Japan Airlines aims to raise at least $6.5 billion in relisting (Reuters)

TOKYO (Reuters) ? Japan Airlines plans to raise more than 500 billion yen ($6.5 billion) ahead of re-listing its shares as early as September, a source with knowledge of the matter said, marking a sharp turnaround for the carrier following its bankruptcy in 2010.

A government-backed fund overseeing the airline's restructuring has said it would aim to recoup its 350 billion yen investment through a public offering by January 2013, three years after it went under with 2.3 trillion yen in debts.

The public offering is expected to rank as Japan's largest since Dai-Ichi Life Insurance (8750.T) raised 1 trillion yen in 2010, and will likely be carried out against a backdrop of tough industry competition and sluggish economic growth.

The state-backed fund, the Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corp of Japan (ETIC), is looking at a September to December window to re-list the stock in Tokyo, according to the source, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the deal.

"The valuation will be influenced a lot on the level of global stock prices, and right now it's very unclear how stock markets will perform over the next 6 months or so," the source said, adding that 500 billion yen was seen as a minimum target for the offering to get a decent return on taxpayer funds.

Nomura Holdings Inc (8604.T) and Daiwa Securities Group Inc (8601.T) were selected by the ETIC as global coordinators for the public offering in August, a Japan Airlines spokesman said. He declined to comment on the potential size of the share sale.

The carrier emerged from bankruptcy last March after slashing 16,000 jobs, cutting pension benefits and paring its international and domestic routes, and logged a record operating profit of 188.4 billion yen for the 2010 financial year.

Japan Airlines' recovery has been built almost entirely on cost-cutting and comes in the face of high fuel prices and a sluggish global economy, which has crimped travel demand.

Those tough conditions drove American Airlines to file for bankruptcy protection in November, highlighting just how quickly an airline's fortunes can change.

American had offered to invest in Japan Airlines, its partner in the Oneworld Alliance, when the Japanese carrier was heading into bankruptcy in late 2009.

($1 = 76.7400 Japanese yen)

(Reporting by Nathan Layne, Nobuhiro Kubo and Mayumi Negishi; Editing by Joseph Radford and Ian Geoghegan)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/japan/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120105/bs_nm/us_jal_ipo

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Penn State attempts to move past scandal by hiring Patriots' Bill O'Brien, reports say

Penn State is reportedly in contract talks with New England's offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien. But Penn State football alumni aren't too happy with the process to replace Joe Paterno

?Bill O'Brien, the relatively unknown offensive coordinator of the NFL's New England Patriots, has reported been tapped to replace the fired Joe Paterno as head football coach at Penn State University.

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Paterno, who had spent nearly 50 years coaching at State College, was let go in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal last fall.

O'Brien, like Paterno, is a Brown University alumnus who coached at other Football Bowl Subdivision schools, such as Maryland, Georgia Tech, and Duke, before being hired as a coaching assistant by Patriots head coach Bill Belichick in 2007.

Friday morning, multiple reports had O'Brien negotiating contract details with Penn State's acting athletic director David Joyner.

But the reported selection of O'Brien to take over the Penn State program was not sitting well with some former Nittany Lion players.

?I don?t want to be affiliated with the university if they don?t choose a Penn State guy because of our standards, our graduation, all the things that have been important? it?s no longer Penn State, so we might as well be in the SEC," Brandon Short, a Penn State alum and former New York Giants linebacker, said.

If O'Brien does take the Penn State job, he will be working for two employers, as the Patriots are in the NFL playoffs once again. The Patriots have a bye this weekend and await one of three possible teams(Denver Broncos, Pittsburgh Steelers, or Cincinnati Bengals) in the AFC Divisional playoff a week from Saturday.

Also, now that the new year has begun, college recruiting reaches a fever pitch for all Division 1 schools, including Penn State. The most critical date is February 1st, when high school seniors can sign national letters of intent with the school of their choice.

There's speculation already about who might replace O'Brien as Patriots offensive coordinator. Josh McDaniels, the man who held the post before O'Brien and currently an assistant with the St. Louis Rams, could make a return to New England.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/3lF6TEMhqcI/Penn-State-attempts-to-move-past-scandal-by-hiring-Patriots-Bill-O-Brien-reports-say

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iPhone flashlight helps rescue team save lost hiker (Digital Trends)

Wandering through?Gambrill State Park?northwest of Frederick, Maryland,?Christopher Tkacik, a 43-year-old lawyer,?and his dog Boo got lost in the woods while on a hike through the park as reported by My Fox DC. After walking in circles for hours,?Tkacik eventually resigned himself to the fact that they were lost and used his iPhone to call emergency services. While the Google Maps application was continuing to give him the incorrect location on his iPhone,?Tkacik was able to send his wife a text message that he was lost, but in good shape. After the 911 call, the local?sheriff dispatched a helicopter to look around?Gambrill State Park to locate?Tkacik.

Tkacik waited until he heard the helicopter hovering nearby and turned on his iPhone flashlight application to catch the attention of the pilot. Just like a flare, the pilot spotted the iPhone flashlight in the darkness of the wooded area and two rescue workers?rappelled 150 feet from the helicopter to help guide Tkacik and his dog Boo to safety out of the woods. The entire ordeal took about four hours and got Tkacik back to his wife in time to attend a?New Year?s Eve party. Interestingly,?Tkacik had recently given his wife the?Steve Jobs biography for Christmas and she stated ?I started reading it. Steve Jobs with the iPhone?oh my gosh?technology?s good,? during an interview with a local television station.?

Tkacik didn?t let the incident sour him on hiking and returned to the trails on Monday. When asked about the iPhone, he stated ?Having a charged phone made a world of difference. If I didn?t have a phone, I would have been stuck really bad.? In a much greater disaster in 2010, Apple?s iPhone also helped out?Haiti earthquake survivor?Dan Woolley of Colorado Springs?to self-diagnose and treat injuries to his body by using a medical application as well as the glowing light?emanating?from the iPhone.

This article was originally posted on Digital Trends

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/applecomputer/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/digitaltrends/20120103/tc_digitaltrends/iphoneflashlighthelpsrescueteamsavelosthiker

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White geek?s burden (Unqualified Offerings)

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Hungary's currency at new low on lack of IMF deal (AP)

BUDAPEST, Hungary ? Hungary's currency, the forint, fell to an all-time low against the euro Wednesday amid growing uncertainty over a new financial aid deal with international creditors and concerns over the government's economic policies.

Hungary's government is seeking a financial "safety net" from the International Monetary Fund and the European Union, but preliminary talks ended prematurely in December as the government pushed ahead with new laws seen as infringing on the independence of the National Bank of Hungary. Talks with the IMF are due to restart next week in Washington.

Concern over the outlook for Hungary's finances have taken their toll on the forint. The euro rose to 320.18 forints shortly after midday (1100 GMT), surpassing the peak above 317 reached two months ago.

Investors are increasingly skeptical about the sustainability of the government's economic policy, which has drawn on "unorthodox" methods to ensure that the state budget deficit stays within EU guidelines.

Windfall taxes on banks, and other sectors such as energy, telecommunications and retail, as well as the nationalization of some $14 billion in assets managed by private pension funds were meant to avoid direct austerity measures and buy the government time until economic growth kicked in.

But the effects of the eurozone crisis and weak domestic consumption could cause a recession this year and Economy Minister Gyorgy Matolcsy was forced to revise the 2012 budget plan just days after it was presented to parliament near the end of last year.

Under the previous, Socialist-led government, Hungary received a bailout of euro20 billion ($26 billion) in 2008 as investors shied away from buying Hungarian debt. A similar situation could be playing out now, with yields on long-term Hungarian bonds rising to above 10 percent this week and the price of insuring Hungarian debt escalating to new highs.

"With problems likely to deepen in the eurozone and no sign that Hungary's policy credibility is improving, Hungarian assets look set to be in for a bumpy ride," said William Jackson, an emerging markets economist at Capital Economics in London.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government decided not to extend the IMF deal in 2010 to keep its economic policies away from the IMF control, but carried out an astonishing U-turn in November saying it would seek aid, but no new loans, from the Fund.

Orban has remained defiant, saying last week that IMF negotiations were "important but not crucial" and that the country would be able to "stand on our own feet" if a deal was not reached.

But analysts have rejected such bravado.

"Hungary's government still seems to believe that it has room to negotiate or manage without the international lenders. They are wrong," said Gabor Ambrus of London's 4Cast. "Hungary's government needs to wave the white flag but it seems they are not yet willing to recognize this. The consequence will be enormous."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120104/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_hungary_economy

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Perry pushes his status as a conservative outsider

Republican presidential candidate, Texas Gov. Rick Perry speaks during a campaign stop at the Stoney Creek Inn, Monday, Jan. 2, 2012, in Sioux City, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Republican presidential candidate, Texas Gov. Rick Perry speaks during a campaign stop at the Stoney Creek Inn, Monday, Jan. 2, 2012, in Sioux City, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Republican presidential candidate, Texas Gov. Rick Perry speaks during a campaign stop at the Stoney Creek Inn, Monday, Jan. 2, 2012, in Sioux City, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Republican presidential candidate, Texas Gov. Rick Perry speaks during a campaign stop at the Stoney Creek Inn, Monday, Jan. 2, 2012, in Sioux City, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) ? Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry, campaigning in Iowa's heavily conservative northwest corner the day before Tuesday's caucuses, urged conservatives to support one of their own who hasn't been part of the Washington and Wall Street establishments.

Perry continued to have trouble with the details as he addressed potential supporters in a Sioux City hotel lobby Monday afternoon. In challenging rival Rick Santorum's support for home-state projects funded with federal money, the Texas governor referred to "the Bridge to Nowhere in Arizona." Actually, the project that became a symbol of runaway pork-barrel spending was planned for Alaska.

He got that detail right later in Carroll as his campaign bus rumbled toward a jam-packed caucus-eve rally in Perry, Iowa, that featured Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal.

"When we win the big Iowa caucuses tomorrow, that's the only one that matters," a buoyant Perry told supporters.

Yet the error earlier in the day underscored concerns about Perry's mastery of basic facts.

During one debate, he pledged to eliminate three federal agencies but failed to remember which ones he was talking about. He confused Iraq and Iran during a town hall meeting in South Carolina, and last weekend, he confused the Medicare and Medicaid programs.

That's part of the reason Perry has tried to make the focus of his speeches his rivals' weaknesses.

Perry singled out Santorum, whose recent rise in polling appears to come at the expense of the Texas governor and Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn. The three are widely seen as competing for the more conservative caucus-goers, particularly evangelicals driven by social issues, in the contest to pick a challenger to President Barack Obama.

"He's raised the debt limit more than Obama's raised the debt limit," Perry said of Santorum, pointing to the former Pennsylvania congressman and senator's eight votes to increase the nation's borrowing power.

Turning to another rival, Rep. Ron Paul, Perry said the Texas congressman's foreign policy was tantamount to "appeasement."

"We will be living in the 1930s again," he said. "Let me tell you, when Ron Paul is further to the left on foreign policy than Barack Obama, that ought to tell you something. That is a dangerous situation."

Perry challenged his rivals' potential and cited his own record as Texas' longest-serving governor in arguing for his candidacy.

"Why would you settle for anything other than an authentic conservative who will fight for your views and values and not make an apology for them, not one time?" he asked. "Are we going to replace a Democrat insider with a Republican insider and expect to get any change in Washington, D.C.?"

Continuing his core argument that he has experience creating jobs and dealing with issues that face the nation, he said: "It's easy to get up and say, 'You know, gee, I wish I'd have been on the field, I would have run that touchdown in.' ... We done it in Texas."

The race remains fluid and Iowans are still shopping for candidates.

"I think he's an excellent candidate, but I'm still not decided," said Paul Massey, a 65-year-old eyeglass salesman from Sioux City who visited Perry. "He is saying what I want to hear and he is sincere for sure. But I want to make sure I vote for and caucus for someone who is a winner."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-01-02-Perry/id-7608b066ca4e494283b57c8faa982b83

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Home monitoring may help manage and reduce costs for heart failure

ScienceDaily (Jan. 3, 2012) ? Heart failure affects 5.8 million people in the U.S. alone and is responsible for nearly 1 million hospitalizations each year, most resulting from a build-up of body fluid in the lungs and other organs due to the heart's inability to pump effectively. The disease needs to be closely tracked in order to avoid such hospitalizations, and home-monitoring interventions may be especially useful, UCLA researchers say.

In their new paper, the UCLA authors discuss the importance of heart failure disease-management and early identification, as well as the treatment of body-fluid congestion, using a number of home-monitoring strategies, including self-care, such as daily weighing and medication management; phone calls from a nurse or automated response system; home health visits; and telemedicine and remote monitoring with implantable and external devices to track vital information.

The field of heart failure home-monitoring is fairly new. Further study will help assess optimal approaches, such as identifying which patients may benefit the most from such monitoring, and will determine which health data -- blood pressure or shortness of breath, for example -- may be the best to monitor. Promising new technologies, including devices to track heart-ventricle and pulmonary artery pressures, which are closely related to congestion development and clinical outcomes, may be particularly promising.

The authors suggest that the best approach is most likely multi-pronged, including monitoring along with patient follow-up and feedback.

UCLA is currently running Better Effectiveness After Transition-Heart Failure (BEAT-HF), a multicenter trial testing enhanced transitions of care and telemonitoring for patients recently hospitalized with heart failure.

Authors include Dr. Gregg C. Fonarow, UCLA's Eliot Corday Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine and Science, director of the Ahmanson-UCLA Cardiomyopathy Center, and co-chief of clinical cardiology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

The Ahmanson Foundation and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality funded the research. Fonarow has served as a consultant for Medtronic.

The research appears in the Jan. 10 online edition of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/ELRckAw-bqo/120103135552.htm

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