Influential Israeli rabbi suspected of bribery

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Hardy, Orioles beat Yankees in 13th, force Game 5

Baltimore Orioles' J.J. Hardy hits an RBI double during the 13th inning of Game 4 of the American League division baseball series against the New York Yankees on Thursday, Oct. 11, 2012, in New York. The Orioles won 2-1. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

Baltimore Orioles' J.J. Hardy hits an RBI double during the 13th inning of Game 4 of the American League division baseball series against the New York Yankees on Thursday, Oct. 11, 2012, in New York. The Orioles won 2-1. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

Baltimore Orioles' Nate McLouth (9) and J.J. Hardy (2) celebrate with teammates after Game 4 of the American League division baseball series against the New York Yankees late Thursday, Oct. 11, 2012, in New York. The Orioles won 2-1. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

Baltimore Orioles' Mark Reynolds and Manny Machado embrace as teammates Jim Johnson, left, and Matt Wieters approach after the Orioles defeated the New York Yankees 2-1 in Game 4 of the American League division baseball series Thursday, Oct. 11, 2012, in New York. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)

Baltimore Orioles' J.J. Hardy celebrates with teammates after driving in a run during the 13th inning of Game 4 of the American League division baseball series against the New York Yankees Thursday, Oct. 11, 2012, in New York. The Orioles won 2-1. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)

A trainer, left, helps New York Yankees relief pitcher Joba Chamberlain who was hit by a broken bat when Baltimore Orioles' Matt Wieters hit a single during the twelfth inning of Game 4 of the American League division baseball series on Thursday, Oct. 11, 2012, in New York. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)

NEW YORK (AP) ? With midnight approaching, the Baltimore Orioles' bats awoke one more time.

Now they'll get a last shot to finally overtake the New York Yankees.

J.J. Hardy hit an RBI double in the 13th inning and Baltimore bounced back from a demoralizing loss to outlast the Yankees 2-1 Thursday night, forcing a deciding Game 5 in the AL division series.

After splitting 22 games this year, it all comes down this: a winner-take-all match for a spot in the AL championship series against Detroit.

Game 1 winner CC Sabathia was set to pitch the deciding game for the Yankees against Jason Hammel.

The Orioles were 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position until Hardy doubled off David Phelps with one out to score Manny Machado, who had doubled.

"There hasn't been a whole lot of opportunities to score runs," Hardy said, "so when there are those opportunities, I think we're trying a little bit too hard."

Phelps had relieved in the 12th after Joba Chamberlain was hit by a flying broken bat, forcing him to leave with a bruised right elbow.

Jim Johnson bounced back from allowing Raul Ibanez's pinch-hit homer in the ninth inning Wednesday to earn his second save in the series with a perfect 13th.

"I don't take for granted at any time what these guys are accomplishing so far," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. "They know that. I have so much respect for our guys."

Hours after learning Joe Girardi had kept quiet that his father died last Saturday, the Yankees couldn't rally late. This time, Girardi called upon Eric Chavez to pinch hit for slumping Alex Rodriguez. He lined out to third base to end it.

Baltimore's win pushed all four division series to five games for the first time since the round began in 1995.

The Orioles have been pursuing the Yankees all season, cutting a 10-game deficit in July to zero in early September. Baltimore and New York were tied 10 times atop the East in the final month but the Yankees wrapped up the division on the final night of the regular season.

After dropping Game 1, the Orioles rebounded with another one-run win in a season in which they had the best record in the majors in such games at 29-9. But they lost in stunning fashion in 12 innings Wednesday night, when Ibanez homered twice in his two at-bats after pinch-hitting for Rodriguez.

These Birds don't rattle, though.

They came right back Thursday for their first win in extras against the Yankees this year. They also lost twice to New York in extra innings in the regular season before going on a run of 16 straight wins after the ninth inning.

It wasn't easy, though. Nate McLouth homered off Phil Hughes to start the fifth, but Baltimore wasted three shots with a runner on third base in the first four innings. They struggled against New York's bullpen.

Matt Wieters knocked Chamberlain out of the game with a broken-bat single to lead off the 12th inning that struck his surgically repaired right elbow. Fans sat silent as Chamberlain bent over in pain. He was checked out by trainer Steve Donahue and Girardi.

Chamberlain tested the elbow with three pitches before walking off the field. X-rays were negative. he's not sure if he'll be available for Game 5.

"You kind of see how it feels (Friday) and go from there," Chamberlain said. "It's definitely not as stiff as it was when it first happened."

Many of the Orioles gathered near their bat rack in the dugout for an impromptu cheer before the 13th and Machado then led off with a double.

One out later, Hardy hit a one-bouncer off the wall in left field for his first RBI of the series.

The hit came after another Orioles quirk ? the players held Gatorade bottles and wiggled them in the dugout, trying to conjure up a rally.

Showalter professed confidence in the 51-save Johnson before the game. He backed it up by calling on him for his fourth appearance of the series. He lost the opener after giving up five runs in the ninth and sandwiched saves around his trying homer to Ibanez.

Seven Baltimore relievers pitched 7 1-3 innings of four-hit ball.

"There's really good pitching," Girardi said. "You're seeing some really good pitching in these four games."

The Yankees held a moment of silence for Girardi's dad, Jerry, who died Saturday at 81 and had a long bout with Alzheimer's. Joe Girardi stood alone in front of the Yankees dugout and wiped his eyes after the national anthem. He blew a kiss to someone in the stands, then fist bumped several coaches and players.

Facing elimination for the second time this postseason, Showalter turned again to Joe Saunders. Acquired by Baltimore on Aug. 26 from Arizona, Saunders pitched 5 2-3 innings of one-run ball in the wild-card win over Texas.

He was just as crafty against New York, engaging with Phil Hughes in a duel of who could get out of the tougher jam.

The Yankees put a runner on in every inning against Saunders but failed to score until the sixth.

Derek Jeter lined an outside pitch to right field for a leadoff double in sixth, showing no ill effects of a bruised left foot that kept him from playing shortstop in the postseason for the first time in his career.

He advanced on Ichiro Suzuki's sacrifice and scored on Robinson Cano's grounder to second. Showalter then lifted Saunders for right-hander Tommy Hunter to face Rodriguez. A-Rod struck out to loud boos and tossed his bat.

NOTES: Highlights of Ibanez's two homers in Game 3 received loud cheers each time the clips were showed on the video board. ... Curtis Granderson has struck out nine times in 16 at-bats this postseason. ... Hughes and Saunders combined to walk seven after there were no walks Wednesday in 12 innings. ... Jeter got his 199th postseason hit.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-10-12-ALDS-Orioles-Yankees/id-d7895399553a40bab3537b3cfef8bd3a

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Eco-friendly optics: Spider silk's talents harnessed for use in biosensors, lasers, microchips

ScienceDaily (Oct. 11, 2012) ? Spiders use their silk to catch lunch. Now physicists are using it to catch light. New research shows that natural silk could be an eco-friendly alternative to more traditional ways of manipulating light, such as through glass or plastic fiber optic cables. Two teams independently exploring possible applications for the material's photonic talents will present their latest breakthroughs at the Optical Society's (OSA) Annual Meeting, Frontiers in Optics (FiO) 2012, to be held next week in Rochester, N.Y.

Biomedical engineer Fiorenzo Omenetto of Tufts University in Boston will discuss his group's work fabricating concoctions of proteins that make use of silk's optical properties for implantable sensors and other biology-technology interfaces.

Physicist Nolwenn Huby at the CNRS Institut de Physiques de Rennes in France will talk about her team's use of pristine, natural spider silk to guide light through photonic chips -- technology that could give birth to silk-based biosensors and medical imaging devices for use inside the body.

Both groups hope their work will lead to medical advancements that take advantage of the optical properties of silk. One of the strongest fibers in nature (the dragline used by spiders to form the structure of their webs is stronger, pound for pound, than steel), silk is biocompatible, biodegradable, and extremely hardy. Produced naturally by spiders and silkworms, it is a renewable resource. Added to these benefits is the more recent discovery that silk is a gifted manipulator of light, which can travel through silk almost as easily as it flows through glass fibers.

Though it may not be the best material in every one of these categories, the combination of talents is what makes silk such an attractive material to study, Omenetto explains. "There are materials that can do one of each, or a few of each," he says, "but seldom all of each."

Silk-based 'plastics' for implantable devices

In their efforts to exploit silk's optical merits, Omenetto's team is developing silk-based materials that look like plastic, but retain the optical properties of pristine silk. One of the advantages of these materials is that they can degrade and be reabsorbed by the body. A sensor or tag made of silk protein could be implanted -- at the site of a fractured bone, for example, to monitor healing -- and merely left to dissolve. Once its purpose had been served, the silk tag would harmlessly fade away.

Omenetto is currently investigating a range of questions, from fundamental to commercial, and they go beyond implantable optics. His team recently won an INSPIRE grant from the National Science Foundation to create electronic components that are compostable. He has developed and tested a blue laser made from silk fiber-doped materials that is not only biodegradable but also uses less power to induce lasing than the acrylic materials that are commonly used. He is also exploring the possibilities of using silk to integrate a technological component with living tissue. "We're thinking of how to scale up [production], how to interface with current technology," Omenetto says. He hopes some of the more "gadget-like" fruits of his labor will be commercially available within the next five to 10 years.

Guiding light with real silk

Silk-doped composites are the subject of Omenetto's talk at FiO, but the optical merits of pristine silk will be the subject of Huby's. Her team is experimenting with pure spider silk as a relatively inexpensive and ecologically friendly way to manipulate light within photonic chips.

As a light guide, silk works in a way comparable to the more commonly used glass microfibers that carry light within a chip; but silk comes out of the spider ready to use, whereas glass microfibers have to be heated to high levels and carefully sculpted at great expense. Huby's silk is collected by a group of molecular spectroscopy experts led by Michel P?zolet of Universit? Laval in Quebec, then integrated into circuits at her team's lab at Rennes. To her knowledge, this is the first time the optical properties of pristine silk have been exploited.

By integrating real spider silk into a microchip, the researchers found that silk could not only propagate light but could also direct light, or "couple" it, to selected parts of the chip. Huby hopes this work can be used to create biosensors that could detect the presence of a molecule or the activity of a protein: as light waves passed through a blood sample, for example, the molecules would change the properties of the light wave in an observable way.

The next step for Huby's team, she says, is to see what biologists and medical professionals need and then create devices they can use. Besides making biosensors, spider silk could also provide a light source for taking pictures inside of the body. Natural silk is only five microns in diameter, less than a tenth the width of a human hair. A pristine fiber of spider silk, which is so thin and strong, could carry light into the body through a very small opening, providing less invasive ways to do internal imaging or even chemical diagnoses using spectroscopy, which is the analysis of matter based on its interaction with light.

As a spokesman for silk's status as the material of the future -- he gave a TED talk on the subject last year -- Omenetto believes these recent successes will help more people become excited about the potential of this remarkable material.

"I like to think we threw a big stone in the pond," Omenetto says. "And hopefully the waves will continue."

Both presentations take place Monday, Oct. 15 at the Rochester Riverside Convention Center in Rochester, N.Y. Presentation FM3E.3. "Silk-based Optics and Photonics" by Fiorenzo Omenetto is at 2:30 p.m. followed by presentation FM3E.4 "Optical Propagation and Integration of Pristine Major Ampullate Spider Silk Fibers" by Huby et al. at 3 p.m.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/matter_energy/technology/~3/G3hBhZU3dNE/121011124007.htm

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Turkey intercepts Syrian plane

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) ? Turkish jets on Wednesday forced a Syrian passenger plane to land at Ankara airport on suspicion that it may be carrying weapons, Turkey's foreign minister said, amid heightened tensions between Turkey and Syria that have sparked fears of a wider regional conflict.

A Syrian Air Airbus A320 coming from Moscow was intercepted by F16 jets as it entered Turkish airspace and escorted to the capital's Esenboga Airport, the state-run TRT television reported.

"There are civil aviation rules, planes are required to make clear statements (concerning their cargo)," Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in an interview with Turkey's TGRT television from Athens. The interview was also shown on TRT. "We received information that it was carrying certain equipment in breach of civil aviation rules."

"Should the information (received by authorities) turns out to be true, then whatever is required by international law will be done," he added.

The head of Turkey's civil aviation agency Bilal Eksi said there were 37 passengers and crew on board the plane. According to Moscow's Vnukovo airport, flight RB442 left for Damascus at 3:26 p.m. Moscow time (1126 GMT). It wasn't immediately clear whether this was the plane that was intercepted.

Davutoglu said the passengers were being treated "hospitably" and given meals while the plane's cargo was being inspected.

Officials in the Syrian information and foreign ministries could not immediately be reached for comment.

Davutoglu also said Turkish authorities had declared Syria's airspace to be unsafe and were stopping Turkish aircraft from flying over the civil war-torn country.

The move comes as tensions Turkey and Syria are running high. The countries, which were once close allies, have been exchanging artillery fire across the volatile border for days.

Earlier Wednesday, Turkey's military chief vowed to respond with more force to any further shelling from Syria, keeping up the pressure on its southern neighbor a day after NATO said it stood ready to defend Turkey.

Gen. Necdet Ozel was inspecting troops who have been put on alert along the 910-kilometer (566-mile) border after shelling from Syria killed five civilians in a Turkish border town last week. Turkey has reinforced the border with artillery guns and also deployed more fighter jets to an air base close to the border region.

"We responded and if (the shelling) continues, we will respond with more force," the private Dogan news agency quoted Ozel as saying during a visit to the town of Akcakale.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Wednesday that Washington has sent military troops to the Jordan-Syria border to help build a headquarters in Jordan and bolster that country's military capabilities in the event that violence escalates along its border with Syria.

The revelation raises the possibility of an escalation in the U.S. military involvement in the conflict, even as Washington pushes back on any suggestion of a direct intervention in Syria.

In Syria's largest city, Aleppo, regime troops and rebel fighters exchanged fire for several hours in and near the historic 13th century Ummayyad Mosque, said local activist Mohammed Saeed.

Saeed said rebels were trying to drive out regime troops holed up in the downtown place of worship. He said that by nightfall the shooting had stopped. The mosque is one of the landmarks of Aleppo, along with its medieval covered market, or souk, which was largely gutted last month in a huge fire sparked by the fighting.

Rami Abdul-Rahman of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said local activists told him fighting was restricted to the area near the mosque, but that no fighters entered the site itself. The Observatory relies on reports from a network of activists in Syria.

Aleppo has been the scene of intense fighting, particularly since rebels launched a new offensive two weeks ago to try to dislodge regime troops. The fighting has devastated large areas of the city of 3 million, Syria's former business capital.

Earlier, Syrian activists also said the rebel units of the Free Syrian Army took control of Maaret al-Numan, a strategic city along the main highway in Idlib province that connects the central city of Homs with northern city of Aleppo and the capital Damascus.

Abdul-Rahman said the rebels took control of the city late Tuesday. He said the rebels control the western entry into the city while the military is massing troops along the eastern outskirts for a possible counter offensive.

Fadi Yassin, an activist in Maarat al-Numan, told The Associated Press on Skype that rebels are in control of the town, although fierce fighting continued around the military barracks in the eastern part on Wednesday, three days after the FSA launched a "liberation battle," he added.

"The city has been liberated," Yassin said of Maarat al-Numan in Idlib province. "All liberation battles start with small cities and then moves on to the major cities."??

Holding on to Maaret al-Numan would be a significant achievement for the rebels, enabling them to cut the army's main supply route to two battered cities of Aleppo and Homs, both of which came under bombardment from the regime's helicopters and artillery on Wednesday, according to activists.

Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency reported fighting between Syrian rebels and forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime around the Syrian town of Azmarin, in Idlib province, across from the Turkish border. It said Syrians were fleeing homes in the Azmarin region, some crossing into Turkey on rowing boats?over the river Orontes, that runs along the border.

Footage from Anadolu showed women, children and elderly men being taken across the river from Syria to Turkey on makeshift rafts and boats.

Private NTV television reported that explosions and automatic weapon fire could be heard in Turkey's Hatay province, coming from Azmarin. It said rebels were clashing with some 500 Syrian government soldiers, and that at least 100 rebels had been injured, some of whom had been brought to Turkey for treatment.

Some 99,000 Syrians, mostly women and children, have sought refuge in Turkey since the start of the conflict.

Also on Wednesday, state-run news agency SANA said President Bashar Assad appointed Sattam Jadaan al-Dandah as Syria's new ambassador to Iraq. The report did not say when al-Dandah will travel to Baghdad. His predecessor, Nawaf Fares, defected in July to become the most senior diplomat to abandon Assad's regime during a bloody 18-month uprising that has gradually become a bloody civil war.

Meanwhile, the U.N. envoy on Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, arrived in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Wednesday on the first stop of his diplomatic tour of the Middle East. His spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said Brahimi would "hold wide-ranging talks on the prolonged crisis in Syria."

___

Barbara Surk and Zeina Karam in Beirut and Frank Jordans in Istanbul contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/turkey-intercepts-syrian-plane-183617411.html

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Reading? - Economy and Society - Heidi Barathieu-Brun

Published on Bloomberg, by James G. Neuger and Stephanie Bodoni, Oct. 8, 2012 ? European governments set up a full- time 500 billion-euro ($648 billion) fund to aid debt-swamped countries and, not for the first time in the three-year crisis, expressed confidence that the extra financial muscle won?t be needed anytime soon. Finance ministers from the 17 euro countries declared the European Stability Mechanism ESM operational, while saying that Spain, its biggest potential near-term customer, isn?t on the verge of tapping it. Decisions were also put off on Greece?s next aid payment and on an assistance program for Cyprus ?

• Video: ESM ? The New European Dictator, 3.51 min, on YouTube (spoken in german, subtitled in english), uploaded by chich234, Oct. 23, 2011: On 11 July 2011 a new European treaty has been signed. You probably haven?t heard of it. It has not been in the news. Incredible, but true!??
• TREATY ESTABLISHING THE EUROPEAN STABILITY MECHANISM ESM, 62 pdf-pages *.
• Do not confuse it with the European Financial Stability Mechanim EFSM or the European Financial Stability Facility EFSF, which is the 440 billion emergency funds that has been in the news a lot.
• My comment: yes, this is naked dictatorship, yes, EUgovs signed this, knowing fully the consequences. Ok, guys, now the only way to go out of this mess will be real, total revolution. A revolution becoming possible only when the unconscious dump silent majority, accepting no own responsibility is so totally oppressed, that even they are ready to stop dictatorship ? ready to leave the unconfortable known for the feared unknown.

* (full titel: TREATY ESTABLISHING THE EUROPEAN STABILITY MECHANISM BETWEEN THE KINGDOM OF BELGIUM, THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY, THE REPUBLIC OF ESTONIA, IRELAND, THE HELLENIC REPUBLIC, THE KINGDOM OF SPAIN, THE FRENCH REPUBLIC, THE ITALIAN REPUBLIC, THE REPUBLIC OF CYPRUS, THE GRAND DUCHY OF LUXEMBOURG, MALTA, THE KINGDOM OF THE NETHERLANDS, THE REPUBLIC OF AUSTRIA, THE PORTUGUESE REPUBLIC, THE REPUBLIC OF SLOVENIA, THE SLOVAK REPUBLIC AND THE REPUBLIC OF FINLAND).

Links related around money:

• European Stability Mechanism ESM on en.wikipedia;
• The currency mountain with more holes than a Swiss cheese, on Financial News, by William Hutchings, Sept. 24, 2012;
• Asset holes: US leadership in money, credit, CAFR surplus trillions, on Washington?s Blog, by Carl Herman, July 15, 2012: US systems of money, credit, and CAFR so-called ?accounting? are designed by a 1% psychopath class to parasitize wealth from the 99% ? //
  ? Until the 99% reach critical mass with our ?emperor has no clothes? recognition, we?ll continue to suffer these asset hole, psychopathic, lying sacks of spin. (full text).
• Debt-damned economics: learn monetary reform or kiss your assets goodbye. 1 of 2;
• POLITICS: Kucinich explains monetary reform, full-employment, new cities;
• POLITICS: Carl Herman explains working with criminal 1% at two UN Summits, monetary reform;
• POLITICS: $ Trillions to the 99%: Ellen Brown explains monetary & credit reform;
• CAFR summary: why can?t a $600B ?fund? fund $27B pension, $16B budget deficit? locked in government ?rainy day? funds with lines of at-cost credit.
• CAFR: top articles;
• CAFR summary: why can?t a $600B ?fund? fund $27B pension, $16B budget deficit? So-called ?pension? and ?rainy day? accounts are tragic-comic in non-disclosure and non-performance for budget, infrastructure, and pension funding;
• 8-minute TEDx video: economics for 100% of Earth?s inhabitants? success;
• The End of Money, Counterfeiters, Preachers, Techies, Dreamers?and the Coming Cashless Society [Hardcover], by David Wolman, author, on amazon;
• David Wolman: The End of Money, 8.28 min, on YouTube, uploaded by BeautifulGirlByDana, April 12, 2012;
• Chuck Missler: The End of Money, 3.39 min, uploaded by koinoniahouse, Febr. 9, 2012;
• stupid ? I cannot let these questions.

Source: http://blog.heidi-barathieu-brun.ch/wp-archive/9784

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Three Steps for Not Getting Burned Investing in Stem Cell Stocks

by Marc Lichtenfeld, Investment U Senior Analyst
Wednesday, October 10, 2012: Issue #1879

The 2012 Nobel Prize for Medicine was awarded this week to two scientists for their work in stem cells.

John Gurdon was the first to clone an animal, using DNA from a tadpole?s cell to create another tadpole.

Shinya Yamanaka found ways to create embryonic stem cells without taking them from embryos.

The research into stem cells is still in its early stages, although incredible advances are already being made.

• Several companies, including Cytori Therapeutics (Nasdaq: CYTX), are conducting clinical trials on patients with heart disease and those who have suffered heart attacks. Cytori has produced strong results in early clinical trials, including a much lower mortality rate in heart disease patients who were treated with their own stem cells than those who were not.

• Scientists in Japan reverse engineered mouse skin cells into stem cells, which became sperm cells and egg cells, both of which produced offspring, suggesting that new infertility treatments could be created using stem cells.

• Human embryonic stem cells have repaired the hearing of deaf gerbils, indicating there may be a treatment down the road for humans.

And there have been many others, including the ability to grow new muscle tissue, organs, etc. The possibilities of what stem cells may be able to do to cure disease and regenerate damaged tissue are endless.

But as optimistic as I am about the industry, the business side of it is quite difficult. Most stem cell companies are not profitable and constantly have to raise money. And while it?s easy to get excited about the possibilities both from a medical as well as a financial perspective, when investing in stem cell companies, you should always take the following precautions.

1)????? Know how much money the company has left. ? Small biotech companies are always raising money. They tend to raise capital in drips and drabs. so they don?t dilute existing shareholders too drastically all at once. See how much cash it has on hand and how much it burns each quarter. Often, management will come right out and state how much time it has before it will need to raise more money.

This is important because you don?t want to get too diluted. For example, if you own 10,000 shares of a company with one million shares outstanding, you own 1%. If the company sells another one million shares to raise money, now you own 0.5% of the company. Your shares are now worth less than they were before the raise.

2)????? Don?t invest too much money in any one stock. ? It?s easy to get excited about the incredible advances being made in stem cell therapy. It?s even easier to get caught up in how much money there is to be made. After all, if an injection of stem cells can regenerate damaged heart tissue after a heart attack, or create new liver tissue, or help a paralyzed person walk again, there will be billions in profits.

But the success stories will be far outnumbered by the failures, both medically and financially. That doesn?t mean you shouldn?t invest in some of these small and innovative companies, but only invest what you can afford to lose. These are highly speculative investments, no matter how brilliant the CEO or Chief Science Officer is, or how great the data looks. The biotech graveyard is filled with similar-looking companies.

3)????? Watch safety data closely. ? I don?t care how great a drug performs, if there are safety concerns. The last thing you want to do is have money in a company that is going to have to explain to the FDA why its drug should be approved when there are safety issues. Most times, the FDA will not give it the green light.

Companies usually won?t announce the negative safety data in the press release touting how effective the drug is. You need to read what other scientists are saying or go through the company?s presentations at medical conferences and read the full data.

Keep in mind, every drug will have side effects. And not every side effect listed in the report can directly be attributed to the drug. But if certain side effects are a lot more numerous in drug treated group, that should be a significant red flag. And if the side effects are heart-related, run for the hills. The FDA will not approve a drug that could lead to an increase in cardiac issues.

I have no doubt that over the next few years, we?re going to witness amazing discoveries that will lead to the treatment of previously untreatable or difficult to treat diseases, conditions and injuries.

A lot of money will be made along the way. But even more will be lost by over-eager investors chasing the dream. Follow the three steps above to make sure you?re not in the second group.

Good Investing,

Marc

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Source: http://www.investmentu.com/2012/October/investing-in-stem-cell-stocks.html

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Japan's Softbank seeks majority Sprint stake-source

TOKYO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Japanese mobile carrier Softbank Corp is in talks to buy a majority stake in U.S. operator Sprint Nextel Corp for more than 1 trillion yen ($12.8 billion), according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter, adding yet another potential shake-up to the fast-changing U.S. wireless market.

Softbank, Japan's No. 3 carrier, said reports about the talks were "based on speculation" and it had no comment. Sprint declined to comment.

Sprint Nextel, whose market capitalization was $15.12 billion at Wednesday's market close, is the third-largest U.S. carrier, with more than 56 million users at the end of June.

It has often been rumored as both a buyer and a seller in the last couple of years, as peers seek ways to consolidate and wring fresh profit out of the maturing market.

Shares surged nearly 17 percent to $5.88 in early trading, their highest in 16 months. Meanwhile Sprint bonds surged on heavy volume and the coast of protecting that debt against default plunged sharply.

Kevin Roe at Roe Equity Research estimated that Softbank could be offering about $6.40 per Sprint Nextel share, a 27 percent premium to Wednesday's close.

Softbank is in talks with several banks to borrow money to finance a bid, the source told Reuters. One analyst said this deal might be the Japanese company's only option if it has eyes on the American market.

"In terms of (Sprint) standalone, we believe the asset represents the only way for a potential new entrant to get a national presence immediately in the U.S.," Wells Fargo analyst Jennifer Fritzsche wrote in a note to clients.

WEALTHY FOUNDER

Softbank, founded and led by Masayoshi Son - Japan's second-richest man, according to Forbes - was the first of Japan's leading carriers to offer Apple Inc's iPhone in Japan.

It lost that monopoly last year, when rival KDDI Corp also began to offer it. Softbank faces tougher competition at home against KDDI and NTT Docomo .

The company has grown from a packaged software distributor 30 years ago into a broad telecoms group worth more than $40 billion. It took over Vodafone Japan in 2006.

As it chases market share, Softbank said this month it would buy smaller mobile service operator eAccess Ltd in a $1.84 billion deal. It said the buy would give it a total of 39 million users, just ahead of KDDI's 36 million.

Japanese media said buying Sprint - which competes in the United States against Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc - would also make it cheaper for Softbank to procure smartphones and other mobile devices.

NETWORK REVAMP

Sprint, led by Chief Executive Dan Hesse, has been bleeding customers for years and is in the middle of a costly network modernization project that involves upgrading its Sprint network. At the same time, it is decommissioning the Nextel iDen network it bought in 2005.

"The challenge is not access to capital," said Roe. "The challenge is that they're sub-scale (much smaller than rivals AT&T and Verizon) and going through a very challenging network transition."

Sprint may also be attractive as it has a majority interest in wireless data company Clearwire Corp , which owns attractive spectrum, Wells Fargo's Fritzsche said. Analysts at Evercore said Softbank and Clearwire are both in the process of upgrading their networks to the same standard, which might add further synergies.

Clearwire shares rose 29 percent in early trading to $1.68, their highest in a month.

JAPANESE FORAY

Fritzsche said regulators would likely look favorably upon a deal that would bring an outside international player to the United States.

Japanese companies made a record 642 cross-border deals last year, according to Thomson Reuters data. Buoyed by a stronger yen, the value of all overseas deals rose to $69.5 billion, up 81 percent from 2010, also a record.

The biggest foreign acquisition by a Japanese company to date was Japan Tobacco's 1.8 trillion yen buy of British-based tobacco firm Gallaher in 2007.

The Japanese are no stranger to U.S. wireless companies. NTT Docomo was once a major shareholder of the former AT&T Wireless and explored an outright bid for the company at one time.

Meanwhile, Sprint is considering whether to make a bid for smaller rival MetroPCS Communications , which this month agreed to merge with Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile USA, a source told Reuters this week.

It was unclear what effect, if any, the Softbank offer might have on Sprint's potential pursuit of MetroPCS. Shares fell 8 percent to $11.08 in early trading.

(Additional reporting by Mari Saito and James Topham, with Sruthi Ramakrishnan in Bangalore; Writing by Ian Geoghegan and Ben Berkowitz; Editing by Ron Popeski, John Wallace and Bernadette Baum)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/japans-softbank-talks-buy-sprint-nextel-nhk-101743648--sector.html

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