index of 47.4 federal government and 26.3 % corporate. The category's average cash position was 8.4%, the same as at Sept. 30. The category's average duration and maturity stood at 6.7 years and 10.1 years, respectively, virtually unchanged from the previous quarter. That compared with the benchmark's 6.3 and 9.9 years respectively. The average Canadian Bond fund reduced its position in short-term issues by 1.3 percentage points to 38.7%, while its long-term position was little changed at 35.3%. By contrast, the benchmark's weighting was 45.1% short-term and 29% long-term. The top-performing Canadian Bond fund in the fourth quarter was SEI Long Duration Bond, with a 4% return for the three-month period, followed by Standard Life Real Return Bond at 3.7%. The SEI fund was, as its name suggests, entirely in long-term bonds. It also was 100% in federal government issues. Its average duration and maturity were 14.9 and 15.2 years respectively, compared with 12.4 and 22.7 for the S&P/TSX Canadian Bond Long- Term Index. The Standard Life fund was 98.7% in long-term bonds and 88.7% in federal-government issues, while its average duration and maturity were 16.3 and 22.5 years respectively. About Morningstar Morningstar Canada is the Toronto-based unit of Chicago-based Morningstar, Inc., a leading provider of independent investment research. In addition to Principia for Pooled Funds, Morningstar Canada offers the PALTrak and BellCharts Canadian retail-fund analysis products and is the leading source of Canadian investment fund information through MorningstarAdvisor.ca, an advisors-only site, and its retail counterpart, Morningstar.ca.
2006-03-11
South Park (DVD) Review
DailyIndia.com, NY -
South Park mostly follows the exploits of four elementary school kids - Cartman (who's overweight and sarcastic), Kyle (who dreams of eliminating his little brother Ike), Stan (who throws up at the sight of a girl he likes), and Kenny (who manages to get killed in every episode). All four attend South Park Elementary School where third grade teacher Mr. Garrison educates them with the use of a hand-puppet named "Mr. Hat" and cafeteria employee "Chef" McElroy (Isaac Hayes) dispenses his advice while periodically breaking into 70's love songs about making love to women. South Park is the setting for numerous oddities such as alien visitors, a monster with a hand of celery and the leg of Patrick Duffy, and Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride. South Park also hosts a number famous people from time to time, such as the Devil, Saddam Hussein, the Antichrist, Kathy Lee Gifford, Scott Baio, Tina Yothers, Elton John, and Jesus Christ - who has his own cable access show...
2006-03-10
CytRx Provides 2006 Update on RNAi-Based Drug Discovery Programs
PR Newswire (press release), NY -
) today reported substantial progress in its drug discovery programs aimed at using its proprietary RNA interference (RNAi) technologies to develop novel molecular medicines to treat obesity and type 2 diabetes. "During the past year, CytRx-sponsored research programs have discovered and validated approximately 30 new type 2 diabetes and obesity drug targets through the use of our high throughput functional RNAi screening platform. This event supports our continued evolution as a leader in the field of RNAi- based drug discovery in identifying and developing potential treatments for these metabolic diseases," said Steven A. Kriegsman, President and CEO of CytRx. CytRx reported the following developments in its RNAi-based drug discovery programs: * Extension of its high throughput RNAi screening platform to include muscle and liver cells in addition to fat cells. CytRx is utilizing highly efficient, parallel RNAi-based gene silencing in these cells to identify and validate novel targets that function in insulin signaling and other metabolic pathways. * Progress with its RIP140 RNAi therapeutics program. CytRx research has shown that suppression by gene deletion or small interfering RNA (siRNA) of RIP140, which is a nuclear hormone co-repressor that regulates fat accumulation, results in the acceleration of fat burning in animals and fat cells. Depletion of RIP 140 in vivo can improve responsiveness to insulin under circumstances such as a high fat diet, where normal animals develop insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. * Advancement of two proprietary small molecule leads against novel upstream AMP activated protein kinase (AMPK) targets into proof of concept animal experiments. AMPK is a well known, highly validated pathway of fatty acid oxidation. Increased recruitment of the AMPK signaling system, either due to exercise or pharmaceutical activators, may be effective in lowering fatty acids and correcting insulin resistance in patients with forms of impaired glucose tolerance. * Submission of U.S. & European patent applications covering the use of regulators of its upstream AMPK targets to treat type 2 diabetes and obesity. * Identification of multiple promising new chemical entities against targets that have never before been linked with type 2 diabetes Mark A. Tepper, Ph.D., Senior Vice President of Drug Discovery and head of CytRx's laboratory in Worcester Massachusetts said, "We have continued to develop our RNAi screening platform by expanding its application to different metabolic tissues and implementing rapid in vivo RNAi target validation methods. Using this platform, we have shown that we can quickly identify and validate novel drug targets, screen them for small molecule inhibitors and show that these inhibitors are active in the original functional assay. With this platform, we plan to continue to build a pipeline of molecular medicines against multiple novel drug targets for treating obesity and type 2 diabetes." "We are already in a Phase II clinical trial with our lead small molecule drug candidate arimoclomol for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease) and a Phase I trial with our HIV vaccine," added Mr. Kriegsman. "We look forward to entering the clinic with drug candidates derived from our RNAi-based drug discovery program, which represents an important step toward the development of next generation medicines that address the large, underserved obesity and type 2 diabetes markets." Obesity has reached epidemic proportions. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that worldwide more than 1 billion adults are overweight and at least 300 million of them are clinically obese. WHO cites overweight and obesity as major contributors to the growing incidence of chronic diet-related diseases and disabilities, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension and stroke, and certain forms of cancer. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, obesity-related deaths rose 33% to an estimated 400,000 between 1990 and 2000. A recent Rand study found that by 2020, approximately one in five healthcare dollars spent on people aged 50 to 70 will be due to obesity-related disabilities, if the current trend of overeating and inactivity continues. About CytRx Corporation CytRx Corporation is a biopharmaceutical research and development company engaged in the development of high value human therapeutics. The Company owns three clinical-stage compounds based on its small molecule "molecular chaperone" co-induction technology (CCI), as well as a targeted library of 500 small molecule CCI analogs. CytRx has initiated a Phase II clinical trial with its lead CCI small molecule product candidate arimoclomol for the treatment for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease). Arimoclomol has received Orphan Drug status and Fast Track designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. CytRx has previously announced that a novel polyvalent HIV DNA + protein vaccine exclusively licensed to CytRx and developed by researchers at UMMS and Advanced BioScience Laboratories, and funded by the National Institutes of Health, demonstrated very promising interim Phase I clinical trial results that indicate its ability to produce potent antibody responses with neutralizing activity against multiple HIV viral strains. CytRx also has a broad-based strategic alliance with UMMS to develop novel compounds in the areas of ALS, obesity, type 2 diabetes and cytomegalovirus (CMV) using RNAi technology. The Company has a research program with Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard University's teaching hospital, to use RNAi technology to develop a drug for the treatment of ALS. CytRx Drug Discovery division, located in Worcester, MA focuses on the use of RNAi technologies to develop small molecule and RNAi therapeutics to treat obesity and type 2 diabetes. For more information, visit CytRx's Web site at
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