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New York, NY, United States (4E) - Generic-drug maker Actavis Inc. said it will buy prescription health-care and dermatology products maker Warner Chilcott PLC in a stock swap deal worth $5bn.

The move comes after merger talks between Actavis and Valeant Pharmaceuticals fell through in April. Following the failed transaction, Actavis then focused its attention on Warner Chilcott while rejecting proposals from large drug firms like Mylan, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Under the deal, Actavis will swap 0.16 of a share for every share of Warner Chilcott, which values Warner Chilcott at around $20.08 per share, a premium of 4.5 per cent from the stock price after Friday's close.

The merger will create a new company that is expected generate around $11bn in revenue every year, by selling products focused on dermatology and women's health. The new company will also become the third-biggest specialty pharmaceutical company in the U.S.

The merged company would be headquartered in Warner Chilcott's home in Ireland to take advantage of lower tax rates in that nation.

Actavis is the combined company resulting from the merger of the Swiss firm Actavis and the U.S. company Watson Pharmaceuticals. Actavis specializes in making generic drugs, which includes the generic version of Lipitor.

New York, NY, United States (4E) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is planning to sell its $1.1bn stake in Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) Ltd. seeking to end its seven-year investment in the world's biggest lender by market value, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Completion of the current deal would mean Goldman will lose all its stake in ICBC, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

In 2006, Goldman Sachs, along with client funds it manages, made an investment in ICBC in a $2.58bn deal before the Chinese bank listed in the Hong Kong stock exchange.

Bloomberg data shows that Goldman had sold its stake with ICBC at least five times in the past. In January, Goldman Sachs raised $1bn from the sale of shares in the Beijing-based bank.

The Wall Street bank could raise more than $9.7bn from sale of ICBC shares including Monday's block trade. Goldman is the deal's sole bookrunner.

Goldman's investing and lending unit recorded a two-year high revenue of $2.07bn in the first quarter, from $1.91bn a year ago. This figure includes the performance of the company's investments in stocks, bonds, real estate, hedge funds, private equity and loans.

San Francisco, CA, United States (4E) - It's official: Yahoo has completed the purchase of blog platform Tumblr. Yahoo purchased Tumblr for "approximately $1.1 billion." The purchase will be completed mostly in cash and some of the value will be distributed via stock. The six-year-old blogging company's chief executive officer and founder David Karp will keep his position.

"I've long held the view that in all things art and design, you can feel the spirit and demeanor of the creator. That's why it was no surprise to me that David Karp is one of the nicest, most empathetic people I've ever met. He's also one of the most perceptive, capable entrepreneurs I've ever worked with," Yahoo chief executive officer Marissa Mayer said in an official press release.

Tumblr boasts an estimated 300 million monthly unique visitors and an incredible 120, 000 signups daily. The average content posted on the website reaches 900 per second. The two companies will work together to maximize advertising revenue. Yahoo provides the search infrastructure and Tumblr brings to the table more than 50 million blog posts.

"...we're elated to have the support of Yahoo! and their team who share our dream to make the Internet the ultimate creative canvas. Tumblr gets better faster with more resources to draw from," Karp added.

Manila, Philippines (4E) - Nine of the candidates who won senatorial seats in the recent Philippine election are all administration-backed, giving Philippine President Benigno Aquino III's reform agenda a chance.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) proclaimed the top eight winning senatorial bets - Grace Poe, Loren Legarda, Alan Peter Cayetano, Francis Escudero, Nancy Binay, Juan Edgardo Angara, Paolo Benigno Aquino IV, Aquilino Pimentel III and Antonio Trillanes IV. Except for Binay, who came from opposition United Nationalist Alliance, the five other senators-elect ran under Team PNoy the administration-backed coalition.

Aquino's allies allowed the president to push important laws such as passage of the sin tax law, controversial reproductive health bill that provides government- funded contraception, sex education and maternal care to all Filipinos.

New York, NY, United States (4E) - DirecTV is considering making a potential bid for video site Hulu, becoming the latest company to weigh the possibility of buying the video website, according to sources familiar with the matter.

The second-largest pay-TV operator was among the companies that have expressed their plan to buy Hulu the last time it put itself for sale in 2011. Sources say that it remains unclear whether DirecTV will buy all of Hulu or a minority stake in the site.

Other companies have also placed their bid or expressed their willingness to buy Hulu including Yahoo Inc., Guggenheim Partners, the investment group of former News Corp. president Peter Chernin and cable operator Time Warner Cable Inc.

News Corp. and Disney each control one-third of the six-year site and could purchase each other's holdings. The Wall Street Journal made an earlier report stating that News Corp. would like to offer a paid subscription service, while Disney would like to focus more in providing the service for free and generate revenue from ads.

Comcast controls most of the remaining third of the site, although it needed to give up control because it needed to comply with regulatory requirements related to its purchase of NBC Universal.

Hulu offers TV shows that can be accessed online, some are offered at no cost to the consumers while others under the Hulu Plus subscription plan. Last year, Hulu reported $700mn in revenue.

Honiara, Solomon Islands (4E) - A prominent dolphin exporter in Solomon islands is planning to continue his live-exports next month.

According to a Solomon Island newspaper Robert Satu says his company Marine Export Limited is already working on an order to send 28 dolphins to China.

However a US-based conservation group, the Earth Island Institute, says it'll be difficult to export dolphins while a moratorium on the trade exists, according to Radio Australia.

Satu said because of the Solomon government's lack of keeping its promise to compensate him and the Solomon Islands Marine Export Limited (SIMEL) for halting their dolphin export activities has motivated him to resume the business.

Hongkong, China (4E) - Air Pacific is being criticized by a Hongkong-based conservationist group of freighting shark fins to Fiji and Hongkong.

Hongkong Shark Foundation accused Air Pacific of carrying the illegal fins.

In an interview with the representative with Radio Australia, the group isn't satisfied with Air Pacific's response to the claims and says the airline has a great opportunity to improve its image by dumping the contentious cargo.

Hong Kong Shark Foundation (HKSF) is part of My Ocean, a registered Hong Kong charity dedicated to marine conservation. Although HKSF members come from around the world, most live and work in Hong Kong.

According to the foundation's website, the excessive demand for shark products has contributed to the rapid decline of shark populations, with many species at high risk of extinction. Removing sharks from our oceans will threaten the delicate balance of marine ecosystems.

Tens of millions of sharks are caught worldwide every year, with the fins from up to 73 million of these serving the shark finning industry. At least 50% of the world's shark fin is traded through Hong Kong alone., the website added.

New York, NY, United States (4E) - Dozens of people got injured when two commuter trains in a suburb north of New York City collided during rush hour on Friday.

In a statement, a railway official said that out of 50 injured people, condition of four of them are said to be serious.

The trains were moving between New York and New Haven, Connecticut. The incident happened at around 6:00 p.m. local time (2200 GMT) near the Connecticut city of Bridgeport, a spokesman for the Metro North commuter train line said.

No casualties have been reported in the incident.

According to the New York Post newspaper, the accident happened near a stretch of train track, which was undergoing repairs.

Washington, DC, United States (4E) - Tesoro Corp. received the approval of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) with its plans to acquire a South California refinery owned by BP PLC, which brings the two companies closer to reaching a deal that could happen this quarter.

Tesoro's purchase of one of the biggest plants on the West Coast was unlikely to lead to significant reduction in competition or a surge in prices of gasoline for California consumers, according to the FTC after a nine-month investigation.

The price tag for Tesoro's purchase of BP's Southern California assets is about $2.38bn, which includes the Carson refinery and its inventory located in Los Angeles County, according to a press release. Tesoro's refining capacity in the state was more than doubled because of the deal.

Tesoro expects the 266,000 barrel-a-day plant to boost its 2013 earning by 50 cents a share. The company reported $5.25 a share net income in 2012, or $6.76 a share when not taking into account one-time items.

Tesoro may likely combine the Carson plant with its refinery in the Los Angeles area, allowing the company to cut manufacturing costs by around $250mn. The company also operates the Golden Eagle refinery located in the San Francisco Bay area.

Tesoro could take ownership of the refinery as early as June 1, according to a source familiar with the matter.

New York, NY, United States (4E) - Caterpillar Inc. reported on Thursday that it settled with Mining Machinery Ltd. all their outstanding issues regarding the acquisition of China-based coal equipment manufacturer ERA Mining Machinery Ltd.

The U.S. heavy equipment maker said it agreed to resolve disputes related to the $700mn acquisition of ERA and its wholly owned subsidiary Siwei, which means it cut $135mn from its outstanding obligations on the deal.

Caterpillar announced earlier this year that Siwei's internal investigation found out that there coordinated accounting irregularities that resulted to an impairment charge in non-cash goodwill. In that investigation, a number of Siwei senior managers were involved in the practice as well as an ERA director, who were since released by the company.

The 2011 deal resulted to a $580mn write-down in January by Caterpillar, which said that the accounting misconduct from unnamed parties caused its target value to be inflated.

The settlement will allow Caterpillar to pay $29.5mn instead of $164.5mn as agreed by former directors John Lee and Emory Williams, James Thompson III and Mining Machinery Ltd.

Steve Wunning, Caterpillar's group president with responsibility for Resource Industries, said that he was pleased with the settlement with the MML Parties, looking forward to position Caterpillar in greater focus to improve Siwei's operation, since the firm is a strategic fit to Caterpillar's coal mining operations in China.

Beijing, China (4E) - Wages in China grew at double-digit rate in 2012 despite the economy expanded at a slower pace.

Wages grew slightly higher in nominal terms compared to the previous year, although it accelerated faster when inflation was taken into account.

Workers in non-private companies saw their wages go up in nominal terms in 2012 by 11.9 per cent from the previous year to 46,769 yuan ($7,543), growing at a slower rate compared with the 14.4 per cent gain in 2011, according to the National Bureau of Statistics statement released on Friday.

Employees at private enterprises saw their average wages climb 17.1 per cent to 28,752 yuan in 2012, also growing at a slower pace than the 18.3 per cent increase in the previous year.

The statistics bureau said that slower economic growth had an impact on nominal salary increases, although but real salary growth, which includes inflation, increased in 2012 as "companies dealt with a more competitive labor market and tried to hurdle recruitment challenges.

The continued upward movement of wages, even as the world's second-largest economy grew to a slower pace last year to 7.8 per cent from 9.3 per cent in 2011, could add more pressure on corporate profits particularly for manufacturers in labor-intensive and low-end industries.

The statistics bureau said there was still a huge gap in average wages among regions, industries and specific occupation. Wages in manufacturing and construction, which comprise 41.2 per cent of the country's workforce, is still under the average level.

Oakland, CA, United States (4E Sports) - Silicon Valley entrepreneur Vivek Ranadive announced that his group has reached a deal with the Maloof family to purchase its controlling shares in the Sacramento Kings, signaling the start of new era.

"We just need to sign some papers and finalize everything," Ranadive told reporters after watching the San Antonio Spurs-Golden State Warriors game Thursday.

According to a source, if the NBA approves the deal, escrow is expected to close at the end of May.

Ranadive also lauded the Maloofs, saying they've done a lot for the community and the team. "We'll make sure they get the exit they deserve," he said.

The deal would set the team's overall value to an NBA record $535 million. The sale price translates into $347 million for the 65 percent of the team controlled by the Maloofs and their business partner, Robert Hernreich.

"The reported price was about right," Ranadive confirmed when asked about the purchase price.

Aside from Ranadive, the new ownership group includes the Jacobs family of San Diego, founder of communications giant Qualcomm, India-born businessman Raj Bhathal and Silicon Valley entrepreneur Katrina Garnett.

The investment group also includes 24 Hour Fitness founder Mark Mastrov, Sacramento developer Mark Friedman, former Facebook executive Chris Kelly, San Francisco tech entrepreneur Andy Miller and Arjun Gupta.

New York, NY, United States (4E) - PC maker Dell Inc. announced earnings dropped 79 per cent in fiscal first-quarter, missing analysts' forecast, following weaker revenue from its computing business as well as narrower margins.

The decline marks the company's sixth straight quarter of year-over-year profit decline amid weakness across the PC industry as smartphones and tablets become increasingly popular. Dell reported earnings of $130m, or 7 cents per share, in the first three months of the year, from a $635mn profit, or 36 cents per share, a year ago.

Without one-time items, the company said it earned 21 cents per share, widely missing analysts' estimate of 35 cents. During the same period last year, Dell's non-GAAP earnings showed 43 cents per share.

Dell's revenue fell by just 2 per cent to $14.1bn, easily beating the consensus view from analysts of $13.5bn.

The earnings report comes as the company decides on founder and CEO Michael Dell's plan to take the company private in a $24.4bn buyout deal. By making the company private, Dell can easily implement changes and reverse in fortunes without the limitations of being a publicly listed company.

However, last week activist investor Carl Icahn and Southeastern Asset Management Inc., Dell's biggest outside shareholder, proposed an alternative deal following objections from some shareholders on Mr Dell and Silver Lake Partner's $13.65 per share offer.

Washington, DC, United States (4E) - More Americans have filed claims for unemployment benefits last week than forecast, signaling the U.S. economic recovery may have lost some of its momentum.

The Labor Department released a report on Thursday showing that Initial jobless claims grew to a seasonally adjusted 360,000 in the week ended May 11, higher by 32,000. The figure is higher than the estimate of 330,000 predicted by economists surveyed by MarketWatch. The prior week's figures were revised to 328,000.

Employers have downsized their manpower and factories cut their staff on concerns about automatic federal budget cuts that were implemented in March. In another report, U.S. inflation declined as cost of gasoline fell, giving households extra cash to spend elsewhere, which will help support consumer spending.

The government also released latest data on new home construction showing it dropped in April, while Philadelphia manufacturers' business conditions declined in May.

Housing starts fell 16.5 per cent to 853,000 from a year ago, the biggest drop since February 2011, compared to a revised 1.02 million in March, according to the Commerce Department. Building permits in April rose 14.3 per cent to 1.02 million, the highest level since middle of 2008.

Amelia Island, FL, United States (4E Sports) - The ACC has expressed interest in playing its men's basketball tournaments at Madison Square Garden and The Barclays through commissioner John Swofford.

Sources said the conference is thoroughly investigating the Garden as a venue.

However, MSG executive vice president Joel Fisher was noncommittal about the ACC playing there.

In March, the new Big East Conference and Madison Square Garden announced a 12-year deal through 2026.

The MSG can get out of its deal before 2026 if the new Big East doesn't reach certain benchmarks and open the door for the ACC.

Besides Madison Square Garden, the ACC also has had discussions with the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

The 2014 and '15 ACC men's basketball tournaments will be held in Greensboro, N.C., but no decision has been reached beyond that. The tournament has been played every year since 1954, but only 11 times has it moved outside the state of North Carolina.

Pittsburgh and Syracuse are two of what will be seven former Big East schools in the 15-team ACC by 2014, along with Miami (Fla.), Virginia Tech, Boston College, Notre Dame and Louisville.

"I think (Madison Square Garden) would be the best thing for the conference," said Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon.

The official deadline to bid for the 2016-21 ACC men's basketball tournaments was last September. Madison Square Garden did not submit a bid but still would be allowed to pursue future tournaments, a source said.

New York, NY, United States (4E) - Standard & Poor's lowered Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s credit rating by a notch to double-A, citing the company's dependence on its insurance business.

S&P's downgrade came after the revision of criteria used by the credit agency for evaluation of insurers' creditworthiness aimed to get a better gauge of the companies with insurance subsidiaries and how they are able to keep cash from their revenues.

S&P credit analyst John Iten said that the lower credit rating on Berkshire is a reflection of the agency's view of the company's reliance on its core insurance business for majority of its dividend income.

The credit rating agency's insurance analysts, however, emphasized that they maintained the highest rating they have for any insurer of double-A-plus on Berkshire's insurance operations.

Most insurance subsidiaries companies in the U.S. are actually three notches above their respective parent companies, making the one-notch difference by Berkshire a rare case and a reflection of the strong balance sheet by Warren Buffet's company.

Berkshire reported earlier this month that it posted a first-quarter operating profit of $2,302 a share, compared to $1,615 from the previous year. The result was still ahead of analysts' forecast of $1,995. The company also maintains an overweight long-term position on global equities through derivatives, which earned the company $1.2bn in the first three months of the year.

Washington, DC, United States (4E) - U.S. consumer prices fell for the second straight month in April driven down by a sharp fall in the cost of gasoline and inflationary pressure is at its lowest level since 2010, according to official data released on Thursday in Washington.

The consumer-price index (CPI) declined 0.4 per cent, the largest drop since December 2008, after falling the reading fell 0.2 percent in March, according to Labor Department figures. The latest result is higher than the median estimate of 0.3 percent drop by economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The core price measure, which does not include costs of volatile items like energy and food, rose less than forecast at 0.1 per cent.

The low level of prices may allow the Federal Reserve to continue with its program of asset purchases including mortgage and government debt to keep borrowing costs low.

For consumers, lower prices can give them some relief after their disposable income was hit by a sharp rise in fuel costs earlier this year. Cheaper gas also helps consumers deal with higher taxes and flat wage increases by freeing up some cash for spending.

Subdued inflation in the month was mostly evident in consumer goods especially gasoline. Cost of gas dropped 8.1 per cent in April after falling 4.4 percent in March, contributing to the 4.3 per cent drop in energy prices in the month.

Madagascar's microfinance sector was established in'90, but it began to experience rapid growth only in the last 10 years; it was worth about 22.7 billion ariary ($10 million) in 2002, and by 2011, it was valued at about 244.4 billion ariary ($112 million) .

Microfinance is seen as a vehicle to help Madagascar attain some of its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), particularly the goal on eradicating extreme poverty. The UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) says about 85 percent of the population lives on less than $1.25 a day.

The poor often lack access to formal banking and credit services; according to some estimates, only 2 percent of low-income households have access to credit. Instead, they rely on informal money lenders, who charge annual interest rates for unsecured loans of between 120 to 400 percent - compared with microfinance institutions' (MFI) average rate of 36 percent for the same period, or between 2 and 4 percent a month. (The country's annual inflation rate was pegged at 5.4 percent in March 2013.)

Madagascar's microfinance sector has about 31 players, which include state, foreign investor and donor-supported initiatives, operating under a legal framework and regulated by Madagascar's Central Bank .

Since 2011, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and UNCDF have jointly managed the $350,000 Support Programme for Inclusive Finance for Madagascar (PAFIM) , which operates through three MFIs and charges a zero interest rate on loans.

"Through this mechanism we have good hope that the cycle of poverty caused by poor farmers' debts will be broken," Fatma Samoura, UNDP's country representative, told IRIN.

Education needed

"People in Madagascar need to work together and the poor here need a direct approach to development. The products are there, but people also need the right education to be able to access them," said Harinavalona Rajaonah, who works at Ombona Tahiry Ifampisamborana Vola (OTIV), one of the UNDP-partnered microfinance organizations.

"We have tried to put a culture of credit access into place here. The hardest part is to change the mentality of the people," Jean Olivier Razafimanantsoa, regional director of the Central Bank-registered credit cooperative Caisses d'Epargne et de Crédit Agricole Mutuelles (CECAM), told IRIN.

"We work together with other organizations in the city, as some people are a member [of other MFIs] everywhere, and so they take out too many loans. Also, the farmers tend to overestimate how much they need. They want us to finance their rice crop, which is worth 700,000 ariary ($321), but they'll come and ask for two million ($917). When you ask them how they got to this amount, they don't know," he said.

All microloan borrowers receive business advice, but with technical assistance and funding from UNDP, microfinance players have also established microcredit education programmes aimed at vulnerable groups.

One such programme, run by CECAM, mainly targets poor female street vendors. Razafimanantsoa says the programme has 1,303 clients, including Sija and other women from St Augustin Village. The women must save between 200 and 400 ariary ($0.09 to $0.18) a week, as part of the initial loan agreement.

They are then enrolled in lending system that goes through nine cycles, the first entitling the recipient to an 80,000 ariary ($36) loan. Each time the clients repay a loan, they are eligible for another, with progressively higher loan ceilings up to 300,000 ariary ($137). Repayment schedules range from a few months to a year. The programme also offers education on basic money management, family planning and health issues.

After completing all the cycles, the women become eligible for CECAM's normal commercial microcredit system.

"Right now, our goal is for these women to eat three times a day and feed their children, but eventually, they should be able to build up a guarantee to get a commercial business going and enter into the regular CECAM system," Razafimanantsoa said.

Cyclone

The weekly obligatory savings plan acts as a buffer against hard times, which is especially important in this cyclone-prone country.

After Cyclone Haruna struck Madagascar in February , many of CECAM's clients in Toliara, the regional capital of Atsimo-Andrefana Region, were left penniless.

"The first weeks, we didn't give out any more loans, as we were afraid people would just use the money to eat. We are now helping some of the women who have lost their homes to reschedule their loans," Razafimanantsoa said.

Prisca, 33, who did not provide her family name, from Belem, a district of Toliara, had entered her second credit cycle, and was using the capital to buy eggs from producers to sell at the market. "After I got the microcredit, I went from selling 100 eggs a day to selling up to 300. I could send the children to a private school and was able to buy some chickens," she told IRIN.

But she was left homeless in the wake of the cyclone, and now lives in a displacement camp, sharing a tent with 10 others. "We left with only the clothes on our back. The first week we stayed in a school. Then the BNGRC [National Disaster Risk Reduction Office] came to give us these tents," she said.

Prisca owes a 44,000 ariary ($20) debt to CECAM, and in the interim has enrolled in a cash-for-work project. "We're working to rehabilitate the roads, earning 24,000 ariary ($11) a week. I want to pay the CECAM [debt] first, as that will enable me to take out a new loan. Then, I can earn money again and rebuild the house little by little. This credit is what takes care of our daily needs," she said.

In the wake of the disaster, Sija, the fishmonger, was grateful for the loan's savings requirement. "We pay back our loans from our savings," she said. "After the cyclone in February, we had some problems paying, as there were no more goods to sell, so it was good I had saved up some money."

Growing businesses

The programmes are working.

Hanisoa Ravalison, 43, operates a small roadside restaurant selling sausages and simple meals in the village of Ambanitsena, about 26km east of Antananarivo, the capital. Following a visit by an OTIV agent, who recruits prospective clients, Ravalison decided to expand her business.

"At first, I borrowed money to renovate and enlarge the snack bar and to buy a fridge," she told IRIN. "Now, I use money to buy more goods, so I can make more profit."

Ravalison is in the tenth borrowing cycle of OTIV's 12 cycles - which have an initial loan of 60,000 ariary ($27.50) and reach a loan ceiling of 440,000 ariary ($201).

"Before I received training, I just used the money I made to buy whatever was needed. Now, I separate personal expenses and money for the business. I also know the difference between sales and profits and know that I need to use part of the profits to make the company run."

On a good day, her restaurant takes in 85,000 ariary ($39). "During holidays and festivals, we sell as many as 100kg of sausages," she said.

Her husband has set up a second restaurant, and two of their five children work in the family businesses. Ravalison said her next business plan was to open a wholesale food business.

Liva Harininana Ramanatenasoa began a small business selling charcoal in Ambanitsena. "One day, an agent from OTIV came along and explained that, with microcredit, I could do better," she told IRIN.

With the first loan, Ramanatenasoa bought more charcoal. "Without credit, I would be able to buy 10 bags maximum, but with credit, I could afford as many as 22, so I made a lot more profit," she said.

Two years after first enrolling in the microcredit scheme, Ramanatenasoa used the profits from her charcoal business to buy the rights to a stone quarry for 200,000 ariary ($90). She now employs a staff of-. Profits from the business have enabled her to build a house and put her children in school.

"If it wasn't for the credit, I would have still been selling coal," she said.

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- Provided by Integrated Regional Information Networks.

Pastoralism contributes between 10 and 44 percent of the GDP of African countries. An estimated 1.3 billion people benefit from livestock value chain, according to the International Livestock Research Institute.

"Pastoralism contributes to the livelihoods of millions of people across Africa, in some of the poorest and most deprived areas. It is a critical source of economic activity in dryland areas, where other forms of agriculture are impossible," Ian Scoones, from the Institute of Development Studies , told IRIN.

Ced Hesse, a researcher at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), told IRIN that in East Africa alone, "pastoralism directly supports an estimated 20 million people" and produces "80 percent of the total annual milk supply in Ethiopia, provides 90 percent of the meat consumed in East Africa, and contributes' percent, 13 percent and 8 percent of GDP in Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda, respectively".

He continued, "This is an enormous contribution to the regional economy, but often is unrecognized."

Invisible

IIED's Hesse explains why little attention is paid to pastoralists' contributions: "The benefits that pastoralism brings are invisible to most governments because the methodologies they use for assessing economic activity and growth, the most popular being GDP, are not adapted to pastoralism."

"A 'total economic valuation' framework is needed. When Intergovernmental Authority on Development, IGAD, used this methodology to calculate the contribution of livestock to the Kenyan economy, they found livestock's contribution to agricultural GDP is about two and half times greater than official estimates," Hesse said.

"Kenya's livestock were under appreciated and no attempt to enumerate it had been made for decades," the IGAD report said.

Experts like Scoones say the rapid urbanization in Africa will continue to provide increased market opportunities for pastoralists. Not all will benefit from the direct sale of livestock, but there are opportunities for diversification.

"There are spin-off benefits from such trade, including opportunities for engaging in diversified activities, including processing animal products, providing transport, fodder and marketing support, and offering services in the growing small towns in pastoral areas," said Scoones.

"Not all those in pastoralist areas can be involved directly in the growing, vibrant livestock trade that feeds the burgeoning cities across Africa," Scoones added.

Bad press

Yet other than reports of pastoralists suffering from poverty and climate-related shocks, pastoralism receives little attention from national governments or the media.

Of the reporting that does exist, much is negative, according to Media perceptions and portrayals of Pastoralists in Kenya, India and China , an April 2013 IIED report.

In Kenya for instance, 93 percent of news articles on pastoralist analyzed by the authors were about drought and conflict. Fifty-one percent of articles mentioning conflict presented pastoralist as the cause of the problems rather than the victims of conflict.

In India, on the other hand, 60 percent of articles reviewed portrayed pastoralists as victims "who have lost access to grazing land because of the growth of industrial agriculture, the dominance of more powerful social groups, and limits to grazing in forested land, among others."

The bad press has generated calls for pastoralist communities to change their lifestyles.

Media reports also fail to mention the environmental benefits of pastoralism, which can contribute to biodiversity conservation , and the role it plays in making food systems resilient by, for example, preventing overreliance on drought- and flood-vulnerable crops.

"The media tends to portray pastoralists as a source of problem or as lost causes, yet most media articles about pastoralists do not even quote the pastoralists themselves. The media portrayals paint a partial picture, one that rarely mentions the important economic and environmental benefits of pastoralism, or the way that herder mobility helps increase the resilience of food systems in a changing climate, so that even distant consumers in cities benefit," Mike Shanahan, communication specialist and author of the study, told IRIN.

Minorities Rights Group International observed in its 2012 State of the World's Minorities and Indigenous Peoples report that pastoralists are being forced to abandon their livelihoods by national governments. Experts see an increase in the phenomenon of land grabs, in which pastoralists and minority groups are driven out of their lands to pave the way for development projects considered more "viable", such as large-scale irrigation projects .

Some experts, like IIED's Hesse, say there is a case for modernizing pastoralism - not in the "sense of settling them or turning them into ranchers", but by focusing on the "logic of pastoralism's production strategies that allow it to produce the benefits in arid and semi-arid environments characterized by rainfall variability."

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Houston, TX, United States (4E) - A group of Houston's Rice University's mechanical engineering students on Wednesday claimed to have developed a pair of shoes that can generate electricity and can power portable electronics.

They created what they called PediPower shoes as part of the project they require to submit as part of their graduation program.

According to Texas Medical Center News report, the shoes can deliver 400 milliwatts of energy through wires, which connects with shoes through a belt-mounted battery pack.

Carlos Armada, Julian Castro, David Morilla and Tyler Wiest said that they focus their attention on a previously patented device, which creates energy by movement of the knee.

When the rubber of PediPower shoes meets the road, it creates a shoe-mounted energy, the report stated, adding that the force at the heel has far more potential for power generation than any other part of the foot.

Tokyo, Japan (4E) - Japan reported faster-than-predicted economic growth in the first three months of the year, amid strong private consumption following the government's new policies to boost the economy.

The country's gross domestic product (GDP) jumped 3.5 percent on an annualized basis, the biggest rise in a year, according to a Cabinet Office report released on Thursday in Tokyo. This surpasses the median estimate of a 2.7 percent increase predicted by 36 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

The economy grew 0.9 percent on quarter. The GDP growth In the fourth quarter was revised to one percent.

The rise was driven by private consumption, which climbed 0.9 percent from the previous year, which is the fastest increase since the third quarter of 2012. Exports also grew for the first time since the January to March period of last year, rising 3.8 percent from a year ago.

The world's second-largest economy is showing impressive growth as central bank Governor Haruhiko Kuroda introduces relaxed monetary policies. However, officials are keeping a close watch at the volatility in the bond market fueled by the possibility of rising inflation.

The rise in GDP is the fastest pace since reconstruction spending led to a 5.3 percent revised figure in the first quarter of 2012. Cabinet Office data also showed that private consumption account for about 60 percent of last quarter's output.

Washington, DC, United States (4E) - U.S. officials have frozen bank accounts of the world's biggest Bitcoin exchange following a statement from regulators months ago warning such entities should still follow to the same rules on anti-money laundering.

The Department of Homeland Security seized an account Tuesday owned by Tokyo-based Mt. Gox,which handles 80 percent of all Bitcoin trading, after obtaining a warrant. In the warrant, it alleges that the company and a subsidiary were conducting unlicensed money service transactions.

The warrant, which was made public on Wednesday, alleges that Mt. Gox Chief Executive Mark Karpeles did not declare with Wells Fargo in May 2011 that he was going to use the account to operate a money transmitting business.

The move comes after a ruling made by the Treasury Department in March ordering firms that issue or exchange online cash, including currencies not backed by the U.S. Federal Reserve, would need to follow traditional money-laundering rules like in the case of Western Union Co.

In addition to the Wells Fargo account, authorities also seized an account with the payments processor Dwolla, which service is used by many Bitcoin holders in the U.S. to transfer money to Mt. Gox.

Mt. Gox and its U.S.-based subsidiary, Mutum Sigillum LLC, was accused by authorities of failing to register with the Treasury's FinCen or Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.

Los Angeles, CA, United States (4E) - Entertainment giant Sony on Wednesday announced to release "Angry Birds", an animated film based on a hit mobile game, after winning the global distribution rights.

Finnish mobile gaming company Rovio has financed and produced the movie and said that the establishment of an animation studio would give competition to global giant Walt Disney.

Announcing about the deal, Rovio Entertainment's CEO Mikael Hed said, Sony Pictures Entertainment won the rights to the movie, which will be released on July 1, 2016, after beating several major studios.

"Despicable Me" Producer John Cohen and "Iron Man" Executive Producer David Maisel will work on the 3D movie.

"Sony impressed us with their great attitude, determination, and professionalism. They convinced us that we have found the right partners and team to help us market and distribute our first motion picture," Hed said.

Dallas, TX, United States (4E Sports) - Seattle's dream of having another NBA team was dashed after NBA team owners voted to keep the Kings in Sacramento.

According to sources, team owners voted 22-8 to reject the Kings' proposed move to Seattle as recommended earlier by a relocation committee.

Commissioner David Stern said the vote effectively ended the bid of a Seattle group led by investor Chris Hansen to buy the Kings from the Maloofs.

Stern also expressed confidence that the Maloofs will reach an agreement to sell the team to a consortium headed by Silicon Valley billionaire Vivek Ranadive.

"It is my expectation that we'll be able to make a deal with the Maloofs and the Ranadive group. ... It's not a certainty, but we're going to work [toward] that result," said Stern.

This was the second time that the Maloofs have tried to relocate the Kings. They first targeted Anaheim, California but Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson convinced the NBA to give the city another chance to finance a new arena.

Seattle lost the SuperSonics following the 2008 season when they moved to Oklahoma City and became the Thunder.

Seattle mayor Mike McGinn expressed disappointment over the development but remained confident that Hansen will deliver on his promise to give the city another NBA team.

"The memorandum of understanding we have with Chris Hansen is for five years, and we will continue working to bring the NBA back to Seattle," McGinn said.

New York, NY, United States (4E) - Macy's Inc. reported an increase in first-quarter profit, beating Wall Street estimates, as the department store giant posted stronger revenue, though increased costs kept margins flat.

Net income in the quarter ended May 4 surged 20 per cent to $217mn, or 55 cents per share, compared to $181mn, or 43 cents per share, from a year ago, the company said in a statement on Wednesday. The figure beats the average estimate of 53 cents by analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

The Cincinnati-based Macy's, became the first of the mid-tier department stores to release quarterly earnings, is also currently locked in a legal battle with rival J.C. Penney Co. over the right to sell Martha Stewart-designed home products.

Last month, a New York state appeals judge allowed J.C. Penney to introduce a line of Martha Stewart-designed beddings and home products, although they need to sell them in another brand name. Despite this, Macy's continues to block the sale those of products through a legal order.

The retailer increased its quarterly dividend by 25 per cent to 25 cents per share and also announced it will expand its share-buyback program by $1.5bn.

Chief Executive Officer Terry Lundgren has been working to attract younger customers by offering exclusive products and tailor goods to match local tastes. Macy's has also increased fulfillment of orders made online with in-store merchandise.

San Jose, CA, United States (4E) - The eBay auction of a 1943 letter purportedly containing the ingredients of Coca-Cola ended Wednesday with no bids.

Georgia antiques dealer Cliff Kluge of Ringgold offered the copy of the Coke recipe, a closely guarded secret of the soft drink maker, at a starting bid of $5 million or $15 million in outright purchase. He claims the letter is one of many contained in an old box he bought for $100 at an estate sale of a prominent Chattanooga chemist around four years ago.

The letter was dated January 15, 1943 and has a breakdown of the Coke formula into exact amounts of specific ingredients to make one gallon of concentrate. The concentrate, when combined and processed, yields enough to make 16 gallons.

In the picture of the single-page letter on eBay, the ingredients were blocked out. The Coke recipe includes vanilla, lime juice, lemon oil, orange oil, cinnamon oil and nutmeg oil, according to a 2011 report of the NPR.

Coca-Cola archivist Ted Ryan on Tuesday denied that Kluge's historical document was authentic and said the original copy of the recipe is locked inside a steel vault at the World of Coke museum in downtown Atlanta with only two Coca-Cola executives privy to the ingredients.

Pharmacist Dr. John S. Pemberton concocted the famous soft drink brand in 1886 and initially sold it as a fountain drink at an Atlanta pharmacy. It was bottled in 1899 and is considered the most popular soft drink in the world in terms of consumption.

Brussels, Belgium (4E) - Latest figures show that the 17-nation euro zone has slid to recession for the sixth straight quarter.

The 17-nation euro zone's gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by 0.2 percent in the first quarter, dragged down by France's return to recession, compared to the 0.6 percent drop in the fourth quarter. The figure even missed analysts' prediction of a 0.1 percent fall, although economic figures like GDP are subject to revisions.

The latest result marks the region's longest recession since the introduction of the common currency in 1999.

The last time the region posted growth was in the third quarter of 2011, which means the eurozone is now at its longest period of falling output. Contraction in Italy and Spain slowed down, although both economies declined 0.5 per cent in the quarter.

Weakness in many of the eurozone economies has led to record-level unemployment, where around 19 million are out of work from a population of 340 million people. Only 27 percent of the workforce are currently working in Spain and Greece.

Germany, Europe's biggest economy, saw its GDP rise by just 0.1 percent in the quarter because of the slowdown in construction activity due to the unusually cold weather. It missed analysts' growth forecast of around 0.3 pe cent in the country that accounts for about a third of the total output in the euro area.

BRAZZAVILLE, Congo (IRIN) - Congo, which is heavily dependent on revenue from the oil industry, has been declared as "conforming to" a global standard that aims to ensure transparency of payments for natural resources; NGOs hope the announcement will improve the lives of the poor.

More than half the country's 3.6 million people live below the poverty line.

The Initiative for Transparency in the Extractive Industries (EITI) , adopted by G8 countries in 2003, aims to improve the transparency of the management of mineral resources. It brings together, in a single structure, governments, oil companies, international financial institutions and NGOs.

"Being validated and found to comply with the EITI means Congo ticked 21 boxes, including membership of EITI, implying a commitment to publish all necessary information relating to the management of our industries, especially oil, our primary export resource," Florent Michel Okoko, coordinator of EITI in Congo, told IRIN.

Oil accounts for 80 to 90 percent of Congo's exports and budget revenues.

EITI covers both solid and liquid mines. However "at this stage, we are focusing on the oil industry because, in terms of solid mines [iron ore mining in the southwest], we are still at the stage of prospecting. In the relatively near future, we will also integrate solid mines," said Okoko.

Congo's achievement of compliance has not come overnight: The country became associated with EITI in 2004, but oil has remained a sticking point.

"However, since 2011 the government seems to have made an effort because from then on, there is an 80 to 90 percent overlap between revenues that were reported by oil companies and those said to have been seen by the Treasury," Christian Mounzéo, of the Congolese organization Publish What You Pay (PWYP), told IRIN.

Much-needed revenues

Congolese civil society groups insist that such revenue should benefit the lives of all Congolese citizens.

"Being consistent with EITI is not an end in itself. Instead, the government should mandate the equitable distribution of [revenue from] petroleum, mining and gas products. The Congolese want to touch and taste the income of its oil daily," Brice Mackosso, secretary-general of the Diocesan Commission for Justice and Peace (CJP), told IRIN.

Officially, annual income from oil exports is around US$6 billion.

"These oil revenues are currently very, very important, so it is time for the average Congolese to feel them in terms of better access to education, water, electricity and health," said Mackosso.

According to the most recent Demographic Health Survey (2007), 47 percent of the population had access to water in urban areas, and 11 percent in rural areas. The figures for electricity were 45 and 6 percent respectively.

Literacy rates, which used to be around 100 percent in the'80s, dropped to 80 percent in 2010 due to the civil war, according to the UN Development Programme (UNDP). UNDP's Human Development Index says life expectancy is 55.

Officially 24 to 30 percent of the population under 30 is unemployed, according to 2011 World Bank estimates.

Between February and April 2013, at least 9,500 state school teachers went on strike to demand a 60 percent pay increase. "Teachers have expressed aloud what all Congolese think to themselves. In any case the oil money is not kept in Congo, but in tax havens," Elo Dacy, a member of the opposition Patriotic Union for National Renewal (UPRN), told IRIN.

lmm/cb/rz

- Provided by Integrated Regional Information Networks.

New York, NY, United States (4E) - Deere & Co.'s reported a 2.7 percent increase in quarterly net profit, citing strong sales of farm-equipment in the U.S. and Canada.

Net income expanded to $1.08bn, or $2.76 a share, for the quarter ended April 30, compared to $1.06bn, or $2.61 a share, during the same period last year. Revenues also jumped by 9 per cent to $10.9bn. The latest result beat analysts' estimate of $2.72 a share on $9.94bn revenues.

Sales of construction equipment declined 6 percent during the quarter to $1.57bn. This resulted to a 32 per cent drop in operating profit from construction machinery to $81mn, as rising production cost and lower volumes squeezed the bottom line.

Deere maintained its earnings guidance for the fiscal year, but cut its estimate for equipment-sales growth by one per cent to 5 percent. The company projected 3 percent growth in equipment sales for the current quarter.

In a statement, Deere's chairman and Chief Executive Samuel R. Allen said that the results signal the positive conditions in the worldwide farm economy, which continues to record impressive growth.

Data from the Association of Equipment Manufacturers Retail released on Friday shows U.S. and Canada sales of harvesting combines and large tractors jumped 11 percent for the first four months of 2013.

London, England, United Kingdom (4E) - HSBC Holdings PLC reported on Wednesday that it is seeking ways to cut its cost base by $3bn and increase shareholder dividends through measures such as cutting about 14,000 jobs across its global operations.

The layoffs would reduce the company's total headcount to between 240,000 and 250,000 by 2016.

The weakened global economy could make it difficult for HSBC to meet its 12 percent to 15 percent return-on-equity target this year, although that can be achieved for the 2014 to 2016 period given the group's fresh investments in rapidly expanding markets and commercial banking, according to Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver during a strategy update.

Mr Gulliver said that a more robust financial performance would allow the firm to increase dividends, adding that the bank may buy back shares in three years.

The bank's strategy continues to be driven by increasing personal wealth and trade in developing countries. HSBC continues to focus on the 22 "priority markets" it named two years ago, which include China, Brazil and Indonesia, according to Mr Gulliver.

HSBC's first phase of cost-cutting plan saw 46,000 jobs were cut and its stake in China's second biggest-insurer sold in a $9.4bn deal. The company also divested other assets including its four South American units and its U.S. credit card operations.

Manila, Philippines (4E) - Allies of Philippine President Benigno Aquino III looks like its going to gain control of the Senate , strengthening the leaders hold in the presidency.

Up for grabs last Monday's election were 12 of the 24 Senate seats and all 229 seats in the House of Representatives. The elections also covered 18,000 local political posts, including provincial governors.

With 69 percent of the vote counted, nine pro-administration Senate candidates were ahead. Former President Joseph Estrada ousted the incumbent, Alfredo S. Lim. In the Manila mayoralty race. Estrada, was former action movie star who was removed from the presidency after being accused of corruption through people power.

Imelda R. Marcos, the former first lady, was re-elected to the House of Representatives by a wide margin.

Former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, despite remaining in detention in a government hospital on corruption charges, won a second term as the Congressional representative in her home district, Pampanga.

Las Vegas, NV, United States (4E) - The jury in Las Vegas on Tuesday ordered Las Vegas Sands Corp. to pay $70mn to Hong Kong businessman Richard Suen for his role in helping the casino giant set up operations in Macau's gambling market.

The verdict was part of the second trial involving Suen, who has claimed that the meetings he helped set up for billionaire Sheldon Adelson with Beijing officials were key to Sands' obtaining the license to operate casinos in Macau beginning in 2002. Three years ago, the Nevada Supreme Court reversed a decision by the jury awarding Mr Suen $43.8mn.

The jury's decision was the latest development in the years-long legal battle between Sands and Mr Suen over his role in the company's selection by the Macau government.

Mr Adelson testified in the trial saying that Suen, who is his younger brother Lenny Adelson's friend, made no contribution to the company being able to operate in the former Portuguese colony, the only place in China where it is legal to operate a casino. Sands was part of the winning bid by Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd., which was awarded one of the three concessions in 2002.

Since the slowdown in the U.S. economy, Macau has been a top choice for big American gambling companies seeking opportunities in fast-growing markets. Macau currently stands as Sands' biggest market, accounting for 60 per cent of the company's revenue.

Athens, Greece (4E) - Fitch Ratings raised its sovereign credit rating for Greece by one notch, saying that the country has made progress in addressing its budget deficit and in rebalancing its economy, as the risk of a Greek exit from euro was reduced.

The credit rating agency upgraded Greece's rating to B minus from triple-C, adding that the outlook was stable. In December, rating agency Standard & Poor's also upgraded the country's rating to B minus.

Fitch cited the Greek government's progress in reducing its deficit and implementation of structural reforms. It also noted that the country's financial system has stabilized, and lauded the progress made by the government on labor market reforms.

Despite the positive changes, economists and investors believe Greece still needs to restructure its debts. Fitch estimates Athen's public debt will reach 180 per cent of gross domestic product in 2013-14. The agency also emphasized the need for economic recovery and fiscal surplus for the situation to be sustainable.

A sustained economic recovery is a prerequisite for a future upgrade, although failure to recover and funding gaps could lead to a possible downgrade.

Other possible threats to the Greece's recovery momentum include the re-emergence of political or social instability or events that could increase the risk of a euro zone exit by Athens.

Washington, DC, United States (ProPublica) - by Paul Kiel, ProPublica, and Mitchell Hartman, Marketplace

Seven years after Congress banned payday-loan companies from charging exorbitant interest rates to service members, many of the nation's military bases are surrounded by storefront lenders who charge high annual percentage rates, sometimes exceeding 400 percent.

The Military Lending Act sought to protect service members and their families from predatory loans. But in practice, the law has defined the types of covered loans so narrowly that it's been all too easy for lenders to circumvent it.

"We have to revisit this," said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who chairs the defense appropriations subcommittee and is the Senate's second-ranking Democrat. "If we're serious about protecting military families from exploitation, this law has to be a lot tighter."

Members of the military can lose their security clearances for falling into debt. As a result, experts say, service members often avoid taking financial problems to their superior officers and instead resort to high-cost loans they don't fully understand.

The Department of Defense, which defines which loans the Military Lending Act covers, has begun a process to review the law, said Marcus Beauregard, chief of the Pentagon's state liaison office.

The act mainly targets two products: payday loans, usually two-week loans with annual percentage rates often above 400 percent, and auto-title loans, typically one-month loans with rates above 100 percent and secured by the borrower's vehicle. The law caps all covered loans at a 36 percent annual rate.

That limit "did do a great deal of good on the products that it covered," Holly Petraeus, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's head of service member affairs, said in an interview. "But there are a lot of products that it doesn't cover."

Representatives from payday and other high-cost lenders said they follow the law. Some defended the proliferation of new products as helpful to consumers.

A 400 Percent Loan

In June 2011, when Levon Tyler, a 37-year-old staff sergeant in the Marines, walked into Smart Choice Title Loans in Columbia, S.C., it was the first time he'd ever gone to such a place, he said. But his bills were mounting. He needed cash right away.

Smart Choice agreed to lend him $1,600. In return, Tyler handed over the title to his'98 Ford SUV and a copy of his keys. Tyler recalled the saleswoman telling him he'd probably be able to pay off the loan in a year. He said he did not scrutinize the contract he signed that day.

If he had, Tyler would have seen that in exchange for that $1,600, he'd agreed to pay a total of $17,228 over two and a half years. The loan's annual percentage rate, which includes interest and fees, was 400 percent.

Tyler said he provided his military ID when he got the loan. But even with an annual rate as high as a typical payday loan, the Military Lending Act didn't apply. The law limits the interest rate of title loans — but only those that have a term of six months or less.

In South Carolina, almost no loans fit that definition, said Sue Berkowitz, director of the nonprofit South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center. The reason? Ten years ago, the state legislature passed consumer protections for short-term auto-title loans. In response, lenders simply lengthened the duration of their loans.

Today, plenty of payday and auto-title lenders cluster near Fort Jackson, an army base in Columbia, legally peddling high-cost loans to the more than 36,000 soldiers who receive basic training there each year.

Tyler's loan showcases other examples of lenders' ingenuity. Attached to his contract was an addendum that offered a "Summer Fun Program Payoff." While the loan's official term was 32 months, putting it outside both South Carolina's regulations and the Military Lending Act, the "Summer Fun" option allowed Tyler to pay off the loan in a single month. If he did so, he'd pay an annual rate of 110 percent, the addendum said.

Michael Agostinelli, the chief executive of Smart Choice's parent company, American Life Enterprises, told ProPublica he wants his customers to pay off their loans early. "They're meant to be short-term loans," he said. He also said that customers who pay on time get "a big discount." In Tyler's case, he would have paid an annual rate of'2 percent if he had made all his payments on time.

But Tyler fell behind after only a couple of payments. Less than five months after he took out the loan, a repo company came in the middle of the night to take his car. Three weeks later, it was sold at auction.

"This was something new, and I will never do it again," Tyler said. "I don't care what type of spot I get in."

American Life Enterprises companies operate nine title-lending branches in Nevada and South Carolina. Agostinelli said loans to members of the military are rare for his companies but that service members might go to a title lender for the same reason anybody else does: They need money immediately and discreetly.

Loans similar to the one Tyler took out are broadly and legally available from stores and over the Internet. QC Holdings, Advance America, Cash America and Ace Cash Express — all among the country's largest payday lenders — offer loans that fall outside the definitions of the Military Lending Act, which defined a payday loan as lasting three months or less.

The annual rates can be sky high, such as those offered by Ace Cash Express in Texas, where a five-month loan for $400 comes with an annual rate of 585 percent, according to the company's website.

Ace Cash is among a number of payday lenders just outside the gates of Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, and it has four stores within three miles of Fort Hood in Texas.

A 2012 report on the Military Lending Act by the Consumer Federation of America found there had been no drop in the number of payday lenders around Fort Hood since the 2006 law went into effect.

Amy Cantu of the Community Financial Services Association of America, which represents the payday industry, said payday lenders are careful to screen out service members for their short-term products. But she acknowledged that payday companies may provide soldiers and their families with other types of loans. "We welcome more products in the market," she said of the trend of payday lenders increasingly offering longer-term loans. "Options are good for consumers."

Earned a Purple Heart, Lost a Car

Some lenders apparently haven't bothered to change their loan products in response to the law.

A 2011 federal class-action suit filed in Georgia's Middle District alleges that one of the largest auto-title lenders in the country, Community Loans of America, has been flouting the law. The suit names among its plaintiffs three soldiers who took out what appeared to be classic title loans. All agreed to pay an annual rate of around 150 percent for a 30-day loan. All had trouble repaying, according to the suit. One, an Army staff sergeant and Purple Heart recipient, lost his car. The other two managed to pay interest but almost none of the principal on their loans for several months.

The company was fully aware that its customers were soldiers, because they presented their military identifications, said Roy Barnes, a former governor of Georgia who is representing the plaintiffs.

Community Loans, which boasts more than 900 locations nationwide, argued in court that the transactions were not covered by the Military Lending Act because they weren't loans but sales. Here's how Community Loans said the transaction worked: The soldiers sold their vehicles to the company while retaining the option to buy back the cars — for a higher price. In early 2012, the judge rejected that argument. The case is ongoing.

Community Loans, which did not respond to numerous calls and emails, has been making loans to service members through businesses with various names.

Leading up to the gates of Fort Benning in Columbus, Ga., Victory Drive is crowded with lenders. Among them is Georgia Auto Pawn, a Community Loans of America storefront where one of the plaintiffs in the class action, an Army master sergeant, took out his loan.

Just another half-mile down the road is a lender advertising "Signature Loans for the Military." The lender goes by the name of Title Credit Finance, but the parent company is Community Finance and Loans, which shares the same corporate address as Community Loans of America.

A billboard for Title Credit Finance promises to rescue borrowers: Showing a picture of a hamster on a wheel, it says, "Avoid the title pawn treadmill," referring to customers who get caught paying only interest month after month.

Title Credit Finance offers installment loans, a product which, as the company advertises, does seem to provide "CASH NOW The Smart Way" — at least when compared to a title loan. Interest rates tend to be lower — though still typically well above 36 percent. And instead of simply paying interest month upon month, the borrower pays down the loan's principal over time.

But the product comes with traps of its own. Installment lenders often load the loans with insurance products that can double the cost, and the companies thrive by persuading borrowers to use the product like a credit card. Customers can refinance the loan after only a few payments and borrow a little more. But those extra dollars typically come at a far higher cost than the annual rate listed on the contract.

At TitleMax, a title-lender with more than 700 stores in 12 states, soldiers who inquire about a title loan are directed to InstaLoan, TitleMax's sister company, which provides installment loans, said Suzanne Donovan of the nonprofit Step Up Savannah. A $2,475 installment loan made to a soldier at Fort Stewart near Savannah, Ga., in 2011 and reviewed by ProPublica, for example, carried a 43 percent annual rate over 14 months — but that rate effectively soared to 80 percent when the insurance products were included. To get the loan, the soldier surrendered the title to his car. TMX Finance, the parent company of both TitleMax and InstaLoan, did not respond to multiple calls and emails seeking comment.

Another lender on Victory Drive is the publicly traded World Finance, one of the country's largest installment lenders, with a market capitalization of about $1 billion and more than 1,000 stores around the country. World was the subject of an investigation by ProPublica and Marketplace earlier this week. Of World's loans, about 5 percent, approximately 40,000 loans, are made to service members or their families, according to the company. Active-duty military personnel and their dependents comprise less than 1 percent of the U.S. population, according to the Defense Department.

Bill Himpler, the executive vice president of the American Financial Services Association, which represents installment lenders, said the industry's products had been rightfully excluded from the Military Lending Act. The Pentagon had done a good job preserving soldiers' access to affordable credit, he said, and only "tweaking the regulations here or there to tighten them up" was necessary.

The Commander and the Collectors

It's not known how many service members have high-priced loans. The Pentagon says it intends to conduct a survey on the matter soon and issue a report by the end of the year.

But some commanders, such as Capt. Brandon Archuleta, say that dealing with soldiers' financial problems is simply part of being an officer. Archuleta, who has commanded soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, recalled fielding numerous calls from lenders trying to track down soldiers who were delinquent on debts.

"In the last 12 years we've seen military officers as war fighters, we've seen them as diplomats, we've seen them as scholars," Archuleta said. "But what we don't see is the officer as social worker, financial adviser and personal caregiver."

While some soldiers seek help from their superior officers, many don't. That's because debt troubles can result in soldiers losing their security clearance.

"Instead of trying to negotiate this with their command structure, the service member will typically end up refinancing," said Michael Hayden, director of government relations for the Military Officers Association of America and a retired Air Force colonel. "It'll typically start out with some type of small crisis. And then the real crisis is just how you get that loan paid off."

Soldiers who hide their debt often forego the military's special aid options. Army Emergency Relief and the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society offer zero-interest loans. But in seeking that help, a soldier risks alerting the commanding officer to his or her troubles, particularly if the sum needed is a large one.

Russell Putnam, a legal-assistance attorney at Fort Stewart, says he often finds himself making a simple argument to soldiers: "A zero percent loan sure as heck beats a 36 percent plus or a 25 percent plus loan."

- Provided by ProPublica.org

Washington, DC, United States (4E) - The generic drug maker Ranbaxy USA is paying the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) $500 million as settlement for drug safety violations while an executive of the firm who exposed the offense stands to get $48.5 million in reward.

The settlement, which includes $130 million in criminal fine, $20 million in forfeiture and $350 million to settle civil claims, is the largest in history involving a generic drug manufacturer, according to the Justice Department.

Out of the settlement money, $48.5 million will go to former Ranbaxy employee Dinesh Thakur, who reported the firm's improper manufacturing, storing and testing of drugs in 2007 and 2008.

Ranbaxy USA on Monday pleaded guilty to selling substandard drugs and making false statements to the FDA, according to federal prosecutors. Federal officials confirmed a host of manufacturing lapses at Ranbaxy's plants in India and one in the United States.

The subsidiary of the Japanese pharmaceutical company Daiichi Sankyo admitted failing to conduct proper safety and quality tests of several drugs manufactured at its Paonta Sahib and Dewas plants in India. Among those drugs were gabapentin for epilepsy and nerve pain, and the antibiotic ciprofloxacin.

Ranbaxy waited two months in 2007 before alerting the FDA that certain batches of gabapentin tested positive for "unknown impurities" and had unreliable shelf lives. They later recalled more than 73 million of the pills.

rosecutors also found that Ranbaxy tested some products weeks or months after telling the FDA it had done so.

Arun Sawhney, chief executive and managing director of Ranbaxy, said making the settlement was in the best interest of the company.

San Francisco, CA, United States (4E) - Nokia just launched the Lumia 925 smartphone at an event in London. While the Lumia generated considerable buzz for the time being, rumors of a Nokia tablet continue to persist. In fact, many speculated that Nokia would officially announce plans for a tablet during the event. The Finnish phone manufacturer didn't deny rumors that it is looking into tablets nor did it confirm plans for releasing one.

"We're very interested in tablets and that's an area we're looking at," executive vice president of smart devices for Nokia Jo Harlow said, according to CNET.

Rumors of Nokia releasing a tablet have continued for two years now. In 2011, Stephen Elop, Nokia chief executive officer, said that the company " is assessing what's the right tablet strategy for Nokia."

There's no evidence yet to prove that Nokia is indeed planning a tablet. The only indication that Nokia is planning to make one is a statement from Nokia designer Marko Ahtisaari, who said his team was "working on it." That was more than a year ago.

Nokia is currently one of the largest handset makers in the world, but its Symbian operating system has been extremely dated. If Nokia does push through with a tablet in the future, it'll most likely run Windows RT or Windows 8 Pro.

Paris, France (4E) - International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Tuesday that oil production in North America will lead the growth in worldwide supply over the next several years, citing the advancement in production methods like fracking and other technologies that allow access to reserves that used to be inaccessible.

The IEA said 40 percent of the world's supply through 2018 will be provided by North America through the development of oil sands and light, tight oil, while the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is expected see their contribution to the global supply slide to 30 percent.

By 2020, the U.S. is seen to overtake Saudi Arabia, although possibly temporarily, to become the world's biggest oil producer, according to IEA's forecast last year.

IEA data shows that daily demand for oil worldwide will expand by 6.1 million barrels, or 6.7 percent, to 96.7 million by 2018 as the economic recovery gains traction. However, weaker-than-estimated growth has prompted the IEA to lower its oil demand estimates for 2017 by around 95,000 barrels a day less than its previous report.

The IEA , which represents the big energy-consuming nations, predicted that emerging economies may overtake developed nations this year in oil consumption. The agency also expects demand for OPEC oil to drop 30 million barrels daily, the cartel's self-imposed production cap, and will continue that declining trend until 2018.

Brussels, Belgium (4E) - Industrial production in the euro zone expanded in March, an indication that the currency bloc's economy may have performed better than expected in the first three months of the year.

Official data showed industrial output in the region grew by a surprisingly strong 1.0 per cent in March from the 0.3 per cent growth in February. Portugal saw the biggest monthly gain at 5.3 per cent, followed by the Netherlands, which grew 4.5 per cent. Slovenia recorded the biggest drop at 2.9 per cent.

The European Union's official statistics agency, Eurostat, reported on Tuesday that industrial production jumped 1.0 per cent in March from the previous month, the biggest monthly increase since July 2011. On an annual basis, output declined 1.7 per cent, the smallest contraction since August last year.

Official economic data in the 17-nation euro zone in the quarter ended March are set to be released on Wednesday and analysts predict it will be a slight contraction, which could mark the sixth consecutive quarter of contraction.

Analysts believe that the euro zone's woes are not over despite the surprisingly strong result shown in the March report. In a survey of Germany's analysts and institutional investors in Tuesday showed Europe's recovery is expected to be subdued in the next several months.

Industrial production in the 27-nation EU gained 0.9 per cent in March from the 0.3 per cent in February, according to Eurostat.

Black Betsy, WV, United States (4E) - At least two people have reportedly been injured in a series of explosions on Monday afternoon at a West Virginia industrial gas plant.

The explosion rocked the Airgas plant at about 3:20 p.m. in the town of Black Betsy in Putnam County.

Two people have been rushed to hospital, however, no casualties in the incident have been reported so far.

Authorities shut down nearby roads briefly after the explosion hit the plant, but remained uncertain on the cause of explosion.

An investigation is already underway.

New York, NY, United States (4E) - Verizon Wireless has announced a $7bn dividend payout to its owners, Verizon Communications and UK's Vodafone.

It was bit of a surprising move particularly after Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam said in a meeting with investors last month that he does not expect a dividend this year for the company's two corporate parents.

Verizon, which controls 55 per cent of the venture, has said in public that it is interested in buying the 45 per cent stake owned by Vodafone in the mobile phone company.

Being a minority owner in Verizon Wireless, Vodafone has no control over dividend payout, although it received a total of $8bn in dividends in 2012. This year, Verizon Communications will get $3.85bn in cash while Vodafone is set to receive $3.15bn.

In a regulatory filing, June 25 will be the schedule for the payout.

This year's dividend, however, is lesser compared to recent distributions. For more than half a decade, the U.S. wireless carrier kept its cash until it paid out $18.5bn in 2012 in two payments last year.

Verizon, the largest mobile operator by subscribers in the U.S., said in recent weeks that it can acquire the remaining stake it still does not own in the partnership from Vodafone without major tax implications for the UK carrier. Verizon's offer is believed to be around $110bn.

Washington, DC, United States (KaiserHealth) - Supporters and critics of the Affordable Care Act seem to agree on at least one thing: Allowing young adults to stay on their parents' health plans until they reach age 26 is a smart move. The change, which took effect in the fall of 2010, has resulted in more than 3 million young people gaining health insurance.

Starting next year, young adults will have more options for coverage in addition to their parents' plans. But despite the expanded choices, some may continue to face problems commonly associated with their age group—coverage for mental health issues, substance abuse and maternity care.

A recent study illustrated the extent to which young people may previously have had difficulty obtaining care. It found that those who enrolled in their parents' plan after the health law passed were more likely to have claims for maternity, mental health and substance abuse services than adult children who were already covered by their parents' plans. Experts note that adult children who joined their parents' plans may have had unmet treatment needs before they had the option to join Mom and Dad's plan. Individual health plans they might have applied for typically refuse to cover people with preexisting conditions. They also generally don't cover maternity care.

The study, published by the Employee Benefit Research Institute, examined the 2011 claims of one large employer that covered more than 200,000 workers and their family members. Before the health law provision went into effect, unmarried student dependents could remain on the worker's coverage until age 23, but most non-students had to find other insurance after they turned'.

More From This Series Insuring Your Health

The EBRI study found that nearly 700 young adults enrolled in their parents' plan after the health law was passed. The average health-care spending for those adult children was $2,866 in 2011, 15 percent higher than spending by dependents who were already on their parents' plan. This newly enrolled group was also more likely to have costs related to pregnancy, mental health and substance abuse than their peers.

Next year, health plans will no longer be able to turn people down because they have preexisting medical conditions. This will free young people to shop around for individual coverage on state-based exchanges or the private market if they don't want to stay on their folks' plan. All non-grandfathered individual and small-group plans will have to cover 10 "essential health benefits," including maternity and newborn care and mental health and substance abuse services.

In addition to the comprehensive plans available on the exchanges, young people up to age 30 will have the option of choosing a catastrophic plan there. The plan will cover preventive services without any cost sharing as well as three primary care doctor visits. The plan covers the essential health benefits, though only after a $6,350 deductible is met.

Despite such requirements, some coverage isn't assured. For example, employers in the large-group market don't have to cover the essential health benefits. Young women enrolled in such plans might find themselves without maternity coverage if they become pregnant. The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of'78 requires employers with 15 or more workers that offer insurance to cover maternity care. But the law doesn't cover dependent children. Dan Priga, who heads the performance audit group at human resources consultant Mercer, estimated that roughly 70 percent of self-funded employers who pay their workers' claims directly don't offer maternity coverage for dependent children.

Medicaid may be an option for some of these women. The joint state-federal health program for low-income people generally provides coverage for pregnant women with incomes up to 185 percent of the federal poverty level. By counting a pregnant woman as a household of two, that ceiling is $28,693 in 2013.

If she meets income requirements, the Medicaid program can also "wrap around" a young woman's parents' policy and provide maternity coverage her parents' plan lacks, says Karen Davenport, director of health policy at the National Women's Law Center. "It's not necessarily a seamless, easy thing to do," says Davenport, "but it would cover the gaps."

Potential gaps in mental health and substance abuse coverage under the health law are addressed to a large degree by the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008, experts agree. The law requires employers with more than 50 workers to ensure that patient costs and coverage for mental health and substance abuse services are equivalent to those of other covered medical services. Providers are awaiting final federal regulation on implementation of that law.

But there's a catch: Many mental health counselors and addiction specialists who provide outpatient services don't participate in any health insurance plans. So even though a health plan may offer coverage, some people must pay out of pocket for their care.

For example, up to half of physicians who specialize in treating addiction don't take insurance, estimates Stuart Gitlow, president of the American Society of Addiction Medicine and a psychiatrist in private practice.

"I could get more money by taking insurance, but I'd also have greater expenses," he says.

Insurance coverage does make a difference in inpatient care, says Gitlow, such as when someone enters a facility to go through a process of detox and rehab.

But most people with addiction problems don't require that level of care, he says.

This article was produced by Kaiser Health News with support from The SCAN Foundation.

Please send comments or ideas for future topics for the Insuring Your Health column to questions@kaiserhealthnews.org.

- Provided by Kaiser Health News.

Washington, DC, United States (4E) - The Associated Press protested Monday the Justice Department's seizure via secret subpoena of two months of phone records of the news organization's reporters.

AP President Gary Pruitt wrote to Attorney General Eric Holder calling the collection of such amount of telephone communications without justification, intrusion and interference to their operation. Pruitt also raised concern over the exposure of confidential informants.

The protest came three days after Ronald C. Machen, Jr., the U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., notified AP in a letter that federal prosecutors obtained the records. The department did not say why the records were subpoenaed.

The seized phone records were from early 2012 and included phone lines for AP bureaus in New York, Washington D.C., Hartford, Connecticut and the AP line at the House of Representatives, as well as home and cell phones of journalists, according to Pruitt. AP believes the records were obtained as part of the department's investigation of the leaking of classified information about the CIA's foiling of an al Qaeda plot to detonate a bomb on a U.S.-bound plane last year. The AP reported the thwarting of the terror plot hatched in Yemen.

Machen's spokesman, Bill Miller, said the subpoena for the records was legal and followed rules of the department to notify the receipt of toll records. Miller said the rules do not require prior notification of getting toll records.

Meanwhile, White House press secretary Jay Carney denied President Obama had a hand in the seizure of the AP phone records. Carney said the White House is not involved in criminal investigations.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said he will investigate the issue.

London, United Kingdom (4E) - Steelmaker giant Tata Steel said it wrote off $1.6bn of its assets based in Europe.

The problem was related to the company's acquisition of Corus. In 2007, the Indian company aggressively positioned itself in Europe, acquiring Corus in 6.2bn-pound deal, although it was ill-timed because the region was about to enter the financial crisis.

Since the deal, European demand for steel has dropped by around 30 per cent. In the last fiscal year ended March, demand for the company's steel fell 8 per cent .

In February, the company said its European operations was hit by a 50mn-pound loss, prompting the laying off of 500 people at the Port Talbot steel plant. Its European operations, which employed 33,000 people last year, are based at Northeast England, South Wales and IJmuiden in the Netherlands.

As part of the company's restructuring, it shed 900 jobs in November, mainly in its Wales steelworks.

Tata Steel is a unit of the Tata Group, which also sells tea, aircraft charters and cars including the British brand Jaguar Land Rover.

The world's biggest steel company ArcelorMittal has recently shut down its blast furnaces in France and Belgium, and recorded a $4.8bn writedown in the value of its European operations in the October to December period in 2012.

Washington, DC, United States (4E) - The U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling on Monday that Monsanto has the right to receive payments from farmers each time they plant the genetically modified (GM) soybeans produced by the company, adding that an Indiana farmer's practices violated the company's patent.

The high court sided with the agricultural giant and unanimously ruled that the Indiana farmer should pay the company by using its patented GM soybeans to create new seeds.

Long-time farmer Vernon Hugh Bowman argued that Monsanto's herbicide-resistant Roundup Ready soybeans allow itself to be replicated, so he was not in violation of the company's patent when he planted progeny seeds he purchased elsewhere.

Bowman's claim was unanimously turned down by the justices, with Justice Elena Kagan stating that the law does not have a "seeds-are-special" exception.

Kagan said that the company would have no business model if it allowed Bowman and other farmers to replant his seeds after just using them for one season. Around 90 per cent of the soybeans produced in the Midwest are believed to use GM strains.

The case is closely followed since it also has consequences on the bigger issue of patent protection, which impacts manufacturers of software, vaccines, and other products that can be self-replicated. Corporations are worried that if patents are allowed to be honored only on the first sale, they could lose their investments.

New York, NY, United States (4E) - An influential proxy advisory service has urged Goldman Sachs shareholders to vote against the proposed executive compensation plan by the bank.

Investor advisory firm Glass Lewis & Co. said shareholders should reject Goldman's executive pay, saying that there is a "disconnect" between performance and pay. However, Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) has supported the plan, which is also called the "say on pay" system.

Glass Lewis is also proposing that shareholders should not vote to re-elect former Fannie Mae Chief Executive Johnson, who is currently Goldman's head of the board's compensation committee.

Management is not required to make changes on such votes, but a huge vote against them can send a strong message, like in the case during Citigroup's annual meeting last year when shareholders rejected the idea of awarding millions of dollars in compensation to top executives.

In 2012, Goldman Chairman and Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein received $21mn in compensation, a 75 per cent jump from the previous year, making him the highest-paid chairman and chief executive among Wall Street bankers, following JP Morgan's Jamie Dimon cut his bonus to half after losses related to the London Whale trading scandal.

Goldman reported a $7.5bn profit on net revenue of $34bn last year, while return on equity stood at 10.7 per cent.

Atlanta, GA, United States (ProPublica) - by Paul Kiel

One day late last year, Katrina Sutton stood at a gas pump outside Atlanta and swiped her debit card. Insufficient funds. But that couldn't be. She'd been careful to wait until her $270 paycheck from Walmart had hit her account. The money wasn't there? It was all she had. And without gas, she couldn't get to work.

She tried not to panic, but after she called her card company, she couldn't help it. Her funds had been frozen, she was told, by World Finance.

Sutton lives in Georgia, a state that has banned payday loans. But World Finance, a billion-dollar company, peddles installment loans, a product that often drives borrowers into a similar quagmire of debt.

World is one of America's largest providers of installment loans, an industry that thrives in at least 19 states, mostly in the South and Midwest; claims more than 10 million customers; and has survived recent efforts by lawmakers to curtail lending that carries exorbitant interest rates and fees. Installment lenders were not included in a 2006 federal law that banned selling some classes of loans with an annual percentage rate above 36 percent to service members — so the companies often set up shop near the gates of military bases, offering loans with annual rates that can soar into the triple digits.

Installment loans have been around for decades. While payday loans are usually due in a matter of weeks, installment loans get paid back in installments over time — a few months to a few years. Both types of loans are marketed to the same low-income consumers, and both can trap borrowers in a cycle of recurring, expensive loans.

Installment loans can be deceptively expensive. World and its competitors push customers to renew their loans over and over again, transforming what the industry touts as a safe, responsible way to pay down debt into a kind of credit card with sky-high annual rates, sometimes more than 200 percent.

And when state laws force the companies to charge lower rates, they often sell borrowers unnecessary insurance products that rarely provide any benefit to the consumer but can effectively double the loan's annual percentage rate. Former World employees say they were instructed not to tell customers the insurance is voluntary.

When borrowers fall behind on payments, calls to the customer's home and workplace, as well as to friends and relatives, are routine. Next come home visits. And as Sutton and many others have discovered, World's threats to sue its customers are often real.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the new federal agency charged with overseeing consumer-finance products and services, has the power to sue nonbank lenders for violating federal laws. It could also make larger installment lenders subject to regular examinations, but it hasn't yet done so. Installment companies have supported Republican efforts to weaken the agency, echoing concerns raised by the lending industry as a whole.

The CFPB declined to comment on any potential rule-making or enforcement action.

Despite a customer base that might best be described as sub-subprime, World comfortably survived the financial crisis. Its stock, which trades on the Nasdaq under the company's corporate name, World Acceptance Corp., has nearly tripled in price in the last three years. The company services more than 800,000 customers at upward of 1,000 offices in 13 states. It also extends into Mexico, where it has about 120,000 customers.

In a written response to questions for this story, World argued that the company provides a valuable service for customers who might not otherwise qualify for credit. The loans are carefully underwritten to be affordable for borrowers, the company said, and since the loans involve set monthly payments, they come with a "built-in financial discipline."

The company denied that it deceives customers, saying that it trains its employees to tell borrowers that insurance products are voluntary and that it also informs customers of this in writing. It said it contacts delinquent borrowers at their workplace only after it has failed to reach them at their homes and that it resorts to lawsuits to recoup delinquent payments in accordance with state laws.

"World values its customers," the company wrote, "and its customers demonstrate by their repeat business that they value the service and products that World offers."

The installment industry promotes its products as a consumer-friendly alternative to payday loans. Installment loans are "the safest form of consumer credit out there," said Bill Himpler, the executive vice president of the American Financial Services Association, of which World and other major installment lenders are members.

About 5 percent of World's customers, approximately 40,000, are service members or their families, the company said. According to the Defense Department, active-duty military personnel and their dependents comprise about 1 percent of the U.S. population.

The Starter Loan

Back in August 2009, Sutton's 1997 Crown Victoria needed fixing, and she was "between paychecks," as she put it. Some months, more than half of her paycheck went to student-loan bills stemming from her pursuit of an associate degree at the University of Phoenix. Living with her mother and grandparents saved on rent, but her part-time job as a Walmart cashier didn't provide much leeway. She was short that month and needed her car to get to work.

She said she happened to pass by a World Finance storefront in a strip mall in McDonough, Ga. A neon sign advertised "LOANS," and mirrored windows assured privacy. She went inside.

A credit check showed "my FICO score was 500-something," Sutton remembered, putting her creditworthiness in the bottom 25 percent of borrowers. "But they didn't have no problem giving me the loan."

She walked out with a check for $207. To pay it back, she agreed to make seven monthly payments of $50 for a total of $350. The loan papers said the annual percentage rate, which includes interest as well as fees, was 90 percent.

Sutton had received what World employees call a "starter loan." That's something Paige Buys learned after she was hired to work at a World Finance branch in Chandler, Okla., at the age of 18. At that point, she only had a dim notion of what World did.

At 19, she was named branch manager (the youngest in company history, she remembered being told), and by then she had learned a lot. And the more she understood, the more conflicted she felt.

"I hated the business," she said. "I hated what we were doing to people. But I couldn't just quit."

The storefront, which lies on the town's main artery, Route 66, is very much like the one where Sutton got her loan. Behind darkened windows sit a couple of desks and a fake tree. The walls are nearly bare. Typical of World storefronts, it resembles an accountant's office more than a payday loan store.

Buys said any prospective borrower was virtually guaranteed to qualify for a loan of at least $200. Low credit scores are common, she and other former employees said, but World teaches its employees to home in on something else: whether at least some small portion of the borrower's monthly income isn't already being consumed by other debts. If, after accounting for bills and some nominal living expenses, a customer still has money left over, World will take them on.

In its written response, World said the purpose of its underwriting procedures was to ensure that the borrower has enough income to make the required payments.

With few exceptions, World requires its customers to pledge personal possessions as collateral that the company can seize if they don't pay. The riskier the client, the more items they were required to list, former employees say.

Sutton offered two of her family's televisions, a DVD player, a PlayStation and a computer. Together, they amounted to $1,600 in value, according to her contract. In addition, World listed her car.

There are limits to what World and other lenders can ask borrowers to pledge. Rules issued in 1984 by the Federal Trade Commission put "household goods" such as appliances, furniture and clothing off limits — no borrower can be asked to literally offer the shirt off his back. One television and one radio are also protected, among other items. But the rules are so old, they make no mention of computers.

Video game systems, jewelry, chainsaws, firearms — these are among the items listed on World's standard collateral form. The contracts warn in several places that World has the right to seize the possessions if the borrower defaults.

"They started threatening me," a World customer from Brunswick, Ga., said. "If I didn't make two payments, they would back a truck up and take my furniture, my lawn mower." (In fact, furniture is among the items protected under the FTC rule.) The woman, who asked to remain anonymous because she feared the company's employees, was most upset by the prospect of the company taking her piano. She filed for bankruptcy protection last year.

In fact, former World employees said, it was exceedingly rare for the company to actually repossess personal items.

"Then you've got a broken-down Xbox, and what are you going to do with it?" asked Kristin, who worked in a World branch in Texas in 2012 and, from fear of retaliation, asked that her last name not be used.

World supervisors "would tell us, 'You know, we are never going to repossess this stuff' — unless it was a car," Buys said.

World acknowledged in its response that such repossessions are rare, but it said the collateral played a valuable role in motivating borrowers. "World believes that an important element of consumer protection is for a borrower to have an investment in the success of the transaction," the company wrote. When "borrowers have little or no investment in the success of the credit transaction they frequently find it easier to abandon the transaction than to fulfill their commitments."

'Real Gibberish'

Sutton's loan contract said her annual percentage rate, or APR, was 90 percent. It wasn't. Her effective rate was more than double that: 182 percent.

World can legally understate the true cost of credit because of loopholes in federal law that allow lenders to package nearly useless insurance products with their loans and omit their cost when calculating the annual rate.

As part of her loan, Sutton purchased credit life insurance, credit disability insurance, automobile insurance and non-recording insurance. She, like other borrowers ProPublica interviewed, cannot tell you what any of them are for: "They talk so fast when you get that loan. They go right through it, real gibberish."

The insurance products protect World, not the borrower. If Sutton were to have died, become disabled, or totaled her car, the insurer would have owed World the unpaid portion of her loan. Together, the premiums for her $200 loan total $76, more than the loan's other finance charges.

The insurance products provide a way for World to get around the rate caps in some states and effectively to charge higher rates. Sutton's stated annual percentage rate of 90 percent, for example, is close to the maximum that can legally be charged in Georgia.

ProPublica examined more than 100 of the company's loans in 10 states, all made within the last several years. A clear pattern developed: In states that allowed high rates, World simply charged high interest and other finance fees but did not bother to include insurance products. For a small loan like Sutton's, for example, World has charged a 204 percent annual rate in Missouri and 140 percent in Alabama, states that allow such high levels.

In states with more stringent caps, World slapped on the insurance products. The stated annual rate was lower, but when the insurance premiums were accounted for, the loans were often even more expensive than those in the high-rate states.

"Every new person who came in, we always hit and maximized with the insurance," said Matthew Thacker, who worked as an assistant manager at a World branch in Tifton, Ga., from 2006 to 2007. "That was money that went back to the company."

World profits from the insurance in two ways: It receives a commission from the insurer, and, since the premium is typically financed as part of the loan, World charges interest on it.

"The consumer is screwed six ways to Sunday," said Birny Birnbaum, the executive director of the nonprofit Center for Economic Justice and a former associate commissioner at the Texas Department of Insurance.

Industry data reveal just how profitable this part of World's business is. World offers the products of an insurer called Life of the South, a subsidiary of the publicly traded Fortegra Financial Corp. In Georgia in 2011, the insurer received $26 million in premiums for the sort of auto insurance Sutton purchased as part of her loan. Eighteen million dollars, or 69 percent, of that sum went right back to lenders like World. In all, remarkably little money went to pay actual insurance claims: about 5 percent.

The data, provided to ProPublica by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, paint a similar picture when it comes to Life of the South's other products. The company's credit accident and health policies racked up $20 million in premiums in Georgia in 2011. While 56 percent went back to lenders, only 14 percent went to claims. The pattern holds in other states where World offers the products.

Fortegra declined to comment.

Gretchen Simmons, who managed a World branch in Pine Mountain, Ga., praised the company for offering customers loans they might not have been able to get elsewhere. She said she liked selling accidental death and disability insurance with loans, because many of her clients were laborers who were "more prone to getting their finger chopped off."

According to several contracts reviewed by ProPublica, losing one finger isn't enough to make a claim. If the borrower loses a hand, the policy pays a lump sum (for instance, $5,000). But, according to the policy, "loss of a hand means loss from one hand of four entire fingers."

Simmons took out a loan for herself from a World competitor — and made sure to decline the insurance. Why? "Because I knew that that premium of a hundred and blah blah blah dollars that they're charging me for it can go right into my pocket if I just deny it."

In its written response, World alleged that Simmons had been fired from the company because of "dishonesty and alleged misappropriation of funds," but it refused to provide further details. Simmons, who worked for World from 2005 to 2008, denied that she left the company on bad terms.

Federal rules prohibit the financing of credit insurance premiums as part of a mortgage but allow it for installment and other loans. Installment lenders can also legally exclude the premiums when calculating the loan's annual percentage rate, as long as the borrower can select the insurer or the insurance products are voluntary — loopholes in the Truth in Lending Act, the federal law that regulates how consumer-finance products are marketed.

World's contracts make all legally necessary disclosures. For example, while some insurance products are voluntary, World requires other types of insurance to obtain a loan. For mandatory insurance, Sutton's contract states that the borrower "may choose the person or company through which insurance is to be obtained." She, like most customers, wouldn't know where to begin to do that, even if it were possible.

"Nobody is going to sell you insurance that protects your loan, other than the lender," said Birnbaum. "You can't go down the street to your State Farm agent and get credit insurance."

When insurance products are optional — meaning the borrower can deny coverage but still get the loan — borrowers must sign a form saying they understand that. "We were told not to point that out," said Thacker, the former Tifton, Ga., assistant manager.

World, in its response to ProPublica, declined to offer any statistics on what percentage of its loans carry the insurance products, but it said employees are trained to inform borrowers that they are voluntary. As for why the company offers the insurance products in some states and not in others, World said it depends on state law and if "it makes business sense to do so."

Buys, the former Chandler, Okla., branch manager, said she found the inclusion of the insurance products particularly deceitful. In Oklahoma, World can charge high interest rates and fees on loans under $1,000 or so, so it typically doesn't include insurance on those loans. But it often adds the products to larger loans, which has the effect of jacking up the annual rate.

"You were supposed to tell the customer you could not do the loan without them purchasing all of the insurance products, and you never said 'purchase,' " Buys recalled. "You said they are 'included with the loan' and focused on how wonderful they are."

It was not long into her tenure that Buys said she began to question whether the products were really required. She asked a family friend who was an attorney if the law required it, she recalled, and he told her it didn't.

World trained its employees to think of themselves as a "financial adviser" to their clients, Buys said. She decided to take that literally.

When a customer took out a new loan, "I started telling them, 'Hey, you can have this insurance you're never going to use, or you can have the money to spend,'" she recalled. Occasionally, a customer would ask to have the disability insurance included, so she left it in. But mostly, people preferred to take the money.

One day, she remembered, she was sitting across from a couple who had come into the office to renew their loan. They were discussing how to cover the costs of a funeral, and Chandler being a small town, she knew it was their son's. On her screen were the various insurance charges from the original loan. The screen "was blinking like I could edit it," she recalled.

At that moment, she realized that she could advise customers renewing their loans that they could drop the insurance from their previous loans. If they did so, they'd receive several hundred dollars more. The couple excitedly agreed, she recalled, and other customers also thought it was good advice and dropped the products.

Buys' regional supervisor threatened to discipline her, Buys said. But it was hard to punish her for advising customers that the products were voluntary when they were. "All they could do was give me the stink eye," Buys said.

But World soon made it harder to remove the insurance premiums, Buys said. She couldn't remove them herself but instead had to submit a form, along with a letter from the customer, to World's central office. That office, she said, sometimes required borrowers to purchase the insurance in order to get the loans.

World, in its response to ProPublica's questions, said Buys' assertions about how it handled insurance were "false," but it declined to provide further details.

Eventually, Buys said, her relationship with management deteriorated to the point that she felt she had no choice but to quit. By the time she left in 2011, she had worked at World for three years.

World, in the answers provided to ProPublica, said that when Buys quit, she was "subject to being terminated for cause including dishonesty and alleged misappropriation of funds." The company declined to provide any details about the allegations, but after Buys quit, World filed suit in county court, accusing her of stealing money from the company. Buys retained an attorney and responded, maintaining her innocence and demanding proof of any theft. World withdrew the suit.

'It's All About Keeping Them'

Sutton's original loan contract required her to make seven payments of $50, at which point her loan would have been fully paid off.

But if World can persuade a customer to renew early in the loan's lifespan, the company reaps the lion's share of the loan's charges while keeping the borrower on the hook for most of what they owed to begin with. This is what makes renewing loans so profitable for World and other installment lenders.

"That was the goal, every single time they had money available, to get them to renew, because as soon as they do, you've got another month where they're just paying interest," says Kristin, the former World employee from Texas.

Sure enough, less than four months after taking out the initial loan, Sutton agreed to renew.

In a basic renewal (the company calls it either a "new loan" or a "refinance"), the borrower agrees to start the loan all over again. For Sutton, that meant another seven months of $50 payments. In exchange, the borrower receives a payout. The amount is based on how much the borrower's payments to date have reduced the loan's principal.

For Sutton, that didn't amount to much. She appears to have made three payments on her loan, totaling $150. (The company's accounting is opaque, and Sutton does not have a record of her payments.) But when she renewed the loan, she received only $44.

Most of Sutton's payments had gone to cover interest, insurance premiums and other fees, not toward the principal. And when she renewed her loan a second time, it was no different.

The effect is similar to how a mortgage amortizes: The portion of each payment that goes toward interest is at its highest the first month and decreases with each payment. As the principal is reduced, less interest is owed each month. By the end of the loan, the payments go almost entirely toward paying down the principal.

World regularly sends out mailers, and its employees make frequent phone calls, all to make sure borrowers know they have funds available. Every time a borrower makes a payment, according to the company, that customer "receives a receipt reflecting, among other information, the remaining balance on the borrower's loan and, where applicable, the current new credit available for that borrower." And when a borrower visits a branch to make a payment, former employees say, employees are required to make the pitch in person.

"You have to say, 'Let me see what I can do to get you money today,'" Buys recalled. If the borrower had money available on the account, it had to be offered, she and other former employees said.

The typical pitch went like this, Kristin said: "'Oh, by the way, you've got $100 available, would you like to take that now or do you want to wait till next month?'"

Customers would ask, "'Well, what does this mean?'" Buys said. "And you say, 'Oh, you're just starting your loan over, you know, your payments will be the same.'"

The company often encourages customers to renew the loans by saying it will help them repair their credit scores, former employees said, since World reports to the three leading credit bureaus. Successively renewing loans also makes customers eligible for larger loans from World itself. After renewing her loan twice, for instance, Sutton received an extra $40.

"We were taught to make [customers] think it was beneficial to them," Buys said.

"Retail (i.e., consumer) lending is not significantly unlike other retail operations and, like those other forms of retail, World does market its services," the company wrote in its response to questions.

About three-quarters of the company's loans are renewals, according to World's public filings. Customers often renew their loans after only two payments, according to former employees.

The company declined to say how many of its renewals occur after two payments or how many times the average borrower renews a loan. Renewals are only granted to borrowers who can be expected to repay the new loan, it said.

Lawsuits against other major installment lenders suggest these practices are common in the industry. A 2010 lawsuit in Texas claimed that Security Finance, a lender with about 900 locations in the United States, induced a borrower to renew her loan 16 times over a three-year period. The suit was settled. In 2004, an Oklahoma jury awarded a mentally disabled Security Finance borrower $1.8 million; he had renewed two loans a total of 37 times. After the company successfully appealed the amount of damages, the case was settled. Security Finance declined to respond to questions about the suits.

Another 2010 suit against Sun Loan, a lender with more than 270 office locations, claims the company convinced a husband and wife to renew their loans more than two dozen times each over a five-year period. Cary Barton, an attorney representing the company in the suit, said renewals occur at the customer's request, often because he or she doesn't have enough money to make the monthly payment on the previous loan.

The predominance of renewals means that for many of World's customers, the annual percentage rates on the loan contracts don't remotely capture the real costs. If a borrower takes out a 12-month loan for $700 at an 89 percent annual rate, for example, but repeatedly renews the loan after four payments of $90, he would receive a payout of $155 with each renewal. In effect, he is borrowing $155 over and over again. And for each of those loans, the effective annual rate isn't 89 percent. It's 537 percent.

World called this calculation "completely erroneous," largely because it fails to account for the money the customer received from the original transaction. World's calculation of the annual percentage rate if a borrower followed this pattern of renewals for three years: about 110 percent.

A Decade of Debt

In every World office, employees say, there were loan files that had grown inches thick after dozens of renewals.

At not just one but two World branches, Emma Johnson of Kennesaw, Ga., was that customer. Her case demonstrates how immensely profitable borrowers like her are for the company — and how the renewal strategy can transform long-term, lower-rate loans into short-term loans with the triple-digit annual rates of World's payday competitors.

Since being laid off from her janitorial job in 2004, Johnson, 71, has lived primarily on Social Security. Last year, that amounted to $1,139 in income per month, plus a housing voucher and food stamps.

Johnson could not remember when she first obtained a loan from World. Nor could she remember why she needed either of the loans. She can tell you, however, the names of the branch managers (Charles, Brittany, Robin) who've come and gone over the years, her loans still on the books.

Johnson took out her first loan from World in 1993, the company said. Since that time, she has taken out 48 loans, counting both new loans and refinancings, from one branch. In 2001, she took out a loan from the second branch and began a similar string of renewals.

When Johnson finally declared bankruptcy early this year, her two outstanding loans had face values of $3,510 and $2,970. She had renewed each loan at least 20 times, according to her credit reports. Over the last 10 years, she had made at least $21,000 in payments toward those two loans, and likely several thousand dollars more, according to a ProPublica analysis based on her credit reports and loan documents.

Although the stated length of each loan was about two years, Johnson would renew each loan, on average, about every five months. The reasons varied, she said. "Sometimes stuff would just pop out of the blue," she said. This or that needed a repair, one of her children would need money.

Sometimes, it was just too enticing to get that extra few hundred dollars, she acknowledged. "In a sense, I think I was addicted."

It typically took only a few minutes to renew the loan, she said. The contract contained pages of disclosures and fine print, and the World employee would flip through, telling her to sign here, here and here, she recalled.

Her loan contracts from recent years show that the payouts were small, often around $200. That wasn't much more than the $115 to $135 Johnson was paying each month on each loan. The contracts had stated APRs ranging from about 23 percent to 46 percent.

But in reality, because Johnson's payments were largely going to interest and other fees, she was taking out small loans with annual rates typically in the triple digits, ranging to more than 800 percent. World also disputed this calculation.

As she continued to pay, World would sometimes increase her balance, providing her a larger payout, but her monthly payment grew as well. It got harder and harder to make it from one Social Security check to the next. In 2010, she took out another loan, this one from an auto-title lender unconnected to World.

Eventually, she gave up on juggling the three loans. By the end of each month, she was out of money. If she had to decide between basic necessities like gas and food and paying the loans, the choice, she finally realized, was easy.

'Chasing' Customers

At World, a normal month begins with about 30 percent of customers late on their payments, former employees recalled. Some customers were habitually late because they relied on Social Security or pension checks that came later in the month. They might get hit with a late fee of $10 to $20, but they were otherwise reliable. Others required active attention.

Phone calls are the first resort, and they begin immediately — sometimes even before the payment is due for customers who were frequently delinquent. When repeated calls to the home or cell phone, often several times a day, don't produce a payment, World's employees start calling the borrower at work. Next come calls to friends and family, or whomever the borrower put down as the seven "references" required as part of the loan application.

"We called the references on a daily basis to the point where they got sick of us," said Simmons, who managed the Pine Mountain, Ga., store.

If the phone calls don't work, the next step is to visit the customer at home: "chasing," in the company lingo. "If somebody hung up on us, we would go chase their house," said Kristin from Texas.

The experience can be intimidating for customers, especially when coupled with threats to seize their possessions, but the former employees said they dreaded it, too. "That was the scariest part," recalled Thacker, a former Marine, who as part of his job at World often found himself driving, in the evening, deep into the Georgia countryside to knock on a borrower's door. He was threatened a number of times, he said, once with a baseball bat.

Visits to the borrower's workplace are also common. The visits and calls at work often continue even after borrowers ask the company to stop, according to complaints from World customers to the Federal Trade Commission. Some borrowers complained the company's harassment risked getting them fired.

ProPublica obtained the FTC complaints for World and several other installment loan companies through a Freedom of Information Act request. They show consistent tactics across the industry: the repeated phone calls, the personal visits.

After she stopped paying, Johnson remembered, World employees called her two to three times a day. One employee threatened to "get some stuff at your house," she said, but she wasn't cowed. "I said, 'You guys can get this stuff if you want it.'" In addition, a World employee knocked on her door at least three times, she said.

The goal of the calls and visits, former employees said, is only partly to prod the customer to make a payment. Frequently, it's also to persuade them to renew the loan.

"That's [World's] favorite phrase: 'Pay and renew, pay and renew, pay and renew,'" Simmons said. "It was drilled into us."

It's a tempting offer: Instead of just scrambling for the money to make that month's payment, the borrower gets some money back. And the renewal pushes the loan's next due date 30 days into the future, buying time.

But the payouts for these renewals are often small, sometimes minuscule. In two of the contracts ProPublica examined, the customer agreed to start the loan all over again in exchange for no money at all. At other times, payouts were as low as $1, even when, as in one instance, the new loan's balance was more than $3,000.

Garnishing Wages

For Sutton, making her monthly payments was always a struggle. She remembered that when she called World to let them know she was going to be late with a payment, they insisted that she come in and renew the loan instead.

As a result, seven months after getting the original $207 loan from World, Sutton wasn't making her final payment. Instead, she was renewing the loan for the second time. Altogether, she had borrowed $336, made $300 in payments, and now owed another $390. She was going backward.

Not long after that second renewal, Sutton said, Walmart reduced her hours, and there simply wasn't enough money to go around. "I called them at the time to say I didn't have money to pay them," she said. World told her she had to pay.

The phone calls and home visits followed. A World employee visited the Walmart store where she worked three times, she recalled.

World didn't dispute that its employees came to Sutton's workplace, but it said that attempts to contact "any borrower at her place of employment would occur only after attempts to contact the borrower at her residence had failed."

In Georgia, World had another path to force Sutton to pay: suing her.

World files thousands of such suits each year in Georgia and other states, according to a review of court filings, but the company declined to provide precise figures.

Because Sutton had a job, she was a prime target for a suit. Social Security income is off limits, but with a court judgment, a creditor can garnish up to 25 percent of a debtor's wages in Georgia.

"When we got to sue somebody, [World] saw that as the jackpot," Buys said. In her Oklahoma store, collecting the junk people had pledged as collateral was considered useless. Garnishment was a more reliable way for the company to get its money, and any legal fees were the borrower's problem.

World said 11 of the states where it operates permit lenders to "garnish customers' wages for repayment of loans, but the Company does not otherwise generally resort to litigation for collection purposes, and rarely attempts to foreclose on collateral."

The sheriff served Sutton with a summons at Walmart, in front of her co-workers. Sutton responded with a written note to the court, saying she would pay but could only afford $20 per month. A court date was set, and when she appeared, she was greeted by the branch manager who had given her the original loan. The manager demanded Sutton pay $25 every two weeks. She agreed.

For five months, Sutton kept up the payments. Then, because of taxes she had failed to pay years earlier, she said, the IRS seized a portion of her paycheck. Again, she stopped paying World. In response, the company filed to garnish her wages, but World received nothing: Sutton was earning too little for the company to legally get a slice of her pay. After two months, World took another step.

Sutton's wages are paid via a "payroll card," a kind of debit card provided by Walmart. World filed to seize from Sutton's card the $450 it claimed she owed. By that point, she'd made more than $600 in payments to the company.

The immediate result of the action was to freeze Sutton's account, her only source of income. She couldn't gas up her car. As a result, she couldn't drive to work.

Sutton said she called a number for World's corporate office in a panic. "I said, 'You're gonna leave me with no money to live on?'" The World employee said the company had had no choice because Sutton didn't hold up her end of their agreement, Sutton recalled, and then the employee made an offer: If Sutton's available wages in her account hadn't covered her total debt to World after 30 days, the company would unfreeze her account and allow her to start a new payment plan.

Desperate, she gave up trying to deal with the company on her own and went to Georgia Legal Services Program, a nonprofit that represents low-income clients across the state.

"Her case is terribly egregious," said Michael Tafelski, a lawyer with GLSP who specializes in collections cases and represented Sutton. World had overstated the amount Sutton legally owed, he said, and circumvented laws limiting the amount of funds creditors can seize. In effect, the company was garnishing 100 percent of her wages. It's "unlike anything I have ever seen," Tafelski said, "and I have seen a lot of shady collectors."

After Tafelski threatened to sue World, the company beat a quick retreat. It dismissed all open cases against Sutton and declared her obligation satisfied.

In its response to ProPublica, World claimed that Tafelski had bullied the billion-dollar company: "Mr. Tafelski used abusive out of court threats to accomplish an end he knew he could not obtain through legal process."

"It's common practice among lawyers to contact the opposing party to attempt to resolve problems quickly, without filing a lawsuit, especially in emergency cases like this one," Tafelski said.

As for Sutton, she had missed several days of work, but her account was unfrozen, and she was done with World Finance forever.

"If I'd known then what I know now," she said, "I'd never have fooled with them."

- Provided by ProPublica.org

Chicago, IL, United States (4E Sports) - The Chicago Cubs have locked up another key player to a long-term deal, signing first baseman Anthony Rizzo to a seven-year, $41 million contract extension with two club options worth $14.5 million each.

Including escalators, the deal's value could increase to $73 million. The new contract will override Rizzo's existing 2013 deal.

Rizzo's new contract was confirmed by his agent, Marc Pollack, to ESPNChicago.com.

Acquired from the San Diego Padres in January 2012 via a four-player trade, the 23-year-old Rizzo is batting .280 with nine homers and 28 RBIs. He is tied for second in the National League and fifth in the Major Leagues with 19 extra-base hits.

In the last 16 games, Rizzo batted .452 with eight doubles, three home runs, and 14 RBIs. He opened the season hitting .173 over his first 21 games.

The Cubs promoted Rizzo to the big leagues last June 26, inserting him into the No. 3 spot in the lineup. Rizzo lived up to expectations, batting .330 with seven homers and 17 RBIs in July to bag NL Player of the Month honors.

In 173 games with the Padres and the Cubs, Rizzo hit .253 with 25 homers and 85 RBIs.

Last August, the Cubs gave shortstop Starlin Castro a seven-year, $60 million contract. Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein wants to build the team around Rizzo and Castro.

London, England, United Kingdom (4E) - Yes, the production of the upcoming "Star Wars: Episode VII" is all set to take place in the United Kingdom.

On Friday, British Chancellor George Osborne announced on Twitter, "Just confirmed: the next Star Wars film will be made in UK. Great news for our creative industries. May the force be with us....."

The post follows an official announcement by "Star Wars" creators updsting th public about the film's progress.

Kathleen Kennedy, President of Lucasfilm, said in a statement, "We've devoted serious time and attention to revisiting the origins of 'Star Wars' as inspiration for our process on the new movie, and I'm thrilled that returning to the UK for production and utilizing the incredible talent there can be a part of that…it's very exciting to be heading back."

All of the past six Star Wars films have has U.K. productions in studios in Elstree, Shepperton, Leavesden, Ealing and Pinewood Studios.

To be directed by J.J. Abrams from the screenplay written by Michael Arndt, "Star Wars: Episode VII" is set to hit theaters in 2015.

New York, NY, United States (4E Sports) - Chris Hansen, who leads the group seeking to bring the Kings to Seattle, is increasing his offer for 65 percent of the team from $358 million to $406 million.

This increases the total valuation of the team from $550 million under his previous offer to $625 million.

A group in Sacramento led by Vivek Ranadive has bid $341 million and secured the promise of more than $250 million in public money and build a new arena to keep the team. That puts the total value of the team at $525 million.

But in a backroom deal cut just before the relocation committee vote two weeks ago, Ranadive also promised to forfeit tens of millions in revenue sharing to fellow owners in the coming years.

That incentive could be worth between $15 million to $20 million per season, money other owners would not have to share under the current agreement between teams.

While it wasn't an outright bribe, it was a direct path to the voting owners' pockets that leveled the playing field between the bids.

As a counteroffer, Hansen now gave a promise that the franchise would pay into the revenue-sharing pool each season if the team was moved to Seattle. It constitutes a raising of the stakes because Ranadive's offer does involve paying into the system, but only that he'd not take money out of the pool established for lower-revenue teams such as the Kings.

Previously, Hansen -- whose group includes billionaire Steve Ballmer -- announced he would go through with a purchase of even if owners blocked the move to Seattle . In that case, Hansen would be in position to re-apply to move the team if there were any hold ups in Sacramento's arena project.

"While we appreciate that this is a very difficult decision for the league and owners, we hope it is understood that we really believe the time is now to bring the NBA back to Seattle," Hansen said in a statement.

New York, NY, United States (4E) - Hess Corporation on Friday said that it seeks to split its chairman and chief executive positions, in a move to win over shareholders' confidence and to slow down a campaign by an activist shareholder.

If elected, former GE Vice Chairman John Krenicki will be the company's upcoming nonexecutive-chairman, a decision backed by current Chairman and CEO John B. Hess.

The plan is aimed to deal with activist hedge fund Elliott Management's efforts to have its five nominees elected to the board to get rid what it describes as the company's undisciplined and weak oversight leadership.

Elliott, which controls 4.52 per cent of Hess, said that the board has tolerated management's costly and ineffective strategies that have resulted to erosion of shareholder value.

Hess decided to replace some of its directors earlier this year, hiring those with better credentials in the oil and gas industry. However, the move did not convince Elliott and proxy advisory firms like Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services, as each have urged shareholders to vote for the nominees of the hedge fund.

The company maintains that it is moving toward transforming itself to becoming a focused exploration and production firm, and added that Elliott's efforts are destructive and flawed, which could lead to the breakup of the company.

Mexico City, Mexico (4E) - Mexico's industrial production slowed down at faster-than-expected rate in March, falling to levels that exceeded economists' estimates, according to official data released Friday.

Output contracted 4.9 percent from the same period a year ago, the largest fall since the winding down of the 2009 recession and surpassed the average estimate of 1.4 percent by 16 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Mexico's statistics agency said on its website that construction fell 5.2 per cent while manufacturing declined 5.8 percent.

Mining output also fell by 1.5 percent, while there was a decrease of 3.9 percent in the production and supply of water, gas and electricity, the latest data showed.

The national statistics institute attributed the slowdown to the decreased number of working days this year largely because of the Easter holidays.

The slowing growth prompted Banco de Mexico to surprisingly slash its key interest rate on March 8 to a record low level of 4 percent. Even as growth stayed weak, Mexico's central bank authorities kept rates stable during their policy meeting on April 26 as the inflation rate rose above estimates.

Central bank Governor Agustin Carstens cited the weakness in the U.S. as the contributing factor why the industrial sector was less dynamic in the first three months of the year.

New York, NY, United States (4E) - Billionaire investor Carl Icahn is teaming up with Dell's biggest independent shareholder to challenge the $24.4bn buyout bid and plan to take the company private by founder Michael Dell.

Under Icahn's proposal, shareholders are given the option to choose between $12 in additional shares at $1.65 per share or a $12 per share cash distribution, according to a filing submitted on Friday. Icahn and Southeastern Asset Management Inc., whose shareholdings account for 13 per cent of the PC maker, have made the offer to rival Mr Dell and private-equity firm Silver Lake's $13.65 per share bid.

In a letter signed by Icahn and Southeastern's president G. Staley Cates, it states that Dell's board has insulted its shareholders' intelligence by saying the board only has the shareholders' best interests by accepting Mr Dell's offer to buy out the company founded for a price way below its true value.

With this move, Mr Dell and Silver Lake will have to go back to the drawing board and determine whether to increase their offer, which was announced in February as Dell's board tries to decide on Icahn and Southeastern's offer.

Blackstone Group LP, the world largest private-equity firm by assets, backed out from the bidding in April amid increasing concerns about slumping global demand in the PC market.

New York, NY, United States (4E) - ArcelorMittal said on Friday that it suffered a net loss in the first quarter, as the world's biggest steelmaker continues to feel the impact of depressed demand for steel.

The company reported a net loss of $345mn in the first three months of 2013, a sharp drop from the $92mn net profit in the same period a year ago. Sales also fell 13 per cent to $19.75bn on-year.

ArcelorMittal, which relies heavily on demand from construction and automobile manufacturing, is showing signs that it may be bottoming out after years of decline. Steel shipments in the quarter ending March 31 may have dropped 6 per cent on-year to 20.9 million metric tons, but they gained about 5 per cent from the final three months of 2012.

The company's EBITDA, or earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, declined 26 per cent to $1.57bn during the same period last year, as steel shipments fell 5.7 per cent 20.95 million metric tons on-year.

The EBITDA result surpassed analysts' estimate of $1.32bn based on a forecast of 22 analysts. The company's steel production volume slightly rose from the previous year, but the average price per ton dropped 3 per cent to $831.

Chicago, IL, United States (4E) - Chewing gum maker Wrigley announced Wednesday it is suspending the production, sale and marketing of its new caffeinated product, Alert, while the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) develop a new regulation on caffeinated food and drinks.

The announcement made by Casey Keller, Wrigley's North American president, came a week after the FDA raised concern over the increasing number of products with caffeine and said it will investigate the health effect of such products to consumers, including children.

Keller said the company had a talk with FDA over the issue and agreed with the agency that there is a need for a consumer guideline on caffeinated food and drinks.

However, he assured that Wrigley properly labeled Alert as a for-adult product so young consumers will not buy it by mistake. The world's largest gum maker also priced the caffeinated chewing gum higher at $2.99 for an 8-piece pack. In contrast, the price of Extra, Orbit or 5 chewing gum is $1.19 to $1.49 for a 15-piece pack.

Alert, which was launched on April 29, contains 40 milligrams of caffeine per piece. The amount is equivalent to half a cup of coffee.

The FDA welcomed Wrigley's decision. Michael Taylor, deputy commissioner for foods and veterinary medicine of FDA, said Wrigley showed it is committed to ensuring public health.

Sacramento, CA, United States (4E) - California's state government has filed a lawsuit on Thursday against JP Morgan Chase & Co. for their illegal actions and misuse of the court system to abuse and harass credit-card customers.

California Attorney-General Kamala Harris, who filed the suit against the Wall Street bank, said that JP Morgan committed debt-collection abuses and engaged in illegal robo-signing to commit abuses in debt-collection against thousands of credit-card holders in the state for over three years.

If found guilty, JP Morgan could end up paying $2,500 civil penalty for every violation.

Between January 2008 and April 2011, JP Morgan has filed more than 100,000 lawsuits against credit-card borrowers, and just on April 1, 2010, the bank filed 469 cases, according to the state.

In a statement, Ms Harris said the bank should be held accountable for its use of illegal tactics to use California's courts and flood them with lawsuits against borrowers.

Harris adds that the Attorney-General's office will put a permanent stop to these practices and redress those who have been affected.

The legal action comes a day after the New York-based bank revealed that it could face probable enforcement action by the U.S. energy regulators. JP Morgan has recently been hit by federal regulators because of issues involving its mortgage business, anti-money laundering and the $6bn trading loss as a result of the "London Whale" scandal.

Norwalk, CT, United States (4E) - Priceline.com Inc. reported 34 per cent rise in first-quarter earnings as the online-travel company had a stronger-than-expected quarter, boosted by its new booking system and growth in emerging markets.

Excluding some items, profit stood at $8.87 to $9.45 per share in the current period, according to the company in a statement released Thursday. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News forecast a profit of $9.59.

The Norwalk, Connecticut-based company also reported an increase of gross bookings by 36 per cent during the period, driven by growth in the U.S. and overseas. Bookings in the U.S. grew 8.7 per cent while International bookings surged 43 per cent

Chief Executive Jeff Boyd said that while demand in Europe stabilizes, the growth in emerging markets like the Asia-Pacific region became a boon for its international business. International bookings surged to $7.78bn in the quarter, which accounts for 85 per cent of Priceline's entire bookings.

Priceline's accommodation-booking revenue was helped by its Amsterdam-based Booking.com division, which attracted more international hotels than its rivals including Expedia Inc. Priceline also operates the Bangkok-based Agoda.com, which allows the company to have better access to the Asian market.

However, Priceline's maintains a restrained outlook for the second quarter after it forecast adjusted earnings between $8.87 and $ 9.45 per share on revenue that will grow from 15 to 20 per cent.

Manila, Philippines (4E) - The Philippine election regulator faced opposition and protest for banning the sale of liquor and limiting the withdrawal and transport of money to $2,450 this week until the national elections Monday.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the Commission on Elections (Comelec) not to implement a longer ban on the sale of liquor from Thursday to Monday. In its restraining order, the court allowed the poll body to implement the ban only from Sunday to Monday. An association of liquor vendors complained that they will lose business from the prohibition and sought the court order.

The liquor ban, previously good only for two days, is meant to prevent or reduce the incidence of violence during the election period.

Meanwhile, President Benigno Aquino III, the central bank and banks opposed the Comelec's ban on the withdrawal and transport of cash exceeding $2,450 from Thursday to Monday. The regulation is aimed at preventing vote-buying.

Aquino told reporters at an election campaign rally Thursday that he has relayed to Comelec his disagreement with the ban directed at banks because it will affect businesses and the economy. The Comelec's reaction was to increase the withdrawal limit to $12,254 and exempt routine withdrawals of higher amounts.

When the Comelec issued the money ban Wednesday, the central bank said it cannot comply with the order because checking bank accounts to see if such amount was withdrawn violates deposit secrecy laws.

The association of banks also asked the Supreme Court for a restraining order against the withdrawal limit on grounds that it will injure businesses, it is unconstitutional, it will expose banks to suits from depositors or the Comelec and that they only recognize the central bank as their regulator.

The Comelec warned banks defying the regulation that they will face charges of violating the election law. The poll regulatory body has ordered the police to enforce the cash possession limit at checkpoints.

Vote-buying is a rampant practice during election day and campaign period in the Philippines. Poor voters usually sell their votes to earn money while election candidates pay voters to vote for them as a strategy to win.

Washington, DC, United States (4E) - U.S. jobless claims surprisingly fell last week to its lowest level since January 2008, an indication that employers are holding on workers amid improving economic outlook.

The number of Americans applying for unemployment insurance payments fell by 4,000 to 323,000 in the week ended May 4, according to data from the Labor Department released on Thursday. The reading is lower than the average median estimate of 335,000 claims predicted by economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

The less volatile four-week average of initial jobless claims dropped by 6,250 claims to 336,750 claims for the same week, calculated on a seasonally adjusted basis, which marks the lowest level since November 2007, a month before recession began.

The latest result is a good signal for the job market as less layoffs generally mean more hiring. Some analysts believe that despite the reluctance of companies to cut staff, the uncertainty surrounding the global economy and the U.S. fiscal situation is keeping a lid on hiring.

Last month, employers added 165,000 positions after a gain of 138,000 in March, according to the Labor Department's payrolls report on May 3. This brought down the unemployment rate to 7.5 percent, the lowest level in four years. A total of 114,000 jobs were also added in February and March following data revisions.

Irvine, CA, United States (4E) - A closely followed private survey tracking U.S. foreclosure activity declined 23 per cent last month from a year ago, which means the number of U.S. properties with foreclosure filings fell to its lowest level in 74 months.

In a report released today by market researcher RealtyTrac, a total of 144,790 properties received notices of auction, default or seizure in April, lower by 5 per cent from March and 23 per cent a year ago. This marks the lowest level since February 2007, which means one household out of 905 received a filing.

First-time foreclosure filings in some states are higher this year like in Washington and Nevada, according to RealtyTrac Vice President Daren Blomquist. Some states like Oregon and California are having lower foreclosure starts this year, but have been moving up in recent months, according to the report of the Irvine, California-based data seller.

Nevada had the highest foreclosure rate in the country, followed by Florida, Ohio, Illinois and South Carolina in that order, according to RealtyTrac.

The housing market have benefited from low borrowing costs and an improving labor market, resulting to rising home prices and allowing homeowners to refinance loans or short sell their property, or selling for less than the amount borrowed. Earlier this week, data provider CoreLogic reported U.S. home prices jumped 10.5 per cent in March from the previous year.

New York, NY, United States (4E) - Dish Network Corp. said profit fell in the first quarter because of slow subscriber growth and increased subscriber-related costs brought by higher programming and subscriber acquisition expenses, while revenues also fell and missed Wall Street's estimates.

The satellite television provider announced on Thursday it generated $216mn profit, compared to $360mn a year ago, underscoring the company's higher costs from subscriber acquisition and increased programming.

Dish said that revenue declined 0.6 per cent to $3.56bn from last year's $3.58bn, due to reductions in its Blockbuster unit.

The company is facing losses in subscribers as the U.S. subscription-television market matures and the rising popularity of online-based entertainment. Last year, Dish introduced a Blockbuster-branded streaming service and tried to gain more affluent subscribers.

In the quarter, Dish added around 654,000 gross subscribers for its new pay-TV service, compared to around 673,000 gross subscribers during the same period last year. Net subscribers increased by about 36,000 during the period.

Dish ended the first quarter with 14.092 million pay-TV subscribers, slightly higher than the 14.071 million subscribers at the end of the first quarter last year.

The company also reported 66,000 net broadband subscribers added during the quarter, a sharp rise from the 6,000 new broadband subscribers added during the same period a year ago.

Colombo, Sri Lanka (IRIN) - Planners in Sri Lanka should do more to mitigate the effects of extreme weather in order to help those most likely to be affected, experts say.

According to Sri Lanka's Disaster Management Centre (DMC) , in 2012, 1.2 million people were affected by drought and over half a million by floods, while in early 2011, floods affected over a million and displaced more than 200,000 - a trend expected to increase in the future.

"There is nothing to indicate that this trend will slow down. All the signs are that it will increase," Bob McKerrow, head of delegation for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) in Sri Lanka, told IRIN.

In 2012 , the island nation experienced two dramatic back-to-back weather events. Between January and October, the island's Northern, Eastern, Southern and North Western regions suffered a severe drought. A mid-year forecast by the Socioeconomic and Planning Centre of the Department of Agriculture released in August 2012, when the drought was at its worst, warned of a loss of around 23 percent of the seasonal paddy harvest due by September.

The drought was only broken by the onset of heavy rains in the first week of November, made worse by Cyclone Nilam which struck Sri Lanka and southern India on 1 November, killing 45 people, temporarily displacing 80,000 and resulting in damage to over 10,000 houses, DMC reported.

According to an assessment by the ministries of economic development and disaster management, and the World Food Programme (WFP) in January, around 20 percent of the island's main paddy harvest of around 2.6 million tons was lost to the floods. Of the 550,000 people affected by the floods, some 172,000 - 31 percent of surveyed flood-affected households - were severely food insecure, while 44 percent were borderline food insecure, the report said.

Sixty-seven percent of the surveyed flood-affected people had also been affected by the drought, the report noted.

Migration up

At the same time, Sri Lankan officials report that with extreme weather events increasing in frequency, people are increasingly migrating to cities in the hope of securing a stable income.

"We have seen that when the harvests fail, the migration to nearby cities increases with people looking for temporary income," Sarath Lal Kumara, DMC deputy director explained.

Regional experts say the situation in Sri Lanka is not dissimilar to what is happening elsewhere in the region.

"If one asks, 'is displacement by weather-related events a serious issue in South Asia?', then the answer is `yes'," Bart W. Édes, director of the poverty reduction, gender and social development division at the Asian Development Bank (ADB), told IRIN, noting the risk of increased migration.

"Combined with large and growing populations living in vulnerable areas - and a forecasted increase in extreme weather events - South Asia is likely to confront continued environmentally driven displacement and migration," he said.

Need to build resilience

IFRC's McKerrow said humanitarian agencies should look at increasing community resilience against natural disasters as a core requirement when carrying out projects in vulnerable areas.

The SLRC is currently building around 20,000 new houses in Sri Lanka's former northern conflict zone, the same region hit by severe drought and multiple floods in 2012.

"Wherever we build houses, we now look at two main things - either to control flood water or to provide water where there is not enough," McKerrow said. He said the requests for such work had come from beneficiary surveys.

Kumara, the DMC deputy director, also noted that preventing victims of natural disasters from abandoning their homes was increasingly featuring in policy discussions among government and humanitarian agencies.

ADB's Édes said policy planners should look to increase income generation opportunities, as well as build safety and early warning capacities in vulnerable regions.

"The aim should not be to stop human mobility, but rather to reduce the number of situations where people move because environmental factors force them to."

ap/ds/cb

- Provided by Integrated Regional Information Networks.

San Francisco, CA, United States (4E) - Google and Time worked as partners to launch a satellite-photo Time Lapse tool. Working with the two companies along the way were NASA and the US Geological Survey (USGS). The project aims to give everyone a glimpse of the geological changes the Earth has been through over the past 25 years.

The tool called Time Lapse portal is now live and can be found on Time's website. You can choose to view different locations which include Las Vegas, the Amazon and Dubai.

Each image viewed by the user is accompanied by background information. Users drag a slider from left to right -- from 1984 to 2009. Millions of satellite images were collected for the Time Lapse portal.

There's a search box provided where users can view any location of their choosing.

The search giant and Time began working on this project four years ago. Google Earth was used to filter 909 terabytes of imagery data to produce the best pictures.

"As the final step, we worked with the CREATE Lab at Carnegie Mellon University, recipients of a Google Focused Research Award, to convert these annual Earth images into a seamless, browsable HTML5 animation," Google Earth Engine & Earth Outreach Engineering Manager Rebecca Moore said.

Tokyo, Japan (4E) - Electronics and entertainment giant Sony Corp. announced it returned to profit in its fiscal fourth quarter, helped by one-time earnings from the sale of shares and office buildings.

The Japanese company on Thursday said it recorded a net profit of 43bn yen ($435mn) at the current exchange rate, in the fiscal year ended March 31, from a 456.7bn yen loss a year ago. This marks the first full year the company became profitable since 2008. Sales climbed 4.7 per cent to 6.8tn yen.

Sony's return to profitability in the financial year was largely because of gains from the sale of assets like its New York headquarters building and Tokyo office buildings as well as part of its shares in online medical-service firm M3 Inc.

The Tokyo-based company said it expects a 16 per cent rise in net profit to 50bn yen in the current financial year, which ends in March 2014. It forecasts a 10 per cent increase in sales to 7.5tn yen as the company is set to release its latest video game console offering, the PlayStation 4, during the holidays.

Bulk of the company's bottom line continue to come from its financial-services and entertainment divisions, while its mobile and electronics businesses continue to drag down its profits.

San Francisco, CA, United States (4E) - Facebook is seeking to buy the makers of Waze, a social GPS app maker, for a reported $1 billion. The news was first reported by Israeli business publication Calcalist. Facebook's purchase of Waze is aimed to expand its presence across maps and locations.

In previous rumors, Waze was also sought by Apple for acquisition. Aside from Facebook and Apple, Microsoft was also interested in acquiring Waze.

Waze is a navigation app used by millions of drivers around the world. These drivers update and share road info in real-time. It's a social app meant to pass traffic info among drivers.

"Waze is the world's fastest-growing community-based traffic and navigation app. Join other drivers in your area who share real-time traffic and road info, saving everyone time and gas money on their daily commute," the company writes in its website.

Waze had an estimated 36 million users in January. That number has grown to 40 million in February and currently boasts 45 million users.

Last year, Waze had 90 million reports submitted by drivers that drove a total of 6 billion miles. The navigation app currently has $67 million in venture funding. Investors include Li-Ka Shing, Magma Venture Partners, and Vertex Venture Capital.

The talks between Facebook and Waze started in October 2012. Seven months later and it seems both are close to completing the deal.

New York, NY, United States (4E) - News Corp announced on late Wednesday that its first-quarter profit tripled, citing one-time gains and strong performance from its cable networks business.

In a statement released by the New York-based media company, net income surged to $2.85bn in the quarter ended March 31. Excluding some items, profit stood at 36 cents a share, slightly higher than the 35 cent a share average estimate by analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.

News Corp spent $25mn in the quarter in costs linked to its planned spinoff of the publishing unit and $42mn in costs related to the phone-hacking scandal involving its British newspaper, which is down from $63mn it paid for such costs a year ago.

Revenue from cable-network operations climbed 17 per cent led by gains in licensing fees and advertising. The growth in television businesses underscore Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch's decision to split the entertainment division from its struggling publishing unit, which saw earnings fall 35 per cent.

The plan to split News Corp will create a new company called 21st Century Fox, which will include the broadcast networks, Fox pay-TV and 20th Century Fox film studio. The publishing businesses, which will retain the News Corp name, will include The New York Post, The Wall Street Journal and book publishing units.

New York, NY, United States (4E) - Tesla reported on Wednesday its first-ever quarterly profit, the first in the electric-car maker's 10-year history and beating analyst estimates.

The company said it recorded a $15mn profit for the first three months of 2013, boosted by sales of its Model S electric sedan. Total revenues stood at $562mn, a sharp rise compared to the $30mn in the previous year.

The company said it sold 4,900 units of the Model S in the quarter ending March 31, higher than its forecast of 4,500 vehicles. Worldwide orders are at currently at 22,000 units a year, according to the company. Unlike other automakers, Tesla does not report monthly U.S. sales figures.

Chief Executive Elon Musk has recently made several comments about pushing down the cost of manufacturing electric cars, which has driven the company's share price higher, rising 13 per cent in after-hours trading Wednesday.

The company said it operates 34 stores and "galleries" worldwide and that it is looking to add 15 more before the year ends, half of which will be located in Europe and Asia. In its letter to shareholders, the company said it plans to manufacture 5,000 Model S units in the second quarter and deliver around 4,500 of them in North America.

Earnings for the quarter were also helped by sales of zero-emission-vehicle credits to other automakers, generating the company $68mn in revenue.

New York, NY, United States (4E) - Wendy's reported a lower first-quarter profit of $2.13mn, or one cent per share, compared to $12.4mn, or three cents, in the same period last year.

The U.S. fast food chain's adjusted earnings climbed from one cent to three cents a share, not including items like relocation costs and its Image Activation initiative. Revenue also rose 1.8 percent to $603.7mn.

Margins in company-operated restaurants jumped 12.8 per cent this year from 11.8 per cent in 2012. Analysts had forecast earnings of three cents per share on $614mn revenue.

Higher food costs and higher spending on improving its menu, restaurant designs and marketing have put pressure to the company's bottom line. Same-store sales, or sales from restaurants open for at least 15 months, edged higher 1 percent at company-owned restaurants and increased 0.6 per cent at franchise stores.

Over the past year, Wendy's revenue has increased as it aggressively promoted its low-priced menu in an effort to win over cost-conscious consumers, while continuing to generate higher profit margins by launching premium burgers, sandwiches and salads.

Wendy's raised its guidance for full-year adjusted earnings to 20 cents and 22 cents per share as the company expects to gain from its debt refinancing. Shares of Wendy's have surged 30 percent for the year.

Tokyo, Japan (4E) - Toyota Motor Corp. reported a rise in first-quarter net profit as the company benefited from strong U.S. sales and the sharp decline in the value of the Japanese currency, the yen.

Sales in the January to March period rose to 5.837tn yen from 5.703tn yen, while operating profit surged to 502.3bn yen from 238.5bn yen.

Net income is expected to climb 42 per cent to 1.37tn yen ($14bn) for the fiscal year ending March 2014, according to a statement released on Wednesday by the Toyota City, Japan-based car maker.

The projections were calculated based on value of the yen that is higher than current levels, allowing Toyota to beat estimates. The company projected the yen trading at 90 against the U.S. dollar and 120 against the euro, even if the yen is currently trading at around 100 to the dollar and 130 to the euro.

The positive outlook shows how top Japanese firms have quickly changed their fortunes to become profitable again. Toyota's guidance for revenue, operating profit and net income missed the average estimates by analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.

Analysts predict that the car maker will continue to benefit from the weak yen this year. Toyota looks to sell 9.10 million units in the current fiscal year, higher than 230,000 vehicles that it sold in the recently ended fiscal year.

Beijing, China (4E) - China's exports jumped 14.7 per cent in April from the previous year, higher than the 10 per cent growth rate in March and surpassing most expectations. Imports climbed 16.8 per cent last month from a year ago, inching up higher from the 14.1 per cent pace posted in March and also beating analysts' estimates.

The latest result means China recorded an $18.2bn trade surplus in April, a reversal from the slight deficit in the previous month.

Recent data has shown signs of a gradual recovery in demand for Chinese goods abroad. However, the growth is not line with the performance of other exporting nations in the region like Taiwan and South Korea, which have seen weak export figures amid soft global demand.

China's export performance usually tracks those of Taiwan and South Korea because a large part of these two countries' shipments wind up in China for processing then to be re-exported to other countries worldwide.

Many analysts think some Chinese exporters may be overstating their figures as a method to avoid capital restrictions, which Beijing has imposed to keep a tight grip on capital that flows in and out of the country.

San Francisco, CA, United States (4E) - For consumers to get up close and personal with Google's latest project, there are rumors about the search giant's plans to set up retails stores featuring Glass. Glass is Google's wearable computer. It has received much hype in recent weeks.

Business Insider reports, "Our source tells us he knows someone that is working at Google to develop the Glass stores. This person apparently meets with Sergey Brin to plot out the stores."

Google won't comment on the accuracy of the rumors.

There were already existing rumors about Google setting up retail stores similar to Apple and Microsoft in the past. Previously, it was thought that Google would set up a store to feature its Nexus tablets.

Google's Glass project is a computer that you can wear as eyeglasses. It can be customized for each person's head. It can be controlled through voice and it can send status updates from your smartphone to the lens.

Google has invited developers to start building apps for it. There's a short Glass training seminar on how to use the device.

If the source is indeed correct, we may see Google retail stores sometime next year.

New York, NY, United States (4E) - Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s said its fourth-quarter net profit grew nearly three times on revenue that rose 80 per cent, an indication of strong performance by the China-based e-commerce company amid expectations of a future stock sale.

In the latest filing by shareholder Yahoo with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Alibaba's net profits for the quarter ending December jumped to $642mn from $237mn in the previous year. Revenues surged 80 per cent to $1.84bn compared to $1.02bn a year ago.

Yahoo controls 24 per cent of Alibaba, after the Chinese firm bought back some of its stock in 2012 from the U.S. web portal giant. The privately held Alibaba is expected to hold an initial public offering this year.

Alibaba is China's biggest player in the country's rapidly growing e-commerce market. The company helps connect sellers and big firms with global consumers through platforms including Alibaba.com, Tmall and Taobao.

The latest figures are part of China's booming e-commerce industry, which is expected to surpass the U.S. in the near future. Total online sales in the world's second-largest economy are predicted to reach $356.1bn in 2016 from $169.4bn in 2012, according to data from Forrester Research.

San Francisco, CA, United States (4E) - Yahoo chief executive officer Marissa Mayer will not stop until she finds a way to end a search-advertising deal with Microsoft. Mayer seeks to end the deal with the software giant and begin negotiations with Google.

Ever since Mayer took her post with Yahoo in July, she's been talking to Microsoft chief executive officer Steve Ballmer about ending the deal. Microsoft has agreed to provide technology for Yahoo's web searches. The deal was reached in 2009 and will end in 2020. Mayer's predecessor Carol Bartz reached the agreement with Microsoft.

Of course, these meetings were private, according to a source close to the situation. Any public statement made by both companies regarding the matter has been denied.

"We have an alliance that we're actively working on together, and we continue to work together for the success of this partnership. There's real momentum in our ad platform and the product quality share,' Microsoft spokesperson Adam Sohn said, according to Bloomberg.

"We're happy with the relationship. We have been working really well together," Mayer added in yesterday's Wired magazine conference.

In private meetings, Mayer has been quick to criticize Microsoft's search technology. She has made it known to her staff that she thinks Microsoft's search results aren't as great as Google's.

The Kivu Cooperative of Coffee Planters and Traders (CPNCK), which Makelele founded five years ago, has planted six of these nurseries in the Kalonge-Pinga-Mweso triangle, a hotbed of militia activity.

"If the young men in this area knew how much they could earn with coffee, they would not be interested in joining militias," Makelele told IRIN.

"A paradise for coffee"

Coffee, a traditional export crop, was virtually abandoned across much of North Kivu in the past 30 years. DRC's production shrank from 110,000 metric tons in the late'80s to about 50,000 metric tons in 2009, according to the DRC's national coffee office.

CPNCK says it is giving away half a million arabica seedlings to help relaunch coffee's cultivation.

Many people in the Kalonge area, including members of armed groups, appear to be interested in planting coffee. The militiaman told IRIN he would like to plant the crop on his ancestral land of more than 100 hectares, but that he would first have to raise US$1,000 to pay the land registry for title deeds.

Uncertainty about land titles and the involvement of Congolese and foreign armed groups are just some of the problems local farmers will face if they decide to take Makelele's advice. Planting coffee is a long-term investment, prices have been volatile and the market is not as reliable as that for food crops.

Nevertheless, the crop has paid off for neighbouring Uganda and Rwanda, which have increased their production in recent years. The crop is Uganda's single most important export, and coffee and tea together account for nearly half of Rwanda's exports.

The recent history of coffee prices could also deter would-be planters: The New York market price for mild arabica, currently slightly above the inflation-adjusted average for the past decade, has fluctuated by more than 300 percent since 2003, and has trended downwards since the late'70s.

But coffee's promoters argue that increasing demand in middle-income countries, plus the possibility that climate change could lead to the spread of diseases in coffee plants, point to higher prices in future - and bright prospects for Kivu coffee.

Additionally, the temperate climate in the Kivu region's hills is thought to be protection against coffee rust, the most devastating disease affecting arabica. Partly for this reason, World Coffee Research describes the area as "a paradise for coffee".

This optimism has helped to persuade several NGOs - including Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Oxfam, the Eastern Congo Initiative and the Fairtrade organization Twin - to launch coffee projects in the Kivu provinces.

Twin has helped a South Kivu co-operative, Sopacdi, replant coffee and improve yields, quality and post-harvest processing, enabling its 3,500 members to become the first producers in Kivu to achieve organic and Fairtrade certification.

Income potential

Sopacdi has publicized the job opportunities it has provided to ex-combatants. A number of them work at a mechanized washing centre - paid for by Twin and employing 161 people - where the coffee berries are depulped and dried.

One of the staff at the washing centre, former rebel Habamungu Engavashapa, told IRIN he was happy with civilian life because he was able to spend nights in a house rather than in the forest.

Another ex-combatant, Abdul Mahagi, said Sopacdi had trained him as a machinist and given him a contract; he said he was beginning to see a way to organize his life.

Other workers at the washing centre, however, complained that their salaries, about $60 a month, were barely enough to live on.

The main opportunities that coffee co-operatives are likely to provide for ex-combatants in the short term would be to clear land and plant seedlings.

CPNCK has been employing 50 ex-combatants on these tasks at a rate of $1 a day, much less than they would earn in artisanal mining, but not insignificant in most of the villages, says Jean-Baptiste Musbyimana, an agricultural journalist based in Goma.

The returns could be more enticing for ex-combatants and smallholder farmers who are able to grow coffee for themselves.

For information on the profitability of coffee versus that of alternative crops, IRIN consulted Franck Muke, an agronomist who has studied coffee production in DRC and in Brazil; Xavier Phemba, CRS's agricultural project co-ordinator in Goma; and Sandra Kavira, an agronomist working for the International Fertilizer Development Centre.

Their data suggest returns from a hectare of 2,500 coffee trees could be two to three times as high as the returns from a hectare of maize or beans, assuming an absence of mineral fertilizers and only limited use of organic fertilizers.

Jean-Baptiste Musabyimana, of the Federation of Agricultural Producer Organizations of Congo (FOPAC), which does not promote coffee, said coffee is regarded as having several advantages over other crops, including the potential for intercropping with bananas, beans or legumes, which provide organic waste and additional profits from the same acreage.

Once the trees have been planted, coffee also requires less labour than annual crops and is less likely to be stolen.

"Armed groups won't cut off the berries and eat them," coffee plantation owner Eric Kulage told IRIN. "And the workers don't want the berries either, whereas when they are harvesting maize they always solicit some bags."

Coffee's major disadvantage is the cost of planting and the fact that the trees cannot be harvested for the first three years and do not reach their full potential for five to eight years. Muke estimated costs of planting 2,500 trees per hectare, and pruning for three non-productive years, at $850 to $950. These costs, and the risks involved, limit the acreage farmers will be willing to devote to the crop.

Helping DRC compete

A significant limitation to DRC's coffee industry is the lack of mechanized washing stations, which cut down on waste and help maintain product consistency. Washing stations are the norm in Uganda and Rwanda, but there are hardly any in Kivu, where producers depulp the berries by hand or sell the wet berries to merchants from Uganda and Rwanda.

Aid agencies are planning to install several washing stations at sites close to large population centres and to Lake Kivu. But Muke says this could be a mistake, as the lakeside areas have higher humidity, which is thought to promote coffee rust.

There could be social advantages to promoting a perennial crop in areas further from Lake Kivu, like Kalonge Pinga and Mweso, where many young men see joining an armed group as their most viable livelihood option.

"If they have a perennial crop to look after, they will want to settle down," suggested CPNCK's Makelele.

But a major obstacle to promoting agriculture in areas where militias recruit is, of course, insecurity. Although armed groups are unlikely to steal coffee berries, they might try to steal bulk loads of dried coffee from washing stations.

Plantation owner Kulage commented that, in his experience, armed groups had not succeeded in stealing and marketing large coffee harvests in recent years. He suggested that security forces might be deployed to protect washing stations during the limited periods when bulk loads of dried coffee are left there.

Oxfam's co-ordinator for North Kivu, Tariq Riebl, doubted whether any donor would accept the risk of building a washing station in a place like Kalonge. He noted that 90,000 seedlings had recently been stolen from a CPNCK nursery near Kalonge.

"If you mention that to donors, they won't want to hear anything more," he said.

But Makelele argues that the theft was not a problem because the co-op was going to give the seedlings away anyway.

"I am very happy about it," he told IRIN. "It shows that people want to plant coffee."

nl/rz

- Provided by Integrated Regional Information Networks.

Washington, DC, United States (4E) - The Senate enacted Monday the Marketplace Fairness Act (MFA) authorizing states to tax online and catalog sales of out-of-state retailers.

The bill sponsored by Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) passed via a 69-27 vote on Monday, a month after Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) sent it directly to the floor bypassing the Senate Finance Committee chaired by the bill's opponent, Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.).

Retail groups and state governments welcomed the MFA, which is expected to level the playing field for the taxed brick-and-mortar shops and collect an estimated $23 billion in annual online sales tax. But the measure still has to hurdle the House, where Republicans are wary of new taxes that will hurt small businesses. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Virg.) views the Senate proposal as forcing businesses to comply with too many different tax rates and systems.

Online retailer eBay is lobbying to defeat the bill in the House on the same grounds, which could likely increased cost from increased tax audits. Rival Amazon, however, supports the MFA.

Under current law, states can only collect taxes from companies physically present in the state. The MFA allows taxing of remote sales, except those companies that earn less that $1 million annually from online purchases. It requires states to provide retailers with software to calculate sales taxes based on a buyer's zip code.

New York, NY, United States (4E) - JP Morgan Chase Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Jamie Dimon is once again under pressure to give up his dual roles from another proxy adviser while the bank's directors serving in the risk committee are also facing the possibility of being voted out.

This statement by Glass Lewis came after similar recommendations were posed by Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) to JP Morgan shareholders, increasing the pressure on Mr Dimon ahead of the company's annual meeting on May 21.

The move is part of an effort by investors to separate the roles at JP Morgan to create improved accountability in U.S. companies by allowing greater oversight to an independent chairman.

In a report released by the proxy adviser, it believes that placing a single person with both CEO and board leadership puts too much oversight in a single individual and prevents an independent oversight supposedly provided by the board on behalf of the company's shareholders.

Glass Lewis specifically cited the London Whale trading scandal last year, which resulted to over $6bn in losses and embarrassment for the bank and Mr Dimon.

Executives and several board members in JP Morgan have met with institutional investors seeking their support to block the proposal for a separate chairman and their vote to re-elect the current directors.

The current setup where Mr Dimon holds both the chairman and CEO posts is supported by another proxy adviser, Egan-Jones Proxy Services.

Chicago, IL, United States (4E) - A Taiwanese man charged in 2009 with supplying weapon-making machines to North Korea and his son residing in the U.S. have been charged with violating rules against spreading weapons of mass destruction.

A federal criminal complaint unsealed on Monday in a Chicago courthouse accuses Taiwanese businessman Hsien Tai Tsai "Alex" Tsai and his son Yueh-Hsun "Gary" Tsai, who lives in Glenview, of violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act as well as money laundering and conspiracy to defraud the U.S. The younger Tsai is under house arrest and electronic monitor after posting a $500,000 bail on Monday while his father is under police custody in Estonia awaiting extradition to the U.S.

The charges against the Tsais stemmed from the son's shipment of a "Bryant center hole grinder" to his father's company, Trans Merits, in Taiwan from 2009 to 2010. Gary Tsai's attorney, Theodore Poulos, told reporters at the court that the equipment in question is commonly used in American industry.

The FBI also learned that the father and son were partners in Factory Direct Machine Tools, which Gary put up in 2009 to import and export machine tools and parts. The partnership allegedly violated the ban on doing business with the elder Tsai.

Alex Tsai is under sanction by the U.S. Treasury since 2009 and was convicted in Taiwan for illegally forging invoices and shipping restricted materials to North Korea, Chicago Tribune reported.

Harare, Zimbabwe (IRIN) - Inadequate funding and limited resources are frustrating Zimbabwe's efforts to develop plans to deal with the impact of climate change, says a government progress report.

Zimbabwe has been facing political and financial turmoil for more than a decade, derailing the government's ability to function and respond to crises.

Sparse and erratic rains have already caused the water table to drop, affecting the country's ability to produce food and contributing to the spread of water-borne diseases. In 2008, the country experienced one of the worst cholera outbreaks recorded anywhere in recent years; the outbreak killed at least 4,000 people and infected 100,000 others .

The government report, Strengthening the National Capacity for Climate Change, says Zimbabwe lacks the funds needed to hold a workshop to identify a National Implementing Entity, an accredited body able to receive direct financial transfers from the Adaptation Fund in Zimbabwe . The Adaptation Fund, set up under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), is the most important source of funds to help developing countries adapt to climate change.

The government also lacks sufficient funds to devise a national strategy, review the work of its technical team on climate change or conduct advocacy work to raise awareness of climate change, the report says.

Funds short

In 2012, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) commissioned a three-year, US$8.3 million project with the government, aiming to incorporate climate change issues into the country's national development plans and to leverage funds from the global finance mechanisms.

Veronica Gundu, a principal environment officer in the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Management, told IRIN that when the idea to craft a national climate change response strategy was proposed, UNDP agreed to provide funds, but "as we went on to develop the strategy, the funds were not enough, so we sourced additional funding from COMESA [Common Markets for East and Southern Africa]".

COMESA is said to have agreed to complement the UNDP funding with $170,000, which is meant to go towards the projected $400,000 needed for the national response strategy. COMESA has yet to release the funds.

Additionally, Gundu said the government had, for the first time last year, released funds for climate change; she did not disclose the figures.

Sara Feresu, director of the Institute of Environmental Studies at the University of Zimbabwe, the institution leading the climate change strategy-formulation process, told a workshop in early April that still more funds were needed.

The government has put together a draft national response strategy with the money that was available, conducting consultations in select urban centres. But the draft strategy needs feedback from provinces and districts. Consultations with civil society, most of whom have yet to see the draft, are also needed.

In spite of the funding gaps, Gundu is optimistic that by the end of the year the first draft, which the government says is in circulation, will be ready for adoption.

Short on development aid

Climate change pundits say fundraising for climate change adaptation has proved difficult due to the global economic crisis, which has seen donors minimizing funding to NGOs and governments. Advocates insist on more government involvement in fundraising efforts.

Leonard Unganayi, who manages a climate change project administered jointly by the government-owned Environmental Management Agency (EMA), the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and UNDP, says there can never be enough funding for such a mammoth task.

He says that even at the global level there are major outcries for funding and resources .

The development agency Oxfam said an analysis of new figures of Official Development Assistance by the members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) Development Assistance Committee shows a staggering 40 percent drop in funding focused on climate change adaptation.

Shepherd Zvigadza, chairperson of the Climate Change Working Group, a coalition of NGOs, said most NGOs were making efforts to fundraise for adaptation, but that most of the money coming in is just for pilot projects that do not have the desired impact.

"Zimbabwe has been under sanctions, and so many donors have been shying away from supporting us, both as government and NGOs... Besides sanctions, the country has not been able to tap into the global funding windows because emphasis is on supporting least developed countries, and Zimbabwe is not classified as one," he said.

After flawed elections in 2002, European governments placed targeted sanctions on the leadership of ZANU-PF, which was the ruling party at the time, and on development aid to the government. In 2012, the European Union suspended some of the sanctions on assistance to Zimbabwe, but it has yet to reinstate development aid to the government.

To overcome the funding issues, Gundu says government is working towards the establishment of a National Climate Change Fund, which will be administered under the Green Climate Fund, also set up under the UNFCCC . But the fund has yet to become operational.

Unganayi says Zimbabwe should try to identify innovative ways to raise money locally.

tnm/jk/rz

- Provided by Integrated Regional Information Networks.

Shanghai, China (4E) - General Motors Co. said it received approval from Chinese regulators to build a Cadillac plant to increase sales of its luxury vehicle in the world's largest automobile market.

GM, the biggest foreign carmaker in China, announced that local authorities signed off in the project to construct an 8bn yuan ($1.3bn) factory to manufacture its luxury Cadillac brand that will have an annual production capacity of 150,000 vehicles.

The approval comes at a time when leading foreign premium brands such as BMW AG and Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz are expecting slow growth this year as the premium car markets faces a slowdown. BMW saw its sales in China surge 40 percent last year.

China's National Development and Reform Commission has approved the plant, which will be based in Shanghai's Jinqiao zone, according to GM spokeswoman Dayna Hart. The agency had recently approved the project, but Ms Hart did not specify a date.

The Detroit-based automaker announced in April last year that it plans to build at least one Cadillac factory in China. Construction of the plant will begin in June.

Sales of the Cadillac brand last year stood at 30,010 units, which trail Audi's 405,838 units, BMW's 327,341 and Mercedes-Benz at 196,211, according to GM data. The U.S. carmaker halted production of the Cadillac SLS in China when it was replaced with the XTS model.

New York, NY, United States (4E) - Discovery Communications Inc. said first-quarter profit jumped 4.5 per cent amid strong performance from its international networks operations despite higher expenses that sharply narrowed the company's margins.

The media company reported that net income for the first quarter stood at $231mn, or $0.63 a share, compared to $221mn, or $0.57 a share, in the previous year. Total revenues this year rose to $1.16bn from $1.09bn in 2012.

Discovery said the profit increase was due to the strong operating performance in the quarter and the $92mn the company gained from consolidation of Discovery Japan. The company also said it made $46mn in equity earnings but lost $59mn from hedging activities related to the acquisition of the SBS Nordic business.

Discovery, whose networks include the Discovery Channel, Investigation Discovery and Animal Planet, said total costs and expenses increased 16 per cent to $742mn, which narrowed operating margin from 41.3 per cent to 35.8 per cent.

Revenue from its U.S. networks segment, accounting for majority of the company's profit, slightly increased by 0.7 per cent to $686mn, helped by the rise in advertising revenue. However, revenues from its U.S. segment distribution dropped because of tough comparison with last year's figures, which included revenue from licensing agreements.

London, United Kingdom (4E) - HSBC Holdings Plc said on Tuesday that it posted a higher-than-expected rise in first-quarter profit after lower provisions for bad loans and intensified cost-reduction efforts by the lender.

The London-based bank said that pretax profit climbed to $8.43bn from $4.32bn a year ago, beating the average estimate of $8.04bn predicted by nine analysts in a Bloomberg News survey. Charges for bad loans fell 51 per cent to $1.17bn, said HSBC in a statement.

HSBC, Europe's largest bank, said it reduced its annual cost by $4bn as it works to shed unprofitable operations amid the backdrop of a weak global economy.

Since 2011, the bank has cut 46,000 positions, significantly higher than what was indicated in the three-year plan presented that year. Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver said he still plans to cut 10 per cent more from the company's 300,000-strong workforce.

HSBC needs to deal with tough economic conditions in many markets, although the banking industry seems moving toward "calmer waters" with the euro-zone crisis appears to be settling down, according to Mr Gulliver.

Revenue grew 5 per cent to $17.56bn, excluding fluctuations in the bank's debt value. Operating costs fell from $10.4bn to $9.3bn, while return on equity, which measures a company's profitability, jumped 14.9 per cent, compared to 6.4 per cent last year.