UPDATE 1-Scania to cut Europe production on economic woes

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

(Adds background, details from statement)

* Says to lower production 10 to 15 pct from Nov in Europe

* Says slowing economic activity in Europe, US affecting customers

* Says demand in Latin America stable at high level

* Shares down 4 pct

STOCKHOLM, OCT 10 - Swedish truck maker Scania (SCVb.ST) said on Monday it would cut its production rate in Europe from November due to weaker demand, knocking its share price lower.

"It is a matter of deceleration in Europe, but also a slower pace of order bookings from the Middle East," said Martin Lundstedt, Executive Vice President in charge of Scania's sales and marketing.

Scania said government financial problems in Europe and the US had begun to affect economic activity and led to hesitation among customers. It plans to cut production in Europe by 10 to 15 percent from November compared with the end of the third quarter.

The company, however, said demand in Latin America had stabilised at a high level.

Shares in Scania were down 4.7 percent at 1012 GMT compared to a 0.6 percent rise in the wider Stockholm bourse. .

Scania, majority-owned by German auto maker Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE), said in late August its view of the market had not changed from July.

(Editing by Helen Massy-Beresford)

View the original article here

UPDATE 2-Konecranes cuts forecast after Q3 disappoints

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

* Says 2011 core EBIT to be flat vs 2010

* Says services unit performance to miss expectations

* Shares fall some 4 pct (Adds analyst quotes, share reaction)

HELSINKI, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Finnish crane maker Konecranes cut its full-year profit forecast on Monday after reporting a weaker than expected third quarter performance in services.

Shares fell 4.0 percent to 14.69 euros in early trade. The stock has lost about 50 percent since early July.

The company said it now expects its 2011 core operating profit to reach the same level as last year, having previously predicted a rise.

Konecranes said its preliminary third-quarter order intake was about 459 million euros ($619 million), sales were 451 million and operating profit reached 26 million euros.

It also said its service segment profitability will fall short of expectations this year.

"Growth in deliveries has been slower than originally planned, which affects fixed cost absorption in the expanded service network. Growth in capacity utilization within key customer groups has stagnated, affecting spare parts demand and thus our profitability," it said in a statement.

Konecranes invested in growth and hired more services staff in the first half of the year.

"It was surprising that these problems occurred so soon, one could have imagined that 2012 is when slowdown begins to appear," said Ohman analyst Jari Harjunpaa.

Analysts said the markets were interested in hearing what action the firm would take to boost services profitability and what kind of uncertainties it saw.

In 2010 Konecranes reported 115 million euros of operating profit excluding restructuring costs, on sales of 1.5 billion euros.

Konecranes publishes third quarter earnings on October 20. ($1 = 0.741 euros) (Reporting by Terhi Kinnunen and Jussi Rosendahl; Editing by Greg Mahlich and Helen Massy-Beresford)

View the original article here

UPDATE 1-Protester dies in Indonesian Freeport demo - union official

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

JAKARTA Oct 10 (Reuters) - Police fired warning shots in the air and a protester died on Monday during a demonstration involving thousands of mine workers at Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc's Grasberg mine in Indonesia, a union official said.

Disgruntled workers seeking better pay and conditions at the world's third biggest copper mine have been on strike since Sept. 15, reducing mining, processing and concentrate shipments from Grasberg.

Union official Virgo Solossa said two workers were shot, and one later died in hospital as thousands of the miners pushed to enter their barracks to unload their belongings.

It was unclear who had shot the men, Solossa said. Freeport officials were not immediately available for comment.

Mine workers burned two trailers after their colleague was killed, according to local television footage seen by Reuters.

Unionised workers, about half of Freeport's 23,000 Indonesian workers, decided last week to remain on strike until Nov. 15, making this the longest stoppage in Indonesia's mining industry.

Miners in other developing nations have walked off the job this year to demand better pay as corporate profits surged.

Freeport, the world's largest publicly traded copper miner, is also facing a strike at its sprawling Peruvian Corro Verde mine. Union leaders last week failed to agree on a wage deal that would settle the strike.

Freeport Indonesia said last week that more employees had reported for work, and that it had scaled up mining and milling output and concentrate sales.

Union officials had planned to continue talks with the company after mediation ended in a deadlock two weeks ago.

The strike has entered its fourth week and the last time workers went on an eight-day strike in July, the company suffered production loss of 35 million lb (15,876 tonnes) of copper and 60,000 ounces of gold.

The company said last month it was unlikely to meet third-quarter sales estimates due to the industrial action.

View the original article here

UPDATE 1-BHP Olympic Dam expansion gets Australian green light

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
Sorry, I could not read the content fromt this page.

View the original article here

UPDATE 3-Australia approves BHP's $20-$30 bln Olympic Dam mine expansion

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

* National and state governments approve expansion with conditions

* Enlarged copper and uranium mine to feed Asian growth

* BHP Billiton expected to give final go-ahead in 2012

By Sonali Paul and James Regan

MELBOURNE/SYDNEY Oct 10 (Reuters) - BHP Billiton moved closer to an estimated $20 billion to $30 billion expansion of its Olympic Dam copper and uranium mine after winning environmental approvals on Monday for the project in the deserts of southern Australia.

The approvals give BHP the green light to nearly quadruple the mine's copper output to 750,000 tonnes annually to help feed a growing market in Asia, especially China, where copper consumption is forecast to surge 6 percent this year.

BHP, expected to make a final decision in mid-2012, now has to weigh up the 150 conditions imposed by the national and South Australia state governments as part of assessing the mine's feasibility.

Once fully expanded, Olympic Dam would be on near-par with the massive copper mines of South America, though it would take years before it came close to matching the output of BHP's giant Escondida lode in Chile.

"It'll help balance the market and to that extent it's slightly bearish, but the market's been looking at this expansion for some time," said Citigroup analyst David Thurtell.

"I'm not sure whether anyone expected the Dam to be knocked back by the government."

The national and South Australia governments are keen for the project to go ahead because of the thousands of jobs it is expected to create.

As part of the conditions, BHP has agreed to set aside a chunk of land roughly the size of London as an environmental buffer zone and to monitor the impact of the mine on birds and fish inhabiting hundreds of kilometres surrounding the Olympic Dam mine site.

It will also construct a desalination project and pipes to bring seawater to the mine from over 300 kilometres away.

"The strict conditions I've imposed will help ensure protection of the natural environment, including native species, groundwater and vegetation, for the long term," Environment Minister Tony Burke said in a statement on Monday.

The proposal is also subject to independent reviews by the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency, since an expansion would also lift annual uranium production to 19,000 tonnes from around 4,000 tonnes now.

FEEDING CHINA'S DEMAND

Rio Tinto , which is helping develop Mongolia's giant Oyu Tolgoi copper mine and is partnership with BHP Billiton at Escondida, estimates total global demand for refined copper is expected to rise by more than 40 percent to 27 million tonnes by 2020.

BHP Billiton has yet to reveal the cost of the expansion, but analysts rank it as possibly the single biggest on the drawing board of the world's biggest miner, estimating costs of between $20 billion and $30 billion.

The project would require assembling one of the world's largest fleet of earth movers, with geologists estimating that it would take four or five years just to expose the ore body.

The expansion would also extend the life of the mine from about 20 years to more than 100 years.

Demand for refined copper in China has been increasing due to rapid development in telecommunications, power, equipment manufacturing, automobiles, construction and consumer goods.

Chile is currently the largest producer of mined copper, followed by other major producers such as Peru, the United States and Australia.

Thurtell said it may be too early to size up the impact of the Olympic Dam project on the global copper market.

"It's too far away, who knows what will happen to the market by then. Maybe the market might still be in deficit so it'll only partly fill the gap."

The South Australia state government said it aimed to finalise an agreement on royalties and infrastructure commitments for the expansion by Oct. 20.

Monday's clearances follow a six-year review of the expected impact of the expansion on everything from air quality in neighbouring towns to cuttlefish in the Spencer Gulf.

The company will need more than 600 licences and permits to meet these requirements.

BHP Billiton will also be allowed to expand its smelter, build an ore concentrator and other plants to process the additional ore and dump waste rock in a 150-metre high pile covering 67 square km (26 square miles).

The plan also includes an airport, gas-fired power station, 320-kilometre pipeline and a 105-km rail line.

The company has said it would put the project up for board approval in stages, with phase one, digging the open pit, up for sign-off around June 2012 and phase two, including building the concentrator, 18 months to two years later.

BHP shares slipped 0.3 percent on Monday, underperforming a 0.9 percent gain in the broader market.

View the original article here

UPDATE 1-Kalahari says CGNPC offer talks resumed

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

* Offer talks re-started after UK block

* CGNPC no longer restricted from changing terms of offer

LONDON Oct 10 (Reuters) - Kalahari Minerals Plc confirmed on Monday that offer talks had resumed with state-owned China Guangdong Nuclear Power Corp (CGNPC).

CGNPC is expected to relaunch its 270 pence ($422) a share offer, valuing the uranium miner at about $1 billion, following a temporary ban imposed by UK regulators, a source told Reuters on Friday.

CGNPC was in talks in March to buy Kalahari for 290 pence a share. In the days following the earthquake and nuclear disaster in Japan, the companies agreed CGNPC could cut the price to 270 pence, but they failed to persuade UK regulators and CGNPC was forced to withdraw its informal bid.

Since more than three months have elapsed since CGNPC announced the withdrawal of its possible offer, it is no longer restricted into making an offer on the same or better terms than those in its original potential offer, Kalahari said on Monday.

Kalahari also said it had waived another UK Takeover Panel code that had restricted the Chinese group from announcing an offer before Nov. 11.

Kalahari holds a 43-percent stake in Extract Resources , owner of the Husab project in Namibia, which is potentially the second-largest uranium mine in the world.

Shares in Extract Resources surged more than 10 percent on Monday in Australia on expectations it may also get a takeover offer from CGNPC.

View the original article here

UPDATE 5-Disney's Iger to leave CEO post in 2015

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

* Iger to step down March 2015, become exec chairman

* No potential successors named

* Disney shares fall 1 pct

By Lisa Richwine

LOS ANGELES, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Walt Disney Co Chief Executive Bob Iger will step down as CEO in March 2015 after nearly a decade at the helm, setting in motion a succession plan for the largest U.S. media and entertainment company.

The company did not mention possible successors, but industry speculation centered on Chief Financial Officer Jay Rasulo and the head of Disney's huge theme parks and resorts division, Tom Staggs.

Iger, 60, succeeded Michael Eisner as Disney's CEO in October 2005, which means his tenure as chief executive would be less than a decade long.

Eisner's reign at Disney, which ranks among the longest and most storied -- for better and worse -- in CEO history, lasted 21 years, from 1984 until 2005.

Disney shares fell 1 percent to close at $31.70 on the New York Stock Exchange. The company has increased in value by more than a third since Iger began his term.

Disney, which generates some $40 billion in annual revenue, is grappling with economic uncertainty and its impact on its three largest divisions: media, its movie studio and theme park resorts.

In August, the company posted better-than-expected quarterly results, but Wall Street analysts warned that low consumer spending may pinch in coming months.

"It's wise for Disney's board to have a very clear succession plan," said Miller Tabak & Co analyst David Joyce.

Still, he said, Iger's plan to leave the CEO post is "a little surprising given he's still a little young-ish CEO."

Speculation that Iger might have identified a successor picked up in 2009 after Disney said Staggs and Rasulo were swapping jobs.

Staggs, 50, was known as a favored executive and is considered a potential successor to Iger, but the former Wall Street analyst lacked operational experience. By putting Staggs in charge of Disney's all-important theme parks, analysts said, Iger may have been affirming Staggs as a strong internal candidate for the top job while giving the finance chief much-needed operating experience.

Iger will assume the post of chairman, in addition to CEO, starting in March 2012, when Chairman John Pepper retires. Iger will hold the jobs through March 31, 2015, and continue as executive chairman through June 30, 2016.

His annual salary rose to $2.5 million from $2 million now. Iger also could receive as much as $12 million in annual cash bonuses and up to $15.5 million a year in options and restricted shares.

Iger, who got his start as a TV weatherman, joined Disney after Eisner's deal to buy Capital Cities/ABC in 1995, a $19 billion deal that caught everyone flat-footed when announced. Iger served as Eisner's second-in-command for the last five years of his tenure.

His loyalty and deference to Eisner led to mocking from media insiders that Iger had no thought that Eisner did not already approve.

After taking over in 2005, however, Iger stunned the very same people with bold moves that betrayed his prior image. In a matter of months, he not only smoothed over the friction Eisner created with Apple Inc co-founder Steve Jobs, but also convinced Jobs to sell Pixar animation studios to Disney for $7.4 billion.

In addition to the studio, that deal also made Jobs the company's largest individual shareholder and landed him on Disney's board, giving Iger unfettered access to Jobs' insights on how to re-orient an old media company to the digital world.

Iger bought Marvel Entertainment for $4.4 billion, aggressively moved Disney programming online through partnerships with online video service Hulu and others, and ousted longtime executives such as Dick Cook, David Westin and Stephen McPherson who he felt were underperforming.

In terms of style, Iger and Eisner could not have been more different. Eisner was brash, aggressive, confrontational and hands on in every aspect of Disney's business. Iger is quiet, laid back, borderline robotic and prefers to allow those under him to run their fiefdoms as they see fit.

"He's a very calm personality," Wunderlich Securities analyst Matthew Harrigan said, adding that "people are very happy with Iger from a strategic perspective."

Iger rose to the CEO role in part because of disenchantment among investors at Eisner's leadership, particularly the way he handled the $66 billion hostile takeover offer from Comcast Corp in 2004.

At the company's annual shareholder meeting following that offer, Eisner received a stunning 43 percent no-confidence vote from shareholders and was forced to relinquish his chairman of the board title.

View the original article here

UPDATE 1-Kuwait open to investment opportunities in Europe-FinMin

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

DUBAI | Mon Oct 10, 2011 4:45am EDT

DUBAI Oct 10 (Reuters) - Kuwait is open to any investment opportunities in Europe if they are compatible with risk controls, the OPEC member's finance minister Mustapha al-Shamali was quoted as saying by the state news agency KUNA on Monday.

Kuwait, the world's No. 6 crude exporter is one of the richest countries globally with its sovereign wealth fund, Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), managing assets in excess of $290 billion. It owns stakes in Citigroup , Daimler AG (DAIGn.DE) and Agricultural Bank of China among other companies.

Asked whether Kuwait would consider buying euro zone government bonds, including Italian bonds, Shamali told KUNA in Beijing: "We are open to any investment opportunities in all parts of Europe, as long as these investments are compatible with risk controls and they fall within our investment criteria."

Italy will test investor nerves with bond issues later this week after its credit rating was downgraded last week by Moody's and Fitch.

The markets have been speculating that cash-rich Gulf oil exporters such as Qatar might inject money into European banks exposed to cash-strapped governments such as Greece.

Saudi finance minister said last month the euro zone debt crisis was a cause for concern but it might also be an opportunity for investors.

In August, Qatar bought about 17 percent of the lender that will be created by a merger of Greece's Alpha Bank (ACBr.AT) and Eurobank (EFGr.AT), injecting 500 million euros into the new entity.

Shamali said on Monday that KIA's long-term investment strategy meant it could withstand large market fluctuations caused by the euro zone debt crisis.

"As a long-term international investor, the authority seeks to invest in growing economies across the world, including advanced economies," Shamali said. (Reporting by Angus McDowall and Martin Dokoupil; Additional reporting by Nour Merza; Editing by Susan Fenton)

View the original article here

UPDATE 1-Robot flick 'Real Steel' wins weekend box office

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

* 'Real Steel' punches up $49.4 million globally

* George Clooney's 'Ides of March' second

By Lisa Richwine

LOS ANGELES, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Boxing robots clashed with Hollywood titan George Clooney at the weekend movie box office, and the fighting machines came out the winner.

Robot action flick "Real Steel" starring Hugh Jackman topped the domestic box office and rang up $49.4 million in global ticket sales. Clooney's political thriller "Ides of March" finished second.

"Real Steel" brought in an estimated $27.3 million over three days at U.S. and Canadian theaters, distributor Walt Disney Co said on Sunday. Ticket sales beat studio forecasts for an opening in the low- to mid-$20 million range.

The film added $22.1 million from 19 international markets, for a combined total of $49.4 million. The movie opened in one-quarter of international markets and will debut more widely in the coming weeks.

"Real Steel" stars Jackman as a father who works with his son to restore a battle-ready robot to fight for a championship. The DreamWorks-produced film cost about $110 million to make and featured giant, remote-controlled robots rather than computer images common in action and sci-fi films.

The movie drew overwhelmingly positive reactions from audiences, said Dave Hollis, Disney's executive vice president for motion picture sales and distribution. The film earned an A on average from filmgoers polled by CinemaScore, and an A+ from those under 25.

About 12 percent of sales, or $3.2 million, came from showings on giant Imax screens.

CLOONEY'S LUCK

"Ides of March," the only other new film in wide release, finished second with $10.4 million domestically, slightly ahead of studio estimates.

Clooney directed, co-wrote and co-starred in the film as a Democratic presidential candidate fighting to win a key primary as a scandal hits his campaign. Ryan Gosling plays the central character, an ambitious spokesman thrust into a moral dilemma. Other stars include Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti and Marisa Tomei.

Cross Creek Pictures produced the film, which was adapted from an off-Broadway play, for about $12.5 million, and Sony Corp unit Columbia Pictures distributed the movie in the United States. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a B on average.

Last weekend's box office leader, family film "Dolphin Tale," fell to third place with $9.2 million. The feel-good movie, based on the true story of an injured dolphin rehabilitated with a prosthetic tail, has brought in $49.1 million since its debut.

Baseball drama "Moneyball," starring Brad Pitt, stayed in the game during its third week in theaters. The movie earned $7.5 million, landing in fourth place and bringing the total since its release to $49.3 million.

Taking fifth place was "50/50," a buddy comedy about a young man's battle with cancer. The film generated $5.5 million domestically during its second weekend in theaters. Its total ticket sales to date sit at $17.3 million.

"Dolphin Tale" was distributed by Warner Bros, a unit of Time Warner Inc . "Ides of March" and "Moneyball" were released by Columbia Pictures, a unit of Sony Corp. Summit Entertainment released "50/50."

View the original article here

UPDATE 1-Russia's X5 Retail cuts full-year sales outlook

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

* Sees gross sales up about 35 pct vs 40 pct previously

* Says margins could be hit in Q4, beyond by price cuts

* Q3 sales growth slows to 32 pct from 41 pct in Q2

* Like-for-like sales up 4 pct vs 10 pct in Q2

MOSCOW, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Russian food retailer X5 cut its full-year 2011 sales growth outlook on Monday, citing worsening economic conditions, and warned its margins could take a hit from a price-cutting campaign aimed at keeping customers.

X5 now expects full-year gross rouble sales growth to be closer to 35 percent, compared to an earlier target of 40 percent, the company said in a statement.

"The continuing deterioration of the macro-economic environment could further deepen our customers' trading down in Q4 2011 and beyond," said the company, part of Mikhail Fridman's Alfa Group empire.

Its third-quarter sales grew 32 percent in rouble terms to 105 billion roubles ($3.3 billion), a slowdown from a 41 percent increase in the previous quarter.

Of that total, organic sales -- excluding the recently acquired Kopeika chain -- were up 18 percent in roubles, while like-for-like sales increased 4 percent compared to a 10 percent rise in the second quarter.

X5 said it would cut prices to keep thrifty customers coming to its stores.

"In an effort to support our customer base in an uneasy economic environment, we are increasing the pace of a promo-campaign in Q4 2011 that together with a comprehensive aged stock clearance could adversely affect X5's margins in Q4 2011."

X5 also said it was on track to deliver on its objective of 540 store openings in 2011.

View the original article here

UPDATE 1-Slovaks in last-ditch talks on euro fund

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

* Coalition party SaS wants tighter EFSF mandate, ESM opt-out

* Leaders to hold last-ditch meeting on Monday

* Parliament vote due on Oct. 11, fate of government at stake

By Martin Santa and Michael Winfrey

BRATISLAVA, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Slovakian coalition leaders meet on Monday in a last-ditch bid to reach agreement on widening the mandate of the euro zone's bailout fund, under increasing pressure from turmoil in euro zone banks and a shift in public opinion at home.

Only Slovakia and Malta have yet to approve extra powers for the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) in its fight against the sovereign debt crisis.

The small liberal Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party argues that, as the zone's second poorest member, Slovakia should not have to bail out other euro zone countries, but it says it is still open to talks.

The coalition parties called a meeting for 4 p.m. (1400 GMT) ahead of a vote on the EFSF in parliament on Tuesday, a spokesman for the SaS said. The party has so far said it will vote against the EFSF expansion.

As Slovakia drags its heels, the crisis has picked up speed. Franco-Belgian bank Dexia agreed early on Monday to the nationalisation of its Belgian division and secured state guarantees, and the Greek central bank effectively nationalised a small bank on Monday.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy said after talks late on Sunday that they would unveil new measures in the coming weeks to solve the debt crisis, but gave no details.

An opinion poll by the Polis agency showed on Monday that Slovaks had begun to lean towards approving an expansion of the facility, which may put added pressure on SaS to give in.

View the original article here

UPDATE 1-Slovaks in last-ditch talks on euro fund

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

* Coalition party SaS wants tighter EFSF mandate, ESM opt-out

* Leaders to hold last-ditch meeting on Monday

* Parliament vote due on Oct. 11, fate of government at stake

By Martin Santa and Michael Winfrey

BRATISLAVA, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Slovakian coalition leaders meet on Monday in a last-ditch bid to reach agreement on widening the mandate of the euro zone's bailout fund, under increasing pressure from turmoil in euro zone banks and a shift in public opinion at home.

Only Slovakia and Malta have yet to approve extra powers for the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) in its fight against the sovereign debt crisis.

The small liberal Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party argues that, as the zone's second poorest member, Slovakia should not have to bail out other euro zone countries, but it says it is still open to talks.

The coalition parties called a meeting for 4 p.m. (1400 GMT) ahead of a vote on the EFSF in parliament on Tuesday, a spokesman for the SaS said. The party has so far said it will vote against the EFSF expansion.

As Slovakia drags its heels, the crisis has picked up speed. Franco-Belgian bank Dexia agreed early on Monday to the nationalisation of its Belgian division and secured state guarantees, and the Greek central bank effectively nationalised a small bank on Monday.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy said after talks late on Sunday that they would unveil new measures in the coming weeks to solve the debt crisis, but gave no details.

An opinion poll by the Polis agency showed on Monday that Slovaks had begun to lean towards approving an expansion of the facility, which may put added pressure on SaS to give in.

View the original article here

UPDATE 1-Australia competition body to scrutinise Woolworths, Coles

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

n" readability="45">Oct 10 (Reuters) - Australia's competition watchdog said on Monday it would pay close attention to the market power of top supermarkets Woolworths and Coles , which hold a duopoly.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's new chairman, Rod Sims, said many suppliers felt they had no ability to negotiate with the powerful supermarket chains.

"The two major supermarkets have significant market power, with many smaller suppliers feeling they lack a real ability to negotiate supply arrangements. The ACCC can and will watch closely to ensure any such dealings do not involve unconscionable conduct by the supermarkets," Sims told a business lunch.

Many local and international food suppliers, including Kraft Foods and Goodman Fielder , have said they have little ability to negotiate as the two supermarket chains dominate the industry and have also increased their share of home-label goods.

Sims said the supermarkets would need close scrutiny to ensure they did not misuse market power by selling both branded and private-label products.

In 2008, the consumer watchdog held an inquiry into the supermarket industry and concluded it was "workably competitive".

Sims said the ACCC would also watch dominant telecoms firm Telstra during the rollout phase of the new high-speed broadband network, when rivals will still depend on Telstra's copper network.

View the original article here

UPDATE 2-BBC to shrink as it shares in UK spending cuts

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

* Follows 20 percent reduction in budget

* 2,000 jobs to be axed, senior manager roles to be cut

* Labour unions warn programming, journalism will suffer (Adds detail, background)

By Kate Holton and Georgina Prodhan

LONDON, Oct 6 (Reuters) - The BBC is set to axe over 10 percent of staff in its management, programming and news divisions after Britain's cash-strapped government imposed deep spending cuts on the world-renowned, publicly-funded broadcaster.

The corporation set out the changes on Thursday in response to a 20 percent cut to its annual 3.5 billion pound ($5.4 billion) budget imposed by the government a year ago as part of the deepest public spending cuts in decades.

Unions said the changes would damage independent journalism at a time when a phone hacking scandal has revealed embarrassingly close ties between the Prime Minister David Cameron and Rupert Murdoch's right-leaning News Corp , a long standing critic of the BBC.

The BBC budget was imposed by the government with very little negotiation. Around 600 BBC News posts will now go.

"By 2016, the BBC will be significantly smaller than it is today," it said.

With eight national TV channels, 50 radio stations and an extensive website, the BBC's size and resources had already attracted envy and criticism from rivals, led by James Murdoch at the dominant pay-TV group BSkyB .

As the recession gathered steam in 2008, that criticism intensified as advertising-funded groups such as ITV struggled to cope, cutting staff and budgets.

Under the new plans, the corporation will cut 2,000 jobs, reduce the budget for buying sports and other rights, slash the number of senior managers and share more content.

More repeats will be shown on television and property in west London will also be sold. The changes will result in savings of around 670 million pounds a year by 2016/17.

"The realities of what this country looks like in 2011 and what households up and down the country are going through, what other public institutions are going through, (means) it would be a bit odd if the national broadcaster wasn't feeling some of the same pressures," Director General Mark Thompson said.

LAST MINUTE DEAL

Last year, the BBC agreed to freeze the annual licence fee, payable by every TV-owning British household, at 145.50 pounds. It is also taking on extra costs from the government including funding the BBC World Service, which is broadcast overseas.

The agreement was hammered out in a matter of days, stripping out the months of negotiation normally involved in setting a licence fee, as the coalition government scrambled to cut spending after taking power.

The National Union of Journalists condemned the move and called again for the licence fee to be renegotiatied "especially given what has since emerged about the close relationship between the government and Rupert Murdoch at the time the deal was done."

The media and entertainment union BECTU said the cuts were a direct result of the "shocking 11th hour deal" on the licence fee which "will be the cause of regret for years to come".

The BBC towers over Britain's media landscape with a rich offering of drama, comedy and children's programming, a huge newsgathering operation and some of the UK's most popular websites.

In a lecture more than two years ago, News Corp executive and BSkyB Chairman James Murdoch lashed out at the BBC, accusing it of making a land grab for power and calling for a radical overhaul of British television regulation.

The pendulum has since swung back in favour of looser regulation more favourable to commercial rivals and lower public spending, especially since the recession and the installation of a centre-right coalition government in 2010.

Alex DeGroote, media analyst at London brokerage Panmure Gordon, said the slimming down of the BBC would help level the playing field in Britain, where commercial media companies were up against a far stronger public rival than their peers abroad.

"There's always been a BBC discount for commercial media in this country. It got particularly high in 2002-05. That's when you had a massive expansion of the BBC's inventory -- more digital radio, BBC3 and BBC4, lots of Internet sites," he said.

BSkyB should be well placed to benefit. It is increasing the budget it spends on programming and has recently signed a deal to share the broadcasting of Formula One with the BBC. It is also already very aggressive in acquiring sports rights and drama from the United States. (Editing by Will Waterman and David Cowell)

View the original article here

UPDATE 1-Russia ready in principle to buy Spanish debt

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

* Euro zone needs to devise debt strategy first

* Russia the world's third-largest reserve holder

MOSCOW, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Russia is ready in principle to buy Spanish government debt once the euro zone's member states have put in place a strategy to overcome the currency bloc's debt crisis, Arkady Dvorkovich, economic adviser to President Dmitry Medvedev, said on Monday.

Russia is the world's third-largest reserves holder and has over two-fifths of its $517 billion in foreign reserves invested in euro-zone sovereign debt.

"When the European countries announce a concrete and clear strategy to exit the crisis, and if in the framework of this strategy support from Russia and other BRIC countries is necessary, then we would provide such support," Dvorkovich said in response to a question.

Dvorkovich, attending a conference in Moscow with Spanish Economy Minister Elena Salgado, said Salgado had met Russia's former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Salgado left the event without taking questions from reporters.

The BRIC nations -- Brazil, Russia, India and China -- are a loose coalition of large emerging economies that together hold the bulk of the world's foreign exchange reserves.

Of Russia's total reserves, $109 billion are held in two sovereign wealth funds whose asset allocation is set by the finance ministry. The central bank decides how the remainder is invested.

Moscow has generally taken a sceptical approach towards offering bilateral financial support to euro-zone countries, saying it would prefer to invest in bonds issued by a common bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF).

Officials have also said that they would prefer to support any debt initiative that is put together under the auspices of the Group of 20 nations, which is due to hold a summit in Cannes, France, next month.

View the original article here

UPDATE 3-'The Simpsons' to stay around for two more seasons

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

* Deal follows Fox requests for hefty actors' pay cuts

* Satirical series is longest-running TV comedy

By Jill Serjeant

LOS ANGELES, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Fox Television said on Friday it had renewed animated TV series "The Simpsons" for another two seasons after settling a pay stand-off that had threatened to end the satirical parody of working-class American life.

"Fox has renewed 'The Simpsons,' the longest-running comedy in television history, for an incredible 24th and 25th season," the network said in a statement.

Fox Television, a unit of News Corp , said earlier this week that it could no longer afford to keep producing the show without the main voice actors taking a hefty cut in their $8 million annual salary.

The actors said Fox wanted a 45 percent reduction. They offered 30 percent cut in return for a share of billions of dollars generated by the show in worldwide licensing, syndication and merchandising.

Fox declined to give details of the new contract but a spokesman said the network was "thrilled" to have reached a deal. "We are all very happy with the result," the spokesman said.

Hollywood industry website The Wrap, citing a person close to the negotiations, said the final deal for the actors "was immeasurably improved from what Fox's initial offer was."

The tale of doughnut-loving Homer Simpson and his dysfunctional, yellow-faced family was launched on Fox in 1989, and helped establish the fledgling network as a major player in the TV industry.

It is now broadcast in more than 100 countries and 50 languages. But U.S. audiences have dropped off steadily in recent years. The show is currently watched by about 7.1 million Americans, down from an average 12.4 million 10 years ago, according to ratings data.

"D'OH"

It has won 27 Emmy Awards and boasted a guest star list that is a Who's Who of pop culture, ranging from actress Elizabeth Taylor to astronaut Buzz Aldrin, Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, rock star Mick Jagger, and even News Corp founder Rupert Murdoch.

The family from the fictional city of Springfield has a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame, and Homer's catch-phrase "D'oh" entered the Oxford English Dictionary in 2001.

But Andrew Wallenstein, television editor for Hollywood trade paper Variety, said the comedy was no longer as fresh and exciting as it once was.

"I don't think it has anywhere near the influence that it used to," Wallenstein told Reuters.

"The very fact that the show has been around for so long sort of works against it to some degree. After 23 years, you're bound to fade into the woodwork, no matter how hilarious or clever you are," said Wallenstein.

News Corp executives have said recently they are looking at ways of making more money from the show in future from syndication rights and other ventures.

"Whether it's channel, digital, ourselves, third parties, it's a series unique in television, with a volume to it that is unprecedented," News Corp Chief Operating Officer Case Carey told an investors conference in September.

View the original article here