PepsiCo swaps China bottling ops for Tingyi stake (AP)

SHANGHAI ? PepsiCo Inc. has agreed to swap its holdings in its mainland China bottling operations for a stake in the beverage business of Tingyi Holding Corp., aiming to beef up its distribution in the fast-growing Chinese market.

PepsiCo said Friday that it will transfer its interests in its bottling operations in China to Tingyi-Asahi Beverages Holding Co., acquiring in return a 5 percent indirect stake in Tingyi's drinks subsidiary. PepsiCo will have the option to increase that stake to 20 percent by 2015.

Taiwan-based Tingyi, with a market capitalization of $16 billion, is one of China's leading noodle, baked goods and beverages makers.

Both companies said the deal would boost Tingyi's product offerings while allowing Purchase, New York-based PepsiCo to improve its distribution and bottling as it seeks an edge in its eternal rivalry with Coca-Cola Co.

Last year, Pepsi announced it would invest $2.5 billion in its China business over the next few years, on top of a $1 billion investment announced in 2008.

"Tingyi and PepsiCo will continue building up the capacity to seize market opportunities and satisfy consumers' diversified demands with world-class products," Tingyi's chairman and CEO, tycoon Wei Ing-Chou, said in a statement.

PepsiCo chairman and CEO Indra K. Nooyi cited Tingyi's local partnerships and distribution as key advantages of the companies' strategic alliance.

PepsiCo operates its China beverage business through 24 wholly-owned and joint venture bottling operations. Subject to necessary approvals, it will transfer its holdings to Tingyi-Asahi, which will work with PepsiCo's current bottlers to make, sell and distribute its soft drink and Gatorade brands, the companies said.

Tingyi-Asahi will also be able to sell its products using PepsiCo's Tropicana brand name under license and hold the sole right to distribute PepsiCo's products in China.

The Taiwanese company also will gain access to PepsiCo's product development plans.

The tie-up with Tingyi will not affect PepsiCo's separate food business in China, which includes brands such as Quaker and Frito-Lay, the companies said.

___

Online:

PepsiCo: http://www.PepsiCo.com

Tingyi Holding Corp: http://www.masterkong.com.cn

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/china/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111104/ap_on_bi_ge/as_china_pepsi

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Relatives shocked by alleged Ga. militia plot

ATLANTA?? Relatives of four Georgia men accused of plotting attacks with poisons and explosives against government officials and buildings say they're shocked over the charges.

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The four, arrested Tuesday, live in the north Georgia towns of Cleveland and Toccoa and are members of a fringe Georgia militia, the FBI says. Frederick Thomas, 73, Dan Roberts, 67, Ray Adams, 65, and Samuel Crump, 68, were due to appear in federal court in Gainesville, Ga., on Wednesday afternoon.

Thomas' wife, Charlotte Thomas, called the charges "baloney."

"He spent 30 years in the U.S. Navy. He would not do anything against his country," she said in a phone interview with The Associated Press.

Roberts' wife, Margaret Roberts, said she and her two children were in disbelief over the charges.

?I don?t know these people,? she told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. ?I can?t say anything about them, but I know Dan. Dan wouldn?t hurt a fly. And he is not anti-government. He respects the law.?

The men tried to obtain an unregistered explosive device and sought out the complex formula to produce ricin, a biological toxin that can be lethal in small doses, according to a federal complaint.

No attacks were ever attempted. Federal officials say the men were disrupted before they could act on the plot.

One suspect discussed ways of dispersing ricin from an airplane in the sky over Washington, court records state. Another suspected member of the group intended to use the plot of an online novel as a model for plans to attack U.S. federal law officers and others, authorities said. Court documents state that Thomas told others he intended to model their actions on the online novel "Absolved," which involves small groups of citizens attacking U.S. officials.

At least two of the suspects are former federal employees, court records show.

Adams used to work as a lab technician for a U.S. Department of Agriculture agency known as the Agricultural Research Service. Court documents say officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that another suspect, Crump, worked there in the past for a contractor that did maintenance at the Atlanta-based agency.

Read court documents (.PDF)

The court records do not provide a timeline for when the men worked for the agencies, nor do they offer further details on their roles and responsibilities.

On Sept. 17, prosecutors say Crump was recorded by a confidential informant as saying he would like to make 10 pounds of ricin, which would be simultaneously placed in several U.S. cities. Prosecutors say possible cities mentioned were Washington; Newark, N.J.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Atlanta and New Orleans and Crump suggesting the ricin could be blown out of a car speeding down an interstate highway.

The group had been talking about "covert" operations since at least March, according to court records, discussing murder, theft and using toxic agents and assassinations to undermine the state and federal government.

At one meeting, investigators say, Thomas openly discussed creating a "bucket list" of government employees, politicians, corporate leaders and members of the media he felt needed to be "taken out."

"I've been to war, and I've taken life before, and I can do it again," he told an undercover investigator, according to the records.

Thomas and Roberts are accused of buying what they believed was a silencer and an unregistered explosive from an undercover informant in May and June. Prosecutors say he discussed using the weapons in attacks against federal buildings.

Thomas is accused of driving to Atlanta with a confidential informant on May 24 and scoping out an Internal Revenue Service building there and an ATF building "to plan and assess for possible attacks," the indictment states.

"We'd have to blow the whole building, like Timothy McVeigh," Thomas said during the Atlanta trip, referring to the man executed for bombing a federal building in Oklahoma City, the indictment states.

Adams, meanwhile, is accused of showing an informant the formula to make ricin and identifying the ways to obtain the ingredients.

Crump claimed he could produce ricin, a deadly biological agent, and talked about dispersing it from a car driving on an interstate highway, according to court documents.

"Ya get on the trunk of Atlanta, you get up on the north side, ya get on 41, ya throw it out there right on 285, ya go up 41 or 75, go up 75 to get away from it. Keep the heater on, that way keeps the pressure out. Don't roll your window down," he told the informant, according to court documents.

The story "Absolved" is by Mike Vanderboegh, a former Alabama militia leader who drew broader attention in 2010 when he urged people opposed to federal health care legislation to throw bricks through the windows of Democratic Party offices. Several such incidents occurred after Vanderboegh's call.

Vanderboegh wrote on his blog Wednesday that his book, about a deadly federal gun raid on the wrong target and the resistance that builds from that, was fiction and meant as a "useful dire warning." He said he was skeptical about the Georgia case and called the alleged militia "pretty geriatric."

Charlotte Thomas said her husband was arrested in a restaurant in Cornelia, Ga., and federal agents were at her home when she returned from the grocery store Tuesday afternoon. She said the agents wouldn't let her in her home.

"They tore up my house," Charlotte Thomas said.

Margaret Roberts of Toccoa said FBI agents showed up with a search warrant and went through her home, handcuffing her and taking a computer and other items. She said her husband is retired from the sign business and lives on pensions.

"He's never been in trouble with the law. He's not anti-government. He would never hurt anybody," she said.

A woman reached at Adams' residence said she was unaware of the charges and also had no comment. A listed numbers for Crump could not be found.

U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said the case is a reminder that "we must also remain vigilant in protecting our country from citizens within our own borders who threaten our safety and security."

This story includes information from The Associated Press, NBC News and msnbc.com staff.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45133828/ns/us_news-security/

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U.S. military retirees fret about healthcare fees (Reuters)

FORT WORTH, Texas (Reuters) ? When Wayne Johnson flew missions in Vietnam in the 1960s, one of the allures of a military career was the pledge that those who risked their lives for the United States would be repaid with healthcare in old age.

Now, as the 65-year-old retired Air Force major nears an age when he may need to bank on that promise, support is building in Washington for changes that could make it more costly for military retirees and their dependents to receive healthcare. It is a move Johnson finds worrying.

"It's something that was an unwritten contract when we joined the military back in the '60s," said Johnson, who flew an OV-10 Bronco light strike aircraft as a forward air controller in Vietnam. "And now to change the rules when it's time to use it, certainly it's a violation of trust."

That sentiment, said Joe Davis, director of public affairs for the Veterans of Foreign Wars, is widespread among the nearly 10 percent of U.S. military veterans, a little over two million people, who spent 20 years or more in the service.

"This is being perceived by the military, those in uniform today, by their families and all the retirees as a total breach of faith," Davis said. "I mean an absolute, 100 percent breach of faith."

Those remarks underscore how perilous it can be for politicians to make even modest changes to military healthcare programs, even when it involves raising premiums that have not budged since Bill Clinton was president.

Nonetheless, in an era of government belt-tightening, support appears to be growing for reining in the spiraling expense of military healthcare.

In recommendations to the budget-cutting congressional "super committee" in September, President Barack Obama proposed two steps to offset rising military healthcare costs.

He said Congress should impose a $200 annual fee on Tricare-for-Life, a health insurance plan for military retirees 65 and older that pays for most expenses not covered by the government's Medicare insurance plan for the elderly.

The fee on Tricare-for-Life, which is now free, would then increase annually according to a cost of living adjustment. The White House estimated the proposal would save $6.7 billion in mandatory federal spending over 10 years.

Obama also proposed changing Tricare co-payments on prescription drugs to encourage people to use cheaper generics rather than brand-name pharmaceuticals. The change, which would affect all but active duty military personnel, would reduce mandatory spending by $15.1 billion and discretionary spending by $5.5 billion over 10 years, the White House estimated.

Tricare is the military's main health insurance program.

Obama's suggestions received some support from senators. Democrat Carl Levin, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Republican John McCain, the senior Republican on the panel, both supported Obama's suggestion for fees on Tricare-for-Life.

"While this fee increase would hit those age 65 and over, a group mostly on fixed incomes who are vulnerable to unanticipated changes in expenses, I believe this fee increase is a reasonable step and should be considered," McCain, himself a Vietnam veteran, said in a letter to the committee.

How detailed the deficit-cutting committee will be is unclear. Todd Harrison, a defense analyst at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, said he thought the panel was more likely to set a top-line number for defense spending and ask the Pentagon to figure out the details.

Harrison said he hoped the committee would take a more holistic approach to reforming military pay and benefits. What is needed, he said, is a commission that would "try to understand what they (military personnel) value rather than just making little changes here and there to save money."

UNSUSTAINABLE COSTS?

Even before Obama and the U.S. Congress agreed in August to cut military spending by $450 billion over the next decade as part of a debt reduction deal, officials were warning that spiraling healthcare costs were becoming a problem.

Care for another generation of warriors, those wounded, many grievously, in Iraq and Afghanistan, is expected to raise the burden further.

The rising cost of the military healthcare system is "simply unsustainable," Defense Secretary Robert Gates said before he left office earlier this year.

The overall military healthcare program, which covers 9.6 million active-duty troops, retirees and their dependents, is expected to cost $52.5 billion this fiscal year -- about 10 percent of the Defense Department's base budget -- up from $19 billion in 2001.

The nonpartisan CSBA says military healthcare costs rose at a real annual rate of 6.3 percent between 2001 and 2011, faster than the rate of inflation.

Government officials say the proposed fees are modest compared to the cost of health insurance and co-pays in the private sector.

Nationwide, family premiums in employer-sponsored health plans jumped 9 percent in 2011, and single premiums rose 8 percent, the Kaiser Family Foundation found in an annual study released in September.

But veterans wonder where it will all stop.

"I guess I could afford it, but I wouldn't like it," said Terry Lindsay, a retired Air Force senior master sergeant who also served in Vietnam. "I generally hate to see them messing with the benefit ... Once they start doing it, you lose confidence in what more is to come."

Lawmakers in the House of Representatives have been more circumspect in their stance toward raising fees on military benefits.

Republican Representative Buck McKeon, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, did not explicitly rule out the idea. But he urged the super committee to avoid any action that would break faith with veterans and active duty troops -- a position echoed by McCain and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.

But veterans say that is exactly what officials are doing with their efforts to impose more fees.

Johnson, who flew commercial planes for American Airlines after his military career, said he understands the financial pressures on the government and wouldn't be badly affected by the new fees. But he expressed concern for those who were more dependent on the program.

"I hope something gets done here that's not devastating for a lot of these elderly widow ladies that rely on this very, very much," he said. "It would hurt them a lot worse than it would hurt me."

(Editing by Warren Strobel and Christopher Wilson)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/seniors/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111102/hl_nm/us_usa_defense_healthcare

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Dying for Chocolate: Pets and Halloween Treats

Here's an important post on Pets and Halloween Candy. It's a Q &A between Neenda Pellegrini and Dr. Sheppard Thorpe, an emergency veterinarian at Puget Sound Veterinary Referral Center in Tacoma about Halloween and Pets that appeared in the Seattle Times.?Dark chocolate is always dangerous to pets, and candy in various forms is, too. Read the entire article HERE.

Question: This is that scary time of year again, full of ghosts, witches, pumpkins -- and sugary bags of trick-or-treat candy. A fun time for kids and adults can be a disastrous time for pets who share those bags of treats, landing them at the vet's office or emergency clinic. What kind of health emergencies do see most often during the Halloween holiday?

Answer: Around the trick-or-treating time, we see many dogs that eat chocolate and other Halloween candy.

Pet ingestion of Halloween treats can cause vomiting, diarrhea, hyperactivity, pancreatitis, heart arrhythmias, seizures, liver disease, kidney disease, gastrointestinal obstruction and even death.

Dangerous or even fatal chocolate toxicity is rare because knowledgeable owners usually get their chocolate-eating pets into the clinic within a few hours of ingestion. Once the pet arrives, we do what is called "decontamination" -- vomiting is induced and then activated charcoal is administered.

We also see pets with general vomiting and diarrhea from gastrointestinal upset after they've eaten candy, wrappers and holiday decorations. This can be very serious if the pet develops pancreatitis or if the pet becomes very dehydrated.

A quick and timely response makes the treatment much easier on your pet and your wallet.

Question: Why is chocolate dangerous? Is some chocolate -- dark or bittersweet chocolate -- worse than others, such as milk or white chocolate?

Answer: Chocolate contains an active ingredient called theobromine, which is toxic to pets. Theobromine is a stimulant that pets are more sensitive to than people and can cause hyperactivity, elevated heart rate, twitching and tremoring, vomiting and diarrhea and, worst of all, seizures.

Dark chocolate is more potent, having a higher concentration of theobromine, and, therefore, is more toxic. All chocolate (cakes or brownies, milk chocolate, white chocolate, chocolate syrup, cocoa powder) is considered "rich." Although not as serious as theobromine toxicity, foods with high sugar and fat contents can cause serious stomach and bowel problems. Decontamination and quick treatment is key.

Question: What harm can one little candy bar do?

Answer: It depends on the size of your pet, the presence of any underlying conditions and the amount of chocolate your pet has ingested.

A Hershey's Kiss is safe for a 70-pound Labrador retriever to eat but harmful to a 3-pound Chihuahua.

Another problem with "just one little treat" is that dogs can develop a liking to chocolate and soon may be climbing on the table to help themselves to that whole bowl of Halloween candy.

The power of the dog nose can also help them find that wrapped box of chocolates under the Christmas tree or hidden away for Valentine's Day. I know one Beagle who learned to open the pantry, and he loved to eat the brownie mix.

Question: What should I do if my pet accidentally eats chocolate? What symptoms should I watch for?

Answer: Call your regular veterinarian or local emergency/referral veterinary hospital for recommendations.

It helps to have the candy wrapper with the list of ingredients and percentage of cacao or cocoa in the product.

Monitor your pet for hyperactivity, elevated heart rate, vomiting/diarrhea, tremors, twitches and seizures although preventive treatment long before any of these symptoms is the best approach.

If you have access to the Internet, check out www.veterinarypartner.com and look up chocolate toxicity. The website has an excellent chart comparing the number of ounces of chocolate a pet would need to ingest for toxicity.

Consider calling the National Animal Poison Control Center (1-800-548-2423; $65/call) or the Pet Poison Helpline (1-800-213-6680; $50/call) to speak directly with a veterinary poison specialist.

READ MORE HERE.

Source: http://dyingforchocolate.blogspot.com/2011/10/pets-and-halloween-treats.html

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Report: Herman Cain was accused of sexual harassment (Los Angeles Times)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/155527588?client_source=feed&format=rss

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RIM Offers Buy Two, Get One Free BlackBerry PlayBooks (NewsFactor)

Research In Motion hopes to move some PlayBooks before the end of the year with a promotion that aims at business users. The BlackBerry U.S. Web site is making an offer it hopes mobile business users won't be able to refuse.

From now until Dec. 31, BlackBerry business customers can get one free PlayBook tablet with every two purchased from an authorized retailer. To make the pot even sweeter, business customers can also choose a premium accessory for each tablet, either a leather sleeve, a charging pod or a six-foot cable.

Optimizing for Enterprises

The promotion comes just days after RIM announced a delay in PlayBook OS 2.0. David Smith, senior vice president of BlackBerry PlayBook for RIM, specifically mentioned enterprise plans in his Oct. 25 blog post. In a move that plays on RIM's historic strengths,, he said, RIM is addressing barriers to tablet adoption, including device manageability and enterprise application deployment.

"Enterprises will uniquely have the ability to manage tablets from a centralized server, while BlackBerry Balance ensures a seamless user experience for personal and professional needs and gives CIOs the peace of mind that corporate data is secure," Smith wrote.

Smith said BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 will also offer dedicated shelf space inside the BlackBerry App World storefront to make approved enterprise applications available to an organization's end users more quickly. RIM hopes these features will help change the way enterprises view and use tablets.

The PlayBook OS 2.0 update will also include advanced integrated e-mail, calendar and contact apps, a new video story, as well as new functionality that will allow your BlackBerry smartphone and BlackBerry PlayBook to work together even better.

Overcoming Downsides

"RIM is trying to boost sales with this promotion and this is one way to do it. The PlayBook is obviously not selling and it can't compete with the iPad, and it has shortcomings that we've discussed before," said Michael Disabato, managing vice president of Network and Telecom at Gartner.

The PlayBook offers true multitasking capabilities. But a major downside so far is that it has to be paired with a BlackBerry smartphone via a special application to access e-mail, calendar, address book, memo pad, task list, BlackBerry Messenger, and browsing functions. With the OS update put off, it remains to be seen if business users will take the PlayBook plunge before they see the software improvements.

Another downside is the lack of a strong system of developers and applications. As Disabato sees it, if RIM is going to compete with Apple and Android, it needs to attract more developers and roll out a user experience that doesn't require two pieces of equipment. At the end of the day, Apple still has the advantage.

"With this promotion, RIM will get traction with people who are thinking about buying a PlayBook or planning to buy one," Disabato said. "The government might decide employees don't need an iPad, they just need a tablet, and decide to buy the PlayBook. But this promotion is not going to displace any iPad sales before Christmas."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/personaltech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20111031/bs_nf/80804

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Obesity and depression independently increase health costs

ScienceDaily (Oct. 31, 2011) ? Obesity and depression both dramatically increase health care costs, but they mainly act separately, according to a study published in the November 2011 Journal of General Internal Medicine by Group Health Research Institute scientists. Gregory Simon, MD, MPH, a Group Health psychiatrist and Group Health Research Institute senior investigator, led the research.

"Previous research shows that both depression and obesity are associated with higher health care costs," he said. "But depression and obesity often occur together, so it was important to know if the relationship between obesity and cost is really due to depression -- or vice versa."

Simon and his colleagues tested whether depression confounds the increase in health care use that is associated with obesity. Confounding means an apparent connection -- such as the link between increased health care costs and obesity -- is influenced or even caused by a third factor. In this study, the authors tested if depression confounds the increase in health care seen in obese patients.

The study used telephone interviews to determine obesity and depression, and Group Health's extensive medical records to calculate health care costs for 4,462 women aged 40-65. All were enrolled in Group Health Cooperative, a nonprofit health care system in Washington and northern Idaho. Obesity was measured as body mass index (BMI), a standard obesity measure that is calculated from height and weight. A BMI below 25 is considered normal weight, 25-30 considered overweight, and over 30 is considered obese. Depression was measured with a 9-item American Psychiatric Association questionnaire.

The researchers found:

• In middle-aged women, health care costs increased with obesity. Specifically, costs increased 65 percent in women with a BMI of 30-35, and 157 percent in women with a BMI higher than 35, compared to women of normal weight.
• The trend was similar for all types of health care that the researchers examined: primary care, outpatient prescriptions, specialist visits, inpatient care, and mental health care.
• Health care costs increased with higher depression scores, but depression was a not a major confounder of the obesity results.
• Even accounting for depression, health costs increased with every rise in BMI category.

The study concluded that in this population of women, obesity is associated with higher health care costs, but not because of co-occurring depression. Similarly, depression is associated with higher costs, but not because of co-occurring obesity. These higher costs have an economic impact. Increased costs associated with depression were spread across all types of health care, not just mental health care.

"Obesity and depression are both very common," Dr. Simon said, "so the increased costs we find add up to a very large amount in the general population." The relationships among obesity, depression, and chronic illness related to obesity are complex, as are the effects of depression on behavior and health. But one thing is clear, the study's authors said: Effective obesity prevention is a crucial factor in tackling our rising health care costs.

The National Institute of Mental Health funded the work.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Group Health Research Institute.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Gregory E. Simon, David Arterburn, Paul Rohde, Evette J. Ludman, Jennifer A. Linde, Belinda H. Operskalski, Robert W. Jeffery. Obesity, Depression, and Health Services Costs Among Middle-Aged Women. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 2011; 26 (11): 1284 DOI: 10.1007/s11606-011-1774-x

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/ljvQ4PCNm8k/111031220558.htm

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