BP agrees to record criminal penalties for U.S. oil spill

NEW ORLEANS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – BP Plc will pay $ 4.5 billion in penalties and plead guilty to felony misconduct in the Deepwater Horizon disaster, which caused the worst U.S. offshore oil spill ever.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder called the deal a “critical step forward” but was adamant that it did not end the criminal investigation of the 2010 spill.

The settlement announced on Thursday includes a $ 1.256 billion criminal fine, the largest such levy in U.S. history. It was not, however, the “global” settlement some had hoped for, which would have also resolved the considerable federal civil claims against the company at the same time.

“BP lied to me. They lied to the people of the Gulf. And they lied to their shareholders, and they lied to all Americans,” said Representative Ed Markey, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee who led investigations at the time of the spill.

The government also indicted the two highest-ranking BP supervisors aboard the Deepwater Horizon during the disaster, charging them with 23 criminal counts including manslaughter. One man’s lawyer said his client was being turned into a scapegoat for the disaster.

The April 2010 explosion on the rig in the Gulf of Mexico killed 11 workers. The mile-deep Macondo oil well then spewed 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf over 87 days, fouling shorelines from Texas to Florida and eclipsing in severity the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska.

The company said it would plead guilty to 11 felony counts related to the workers’ deaths, a felony related to obstruction of Congress and two misdemeanors. It also faces five years’ probation and the imposition of two monitors who will oversee its safety and ethics for the next four years.

Wall Street analysts said the deal will allow BP to focus again on oil production, while one U.S. senator from Louisiana said he hoped the settlement would not prevent his state and others from collecting civil penalties.

Investors shrugged off the news, and BP shares listed in New York and London were little changed on the day.

“It certainly is an encouraging step,” said Pavel Molchanov, oil company analyst with Raymond James. “By eliminating the overhang of the criminal litigation, it is another step in clearing up BP’s legal framework as it relates to Macondo.”

The disaster has dragged BP from second to a distant fourth in the ranking of top Western oil companies by value.

‘CRIMINAL SCALP’

“With these unprecedented criminal penalties assessed, I urge the Obama administration to be equally aggressive in securing civil monies that can help save our Louisiana coast” through other avenues, Louisiana Senator David Vitter said in a statement. “I certainly hope they didn’t trade any of those monies away just to nail this criminal scalp to the wall.”

Larry Schweiger, president of the National Wildlife Federation, called the settlement a “good down payment” on what BP should ultimately pay, which the environmental group argues is tens of billions of dollars more.

BP said the payments would be spread over six years, and that it expected to be able to handle the payments “within BP’s current financial framework.”

The company has sold $ 35 billion worth of assets to fund the costs of the spill. Matching that, it has paid $ 23 billion already in clean-up costs and claims, and has a further $ 12 billion earmarked for payment in its spill trust fund.

The oil company said it has not been advised of any government authority that intends to debar BP from federal contracting activities as a result of the deal.

‘RECKLESS MANAGEMENT’

The lawyers for Bob Kaluza, the BP well manager aboard the rig who faces manslaughter charges, condemned the case against the four-decade oilfield veteran.

“Bob was not an executive or high-level BP official. He was a dedicated rig worker who mourns his fallen co-workers every day,” Shaun Clarke and David Gerger said in a statement.

Kaluza faces two kinds of charges related to the workers’ deaths: Involuntary manslaughter, a broad statute covering individuals whose reckless disregard leads directly to loss of life; and seaman’s manslaughter, reserved for those employed on ships whose misconduct results in death.

As for BP, its settlement does not resolve civil litigation brought by the U.S. government and U.S. Gulf Coast states, which could be considered when the case convenes in February 2013.

Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange, who represents other spill-hit states in the case, said he intends to prove that BP’s actions were grossly negligent – a charge that would bring billions of dollars in extra liability if upheld. Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal agreed in a statement.

“The majority of BP’s liability remains outstanding and we will hold them fully accountable,” he said.

Holder said at a news conference to discuss the criminal settlement that while the government and BP had held talks to resolve the civil claims, the sides had not been able to agree on a “satisfactory” number. He said a deal was still possible but the government was moving ahead to the February trial.

Negligence is a key issue. A gross negligence finding could nearly quadruple civil damages owed by BP under the Clean Water Act to $ 21 billion.

Chief Financial Officer Brian Gilvary said the company’s provisions should be enough to cover liabilities, provided it avoids a conviction for gross negligence, and that it had shareholder support to fight the case should that happen.

“I can boldly defend where we are in the provisions today. If something were to happen in the trial that read across to gross negligence … then we would certainly take that to appeal,” he said on a conference call with analysts.

Still unresolved is potential liability faced by Swiss-based Transocean Ltd, owner of the Deepwater Horizon vessel, and Halliburton Co, which provided cementing work on the well that U.S. investigators say was flawed.

Halliburton said it “remains confident that all the work it performed with respect to the Macondo well was completed in accordance with BP’s specifications for its well construction plan and instructions. Halliburton has cooperated with the DOJ’s investigation.” Transocean was not available for comment.

According to the Justice Department, errors made by BP and Transocean in deciphering a pressure test of the Macondo well are a clear indication of gross negligence.

Transocean disclosed in September that it is in discussions with the Justice Department to pay $ 1.5 billion to resolve civil and criminal claims.

BP has already announced an uncapped class-action settlement with private plaintiffs that the company estimates will cost $ 7.8 billion to resolve litigation brought by over 100,000 individuals and businesses claiming economic and medical damages from the spill.

(Additional reporting by Chris Baltimore and Anna Driver in Houston, Braden Reddall in San Francisco, Roberta Rampton in Washington, Verna Gates in Birmingham, Ala. and Andrew Callus in London; Writing by Ben Berkowitz; Editing by Edward Tobin, David Gregorio, Richard Chang and Tim Dobbyn)

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France urges Mali to step up talks with rebels

PARIS (AP) — France‘s president called Thursday for stepped-up talks between Mali’s government and any leaders from its breakaway north “who reject terrorism,” even as African nations geared up for a possible military operation against Islamic extremists there.

President Francois Hollande‘s comments suggested a growing openness to dialogue with the extremists, but he remained committed to supporting the military planning effort.

Northern Mali fell to Islamic extremists in April, after coup leaders toppled the government in Bamako, Mali‘s capital. Fearing that northern Mali could become the latest hotbed of terrorism, France has been a driving force in international efforts to bolster Mali’s army to drive the Islamists from power.

Hollande spoke with interim Mali President Dioncounda Traore by phone on Thursday, partly to detail European efforts to help strengthen Mali’s army.

In recent days, representatives from the most moderate of three al-Qaida-linked groups that control northern Mali have been meeting with Burkina Faso‘s president, appointed as a mediator.

“France reiterates its wish that political dialogue will intensify between Malian authorities and representatives of northern populations who reject terrorism,” Hollande’s office said in a statement. “The acceleration of this dialogue must accompany the progress in African military-planning efforts.”

Earlier this week, the African Union approved a plan that calls for 3,300 African troops to be deployed in order to win back Mali’s north. European countries including France and Germany have expressed a willingness to provide military trainers and logistics support, but have stopped short of committing combat troops.

France, like many European countries, fears that the arid, northern Sahel region of Mali could become a breeding ground for terrorism, where al-Qaida and its allies could plot hostage-takings and attacks in Europe or beyond.

France has millions of people whose families hail from former French colonies in north and west Africa. Authorities have long been concerned that French-born militants could travel abroad for terrorism training and return home later to possibly carry out attacks.

French authorities are already investigating two French citizens who were arrested in Mali and neighboring Niger and are suspected of seeking to join up with the al-Qaida-linked extremists, a judicial official told The Associated Press.

Ibrahim Ouattara, a 24-year-old native of the northern Paris suburb of Aubervilliers who has dual French and Malian nationality, was arrested inside Mali this month and remains in custody there, the official said.

Separately, a 27-year-old Frenchman was arrested in August in Niger and has since been handed over to authorities in France, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to discuss terrorism cases publicly.

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Sina’s profit beats on Weibo; co forecasts weak 4th-quarter revenue

(Reuters) – Chinese internet company Sina Corp eked out a profit in the third quarter that beat analysts’ estimates as strong advertising sales on its microblogging platform offset weaker website advertising but it forecast current-quarter revenue below expectations.

Shares of the company fell 6 percent to $ 49.72 in extended trading. They closed at $ 53.10 on the Nasdaq on Thursday.

Sina expects adjusted net revenue to range between $ 132 million and $ 136 million in the fourth quarter, with advertising revenues forecast to increase between 6 percent and 8 percent from a year earlier.

Analysts on average were expecting revenue of $ 151.9 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Sina, which makes most of its revenue from online advertising both on its website and through its microblogging platform, Weibo, is facing stiff headwinds this year as firms slash advertising budgets due to a worsening economic outlook.

Analysts said the spat between Japan and China over a few uninhabited islands in the East China Sea may have affected Sina’s website advertising sales as Japanese automakers cut back on advertising in China.

Net profit was $ 9.9 million for the September quarter, compared to a loss of $ 336.3 million a year earlier. The profit beat analysts’ expectations of $ 7.5 million.

Sina’s advertising revenue rose 19 percent to $ 120.6 million in the third quarter, while non-advertising revenue rose 9 percent to $ 31.8 million. Overall net revenue was $ 152.4 million, up from $ 130.3 million, a year earlier.

The company started monetizing Weibo by offering special services to business accounts and selling VIP memberships to regular users earlier this year.

Weibo contributed about 10 percent to total advertising revenue in the second quarter and had 368 million registered accounts.

(Reporting By Melanie Lee in Shanghai & Aurindom Mukherjee in Bangalore; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)

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French mayor ends hunger strike after crisis aid

PARIS (Reuters) – A French mayor who went on hunger strike a week ago to demand emergency aid for his town ended his protest on Thursday and packed up the tent he had been sleeping in outside parliament after the government met his demands.

“I regret that things came to that but it was necessary,” Stephane Gatignon, mayor of Sevran, a poor town on the outskirts of Paris, told Reuters.

Gatignon slept six nights on the pavement outside the National Assembly to press his demand for 5 million euros ($ 6.4 million) of rescue aid, saying the economic crisis was pushing Sevran and dozens of other poor towns to the brink of ruin.

France’s cash-strapped government is seeking to slash its deficit in line with broader efforts to end a debt crisis that has plagued Europe for three years.

While the government is urging local authorities to do their part, it will increase aid to many of the poorest towns next year in a budget package that the lower house of parliament approved this week.

Gatignon said the government had indicated it was willing to deploy those funds in a way that would satisfy his demands. The office of urban affairs minister Francois Lamy did not respond to requests for comment.

The Sevran mayor looked weary but relieved after six days of consuming nothing but sugary tea.

“Today it’ll be a bit of broth, then some soup and slowly back to normal eating,” Gatignon said.

(Reporting by Emile Picy and Brian Love; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall and Robin Pomeroy)

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Walking, cycling may ease cancer-related fatigue: study

(Reuters) – People who have been treated for cancer often have lingering fatigue, but regular walking or cycling might help boost their energy, according to a UK study that looked at more than two thousand people.

The long-lasting tiredness of cancer patients has been blamed both on the cancer itself, including cancer-related pain, and on the effects of treatments such as chemotherapy. Prior studies point to talk therapy, nutrition counseling and acupuncture as possible remedies.

But light-to-moderate exercise has the advantage of being something people can do on their own time, for little or no cost, said the researchers, whose findings appeared in The Cochrane Library.

“We’re not expecting people to go out and be running a mile the next day,” said Fiona Cramp, who worked on the analysis at the University of the West of England in Bristol.

“Some people will be well enough that they’re able to go for a jog or go for a bike ride, and if they can, that’s great. But we would encourage people to start with a low level.”

Cramp and her colleague James Byron-Daniel pooled findings from 38 studies that directly compared more than 2,600 people with cancer-related fatigue who did or didn’t go through an exercise program.

The majority of that research looked at women with breast cancer and the type of exercise program varied, from walking or biking to weight training or yoga. More than half of the studies included multiple exercises or allowed participants to choose their own type of physical activity.

The amount of prescribed exercise ranged from two times per week to daily workouts, lasting anywhere from ten minutes to two hours, depending on the study.

When they combined the results, the researchers found physical activity both during and after cancer treatment was tied to improved energy. In particular, aerobic exercise such as walking and cycling tended to reduce fatigue more than resistance training.

“What we do know is there will be an appreciable difference; the average patient will get a benefit from physical activity,” Cramp said, though the actual benefit will vary.

For example, there were exercise-related benefits for people with breast cancer and prostate cancer, although not for those with leukemia and lymphoma.

“Some of the hematologic patients may not have the reserves to always tolerate the aerobic exercise,” said Carol Enderlin, who has studied fatigue and cancer at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock.

“They do not always have the oxygen carrying capacity, for instance,” because the disease and treatment affect blood cell counts. For those people, non-aerobic exercise or exercise at a lower does may be a better option, added Enderlin, who was not part of the research team.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/TMV6SC

(Reporting by Elaine Lies)

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Chinese Communist Party to unveil new leadership

BEIJING (Reuters) – China‘s ruling Communist Party unveils a new leadership line-up on Thursday to steer the world’s second-largest economy for the next five years, with Vice President Xi Jinping taking over from outgoing President Hu Jintao as party chief.

The new members of the Politburo Standing Committee – the innermost circle of power in China’s authoritarian government – will emerge around 0300 GMT (10 p.m. EDT on Wednesday) after a closely controlled vote by the party’s new 205-member central committee, which was installed at the end of a five-yearly party congress on Wednesday.

Only Xi and Vice Premier Li Keqiang are certain to be on the new standing committee. Xi will take over Hu’s state position in March at the annual meeting of parliament, when Li will succeed Premier Wen Jiabao.

The committee is expected to be reduced to seven seats from nine to make consensus-building easier.

The other preferred candidates, according to sources close to the party leadership, are North Korean-trained economist Zhang Dejiang, financial guru Wang Qishan, minister of the party’s organization department Li Yuanchao, Tianjin’s party boss Zhang Gaoli, and the conservative Liu Yunshan, who has kept domestic media on a tight leash.

The list of the conservative-leaning preferred candidates was drawn up by Xi, Hu and Hu’s predecessor, Jiang Zemin, the sources said.

Wang, currently vice-premier in charge of economic affairs, is popular with foreign investors but seems set to lead the fight against corruption, having been elected to the party’s main anti-graft body on Wednesday.

Guangdong’s reform-minded party boss Wang Yang, Shanghai party boss Yu Zhengsheng and Liu Yandong, the lone woman, are dark horse candidates.

All eight of these people were on the list for the new central committee, the largest of the party’s top decision-making bodies. Exclusion from that committee means a person cannot progress to the Politburo or the standing committee.

The new leadership will emerge on Thursday morning to “meet the press” in a room in the cavernous, Soviet-style Great Hall of the People, which has been decked out in enormous red flags.

Intense secrecy has also surrounded who and how many will be promoted to the Politburo, a council of 20-odd members, and the all-powerful standing committee.

The composition of the two elite bodies could give clues to China’s political and economic direction, especially if they end up being dominated by conservatives.

Advocates of reform are pressing Xi to cut back the privileges of state-owned firms, make it easier for rural migrants to settle in cities, fix a fiscal system that encourages local governments to live off land expropriations and, above all, tether the powers of a state that they say risks suffocating growth and fanning discontent.

With growing public anger and unrest over everything from corruption to environmental degradation, there may also be cautious efforts to answer calls for more political reform, though nobody seriously expects a move towards full democracy.

The party could introduce experimental measures to broaden inner-party democracy – in other words, encouraging greater debate within the party – but stability remains a top concern and one-party rule will be safeguarded.

Another decision to watch will be chairman of the Central Military Commission. Hu may or may not choose to stay on in that post for a year or two, as did his predecessor, Jiang.

Which standing committee member gets which portfolio depends, in this hierarchical and top-down state, on the order members appear for the first time together on stage.

While the first person out will be Xi, signifying his position as party leader and president-designate, the party’s second-ranked position is head of the largely rubber stamp parliament, leaving the premier in third place.

But portfolios of the second and third-ranked leaders are likely to be reversed, giving Li higher status, sources have said.

Fourth position has historically been occupied by the head of the ceremonial advisory body to parliament, while fifth could be either vice president or propaganda tsar, sixth the executive vice premier and seventh the person in charge of fighting graft.

One position almost certain to go is that held by Zhou Yongkang, the domestic security tsar, reflecting fears the role has become too powerful.

(Additional reporting by Benjamin Kang Lim; Editing by Nick Macfie and Raju Gopalakrishnan)

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Android 4.2 For Nexus 7, Galaxy Nexus Now Available

When Google’s Nexus 10 tablet was unveiled recently, it was running Android 4.2, a new version which adds several features. That version is coming to your Nexus 7 or Galaxy Nexus device as well. Here’s what Android 4.2 brings, where to get it, and which Nexus devices are missing out.

​New features in Android 4.2

Mashable’s Christina Warren has the scoop on what Android 4.2′s bringing. Flashy additions include Daydream, a sort of screensaver for your smartphone or tablet, and Photo Sphere, a new way to take panoramic photographs that capture the whole world around you. Right now you can only see Photo Sphere images on Google+ or in Google Maps, but according to David Ruddock of the Android Police blog Google has made it so “Anyone could, in theory, build a Photo Sphere viewer.”

Less immediately noticeable improvements include a Swype-style gesture keyboard, where you don’t need to type individual letters, and a feature that lets multiple people share the same Android tablet without their apps and things getting in each others’ way. You’ll also be able to mirror your Android device’s screen on your HDTV, Apple AirPlay style, although instead of an Apple TV box you’ll need a third-party wireless display adapter.

​Who’s getting the upgrade now

Nexus 7 owners are already beginning to receive the Android 4.2 upgrade over the air. Your tablet will automatically check for it every so often, but if you want to hurry it along you can go to Settings -> About tablet -> System updates, and tell it to check again. You can also download it from Google and manually install it using Liam Spradlin’s instructions, although this is not recommended unless you’re an experienced Android hacker and are using the Wi-Fi version of the Nexus 7.

Galaxy Nexus owners who bought their phones from a wireless carrier have had to wait an unusually long time for upgrades, as long as several months after a new Android version’s announced. If you bought your Galaxy Nexus phone from a wireless carrier, an upgrade probably won’t be available anytime soon. People who purchased their Galaxy Nexus from the Google Play store are reporting that they are getting the upgrade, though, and Spradlin again has instructions for how to install manually if you are using a Galaxy Nexus bought from the Google Play store.​

Who’s being left out

While announcing that Android 4.2′s programming code was being released to the Android Open-Source Project, Google rep Jean-Baptiste Queru said “There is no support for 4.2 on Nexus S and Xoom.” The Nexus S was a Nexus smartphone released about two years ago, in late 2010, while the Motorola Xoom was the first tablet released (in early 2011) running the Honeycomb version of Android. The Xoom was not an official Nexus device, but was also made in close partnership with Google, and showcased the latest Android software.

Both devices received upgrades to Android 4.1, the first Jelly Bean version. It looks like this is where the upgrade train ends for them, though, after almost two years of support. In contrast, Apple’s iPhone 3GS, released in mid-2009, just recently received an upgrade to the latest version of iOS.

Jared Spurbeck is an open-source software enthusiast, who uses an Android phone and an Ubuntu laptop PC. He has been writing about technology and electronics since 2008.

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NBC names new “Today” show chiefs

(Reuters) – Comcast‘s NBC has appointed two executives to take charge of the “Today” show, a day after the television network announced that longtime producer Jim Bell would be leaving to take a larger role in the sports division.

Don Nash, a broadcast producer who has worked on NBC’s morning show for 23 years, will become the executive producer, reporting to Alexandra Wallace, who has been named executive in charge of the show.

The reshuffling is part of NBC efforts to revive the “Today” show, which has been in a back-and-forth ratings war with ABC’s “Good Morning America” ever since ABC snapped NBC’s 16-year unbeaten streak earlier in the year.

“Today” is one of NBC’s most profitable TV shows, generating $ 485 million in ad revenues in 2011, up 6.6 percent from 2010, according to Kantar Media, which provides data to advertisers. Rival “Good Morning America” took in $ 299 million last year.

NBC said on Tuesday that former executive producer Bell would be leaving the morning show to become a full-time executive producer of the Olympics. The network has a contract to broadcast the Olympics in the United States for the next four games in Russia, Brazil, South Korea and an unnamed host city in 2020.

Bell, who has headed the show since 2005, was blamed this year for the controversial firing of Ann Curry as anchor alongside Matt Lauer.

Reuters had previously reported in August that Bell was in line for a kind of uber-producing sports role like the one Dick Ebersol – NBC’s longtime Olympics executive producer and former sports chief who served as a mentor to Bell – played for the network.

(Reporting By Liana B. Baker; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)

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FDA seeks more authority amid meningitis outbreak

WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of the Food and Drug Administration asked Congress Wednesday for more authority to police pharmacies like the one that triggered a deadly meningitis outbreak, even as lawmakers questioned why the agency didn’t do more with its existing powers.

FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg called for new laws to clarify her agency’s authority to crack down on companies like the New England Compounding Center, which distributed contaminated pain injections that have sickened more than 460 Americans and caused 32 deaths.

Members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee spent most of the first hearing on the outbreak questioning state and federal regulators about why they didn’t act sooner against the company.

A timeline assembled by the committee’s Republican staff showed that the FDA and the Massachusetts board of pharmacy investigated the pharmacy more than a dozen times in the past decade. In particular, lawmakers pointed to a 2002 FDA inspection that found contamination issues with the same steroid implicated in the latest recall.

“I was stunned and angered to learn that an inspection of the NECC by the FDA and the Massachusetts board of pharmacy over 10 years ago identified contamination in the very same drug at issue in the current outbreak,” said Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., who chairs the committee.

Hamburg told lawmakers that the problems uncovered in inspections were “very serious,” but that the agency was obligated to defer to Massachusetts authorities, who have more direct oversight over pharmacies.

Hamburg emphasized repeatedly the difficulty of taking action against compounding pharmacies, which have long operated in a legal gray area between state and federal law.

“The challenge we have today is that there is a patchwork of legal authorities that oversee the regulatory actions we can take,” said Hamburg, who was nominated to head the FDA by President Obama in 2009.

Compounding pharmacies traditionally fill special orders placed by doctors for individual patients, turning out a small number of customized formulas each week. They are typically overseen by state pharmacy boards.

In the last two decades some compounders, like the NECC, have grown into large businesses that ship thousands of doses of drugs to multiple states. Hamburg said that when her agency tries to intervene in those cases they face a “crazy quilt,” of court rulings, which are split on whether the federal government has authority over pharmacies.

Republicans pressed Hamburg to answer simple “yes or no” questions about the agency’s stance, to which she countered with lengthy, nuanced explanations. Lawmakers repeatedly accused the commissioner of evading their questions.

“You’re the grand poobah of the FDA and I’m asking you, ‘could you have prevented this tragedy?’ and you’re saying you couldn’t have because you don’t have jurisdiction,” said Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., in one particularly heated exchange.

“No, I’m saying it’s very hard to know if any one action we might have taken would have stopped this terrible tragedy,” Hamburg said.

Even some Democrats, who normally side with Obama administration officials at such hearings, seemed to lose their patience.

“We have to figure out how to give you the jurisdiction to do what you need to do … and these inconclusive answers are not helping us,” said Rep. Diana DeGette, D- Colo.

In prepared testimony, Hamburg suggested putting in place a two-tier system in which traditional compounding pharmacies continue to be regulated at the state level, but larger pharmacies would be subject to FDA oversight. Hamburg said regulators would have to consider multiple factors, including how much interstate business a pharmacy does, to identify non-traditional compounders.

These non-traditional pharmacies would have to register with the FDA and undergo regular inspections, similar to pharmaceutical manufacturers. Large compounding pharmacies would also have to meet the more stringent manufacturing standards required of pharmaceutical companies.

Earlier in the hearing, the owner and director of the NECC declined to testify, invoking his Fifth Amendment right to not answer questions in order to avoid self-incrimination.

Despite his silence, lawmakers repeatedly pressed Barry Cadden to account for the problems that led to the outbreak.

“Mr. Cadden, what explanation can you give the families who have lost their loved ones, and those who are gravely ill, for the actions of your company?” asked Stearns, who heads the subcommittee on oversight and investigations.

Flanked by two lawyers, Cadden told lawmakers, “Under advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer under basis of my constitutional rights and privileges, including the Fifth Amendment.”

Federal officials have opened a criminal investigation of Cadden and the NECC.

The Framingham, Mass.-based pharmacy has been closed since early last month, and Massachusetts officials have taken steps to permanently revoke its license.

Inspections last month found a host of potential contaminants at NECC’s facility, including standing water, mold and water droplets. Compounded drugs are supposed to be prepared in temperature-controlled clean rooms to maintain sterility.

Cadden appeared immediately after the widow of a longtime Kentucky judge, who died of fungal meningitis after receiving multiple doses of NECC’s steroid injection. Fungal meningitis causes inflammation of the lining of the brain and spinal cord.

Speaking without notes, Joyce Lovelace told lawmakers of more than 50 years of marriage to 78-year-old Eddie Lovelace, who was a circuit judge before his death on Sept. 17 at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

“My family is bitter, we are angry, we are heartbroken and devastated. I come here begging you to do something about the matter,” Lovelace said.

Health officials say as many as 14,000 people received the methylprednisolone acetate steroid shots, mostly for back pain. The Centers for Disease Control later showed that at least two lots of the injections distributed to 23 states were contaminated with fungus. The outbreak was first discovered in September, though CDC officials say the earliest deaths connected to the outbreak date back to July.

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Best Buy CEO sets goals; Wall Street begs for more details

(Reuters) – Best Buy Co Inc hopes to triple its operating margins over time, the company said on Tuesday, though investors and analysts were left wanting for details on how – and how soon – the new chief executive would turn around the world’s largest consumer electronics chain.

The aggressive new targets come as Best Buy faces cut-throat competition from online and discount retailers like Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Amazon.com Inc .

CEO Hubert Joly got a difficult reception at an investor day in New York, as people questioned whether management was focusing too much on wringing higher sales out of existing customers rather than attracting new ones. Joly was named CEO on August 20.

“I still think I am a little bit mixed on digesting the take-aways of the presentation. I think they said a lot of good things, but I think people were looking for a little bit more of a playbook and the next steps,” said John Tomlinson, an analyst with ITG Investment Research, in New York. “There’s a lot of pieces to the fixing story that seemed a little opaque and vague.”

Best Buy’s stock closed nearly 1 percent lower at $ 15.70 on Tuesday, continuing a slide that has knocked off a third of the company‘s market capitalization this year. The stock touched a 10-year low of $ 14.39 a week ago.

Dimitri van Toren, senior portfolio manager at Dutch asset manager Syntrus Achmea, which holds about 200,000 Best Buy shares, said he was worried about structural issues and a “management vacuum” at the retailer, but that he would stay in the stock despite concerns about the upcoming holiday season.

The meeting took place against the backdrop of a potential buyout offer from founder and former CEO Richard Schulze, who is expected to make an offer as soon as next month.

“I spend no time worrying about what our corporate structure will be,” Joly told reporters after the event. “I tend to focus on decisions I can influence rather than decisions I can’t influence.”

A representative for Schulze did not immediately respond to a request seeking his thoughts on Joly’s plan.

Joly said “it would have been ridiculous” to offer more concrete details after only a few weeks on the job. He said this meeting was more about setting the record straight and reassuring investors about the company’s future.

“The perception was that Best Buy was dying,” Joly said.

MARGIN TARGETS

In a statement on Tuesday, the company said its short-term goal will be “to stabilize and then begin increasing its comparable-store sales and operating margin.” Over time, it is aiming for a return on invested capital of 13 percent to 15 percent, in addition to a 5 percent to 6 percent operating margin target.

In the last fiscal year, Best Buy had an operating margin of about 2.1 percent. The last time that margin exceeded 5 percent was in the fiscal year that ended in early 2008.

Joly said a mixture of excessive costs and price competition hurt margins, and that the retailer would turn to a wider variety of higher-margin, private-label products to boost results. One example is the company’s own Insignia-brand electronics.

Best Buy has been struggling to combat a phenomenon known as “showrooming,” where people visit its stores to look at products and then buy them online for less.

Joly acknowledged the company has suffered from a “price perception issue” among customers that it needed to address, as well as weakness in its online operations.

The head of the company’s digital business said its online conversion rate – which measures how successfully Best Buy translates customer visits into actual sales – was only about half of what it should be.

“Many of these problems are a result of our own making,” Joly said during the investor presentation.

HOLIDAYS COMING

Best Buy also said on Tuesday that it would pursue a plan to “optimize its store footprint on an ongoing basis,” which suggested the company may look at ways to shrink or close stores, as some other big-box retailers have done. In late March, the company said it would close 50 large U.S. stores.

Joly warned that merely closing stores would not boost operating income, as most of the big-box stores are already profitable. Relocation to smaller space may be an option, however; he said 71 percent of the large-format stores have leases expiring within the next six years.

The details of Joly’s long-awaited plan came roughly a week before the unofficial start of the year’s biggest selling season.

The retailer, which has posted declines in same-store sales in eight of the last nine quarters, warned last month it expected earnings and same-store sales to fall again in the third quarter.

“I am already sick and tired of negative comps,” Joly said, referring to same-store sales figures.

The CEO also admitted a number of past investments have not paid off and promised the new leadership would be “prudent” about that in the future, a nod to Wall Street’s lingering concerns about spending by past management.

(Reporting by Dhanya Skariachan in New York; Writing by Ben Berkowitz; Editing by Maureen Bavdek, Phil Berlowitz, Matthew Lewis and Jan Paschal)

Business News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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