March video diversion sell sales stand 6 percent

NEW YORK - After a hilly 2009 followed by dual months of double-digit declines, U.S. sell sales of video diversion software, hardware and accessories eventually saw an uptick in March.

Market researcher NPD Group pronounced Thursday sum video diversion sales climbed 6 percent from the same month a year earlier, to $1.52 billion. Strong sales of Nintendos gaming systems, new "Pokemon" games and Sonys "God of War III" helped progress results.

Software sales jumped 10 percent to $875.3 million, well on tip of what majority analysts were expecting. In further to "God of War," that sole some-more than a million copies, dual "Pokemon" games from Nintendo and "Final Fantasy XIII" from Square Enix were additionally tip sellers. "Battlefield: Bad Company 2" from Electronic Arts Inc. was between the months strongest-selling games as well.

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Industry expectations were for program sales expansion of about 3 percent, pronounced Electronic Entertainment Design and Research researcher Jesse Divnich. The higher-than-expected Mar figures, he added, were driven by Nintendo, whose games sole most improved than analysts had predicted.

Hardware sales forsaken 4 percent to $440.5 million, in piece since diversion console prices are reduce than they were at this time last year. Nintendos Wii complement sole 557,500 units, and the unstable DS, 700,800. Once again, the association simply surpassed opposition console makers, with Microsoft Corp.s Xbox 360 offered 338,400 units and Sonys PlayStation 3 offered 313,900.

Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime pronounced supply constraints that had squeezed Wii sales in the past integrate of months are easing up.

Sales of video diversion accessories rose eleven percent to $206.8 million.

Year-to-date video diversion sales were down 7 percent at the finish of Mar compared with the same three-month duration last year.

Click for associated contentPC shipments burst some-more than twenty percentHate debate corrodes online gamesCan Sony ‘Move’ hardcore gamers?

Earlier Thursday, Activision Blizzard lifted the income and gain foresee for the initial quarter, citing clever tellurian direct for the tip games — "World of Warcraft" and "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2."

The latter is right away the second-best-selling diversion of all time in the U.S. after Nintendos "Wii Play," pronounced NPD researcher Anita Frazier. "Wii Play" has sole intensely well in large piece since it comes finished with a Wii controller at no additional cost.

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AIDS drug sales fall; cost rises

Sales of Trimeris" AIDS drug Fuzeon are on the decline, but the cost is on the rise.

The Durham association disclosed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission this week that the indiscriminate cost of a one-year supply of Fuzeon has been increasing by 3 percent. The new price: $30,600.

Trimeris remarkable that the Swiss curative hulk Roche, that markets the drug, has solitary shortcoming for environment the price. Patients mostly compensate less than the indiscriminate cost since of manufacturers" discounts and rebates.

The new cost is 50 percent higher than the cost of a years supply for Fuzeon when it was introduced in 2003.

Fuzeon sales have been shrinking since of the high price, the side goods and the accessibility of newer drugs.

For all of 2009, Fuzeon sales totaled $112.2 million, down 33 percent from 2008. Trimeris receives kingship fees on the sales of the drug, that is the companys usually product.

Staff bard David Ranii

Mysterious U.S. Treasuries buyers might be banks

Emily Flitter NEW YORK Fri April 9, 2010 5:32pm EDT Related News US 30-yr down payment auction decent, but not stellarThu, April 8 2010TREASURIES-Prices cut prior to Treasury auctionThu, April 8 2010TREASURIES-Bonds convene on jot down 10Y sale, Greece worriesWed, April 7 2010TREASURIES-Bonds climb on Greece jitters, strong 10-year saleWed, April 7 2010Big approach at US 10-yr auction boosts bullishnessWed, April 7 2010

NEW YORK (Reuters) - An research by a first play in the U.S. Treasuries marketplace shows that made at home banks could comment for a large enlarge in approach bidders for supervision debt.

The appearance of approach bidders, one of 3 main categories of participants at Treasury auctions, has increasing during new auctions of securities.

Primary dealers, the banks and investment firms certified to understanding without delay with the supervision and assistance the Federal Reserve lift out financial policy, have fretted over the unpredictability of the approach bid, as well as the scarcity of inform on the temperament of the bidders.

A inform from Nomura Securities analyzing the Treasury Department"s financier allotments and auction interpretation theorizes that made at home banks comment for piece of the enlarge in approach bidders.

"With banks still demure to lend and the saving rate on the rise, bank resources have been alternate from loans to securities, benefiting from the high curve," wrote George Goncalves, a bound income strategist at Nomura.

Treasury interpretation shows banks increasing their purchases of longer-dated Treasuries only as the commission of approach bidders began to increase. The department, that is wakeful of the identities of bidders but does not pass out the information, welcomes the combined appearance in auctions as the supervision continues to issue new debt at a breakneck pace.

"At the Mar 10-year (note) auction, banks purchased $2.6 billion 10s (the top on record)," Goncalves wrote. "Meanwhile banks purchased over $3 billion in (30-year bonds) in Mar too. This is notable as in the past banks frequency went over the five-year point in this sort of size."

Nomura"s research follows a supposition by Barclays Capital progressing this year that an enlarge in the approach bid was driven especially by made at home income managers and mutual supports attempting to keep their purchases tip from the rest of Wall Street.

(Editing by Dan Grebler)

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FSA bans commission on monetary advice

126PM GMT twenty-six March 2010

Instead, consumers will be charged alone for advice, nonetheless they might be means to equivocate profitable for it in advance, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) said.

"Commission bias" has been blamed for multiform mis-selling scandals, with advisers indicted of compelling the products that compensate them the top commissions rather than those majority matched to the customer"s circumstances.

FSA relocating in right citation with concentration on eccentric advice IFAs to be criminialized from reception commission FSA proposes in advance remodel of monetary advisers FSA plans anathema on commission for monetary advisers End of free monetary advice How to select a monetary adviser

The FSA pronounced "From the finish of 2012, firms will have to be upfront about how most they assign for their services, and no longer censor the cost of their recommendation at the back of the cost of a product.

"In addition, [advisers] will not be means to accept commission in lapse for recommending specific products. Consumers will know what they are shopping upfront, how most it will cost them and additionally have the assent of mind that it was endorsed to fit their needs."

Paying for recommendation should not impede consumers entrance to monetary advice, the FSA said. "If a patron feels they cannot means an upfront payment, or simply prefers to gold the cost of recommendation with the cost of a product, product providers will be means to promote this," it said. "But the elemental point is that consumers will be means to see how most is charged for advice."

Advisers charity to find the right product for business will additionally have to poke the total of the market. "Firms charity eccentric recommendation will have to denote that their recommendations are formed on a extensive and unprejudiced research of the market, and that any product preference is done in their clients" most appropriate interests," the FSA said.

However, advisers will be means to suggest a some-more singular range of products, as prolonged as the patron is told.

Sheila Nicoll, the FSA"s executive of control policy, pronounced "If this marketplace is to survive, and flower in the future, people need to know their confidant is behaving in their most appropriate interests, and is well competent to lift out that role.

"Today"s new manners are written to progress certainty and certitude in the sell investment marketplace by stealing commission bias, tangible or perceived, and bursting the parable that investment recommendation is free."

She combined "It is critical that consumers know not usually the cost of monetary advice, but additionally the value. There is a need to reconnect the confidant and client, where one pays for the services of another, and but the daze of commission. Only afterwards can consumers have genuine certainty and certitude in the recommendation they are receiving."

Adam Phillips, authority of the Financial Services Consumer Panel, pronounced "At last, the exaggeration combined by commission will be private from investment advice. The FSA has stranded to the guns and unequivocally has acted to strengthen consumers and urge the system.

"Once the new manners are in place, eccentric recommendation will have to be indeed independent, and not undermined by any commission paid by the product provider."

Storms slice by Europe kill up to 50 in France

Astrid Wendlandt PARIS Mon Mar 1, 2010 1:48pm EST Related News Sarkozy seeks answers over French inundate damageMon, Mar 1 2010 Related Video Many passed as charge rips French coast Mon, Mar 1 2010 Violent charge sweeps opposite France < 1 / 12 >

PARIS (Reuters) - Storms swept by horse opera Europe at the weekend, murdering up to 50 people in France and melancholy serve repairs as absolute winds and torrential rains changed north, officials said.

World&&&&France

The storms ripped by cities, uprooting trees and transport signs, wreaking massacre on rail networks and forcing hundreds of flights to be canceled at airports similar to Paris and Frankfurt.

Three people were killed in Spain, dual in Germany and one in Portugal, but France was the misfortune strike as complicated rains, clever gusts of breeze and high tides broken Atlantic seashore sea walls, murdering twenty-five people in the locale of l"Aiguillon sur Mer alone, the mayor told French television.

"It is a healthy catastrophe," French Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux told BFM TV, calculating approximately the sum genocide fee in France at in between 45 and 50 and notice that high tides could means serve damage.

Hortefeux pronounced the French supervision had set in reserve 1 million euros in evident use assist and Budget Minister Eric Woerth released a matter observant victims could find taxation relief.

The French regions of Vendee and Charente Maritime gimlet the brunt of the charge and were placed on inundate rapt along with tools of Brittany.

But centuries-old trees were additionally uprooted in the gardens of the Versailles residence nearby Paris, according to France Info radio.

Weather forecasters pronounced the storm, declared Xynthia, had changed up to northeast France and Belgium and would strike Denmark next. Meteo France pronounced the storms seemed less extreme than those that smashed France in Dec 1999, murdering 92 people.

SEEKING REFUGE ON ROOF

"Policemen are now furloughed flooded houses and a little of their inhabitants were found drowned," pronounced Frederic Rose, cupboard head of the Vendee Prefect.

A lady in l"Aiguillon sur Mer in Vendee, where a sea wall collapsed, told France"s M6 air wave she swam out of her residence by the lavatory in the center of the night to stick on neighbors on their roof.

A man in Loire-Atlantique, who outlayed the night on the roof tiles tiles of his restaurant, said: "It was as if we were on an island."

Two people were killed nearby the northern Spanish city of Burgos when their car strike a depressed tree and a lady died when a wall fell on her in northwestern Spain, authorities said.

Unusually clever winds additionally uprooted trees in most tools of Portugal and complicated sleet swelled rivers, call inundate warnings in low-lying tools of Porto along the Douro River estuary. A lady of 10 died when she was strike by a descending tree.

In Germany, authorities pronounced a 69-year-old man was killed by a descending tree whilst hiking in the state of Hesse. A 74-year-old man was killed and his mother critically harmed in the southwestern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg when a tree fell on their car, according to media reports.

Rail transport was exceedingly disrupted in the 3 horse opera states of Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland due to trees descending on beyond appetite lines.

PLANES, TRAINS DELAYED

Frankfurt airfield was forced to terminate about 10 percent of the flights, an airfield orator said.

Air France pronounced it had canceled some-more than 100 flights on Sunday and some-more than half of all flights vacating from Paris were significantly delayed, Aeroports de Paris said, whilst high-speed TGV sight use was exceedingly behind due to branches and alternative waste interference the rail network.

By late Sunday, a little 500,000 people in France were but electricity, pronounced ErDF, the placement arm of French appetite organisation EDF, with Brittany and executive France the hardest hit.

Much of England and Wales was on inundate rapt Sunday, with serve enlarged complicated sleet and clever winds approaching after torrential downpours overnight.

(Additional stating by Claude Canellas in Bordeaux, Guillaume Frouin in Nantes and Laure Bretton in Paris, Jason Webb in Madrid, Axel Bugge in Lisbon, Foo Yun Chee in Brussels and Kylie MacLellan in London and Axel Hildebrand in Berlin, Editing by Noah Barkin)

World France for acne crude associations between acne and high intake of chocolate and chips and low intake of vegetables

Children will humour if propagandize construction programme is cut says CABEEducation Education

The head of the Governments advisory physique on pattern will advise currently that slicing propagandize building a whole programmes would imperil the hold up chances of millions of immature people.

Paul Finch, the newly allocated authority of the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) that advises ministers on pattern will contend it is necessary the benefits of the building a whole programme "are not squandered". Without it, he argues, pupils will be attacked of their proclivity to stay at propagandize and examination formula might suffer.

Financial analysts have warned that the subsequent supervision will have to trim the �55bn Building Schools for the Future programme as a outcome of mercantile pressures. Labour has warned that the intrigue could face estimable cuts underneath the Conservatives" plans to broach a new network of independent, Swedish-style "free" schools saved by the state.

Speaking to The Independent forward of his speech, Mr Finch said: "A third of internal authorities have nonetheless to see any great from Building Schools for the Future. We think it would be a really bad thought if young kids who occur to live in these authorities work in second-class schools compared with people in beside districts who have been piece of the programme. It would be an additional postcode lottery."

He said: "At worst, a little of the young kids in these schools are taught in humid and joyless buildings that are bad for the spirit of pupils and bad for the spirit of teachers." He combined that the CABE was formulation investigate to establish the stroke a schools sourroundings had on pupils" learning. "We think the idea there is no justification that a great building a whole has an outcome on propagandize opening is wrong. In health, it has been shown that the peculiarity of the sourroundings has an outcome on liberation times."

Mr Finch, who is additionally the programme executive of the World Architectural Festival, added: " If the earthy premises, for example, are well designed, it will inspire great teachers to request for jobs in these places. If they are poor, it will inspire them to see elsewhere."

He pronounced the programme had reached dual thirds of internal authorities in England and had been a "success story" in mending standards in propagandize design.

Mr Finch, who will broach his residence at a discussion in London organized by the Building Schools Exhibition and Conference, added: "CABE positively understands the need for economy and worth in the building a whole of new buildings, but this is the wrong place to begin to have cuts that would have the outcome of targeting a little of the majority exposed people in society: children."

A orator for the Department for Children, Schools and Families said: "Decisions on destiny spending have nonetheless to be made. However, ministers have done it regularly transparent they are dynamic to finish the full programme."

Michael Gove, the Conservatives shade schools secretary, said: "Getting the right sourroundings for training is crucial. We await investment in propagandize buildings but the Governments doing has been noted by waste, bureaucracy and inefficiency."

Cocaine-related deaths climb in comfortable continue investigate finds

Using mankind interpretation from New York CityOffice of the Chief Medical Examiner for 1990 by 2006, and heat interpretation from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, researchers found that random overdose deaths that were unconditionally or partly attributable to heroin make make use of rose significantly as the weekly ambient heat upheld twenty-four degrees Celsius. The series of cocaine-related overdose deaths one after another to stand as temperatures one after another to climb.

Cocaine-related overdose deaths enlarge as the ambient heat rises since heroin increases the core physique temperature, impairs the cardiovascular systemability to cool the body, and decreases the clarity of heat-related annoy that usually motivates people to equivocate apropos overheated. Cocaine users who turn overheated (hyperthermic) can overdose on reduce amounts of heroin since their bodies are underneath some-more stress.

The studyfindings scold prior investigate that compared an enlarge in cocaine-related mankind with most higher temperatures (31.1 degrees Celsius, or 87.9 degrees Fahrenheit). Because cocaine-related overdose fatalities proceed to stand at reduce ambient temperatures than was formerly thought, it is right away strong that heroin users are at risk for longer durations of each year. Between 1990 and 2006, the normal weekly heat in New York City rose on top of twenty-four degrees Celsius for about 7 weeks per year.

The investigate showed no disproportion in the series of drug overdoses in New York City in between those weeks where the normal heat was in between -10 and twenty-four degrees Celsius. Above twenty-four degrees Celsius, however, there were 0.25 some-more drug overdoses per 1,000,000 residents per week for each dual degrees enlarge in weekly normal temperature. Given that over 8.2 million people live in New York City, the studyfindings envision that at slightest dual some-more people per week will die of a drug overdose in the city for each dual grade stand in heat on top of twenty-four degrees Celsius, compared to weeks with normal temperatures of twenty-four degrees and below.

The authors of this investigate point out the need for open health interventions in comfortable weather, such as delivering health-related warnings to high-risk groups. Prevention efforts could additionally embody creation air conditioning accessible in locations where heroin make make use of is usual such as civic areas with a well known high superiority of heroin use, and inside of those civic areas, sold neighbourhoods with towering numbers of cocaine-related deaths or arrests. As lead writer Dr. Amy Bohnert explains, Cocaine users are at a high risk for a series of disastrous health outcomes and need open health attention, quite when the continue is warm.

Teen Blogging a Good Thing Study Suggests

A new commander investigate is understanding of teenage blogging, as the immeasurable infancy of investigate subjects used the blogs to maintain relations with their peers and set up a clarity of community.

In the investigation, Ohio State University researchers complicated 100 teenager bloggers from around the United States.

The anticipating that the blogs were used in a certain manner, rather than to confess misbehavior, was a acquire discovery.

This rough investigate suggests that blogging could be used therapeutically to assistance uneasy teenagers demonstrate themselves in certain ways, conspicuous Dawn Anderson-Butcher, join forces with highbrow of amicable work at Ohio State.

She and her students carefully thought about blog posts from the open Web site Xanga (pronounced "Zanga") for an complete month, to find out either teenagers blogged about riskybehaviors, such as skipping school, you do drugs, or carrying sex.

In the stream issue of the Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, they inform the contrary: Most teenagers in the investigate blogged about certain behaviors, such as studying, participating in propagandize activities, spending time with family, and going to church.

"We looked at each quote, and the kids wrote about really couple of censure behaviors," Anderson-Butcher said. "They showed a lot of beautiful countenance by poetry, lyrics and song. It was really sparkling and for me, certain to see the standard developmental activities that they were essay about in their blogs."

The blog interpretation in this investigate came from 2007. Xanga is less renouned with teenagers now, as the infancy are "micro-blogging" their activities onFacebook.

Anderson-Butcher conspicuous she cant replicate this investigate on Facebook, however, given distinct Xanga, it offers reserve measures to keep strangers from celebration of the mass kids profiles.

"Thats a great thing in propinquity to privacy," she said. "It usually equates to we arent means to entrance the interpretation as freely."

While the researchers couldnt know either relatives were supervising the Xanga blogs used in this study, the teenagers were obviously essay blog entries as messages to their peers.

Quotes from standard blog postings included:

"OK! Now my 4th entertain is startin and I am sooo frightened b/c I didnt begin it off really well in honors Geometry and Biology and Im frightened that Im not gonna get a great category (A) by finish of the year. Plus finals so Im soooo dead. Pray 4 me guyz!" "Im removing my knowledge teeth out Friday, wanna come over and be my nurse? We can fool around corner and attend to music. Itll be great!!" "Wuts up every1? Just got behind from church. Yeah it was oh so exciting. I have to go to church at 5 instead of 7 each Wednesday given I fool around set of keys in the band." "Hey, hey, Im grounded so Im not gonna be means to post for about a month. Sorry!!!! Ill insist later."

Most of the postings were simply conversations with friends, the researchers found.

"They make use of blogging the same approach my era used the write whenwe were kids. Theyre usually talking, usually right away they can speak to each alternative any time, anywhere," Anderson-Butcher said.

Researchers went by the blog postings and counted how majority timesthe teenagers referred to any great or bad behaviors.

Among the majority usual certain activities the teenagers described were personification video games (65 percent); examination radio (45 percent); you do task (40 percent); going to lessons, such as music, dance, or armed forces humanities (38 percent); browsing the Internet (29 percent); and participating in faith-based activities (22 percent).

These are normal girl growth activities kids rivet in during their out-of-school time, Anderson-Butcher said.

Even the teenagers majority usual censure boredom(65 percent) isnt such a bad thing if they are blogging about it instead of enchanting in unsure behaviors, she added.

"Think about the alternative things they could be doing. We know that when kids are bored, mostly in in between the hours of 3:00-6:00 p.m., thats when theyre majority at risk for utilizing ethanol or carrying sex, for example. Its the time when their relatives are operative and they are mostly unsupervised.But instead these girl sought out amicable countenance around Xanga," she said.

"So thats really a positive. Theyre stuffing their time with this amicable networking."

Some teenagers posted to Xanga each day, whilst others usually posted once or twice during the month used in the study.

Teens did report a little disastrous feelings, such as feeling blue (30 percent); feeling indignant (28 percent); and feeling similar to they dontfit in(22 percent). They complained that they didnt wish to do their task (16 percent), and disturbed about removing bad grades (11 percent).

Very couple of referred to slicing category (8 percent); utilizing drugs, alcohol, or cigarettes (6 percent); or carrying sex (1 percent).

Anderson-Butcher stressed that relatives should manipulate their kids blogs, may be by creation such organisation a condition of blogging. That way, relatives can notice problems when they come up in the blog.

Her advice: Parents can keep an eye on kids Facebook micro-blogs by being piece of their round of Facebook "friends," or by enlisting the assistance of an additional devoted adult who is "friends" with them.

She additionally sees a intensity for amicable workers to indicate blogging as atool to await serve relationship-buildingwith teenagers on their caseloads, and may be even texting as a approach for teenagers to stay in hold with mentors, coaches, girl workers and therapists.

"I consternation if we have an event for mentoring around the Internet ingeneral. With suitable boundaries, an adult could content summary a kidto suggest await in in between in-person appointments."

Bloggers Share Unspoken Ethical Code Teen Birth Rates Higher in Highly Religious States Fake Week, Real Drug: K2 Causing Hallucinations in Teens

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US bullion ends somewhat up; eyes financial tightening

Thu Mar 11, 2010 4:35pm EST

NEW YORK, March 11 (Reuters) - U.S. gold futures ended atad higher on Thursday as a mostly flat currency market failedto provide direction, but possible monetary tightening by Chinacould weigh on the bullion market, traders said. * For the latest detailed report, click on [GOL/]. GOLD * COMEX April GCJ0 settles up 10 cents at $1,108.20 anounce. * Range between $1,111.70 and $1,100.50, a two-week low. * Strong economic and inflation data out of China fuelsspeculation of monetary tightening - Bruce Dunn at Auramet. * Equities uncertainty prompts gold investors to takewait-and-see approach - Adam Klopfenstein at Lind-Waldock. * COMEX gold final volume at 127,129 lots. * April contract holding above $1,100, indicatingunderlying support - traders. * Spot gold XAU= at $1,108.45 an ounce at 4:09 p.m. EST(2109 GMT), versus the $1,107.85 late in New York in theprevious session. * London gold afternoon fix XAUFIX= at $1,104. SILVER * May SIK0 ends up 14.20 cents at $17.160 an ounce,helped by stronger industrial metals like copper. * Range spans $16.835 to $17.180. * COMEX silver final volume at 29,378 lots. * Spot silver XAG= at $17.14, against $16.97 an ounce inthe previous session late quote in New York. * London silver XAGFIX= fixed at $16.91 an ounce. PLATINUM * April PLJ0 finishes up $22.50, or 1.4 percent, at$1,612.70 an ounce on better risk appetite. * Spot platinum XPT= at $1,583 an ounce. PALLADIUM * June palladium PAM0 closes down $3.65 at $461 an ounce,tracking platinum. * Spot palladium XPD= at $450.50 an ounce. Close Change Pct 2009 YTD Chg Close % ChgUS gold GCJ0 1108.20 0.1 0.0 1096.20 1.1US silver SIK0 17.160 0.142 0.8 16.845 1.9US platinum PLJ0 1612.70 22.50 1.4 1471.00 9.6US palladium PAM0 461.00 -3.65 -0.8 408.85 12.8Prices at 3:47 p.m. EST (2047 GMT)Gold XAU= 1108.85 1.00 0.1 1096.35 1.1Silver XAG= 17.12 0.15 0.9 16.84 1.7Platinum XPT= 1608.50 16.50 1.0 1465.50 9.8Palladium XPD= 459.00 -2.500 -0.5 405.50 13.2Gold Fix XAUFIX= 1104.00 -2.00 -0.2 1104 0.0Silver Fix XAGFIX= 16.91 -56.00 -3.2 16.99 -0.5Platinum Fix XPTFIX= 1580.00 7.00 0.4 1466 7.8Palladium FixXPDFIX= 447.00 4.00 0.9 402 11.2 (Reporting by Frank Tang; editing by Julie Ingwersen)

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Mesa emerges as bidder for Disneys Miramax: sources

Sue Zeidler LOS ANGELES Wed Mar 17, 2010 8:30pm EDT Related News Mesa emerges as bidder for Disney"s Miramax: sourcesWed, Mar 17 2010Mesa emerges as bidder for Disney"s Miramax-sourcesWed, Mar 17 2010Lions Gate rejects Icahn offer to boost stakeFri, Mar 12 2010

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Mesa Global, an investment banking firm co-founded by former Creative Artists Agency executive Mark Patricof, has emerged as a potential bidder for Walt Disney Co"s Miramax film unit ahead of an offer deadline on Friday, said sources familiar with the matter.

Deals&&&&Film

Representatives for Mesa and Disney declined to comment, but various industry sources said pricing could prohibit any near-term deal due to views that Disney"s asking price of more than $650 million for Miramax is too high.

The bid deadline for Miramax comes as binding offers for another storied Hollywood studio, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, also come due on Friday.

Platinum Equity Partners, a Beverly Hills investment firm headed by Tom Gores, is also expected to bid for Miramax, the independent company behind such art-house fare as "Pulp Fiction" and "No Country for Old Men," sources said.

Weinstein Co, headed by Bob and Harvey Weinstein, who launched Miramax in 1979 and then sold it to Disney in 1993, would also bid, other sources said.

Sources have said Disney is seeking more than $650 million for Miramax, which it bought from the Weinsteins for $80 million, but that several initially interested parties, like Summit Entertainment and Lions Gate Entertainment, have balked at the price. It was unclear if Lions Gate is still interested, but Summit is no longer interested, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Disney, Summit, Mesa, Lions Gate, Platinum and the Weinstein Co declined to comment.

According to the company"s website, Mesa"s Patricof has worked on various entertainment industry transactions and has extensive experience in Hollywood on digital initiatives, including a stint at Creative Artists Agency.

The sources said Mesa was packaging a buyer for Miramax that involves both a strategic and private equity bidder.

Back in February, the Weinstein Co confirmed its interest in Miramax. After selling Miramax to Disney in 1993, the Weinsteins remained as co-chief executives until five years ago, when they left to form the Weinstein Co.

A source familiar with the situation said the Weinsteins had been approached by financial partners to help them purchase Miramax, but details about their financing were unclear.

Sources said an earlier round of non-binding bids for MGM went as high as $1.7 billion, but bidders are unlikely to put in second round offers above $1.5 billion after studying its assets like a library of mostly older gems like the James Bond and Pink Panther franchises.

MGM"s creditors may also decide to keep and restructure the studio, possibly filing for pre-packaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, sources have said. MGM is owned by a group including private equity firms TPG, Providence Equity Partners, DLJ Merchant Banking Partners and Quadrangle Group, and media companies Sony Corp and Comcast Corp.

(Reporting by Sue Zeidler; Editing by Steve Orlofsky and Richard Chang)

Deals Film

Euro in majority formidable proviso given launch - Merkel

Sun Feb 28, 2010 10:30am EST Related News Greek PM to meet Merkel, Obama amid debt crisisFri, Feb 26 2010WRAPUP 5-Greek PM to meet Merkel, Obama amid debt crisisFri, Feb 26 2010HIGHLIGHTS-EU finmins discuss fiscal crisis in GreeceTue, Feb 16 2010HIGHLIGHTS-EU sustains pressure on Greece to cut deficitMon, Feb 15 2010Germans say euro zone may have to expel Greece: pollSun, Feb 14 2010

BERLIN, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Europe"s single currency projectis facing its toughest period since its launch over a decade agoand it is essential that Greece tackle the roots of its troublesto restore confidence, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said.

Currencies&&&&Bonds

In an interview with public television station ARD onSunday, Merkel also stressed that no decisions had been taken onproviding financial assistance to Greece, which is under acutepressure to reduce its debt mountain and bloated deficit.

"The euro is certainly in the most difficult phase since itwas created," Merkel told ARD in the interview, which will beaired later on Sunday.

"And that"s why it"s so important that we"re conscious ofthe fact that, on the one hand, it"s our common currency but onthe other hand of the need to really tackle the causes of thetroubles at their roots," she added.

"And at the roots are the high Greek deficits and lostcredibility. That"s why I"m very grateful that the Greekgovernment is planning very couragous savings measures and othermeasures to improve the deficit situation."

Merkel brushed aside media reports that the Germangovernment has been quietly setting aside provisions in its 2010budget for possible aid to Greece.

"That is definitely not the case. We"ve got a treaty thatdoes not include any provision for bailing states out, to helpthem out of a jam. We can best help Greece at the moment bymaking clear that Greece has to do its own homework, just likeit is doing at the moment."

She said the European Commission was monitoring Greece toensure it took the necessary steps and that no further decisionson aid had been taken.

"There have been absolutely no other decisions taken. Iwould like to say that quite clearly," Merkel said. "Greece hasto do what"s necessary for Greece. But that is also importantfor all of us."

Merkel repeated her view that the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund needed toendorse the Greek consolidation measures.

"I"ve also said that there have to be assurances now thatthe EU Commission, the ECB and the IMF are convinced that theGreek consolidation and savings programme is designed so thatthe problems are really solved," Merkel said.

(Reporting by Matthias Sobolewski; writing by ErikKirschbaum; editing by Noah Barkin)

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