Nokia to fight rivals with cheaper models-sources

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Nokia is shifting the focus of its turnaround strategy to regaining domination of cheaper handsets after a stuttering campaign to catch up with Apple and Samsung in high-end smartphones.

Company sources said it would introduce cut-price basic phones to compete with the likes of Huawei and ZTE and a new, lower-price model of its Lumia smartphone on Monday at the Mobile World Congress convention in Barcelona.

Nokia, once the industry's undisputed leader, is struggling to close the yawning gap with Apple's iPhones and Samsung's Galaxy smartphones and is also losing share in the low-end market which still accounts for the bulk of its sales.

Sales of basic phones fell over 20 percent in 2012 to 9.4 billion euros.

While some media reports have said that Nokia will announce a tablet in Barcelona, the company is not yet ready to unveil one, one of the sources said.

DOUBLE STRATEGY

"What they have to do is increase share in the growing smartphone part and also defend market share in the other," said Swedbank analyst Hakan Wranne.

He said a lower-priced Lumia would help boost its mid-tier offering, an increasingly important market as more consumers in developing markets demand access to Facebook and other social media sites from their mobile phones.

"In order to not continue to lose share in the overall market Nokia has to put forward competitive low-end smartphones.

"What's happening now is that the U.S. and Europe, the big smartphone markets, are really approaching saturation where customers will be upgrading to another smartphone or just replacing one that's broken. That's not a growth market."

Lumia smartphones, which use Windows software, were widely seen as make-or-break models for Nokia due to their high margins.

The company has concentrated on developing the range in the past two years, launching a top-of-the-range 920 model last November. But it has been slow to take off, and investors have said Nokia's dwindling cash position means it may soon need to change course if sales do not pick up in the coming quarters.

Most Lumia phones cost over $200, and the 920 can retail at over $600 without a carrier contract in the United States and some European markets.

By contrast, the average selling price of Nokia's mobile phones was 31 euros in 2012, down from 35 euros a year earlier.

SMARTPHONE SQUEEZE

Nokia's market share in the smartphone business is still only around 5 percent. According to Gartner, Apple and Samsung held a 52 percent share in the smartphone market in the fourth quarter.

Nokia sold 4.4 million Lumia devices in the fourth quarter, and analysts say it must more double those sales and offer more mid-range models to convince investors its smartphone strategy is working and it can survive.

Nokia has already been expanding its line-up of Asha models, which offer some access to the Internet but with fewer features than high-end smartphones, to bolster its share in developing markets such as China and India.

Customers of such mid-tier phones often upgrade to more advanced phones, while sticking with the same brand or operating system, analysts said.

(Editing by David Cowell)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nokia-sell-cheaper-phones-counter-low-end-rivals-110732588--finance.html

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Early life stress may take early toll on heart function

Feb. 21, 2013 ? Early life stress like that experienced by ill newborns appears to take an early toll of the heart, affecting its ability to relax and refill with oxygen-rich blood, researchers report.

Rat pups separated from their mothers a few hours each day, experienced a significant decrease in this basic heart function when -- as life tends to do -- an extra stressor was added to raise blood pressure, said Dr. Catalina Bazacliu, neonatologist at the Medical College of Georgia and Children's Hospital of Georgia at Georgia Regents University. Bazacliu worked under the mentorship of Dr. Jennifer Pollock, biochemist in the Section of Experimental Medicine in the MCG Department of Medicine.

The relaxation and filling rate remained low in the separation model, although decreases stabilized by ages two and six months, as the rats neared middle age. Both the model and controls experienced decreases in those functions that come naturally with age.

Interestingly, the force with which the heart ejected blood remained unchanged with the additional stressor, angiotensin II, a powerful constrictor of blood vessels. Echocardiography was used to evaluate heart function.

"We expected the heart's ability to relax and refill to lag behind in our model," said Bazacliu, whose research earned her a Young Investigator Award from the Southern Society for Pediatric Research. She is reporting her findings Feb. 22 during the Southern Regional Meetings in New Orleans, sponsored by the society as well as several other groups including the Southern Section of the American Federation for Medical Research.

"We believe these babies may be at increased risk for cardiovascular disease and we are working to understand exactly what puts them at risk," Bazacliu said. She believes hers is the first animal study of this aspect of heart function.

Dr. Analia S. Loria, assistant research scientist in Pollock's lab and also a co-author on the new abstract, has shown that the blood pressure of maternally separated rats goes up more in response to angiotensin II and their heart rates go higher as well. Normally, a compensatory mechanism drives the heart rate down a little when blood pressure goes up.

Work by others has shown persistent blood vessel changes in the early stress model, including increased contraction and reduced relaxation when similarly stressed.

Longitudinal studies in humans have shown long-term cardiovascular implications, such as babies born to mothers during the Dutch famine of World War II, growing up at increased risk for cardiovascular disease as well as diabetes, obesity and other health problems.

Bazacliu's earlier studies in a similar animal model indicated that babies whose growth was restricted in utero by conditions such as preeclampsia -- maternal high blood pressure during pregnancy -- were at increased risk of cardiovascular disease as adults. This was true whether the babies were born prematurely or at full term. Increased pressure during development reduces blood flow from mother to baby; reduced nutrition and oxygen to the baby is considered an environmental stress.

Bazacliu's interest in early life stress grew out of the reality that, while obviously intended to save premature and otherwise critically ill newborns, neonatal intensive care units can further stress these babies. "All the procedures we must do, the separation from the mother, the environment, even though the babies need the help, it represents a stress." NICUs such as the one at Children's Hospital of Georgia work to minimize negative impact with strategies such as open visiting hours, minimalizing noise and other family-centered care strategies.

Bazacliu came to MCG in 2011 from the University of Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/health_medicine/heart_disease/~3/q_HDcRvzosg/130221104330.htm

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Chesapeake Energy 4Q Profit Falls 36%

Chesapeake Energy Corp.'s fourth-quarter earnings fell 36% despite higher revenue, as the natural-gas producer pared its crushing debt.

The earnings report gave investors their first glimpse of Chesapeake, the country's second-largest gas producer after Exxon Mobil Corp., without longtime Chief Executive Aubrey McClendon at the helm. Mr. McClendon, who led the Oklahoma City-based company during an epic growth spurt, is retiring from the company on April 1 under pressure from the company's largest shareholders.

The energetic executive, who normally dominates earnings calls, let Chief Operating Officer Steve Dixon take the lead on Thursday.

Mr. Dixon restated Chesapeake's commitment to now focus on harvesting the oil and natural gas from its existing acreage and continuing to sell assets to bridge a $4 billion funding gap as it shifts its focus from natural gas to more profitable oil production.

"To this end during the past year, all of our assets teams have been retasked and incentivized to shift their focus from acreage capture mode to meeting budgets and delivering higher returns on capital," Mr. Dixon said during the call.

Overall, Chesapeake reported a profit of $300 million, or 39 cents a share, down from $472 million, or 63 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding debt-repurchase expenses, hedging impacts and other items, adjusted earnings fell to 26 cents a share from 58 cents. Revenue climbed 30% to $3.54 billion.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had projected earnings of 14 cents a share and revenue of $2.86 billion.

Chesapeake and other producers that pioneered hydraulic fracturing have become victims of their own success. The drilling boom they unleashed greatly increased the amount of natural gas produced from shale formations, causing prices for the commodity to collapse and putting a dent in their expansion plans.

Chesapeake lowered its estimate for gas prices in 2013 and projected its total output will fall by roughly 7% due to a drop in natural-gas production, even as its production of oil and natural-gas liquids will rise by 27%.

The prolonged fall in prices caused Chesapeake to slash its reserves in the fourth quarter by 16% to 15.7 trillion cubic feet of oil and natural gas.

Average daily production was flat sequentially but rose 9.3% from a year ago, led by oil production, which grew to 15% of total production from 10%. Average realized prices for oil improved 4.8%, while those for natural-gas and natural-gas liquids weakened sharply. Chesapeake said it sold natural gas for $2.02 per million British thermal units in the fourth quarter, a year-over-year decline of more than 20%.

Chesapeake said it made headway in curbing spending. The company said it spent $1.4 billion on drilling and leaseholding in the fourth quarter, down from $2.4 billion the quarter before. The company also said its long-term debt fell by $3.6 billion from the third quarter, to $12 billion.

"Cost control and lower capex in the quarter was a pleasant surprise," said Jefferies analyst Biju Perincheril in a client note. "The challenge, however, for the new management will be bringing operations to near cash flow neutral status without greatly sacrificing its upside potential."

Chesapeake has long been optimistic about natural-gas prices, but it said it hedged 50% of its 2013 natural-gas output at $3.62 per million cubic feet. The hedge may be a sign of lessening appetite for risk, analysts said. It hedged 85% of its oil output at $95.45 a barrel.

On Wednesday, Chesapeake's new board said an internal investigation under way since April found no wrongdoing in Mr. McClendon's controversial personal-financing methods. The probe covered a loan Mr. McClendon received from a former board member, the trading activities of a hedge fund he helped run until 2007, and his borrowing from firms that do business with Chesapeake.

While a Chesapeake without Mr. McClendon might satisfy many investors, including the large shareholders that led the revolt against him, some analysts will miss the executive's electrifying style. Chesapeake didn't have "the same flair on the conference call without McClendon," Morningstar's Mark Hanson said.

Chesapeake shares were up 0.44% at $20.33.

Tess Stynes and Daniel Gilbert contributed to this article.

Copyright (c) 2012 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

Generated by readers, the comments included herein do not reflect the views and opinions of Rigzone. All comments are subject to editorial review. Off-topic, inappropriate or insulting comments will be removed.

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Source: http://www.rigzone.com/news/oil_gas/a/124533/Chesapeake_Energy_4Q_Profit_Falls_36?rss=true

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Retail Recon - The Business of Fashion

LONDON, United Kingdom ? A new 600 square-foot boutique stocking some of London?s?newest fashion talents, from Peiran Gong to Nasir Mazhar, has just landed in Soho?s Brewer Street, bringing a jolt of creative energy to a high-traffic commercial centre that, after years of homogenisation, is giving way to a more interesting melange of businesses.

Run by owner Stavros Karelis and renowned stylist Anna Trevelyan, the venture?s fashion director, Machine-A?is at once assertively new and a throwback to Soho?s heyday, when it was much more common to find small boutiques showcasing a young and irreverent breed of undiscovered talent, without a proven commercial record.

The store is anchored by a small selection of established, directional brands like Raf Simons, Chalayan and Mugler, which are joined by a number of London?s rising stars Shaun Samson and Agi & Sam. But Machine-A?s unique appeal lies in names that even savvy fashion consumers have rarely heard of and whose output can?t be found anywhere else. Indeed, the work of recent graduates, including jackets with chalked-on slogans by Central Saint Martins? Tigran Avetisyan and hand-printed white neoprene pieces by?the Gong, a graduate of the Royal College of Art, are given prominent display.

It?s an interesting proposition.?When BoF visited Machine-A, we bumped into veteran fashion publicist and East London fixture Mandi Lennard, a longtime supporter of London?s emerging creative talent, known for helping to put designers like Gareth Pugh and Roksanda Illincic on the map.

Designers like these have risen to global prominence in recent years, and attracted growing interest from a global clientele who visit influential concept stores like Dover Street Market, in the city?s Mayfair district. But, until now, London has lacked a centrally located showcase expressly dedicated to the work of their potential successors.

Machine-A, a stone?s throw away from Piccadilly Circus, is sure to bridge the gap between London?s youngest fashion talents and a set of consumers, both global and local, who increasingly thirst for the work of emerging designers but rarely venture deep into East London, where most of the city?s most avant-garde stores are located.

It might even draw some of the East London crowd into Soho.??I came in here and went nuts,? said Lennard, as she placed an order for a bespoke Tigran Avetisyan coat with a customised slogan. ?There hasn?t been anything like this since Jeannette?s,? she added, referring to the East End store curated by legendary nightlife character, and former doyenne of Boombox, James Main, also known as Jeannette.

As Lennard put it: ?We want independent. We don?t want designer, designer, designer.?

?

Source: http://www.businessoffashion.com/2013/02/retail-recon-machine-a-an-outpost-for-east-london-fashion-talent-comes-to-soho.html

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Sun's next-door twin: Cool layer in the atmosphere of Alpha Centauri A

Feb. 20, 2013 ? The European Space Agency's Herschel space observatory has detected a cool layer in the atmosphere of Alpha Centauri A, the first time this has been seen in a star beyond our own Sun. The finding is not only important for understanding the Sun's activity, but could also help in the quest to discover proto-planetary systems around other stars.

The Sun's nearest neighbours are the three stars of the Alpha Centauri system. The faint red dwarf, Proxima Centauri, is nearest at just 4.24 light-years, with the tight double star, Alpha Centauri AB, slightly further away at 4.37 light-years.

Alpha Centauri B has recently been in the news after the discovery of an Earth-mass planet in orbit around it. But Alpha Centauri A is also very important to astronomers: almost a twin to the Sun in mass, temperature, chemical composition and age, it provides an ideal natural laboratory to compare other characteristics of the two stars.

One of the great curiosities in solar science is that the Sun's wispy outer atmosphere -- the corona -- is heated to millions of degrees while the visible surface of the Sun is 'only' about 6000?C. Even stranger, there is a temperature minimum of about 4000?C between the two layers, just a few hundred kilometres above the visible surface in the part of Sun's atmosphere called the chromosphere.

Both layers can be seen during a total solar eclipse, when the Moon briefly blocks the bright face of the Sun: the chromosphere is a pink-red ring around the Sun, while the ghostly white plasma streamers of the corona extend out millions of kilometres.

The heating of the Sun's atmosphere has been a conundrum for many years, but is likely to be related to the twisting and snapping of magnetic field lines sending energy rippling through the atmosphere and out into space -- possibly in the direction of Earth -- as solar storms. Why there is a temperature minimum has also long been of interest to solar scientists.

Now, by observing Alpha Centauri A in far-infrared light with Herschel and comparing the results with computer models of stellar atmospheres, scientists have made the first discovery of an equivalent cool layer in the atmosphere of another star.

"The study of these structures has been limited to the Sun until now, but we clearly see the signature of a similar temperature inversion layer at Alpha Centauri A," says Ren? Liseau of the Onsala Space Observatory, Sweden, and lead author of the paper presenting the results.

"Detailed observations of this kind for a variety of stars might help us decipher the origin of such layers and the overall atmospheric heating puzzle."

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_technology/~3/VluKBAix6XM/130220092410.htm

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NATO to consider maintaining larger Afghan force

BRUSSELS (AP) ? NATO is strongly considering a proposal to continue funding an Afghan security force of 352,000 troops through 2018, as part of an effort to maintain security and help convince Afghanistan that America and its allies will not abandon it once combat troops leave in 2014, senior alliance officials said Thursday.

Such a change, if NATO endorsed it, could increase the costs to the U.S. and allies by more than $2 billion a year, at a time when most are struggling with budget cuts and fiscal woes. Last May, NATO agreed to underwrite an Afghan force of about 230,000, at a cost of about $4.1 billion a year after 2014. It cost about $6.5 billion this year to fund the current Afghan force of 352,000, and the U.S. is providing about $5.7 billion of that.

Maintaining the larger troop strength could bolster the confidence of the Afghan forces and make it clear that NATO is committed to an enduring relationship with Afghanistan, a senior NATO official said.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the plan publicly.

Asked about the plan, NATO Secretary-General Fogh Rasmussen confirmed to reporters that it was under consideration.

"I feel confident that we will be able to finance Afghan security forces of that size," he said.

He added that the Afghans can't afford a security force of 352,000, so the funding would be the responsibility of the whole international community.

"From the economic point of view, it is actually less expensive to finance Afghan Security Forces than to deploy foreign troops," he said.

NATO defense ministers, including outgoing U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, are meeting here and discussing progress in the Afghan war and the ongoing drawdown of troops. President Barack Obama announced in his State of the Union address that he will withdraw 34,000 American troops from Afghanistan by this time next year. There are about 66,000 there now.

Other NATO nations are also evaluating their commitments to the war, and officials are meeting to encourage allies to participate in the effort to continue to train and advise the Afghan forces after 2014.

According to one of the NATO officials, uncertainty about the future is a critical worry in Afghanistan. Many still believe the U.S. will abandon the country when the combat is over while others believe Taliban assertions that the coalition troops will stay as an occupying force. In the coming months, the official said, it will be important to show the Afghans that NATO allies will continue to support the country after 2014, while also proving that the local forces will be in charge of security for their own nation.

Such intangible issues, the official said, present a greater problem at this point than some of the other more obvious challenges, such as improving the quality of the Afghan forces, battling the Taliban and getting the U.S. troops and equipment out by the end of 2014.

The official said Afghan troops worry that if the size of the force is cut, they will be out of a job after 2014. As a result, they may not concentrate on building better military units and instead focus on how they will care for their families or get money when the tap runs dry.

--------

Associated Press Writer Don Melvin contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-02-21-EU-NATO-Afghanistan/id-b1e86d78a2d64dc497232d109bca1b3a

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What Group Gets Cervical Cancer Twice as Often?

In this, the fourth in our month-long series on the disparities and inequities of?cancer?in the U.S. and beyond, we look at the group of American women who are especially hard hit by cervical cancer.

There's good reason to pay close attention to cancer statistics among Hispanics in the United States: Most important, Hispanics are the fast-growing minority population in the country. According to U.S. Census Bureau 2010 statistics, more than 50.5 million people identify themselves as Hispanic. That's 16 percent of the population and a 43 percent increase over the past decade. By 2050, about 30 percent of Americans will be Hispanic.

That means more new cases of cancers will be among Hispanics.

Who Pays the Highest Price When It Comes to Breast Cancer?

?

Moreover, unlike whites and blacks, cancer is the leading cause of death among Hispanics. (Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the other groups.) There are several reasons for this, experts say. Two big ones: Lower incomes and reduced access to healthcare. About 27 percent of Hispanics are poor compared to 10 percent of whites. And about 31 percent of Hispanics are uninsured compared to 12 percent whites.

Hispanics also have lower cancer screening rates, which means the disease is more likely to be diagnosed at a later stage, when it?s less curable. Nowhere is that fact more apparent than among Hispanic women with cervical cancer. Here are some sobering stats from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):

??? The number of new cases of cervical cancer among Hispanics is 11.9 per 100,000 women ? nearly double the number in white women (6.2 per 100,000).

??? The rate of cervical cancer among Hispanics is 11.8 per 100,000 compared to 7.1 per 100,000 among whites.

??? The death rates from cervical cancer among Hispanics is 3.0 per 100,000, compared to 2.1 per 100,000 in whites. The five-year survival rate for cervical cancer is 75 percent among Hispanic women and 71 percent among non-Hispanic whites.

What's so disturbing about the high toll of cervical cancer among Hispanic women is that the disease can be large avoided altogether with vaccines, and deaths could also largely be avoided in women who do develop cancer if more of them detected the disease early through Pap smears, says Dr. David Wetter, a professor in the department of Health Disparities Research, Division of Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences, at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, in Houston.

The 10 Most Common Cancers in the United States

"Cervical cancer death is almost entirely preventable with Pap smears, but the incidence is much higher in Hispanics and they are more likely to die of it," he says. "This is a cancer we could prevent in Hispanic women if they got the same opportunities for screening as other women."

It's estimated that as many as 80 percent of deaths from cervical cancer could be prevented by regular screening coupled with good follow-up and treatment. But, too often, Hispanic women don?t go back to the doctor when they get an abnormal result from their Pap test. This seems to be a big reason why so many more Hispanic women die, says the American Cancer Society.

Have Cancer but No Insurance? No Problem -- You Can Pay With Your Life

The three-shot HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccine ? now recommended for girls ages 11 and 12, although it can be given up to age 26 ? prevents infection from the major strains of HPV that cause cervical cancer. But HPV vaccination rates in Hispanic girls trail behind whites, with almost 75 percent of white girls ages 13 to 17 completing the three-dose series compared to just under 70 percent of Hispanic girls, according to the CDC.

The problem of cervical cancer in the United States is, in part, an extension of the crisis south of the border, experts say. Women in Mexico and Central and South America experience approximately triple the cervical cancer incidence and mortality rates of women in the U.S., largely due to a lack of access to screening in these countries. The highest rates of cervical cancer in the U.S. are among Hispanic women in the Midwest, likely due to large numbers of new immigrants from these countries.

How can we get more Hispanic women screened for cervical cancer earlier and encourage them to follow up if they get an abnormal Pap test result? Why do you think more Hispanic girls aren?t getting the full HPV vaccine? ?

Related Stories on TakePart:

? Confused About Donating to Breast Cancer Causes? Here's How to Pink Straight

? How Many Cancer Myths Do You Still Believe?

? Schools Come Under Fire in Louisiana for Discriminating Against Latino Students

Shari Roan is an award-winning health writer based in Southern California. She is the author of three books on health and science subjects.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/group-gets-cervical-cancer-twice-often-133601444.html

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