World important news by Belva

Excluding items, earnings were $1.03 per share.Revenue jumped 45 percent to $12.25 billion.

CEZ, central Europe’s biggest utility, also operates two 1,013 MW units at its Temelin nuclear power plant. Both units are currently running normally.

After three weeks of often damaging evidence against the doctor accused of involuntary manslaughter in the singer’s death, legal experts say Murray’s version of events is riddled with inconsistencies.Testifying comes with risks if Murray is unclear in telling jurors why he failed to have proper equipment on hand when Jackson died, and why he failed to disclose his use of the drug that ultimately caused Jackson’s death.”If I was defending, I would not put Murray on the witness stand. I think he would just get hammered,” Beverly Hills defense attorney Mark McBride told Reuters.Jackson died at age 50 of an overdose of the powerful anesthetic propofol and a cocktail of sedatives on June 25, 2009.Prosecutors must convince the jury that Murray was so negligent in his care of the “Thriller” singer that it led to his death, just as he prepared for a series of London concerts. The doctor faces up to four years prison if convicted.Murray has admitted giving Jackson a small dose of propofol after the singer begged him for the anesthetic during a long, sleepless night. His defense says Jackson subsequently injected himself with an extra, fatal dose without Murray’s knowledge.”The trouble is there is no evidence whatsoever that Michael Jackson did that. There are no fingerprints. Unless they have something I am unaware of, it is just a theory,” said Los Angeles criminal defense attorney Steve Kron.MANY HARD QUESTIONSMurray’s attorney’s are expected to call about 22 witnesses starting next week after the prosecution rests its case, which could come as soon as Monday.Defense witnesses are expected to include former patients of the cardiologist, medical experts and possibly Jackson’s former hairdresser. They are likely to portray Murray as a kind and conscientious doctor and press claims Jackson was addicted to propofol and other drugs, making him a difficult patient.Yet, Murray faces many hard questions that have been raised in three weeks of the prosecution’s withering attacks.Legal experts say the defense must clarify: why Murray apparently failed to tell ambulance or hospital staff he had given the singer propofol; why, as alleged, he tried to hide vials of the anesthetic when paramedics arrived to help Jackson; how long Murray was out of Jackson’s bedroom that morning; and why he was using propofol — normally used for patients undergoing surgery — at all.”We have yet to hear why Dr Murray wasn’t more careful,” said Laurie Levenson, a former federal prosecutor.Murray’s two-hour interview with police, played for jurors in court last week, raised as many questions as answers. Indeed, Levenson said, it offered a “road map on how to try to impeach him” if prosecutors can cross-examine Murray.”The only reason to put Dr Murray on the stand is if his attorneys believe he will come off as very sympathetic. Traditionally, people like doctors and are reluctant to convict them,” she said.The police interview wasn’t all bad news for the defense, said Kron. “The jury was able to hear Dr Murray (talk) about how much he loved Michael Jackson … and how he was doing all he could to wean him off (propofol). He sounded like a person with some compassion,” Kron said.Still, prosecution testimony, especially from two medical experts who slammed Murray’s standards of care on six points, was “very, very damaging,” said McBride.”As much of a hard-nosed defense lawyer as I am, I am not optimistic about the intrepid doctor’s chances,” he said.

“O sentimento continua a ser de cautela, perante a ausência de acções concretas para resolver a crise de dívida soberana da zona euro, ao que se juntam os últimos dados macro vindos da China, que mostram alguma desaceleração no país, reacendendo receios de um abrandamento económico global”, frisou João de Deus, trader da DifBroker.”A China está a perder gás e consegue-se ouvir o balão a perder o ar. Mas também não há razão para entrar em pânico”, disse Justin Urquhart Stewart, director da Seven Investment Management.* A Carrefour, número 1 do retalho na Europa, emitiu hoje o seu quarto ‘profit warning’, prevendo uma queda do lucro operacional de 20 pct em 2011. As acções da retalhista tombam 5 pct.* Nos EUA, o índice Nasdaq NDc1 desce 0,80 pct e o Dow Jones DJc1 recua 0,50 pct, penalizados pelos dados económicos da China e pelos resultados do banco JP Morgan que, no terceiro trimestre de 2011, tiveram uma queda de 4 pct.As atenções dos investidores voltam-se agora para a Google que apresenta conta após o fecho dos mercados norte-americanos.* O índice PSI20 caiu 1,67 pct para 6.021,44 pontos, com os 14 títulos em queda, cinco subidas e um inalterado, tendo-se negociado 44,2 milhões de acções ou 73,8 ME, na NYSE Euronext Lisbon .Os analistas técnicos do BPI assinalam os 5.944 pontos como próximo nível de suporte e a próxima resistência nos 6.155 pontos. “Embora os sinais de exaustão/sobrecomprado existam, o interesse deverá ser de teste a importantes níveis de resistência”, referiram, frisando: “seja comprador se os valores de suporte apontados não forem postos em causa”.* A Brisa liderou as descidas percentuais do índice, com uma queda de 5,76 pct para 2,501 euros* Na banca nacional também fechou no vermelho, com o Millennium bcp a cair 1,16 pct para 0,17 euros, o Banco BPI a descer 2,93 pct para 0,663 euros, o Banco Espírito Santo (BES) perdeu 2,16 pct para 1,90 euros e o Banif recuou 1,05 pct para 0,377 euros, em sintonia com os pares.O índice europeu DJ Stoxx para o sector perde 3,68 pct.* A Jerónimo Martins , que ontem valorizou mais de 5 pct, cedeu 2,45 pct para 12,565 euros e a Portugal Telecom perdeu 2,49 pct para 5,29 euros.* Entre as energéticas, a Galp Energia caiu 2,70 pct para 14,43 euros, enquanto a EDP-Energias de Portugal acabou por subir 0,37 pct para 2,468 euros e a EDP Renováveis ganhou 1,45 pct para 4,20 euros.* O euro desce 0,36 pct para 1,3731 dólares, após ter tocado em máximos de um mês face à moeda norte-americana.* O contrato do barril de brent para Novembro LCOc1 cai 1 pct para 110,29 dólares e o de crude CLc1 desce 1,81 pct para 84,02 dólares, com sinais de abrandamento na China e de um aumento nos ‘stocks’ de crude nos EUA.(Por Patrícia Vicente Rua)

* Group trading in line with expectations* Still sees underlying EPS broadly flatLONDON, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Europe’s biggest defence contractor BAE Systems warned on Wednesday that serious flooding at one of its plants in the United States and uncertainty over federal budgets may disrupt sales and trading.”The group is assessing the implications of serious flood damage at its Johnson City electronics facility following recent severe weather along the U.S. east coast. This may result in some sales deferral to 2012, but is not expected to be material to this year’s earnings,” BAE said in a statement.The British group said trading since July 1 had been in line with management expectations and that it still expected underlying earnings per share for the year to be broadly similar to 2010’s restated earnings.”Some near-term disruption to trading is anticipated as the U.S. administration again operates federal budgets under a Continuing Resolution,” BAE said.The company also noted “significant uncertainty” over future defence spending in the United States.U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Tuesday that the Pentagon would have to cut outlays on personnel, benefits and equipment as it makes difficult choices required to reduce security spending by $450 billion over the next decade.

* Says legislation would hurt China-U.S. tiesBEIJING, Oct 12 (Reuters) - China on Wednesday urged the Obama administration and Congress to stymie a U.S. bill aimed at pressing Beijing to lift the value of the yuan, warning the legislation passed by the Senate could upset efforts to prop up the global economy.The bill is a protectionist step that “gravely violates World Trade Organisation rules,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said after the U.S. Senate approved it in a 63-35 vote and sent it to House of Representatives to debate.”China urges the U.S. government, Congress and all quarters to resolutely oppose using domestic legislation to create a fuss about and put pressure on the renminbi exchange rate,” said Ma in comments on the ministry’s website (www.mfa.gov.cn).The “renminbi”, or “people’s currency,” is another name for China’s yuan currency.The bill will “disrupt the shared efforts of China and the United States, as well the international community, to promote vigorous recovery and growth in the global economy,” said Ma.His condemnation was echoed by China’s Ministry of Commerce.”This not only threatens the stable development of China-U.S. economic and trade relations, it also flies in the face of the efforts of countries across the world to jointly respond to challenges and opposed trade protectionism,” said the commerce ministry spokesman, Shen Danyang.Many U.S. lawmakers, trade unions and manufacturing lobbies say China keeps down the value of its yuan currency to give its exports an unfair edge in global markets.In remarks published on Wednesday, a senior Chinese government researcher urged Beijing not to move ahead with yuan globalisation efforts, saying further yuan liberalisation would strengthen the yuan and hurt China’s exports.In July, U.S. imports from China rose 2.1 percent to $35.1 billion and helped swell the bilateral trade gap with that country to $27.0 billion, the highest in 10 months.The bill would allow the U.S. government to slap countervailing duties on goods from countries found to be subsidizing their exports by undervaluing their currencies.But before President Barack Obama could be forced to decide whether to sign the bill into law, it must first win approval from the House of Representatives, where key Republicans have indicated they dislike the tariff threat.Republican House Speaker John Boehner last week said it would be “dangerous” for Congress to get involved with a foreign country’s exchange rate.Even so, Beijing appears worried that it could become embroiled in an unsettling economic feud with Washington in 2012, when President Barack Obama faces a fight for re-election and China’s Communist Party navigates a leadership handover.China controls the pace of yuan exchange rate movements by setting a daily mid-point from which the currency can rise or fall 0.5 percent versus the dollar each day, and also by intervening in trading on the domestic market.China says it is committed to gradual currency reform and notes the yuan has risen 30 percent against the dollar since 2005. On Tuesday, the People’s Bank of China fixed the yuan daily mid-point at an all-time peak ahead of the vote by the U.S. Senate.

I’m going to do something a little different today. There is this writer named Bart King, whose job is almost as much fun as mine. He turns out books with titles like “Big Book of Gross Stuff” and “Pocket Guide to Mischief.” His latest one, called “Cute! A Guide to All Things Adorable,” has just been published, and I enjoyed it very much. Bart offers clever insight into what makes things seem cute, and why. My readers are interested in cute stuff, so I sent Bart six photos that have appeared here. I asked him to apply his own criteria and grade them on cuteness, which he was nice enough to do. Bart says the LEAST cute one is the photo at the top, adding, “I find nothing cute about a group of immature pandas awaiting autopsies.” Oh, did I mention this Bart guy can be fairly twisted? Bart liked the Obama group shot with Brady, the incredible image-boosting golden retriever, until he noticed that stuffed animal in Brady’s mouth looks “suspiciously like my missing friend, Dr. Sugar-mittens!” Shown the shot of Medo the bear making friends with a dog, Bart chose to see it as “a bear chewing a dog….” I guess it may be time for Bart to take some psychological tests. Then there is the Duchess of Cambridge. Bart’s comment starts out okay, but then takes a disturbing dip: “We respond favorably to dimples because we associate them with youth. We also— “Hang on, my wife just popped in. What’s that, honey? Oh, the Blog Guy asked me to explain why Kate Middleton is cute. Wait, sweetie, you know that my definition of cute is ‘charming in an innocent way.’ Hey, wait! Where are you going? Honey?” That brings us to the chimpanzee feeding a tiger cub, one of this blog’s all-time favorites. It turns out to be one of Bart’s favorites, too. And which quality of this tender scene appeals to Bart, the genuine expert on cuteness? “Three words: Denim primate shorts.” Sigh. Okay, finally, Bart’s pick as the very cutest of these six shots is Bimas, the baby elephant, and here is his reasoning: “The key to making accurate cuteness assessments is to remove emotion from the equation. That’s why I am cool and calculating as I scientifically analyze each of my subjects. “Thus, this baby elephant epitomizes cuteness because it reminds me of the film ‘Dumbo.’ You know, when Dumbo’s mom is locked in a cage? And she and her little baby elephant can only touch with their trunks…” I’m sorry, readers, Bart is sobbing uncontrollably and appears unable to continue at this time. If the subject interests you, hey, just buy his damned book. Join the Oddly Enough blog network Follow this blog on Twitter at rbasler Top: Giant panda cubs lie in a crib at Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in Chengdu, Sichuan province September 26, 2011. President Barack Obama poses with members of the family who owns the Grasshopper antique store, along with their golden retriever Brady, in LeClaire, Iowa, August 16, 2011. Brown bear cub Medo plays with the Logar family dog in Podvrh village, central Slovenia June 1, 2011. Britain’s Catherine the Duchess of Cambridge speaks to people during a visit to the Summerfield Community Centre, in the Winson Green area of Birmingham, August 19, 2011. /Pool Two-year-old chimpanzee “Do Do” feeds milk to “Aorn”, a 60-day-old tiger cub, at Samut Prakan Crocodile Farm and Zoo in Samut Prakan province on the outskirts of Bangkok July 30, 2011. Four-day-old Elephant calf Bimas walks in an enclosure during his first day in public in the Tierpark zoo in Berlin, March 19, 2010. More stuff from Oddly Enough