1 of 4. Medical assistant Maria Cortez (R) checks the blood pressure of a patient at the La Clinica Del Pueblo community health clinic in Washington August 2, 2012.

WASHINGTON | Thu Aug 9, 2012 9:29am EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As she was ushered into surgery eight years ago, Paula was confident that doctors at Washington's Howard University Hospital would find the cancer that had been growing in her right breast for months. She was less certain about where she would wake up the next day.

"I felt scared because of the stories in other states ... It was always in the back of my mind that a doctor, or an immigration officer dressed as a doctor, could take me," said Paula, 60, of the fear that she would be exposed as an undocumented immigrant and deported.

Still cancer-free, Paula, who asked to have her last name withheld, waits in the tiny chapel of La Clinica Del Pueblo, a community health clinic in Washington, DC, where she receives routine care.

She and other illegal immigrants worry that their ability to access healthcare at facilities like La Clinica will become even more risky once President Barack Obama's healthcare law takes effect. The reform requires all U.S. citizens and permanent residents to obtain health insurance, either through the government-run Medicaid program for the poor or by purchasing private insurance via state exchanges starting in 2014.

It also bars undocumented immigrants from participating. As more low-income citizens receive insurance, the fear is that many of the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants will be easier to identify just because they lack coverage.

"It's my 3 a.m. nightmare," said Alicia Wilson, La Clinica's executive director. "While we do not collect information about the immigration status of our patients, the fact that they will be uninsured could be taken as ‘code' for also being undocumented."

Paula is one of thousands of undocumented immigrants who benefit from the DC Health Care Alliance, one of the most generous taxpayer-funded health plans in the country for patients regardless of income or immigration status. Looking out at La Clinica's crowded waiting room, she firmly clasps the card that gives her membership in the program.

"This is the card that opens a lot of doors ... This clinic has protected us and it is helping us to get the help we need regardless of the risks," said Paula, who entered the United States from Mexico on foot nearly 10 years ago.

In recent years, funding for both the clinic and the healthcare alliance has come under fire from conservative groups who oppose using tax dollars to pay for the care of illegal immigrants, as local governments already struggle with budget cuts in a weak economy.

Wilson and other advocates see that opposition gaining momentum once the healthcare law takes effect, particularly in states where anti-immigration sentiment runs high.

THE PARADOX OF MIXED STATUS

The 4 million U.S.-born children of such immigrants are also vulnerable when policies on immigration and healthcare collide.

According to the Urban Institute, nearly 1 in 10 U.S. families with children are of "mixed status," with at least one parent who is undocumented and one child who is a citizen.

These children are likely to be eligible for insurance, including the government-sponsored Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). But many remain out of the system because of their parents' dread that the undocumented spouse will be identified and deported, since U.S. immigration authorities, part of the Department of Homeland Security, must verify a child's residency status.

"You've got a community that's caught in the nexus, the crossroads of two different laws," said Jennifer Ng'andu, a lawyer and deputy health policy director at the National Council of La Raza - a national Latino civil rights and advocacy group.

According to Ng'andu, 8 percent of children from families where both parents are U.S. citizens don't have insurance, compared with 25 percent in households where children live with at least one undocumented parent.

Robert Rector, a senior researcher at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said that making it easier for such families will set an unwelcome precedent that the country cannot afford, even if their children were born within its borders.

"These kids are very expensive. They are getting on average $10,000 a year in public education and welfare and other services that their parents are really going to never earn enough to pay for," Rector said. "If you say this child was born in the U.S. and therefore gets to stay and we're not going to do anything about it, you're kind of creating an unlimited open avenue for future illegal immigration."

FEAR OF EXPOSURE

Elisabeth, 26, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico City, is a single mother with three children, two of them U.S. citizens. Her worry that government authorities might split up her family is present each time she takes them to the doctor.

"I have a fear of hospitals, questions about my status and am always worried that the police will intervene, that my children will be taken away from me," she said. "I live in the fear with every document I fill out, that it all goes to immigration."

Elisabeth, who also asked for her full name to be withheld, said her own health has been compromised as a result. For two years she suffered in silence as a victim of domestic violence, enduring repeated beatings by her then partner and having her ribs broken while pregnant with her youngest child. The couple has since separated.

The healthcare she has received - such as giving birth to her children in the hospital - has been organized by Mary's Center, another community clinic in the Washington area, and through the DC Health Care Alliance.

While immigrants do have legal protections that allow them to receive care from hospitals and other providers without endangering their status, even the slightest chance of exposure can be terrifying. In the first half of 2011, 46,486 who claimed to have at least one U.S. citizen child were deported, U.S. Immigration and Customs reported.

SPREADING THE RISK

Ezekiel Emmanuel, a senior Obama healthcare advisor, acknowledges the concern that the law may expose immigrants.

"We were all aware of it," he says. "Is that a negative tradeoff for getting universal coverage? Yes ... It's a visible consequence that we couldn't do anything about given the politics of the situation."

As the political debate over healthcare becomes increasingly focused on cutting costs, experts expect more scrutiny on the fate of undocumented immigrants.

"We're in a time of fiscal austerity where you have 8 percent unemployment among predominantly legal citizens and yet you continue to have a system that openly invites illegal immigrants to come and stay," says the Heritage Foundation's Rector. "The first solution to the healthcare costs is to enforce the law (barring employment to illegal immigrants)."

Some health policy experts disagree, saying U.S. citizens would benefit even more if the health law included undocumented immigrants within its requirements.

Even when immigrants have insurance, their health costs amount to only half or two-thirds of the expenditures seen with U.S.-born citizens, according to a 2009 study by Leighton Ku, director of the Center for Health Policy Research at George Washington University.

"Many people think immigrants are overusing and overtaking emergency rooms, yet all the data shows they use emergency rooms less than citizens. They use everything less than citizens," he said.

Broadening the pool of insured people to include those who use less health care means a larger population can help shoulder the costs of sicker Americans. State health insurance exchanges, which will allow individuals to buy subsidized health plans starting in 2014, exclude illegal immigrants, leaving out millions of young, healthy people who could otherwise spread the risk.

Health insurers are seeking a way around the problem, according to a senior official at one of the largest U.S. insurance companies.

"Here you've got a law which says everybody has to have coverage, but you have classes of people without access to coverage," the official told Reuters on condition of anonymity. "Washington makes it very difficult for us to do the right thing.

"Obviously, we're capitalistic and we want to make money, but at the same time we want the health system to work better, and the health system works better when people have access to coverage."

An estimated 600,000 undocumented workers have private insurance plans through employer-sponsored programs. But they may lose out if their employers can't manage those same plans within the state health insurance exchanges, or if premiums rise. The Restaurant Opportunities Center of Los Angeles, which provides affordable health coverage to 75,000 undocumented restaurant workers, is trying to figure that out.

"It's not merely that they are not eligible for the subsidies, but that they cannot even get a policy from the health insurance exchanges even if they wanted to pay the full cost themselves," Ku said. "If you're an undocumented alien, we still let you go to the store and buy cereal or go to a car dealer and buy a car."

(Editing by Michele Gershberg and Prudence Crowther)

View the original article here

* Q2 net profit ex-items $45 mln vs $28 mln

* Q2 revenue up 21 pct to $168.6 mln

* Sees Q3 revenue $152-$162 mln

JERUSALEM, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Israeli chipmaker TowerJazz forecast a weaker third quarter after posting second-quarter profit that handily beat estimates.

TowerJazz projects revenue of $152-$162 million in the July-September period that would bring revenue for the first nine months of 2012 to $489-$499 million - up 12 to 14 percent over the same period a year ago.

Boosted by improved margins following its acquisition last year of a facility in Nishiwaki, TowerJazz recorded net profit of $45 million in the second quarter excluding one-time items, compared with profit of $28 million a year earlier.

Revenue grew 21 percent to $168.6 million.

Analysts had been looking for profit of $30-$35 million.

TowerJazz cited a tough global economy for its expectation for revenue over the second quarter.

"We are seeing some fluctuations in the market with several of our largest customers down in their revenue and their revenue guidance quarter-over-quarter," said Russell Ellwanger, TowerJazz's chief executive.

View the original article here

A man grabs his briefcase as he waits in line to speak with employers at the UJA-Federation Connect to Care job fair in New York, March 21, 2012.

WASHINGTON | Thu Aug 9, 2012 4:52pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits unexpectedly fell last week, offering hope that some of last month's improvement in job growth could be sustained and give the U.S. economy a lift.

Other data on Thursday was also positive with the international trade deficit in June the smallest in 1-1/2 years as the petroleum import bill dropped sharply.

While the smaller trade gap implied upward revisions to the government's estimate of second-quarter gross domestic product published last month, the impact was blunted somewhat by an unexpected drop in wholesale stocks in June.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits slipped 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 361,000, the Labor Department said. Economists had expected claims to rise to 370,000 last week.

The data came after a Labor Department report last week showed that in July employers hired the most workers in five months.

"The fact that initial jobless claims have fallen back to their March lows suggests faster employment gains will continue to support consumer spending in the coming months," said Harm Bandholz, chief U.S. economist at UniCredit Research in New York.

U.S. nonfarm payrolls increased 163,000 in July after three months of gains below 100,000. But the unemployment rate rose by a tenth of a percentage point to 8.3 percent.

Last week's jobless benefit claims report was the first in several weeks not affected by auto plant shutdowns, which caused wide swings in claims in July, making it difficult to get a clean reading on the jobs market.

A second report from the Commerce Department on Thursday showed the shortfall on the trade balance narrowed 10.7 percent to $42.9 billion, the smallest since December 2010, as low oil prices curbed imports.

That was below economists' expectations for a $47.5 billion deficit. The oil import bill fell $2.2 billion to 32.9 billion, the lowest since February. That was as the average price per barrel of crude oil dropped by the most since January 2009.

The reports helped the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index eke out a small gain and extend its rally for a fifth day on the New York stock market. Prices for U.S. government debt edged down, while the dollar rose broadly.

EXPORTS HIT RECORD HIGH

Immediately after the trade report, economists forecast the initial second-quarter U.S. GDP growth estimate would be revised to as high as 2.2 percent, but tempered those predictions after a later report showed a decline in wholesale inventories in June.

Second-quarter growth is now seen revised up to an annual pace of at least 1.8 percent from 1.5 percent. The government will publish its second GDP estimate later this month.

Total wholesale inventories slipped 0.2 percent, the largest fall since September, after being flat in May, as the value of petroleum stocks tumbled 8.7 percent - the largest drop since October 2008.

Inventory changes are a key component of GDP and contributed about a third of a percentage point to growth in the second quarter. Trade cut almost a third of a percentage point from GDP growth.

Exports in June increased 0.9 percent to a record $185.0 billion, with consumer goods such as pharmaceuticals posting strong gains. Motor vehicle exports increased 5.7 percent.

Overall imports of goods and services declined 1.5 percent to $227.9 billion. Outside petroleum, there were decreases in consumer goods imports, underscoring the weak domestic demand. The country imported less food and capital goods in June.

However, industrial supplies and motor vehicle imports rose.

"As long as we can keep selling more of our goods across the world, the economy can grow at a moderate pace," said Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors in Holland, Pennsylvania.

"Despite all the craziness in Europe and the slowdowns in Asia, our exports managed to increase. We shipped more of just about everything except food."

While exports showed strength in June, anecdotal evidence suggests a slowdown because of weak global demand. The Institute for Supply Management's export index declined in July for a third straight month.

There also are concerns that the worst U.S. drought since 1956, which has ravaged half of the country, could hit agricultural exports.

U.S. exports to the 27-nation European Union, in the grip of a continuing debt crisis that has slowed growth on the continent, increased 1.7 percent in June to $23.3 billion.

Exports to China, which is also growing more slowly than in recent years, fell 4.3 percent in June. Economists believed the drop in imports would be temporary, especially with the labor market improvement expected to lift consumer spending.

"A stronger labor market implies better consumer spending ahead, which will certainly lead to more robust trade figures," said Omair Sharif, an economist at RBS in Stamford, Connecticut.

"We will end up importing more and get the deficit widening. But that's not necessarily a bad thing."

(Lucia.Mutikani@thomsonreuters.com)

View the original article here

* Value not disclosed, includes up to 125 staff

* Digia to make Qt available for iOS, Android, Windows

HELSINKI Aug 9 (Reuters) - Struggling cellphone maker Nokia has agreed to sell its Qt software business to Finnish IT services firm Digia Oyj as part of its strategy to sell off non-core assets.

The companies did not disclose the value of the deal, which analysts said was a fraction of the $150 million Nokia paid for Norway's Trolltech in 2008.

The software is used by some 450,000 developers for making applications for some 70 industries.

Up to 125 employees working on developing and licensing the software will move from Nokia to Digia, the companies said on Thursday.

Nokia bought the software through its acquisition of Trolltech and it was a central part of its strategy until 2011 when it decided to swap its own smartphone software for Microsoft's Windows Phone.

Digia said it planned to make Qt available for making applications for Apple's iOS platform, Google's Android and Microsoft Windows 8.

View the original article here

1 of 2. A customer walks past a glass case displaying Maotai liquors with different price tags at a supermarket in Shenyang, Liaoning province August 8, 2012.

HONG KONG/SHANGHAI | Thu Aug 9, 2012 10:59pm EDT

HONG KONG/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - The makers of China's fiery liquor baijiu, a pricey, potent drink that is a staple at state dinners, say it inspires poets and can even ward off dementia.

For investors in the largest baijiu makers Kweichow Moutai Co Ltd and Wuliangye Yibin Co Ltd, the appeal is more mundane: the companies paid out huge dividends and raised earnings forecasts when a slowing economy had prompted dozens of Chinese firms to issue profit warnings.

Demand for high-grade liquor at state banquets and premium pricing helped Moutai post an operating profit margin last year that was more than double that of tech giant Apple Inc, the world's most valuable company, Thomson Reuters data shows.

Moutai is even a partner of the Chinese Olympic Committee, pushing out a commemorative brew for the London 2012 games.

But the stellar first-half results that these companies are expected to report this month may mark the high point if Beijing cracks down on lavish baijiu-drenched banquets.

Moutai posted a 43 percent increase in first half net profit late on Thursday, yet its shares fell almost 4 percent on Friday as the growth fell short of what some analysts had predicted. Wuliangye is expected to announce its interim results after markets close on August 19.

Premier Wen Jiabao pledged in March to ban the use of public funds for luxury items including baijiu, which retails for about $300 per standard bottle and well into the thousands for rare, aged varieties.

"It really depends on how strongly the government would like to execute this policy," said Melinda Zhang, a manager in the consumer and retail practice at the consultancy Booz & Co, who has studied the baijiu sector.

"In the long term, we see the China baijiu market keeping stable growth," she added. "The demand is there. Consumption behavior of businesses and the government will not have significant change."

DRYING UP

At the five-star Okura Garden Hotel in Shanghai, a top banquet venue, the beverage manager, surnamed Liao, said baijiu sales had dropped more than 20 percent since March.

In Tianjin, a bustling port city near the capital Beijing, Moutai sales were down by as much as 50 percent over the past half year, the official China Daily reported in late July.

Some localities have introduced their own rules, like prohibitions on drinking at lunch, to improve the image of government officials. In Jiangsu province's Siyang county, public expenditures on receptions had been cut by two-thirds, the Shanghai-based Oriental Morning Post reported.

The clamp-down on government profligacy, a hot-button issue in China where ordinary people sometimes associate officialdom with boozy banquets and corruption, comes ahead of the sensitive once-in-a-decade political transition later this year.

Yet fund managers and sell-side analysts have remained almost uniform in their bullishness on Moutai and Wuliangye, in part premised on the companies' ambitious earnings guidance. Wuliangye is predicting a 51 percent jump in first-half profit.

Of the 22 analysts tracking Wuliangye, 21 rate it a 'strong buy' or 'buy,' according to Thomson Reuters StarMine. For Moutai, 17 of 18 have a 'buy' or 'strong buy' rating.

While onshore Chinese stock markets fell 33 percent over 2010 and 2011, Moutai was a standout outperformer, surging 25 percent. Wuliangye rose a more modest 3.6 percent.

In 2012, Shanghai-listed Moutai is up 35 percent, while Shenzhen-listed Wuliangye is up 14.2 percent. This compares with a 2.8 percent gain in the CSI300 Index of the top Shanghai and Shenzhen listings.

"In the awful (stock) market conditions of the last two-and-a-half years, the outperformance of baijiu stocks has got to do with their earnings visibility," said Cao Xuefeng, head of research at Huaxi Securities in Chengdu. "Growth for the sector will stay high, but rates of growth will slow down."

Moutai and Wuliangye currently trade at 16.6 and 13.2 times their respective forward 12-month earnings, at the low end among shares of companies classified as "consumer staples" in China.

Wuliangye did not respond to repeated interview requests and Moutai declined to comment for this story.

BRIDGE TO THE WORLD

Baijiu, which translates to "white spirits," traces its roots back centuries and is made from a mixture of grains including rice, wheat and corn. It packs a punch similar to vodka, with an alcohol content typically above 50 percent, and is normally downed fast and neat in tiny shots.

On their websites, Moutai and Wuliangye both boast of their firms' long histories. Moutai also claims health benefits, saying moderate drinking "keeps the dementia away" and even helped a 92-year-old man re-grow his teeth.

But it is demand from the Communist Party that drives sales.

"As liquor for state banquet, Wuliangye has become an envoy and bridge between China and the outside," Wuliangye said on its website, adding that "many famous scholars, poets (and) generals in history have got addicted to the marvelous flavor."

That bridge to the outside has reached investors including BlackRock Asset Management, which is listed among the top 10 shareholders in both Wuliangye and Moutai.

But the alcohol itself has found few foreign fans. Some 98 percent of Wuliangye's 20.35 billion yuan ($3.19 billion) in revenue last year was domestic. For Moutai, 97 percent of its 18.4 billion yuan in revenue last year came from within China.

"There is almost no export market. 'Laowais' (foreigners) don't drink that thing," said Hong Hao, chief equity strategist at Bank of Communications International Securities.

Indeed, some foreigners have likened drinking baijiu to swallowing razor blades or jet fuel. That suggests China will struggle to follow the lead of Japan, which succeeded in making sake a popular global drink.

British drinks company Diageo Plc is trying. Last year, Diageo bought a majority stake in Sichuan Swellfun Co Ltd, maker of Shui Jing Fang baijiu, a deal that the company said would "enable us to bring one of the leading Chinese white spirits brands to international markets."

So far, those international markets are limited to places such as San Francisco and London, where wealthy Chinese tourists snap up baijiu because it is cheaper overseas and buyers believe they run less of a risk of picking up a counterfeit bottle.

Paul Mathew, a British bar owner and drink consultant living in Beijing, said he did some baijiu experimenting for Diageo. One example was the Shui Jing Fang Grapefruit Sour, which mixes a shot of baijiu with pink grapefruit juice, lemon juice, cinnamon syrup and an egg white.

Derek Sandhaus, an American living in Chengdu, Sichuan, who chronicled his conversion from baijiu hater to enthusiast in a blog entitled "300 Shots at Greatness," said he developed a taste for the liquor after 75 attempts. The title of his blog, however, refers to one study that estimated it takes 300 shots to start to enjoy the stuff.

"There's definitely a cultural barrier in terms of cocktails," Sandhaus said.

HOME SHOPPING NETWORK

That leaves domestic consumption as the main driver.

But as demand slows, supply is building. Credit Suisse analysts said inventory growth hit a record high of 35 percent in 2011, outpacing sales growth.

"It doesn't matter if you have superior pricing power like Moutai does right now. That will disappear when there's oversupply," BoComm International's Hong told Reuters.

With an operating margin of 67 percent last year -- triple the industry median according to Thomson Reuters data -- Moutai can afford to lose a little pricing power. Wuliangye's margin was a relatively modest 42 percent, still double the industry median.

"In terms of margins, Kweichow Moutai has the advantage because most of what they produce is higher-quality liquor," said Yi Yangfang, a fund manager at Guangzhou-based GF Fund Management, which manages $7.9 billion worth of assets that includes stakes in both Kweichow Moutai and Wuliangye.

Some long-time China watchers said the government's crackdown on lavish banquets may not last long.

Paul French, a veteran Shanghai-based market consultant with the firm Mintel, said campaigns like the one launched by Wen, who is due to retire early next year, have tended to be cyclical and easy to circumvent.

"Every time they try to do anything like this people find a way around it... If you sit around long enough you'll come up against that story again in a few years," he said.

(Editing by Emily Kaiser and Ryan Woo)

View the original article here

n">Aug 9 (Reuters) - Research in Motion Ltd said a U.S. judge had ruled the company had not infringed on Mformation Technologies Inc's patent and overturned an award of $147.2 million that a jury said the Canadian firm should pay.

The verdict is a minor boost for RIM, whose stock has fallen more than 70 percent in the past year as customers abandon the BlackBerry in favor of Apple's iPhone and a slew of devices using Google Inc's Android software.

Mformation sued RIM in 2008, bringing claims on a patent for a process that remotely manages a wireless device over a wireless network, a court filing says.

In July, a northern California jury directed RIM to pay an $8 royalty for every BlackBerry device connected to RIM's enterprise server software, bringing the total award to $147.2 million.

RIM had argued that Mformation's patent claims were invalid because the processes were already being used when Mformation filed its patent application.

Judge James Ware said Mformation failed to establish that RIM had infringed on the company's patent and subsequently overturned the jury award, according to court papers.

"We appreciate the judge's careful consideration of this case. RIM did not infringe on Mformation's patent and we are pleased with this victory," Steve Zipperstein, RIM's Chief Legal Officer, said in a statement on Thursday.

Mformation has the right to appeal the ruling. However, if Mformation successfully appeals the ruling, the jury verdict would not be reinstated and instead a new trial would be conducted.

The case in U.S. District Court, Northern District of California is Mformation Technologies Inc vs. Research in Motion Ltd et al, 08-04990.

View the original article here

SOFIA | Wed Aug 8, 2012 1:08pm EDT

SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria hopes to draw tourists intrigued by ancient tombs, mosaics and sewage systems later this year, thanks to engineers excavating a new line for the Sofia metro who stumbled across a street of prime real estate - from the 4th century AD.

Beneath modern Sofia lie the remains of Serdica, a lively, cosmopolitan city where Constantine the Great, the first Christian Roman emperor, lived for a year while looking for a new capital for his empire.

City officials plan to put an array of Roman remains on display in the next month, from bath houses to mosaics and tombs, and hope this will attract foreign tourists and help revive the Balkan nation's struggling economy.

Some 750,000 foreign tourists a year visit Sofia, and the opening of the new Roman attractions should increase this number, says Rumen Draganov, head of Sofia's Institute for Tourism Analysis and Assessment.

"We expect about 320,000 tourists to visit the new sights in the first year alone," he said. Bulgaria, the poorest member of the European Union, earns some 1.7 billion euros, 5 percent of its gross domestic product, from the 8.5 million tourists a year who flock to its Black Sea and mountain ski resorts.

Until recently archaeologists wrongly regarded countries such as Greece, Italy and Turkey as the only classical areas worthy of study, said Philip Kiernan, Professor in Roman Archaeology of U.S. Buffalo University.

"Serdica was a major metropolis and contains the physical remains of Thracian, Greek, Roman and Byzantine cultures - so it should not be any less significant," he said.

"It's time to stop thinking about cities like Serdica as being peripheral to the classical world, and take them for the important sites that they really are".

'CONSTANTINE LIVED HERE'

Emperor Constantine lived in Serdica for over a year while looking for a new capital in 316 AD as he could no longer effectively control his empire from Rome, a choice Kiernan said was based on Serdica's geographical position.

"From there he could react fast to problems on the border as it was near the Danube frontier but also close to Asia Minor".

Little was known about his stay in the provincial city until a whole street of 4th-5th century AD houses were found during excavations for a new Sofia metro line.

"The constructions are mainly from the time when Serdica was the capital of the Roman province Inner Dacia - it was then that the city was at its largest and most flourishing," said archaeologist Mario Ivanov.

A museum due for completion this summer will display the mosaics, early sewage systems and private bath houses of the ancient Romans who lived there, giving a flavor of the life of a provincial Roman nobleman.

"We found floor mosaics containing symbolic Roman vine leaves, but also a wheel of fortune and the words 'Felix' inscribed, which were most likely to bring good fortune to the inhabitants," said Ivanov, who heads the excavation team.

Bulgaria hopes the remains of ancient Serdica will be one of the capital's biggest attractions, and aims to link the ancient Roman finds with remains from the medieval and Renaissance periods over an area of around 19,000 square meters.

Cafes and bookshops will be incorporated into the ancient complex, and visitors will also be able to explore the ruins through a marked path through the historic site.

"We hope that this venture will become the emblem of our capital," said Hristo Ganchev, head of Cultural Heritage, who is in charge of the 16 million lev EU-backed project.

ANCIENT CHRISTIAN TOMBS

Work is also forging ahead on an underground museum in one of the oldest functioning churches in Europe, which is due to open in September.

The Basilica of St Sophia dates back to the 5th century. Repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt, it served as a mosque during the Ottoman rule and is a remarkable mixture of Byzantine architecture, Islamic arches and Orthodox Christian icons.

Beneath the red-brick building, archaeologists found one of the first Christian catacombs. A well-preserved necropolis from the 4th century AD, containing around 100 tombs, will soon be ready for visitors.

Glass screens on the floor of the church will allow a view of the tombs from above, and narrow underground passages will allow visitors to explore the lighted crypts of the necropolis.

"The burial ground contains rich wall paintings made up of vine leaves, Maltese crosses and other early Christian symbols," said Yunian Meshekov, lead archaeologist of the excavations under the St Sophia Church.

Sofia has thousands of ancient sarcophagi scattered beneath the city centre, and the tombs discovered below the church are thought to hold the remains of early Christian dignitaries.

"They are most likely to be of wealthy citizens of Serdica who were related either to the new religion or to the actual church and there is a possibility that the remains of an early bishop are there," says Meshekov.

(Editing by Tim Pearce)

(This story was refiled to fix spelling mistake in first paragraph)

View the original article here

* Jan-June net profit $312 mln, beats consensus

* Core operating profit falls 22 pct, Europe weak

* Shares up 3 percent ahead of results

HONG KONG, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Supply chain manager Li & Fung Ltd, whose global distribution and trading centres make it a useful barometer of consumer sentiment, reported its half-year core operating profit slipped by more than a fifth due to a slower-than-expected turnaround of its LF USA unit and weak demand in Europe.

The Hong Kong-based group, which manages supply chains for major retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Target Corp, said, however, that net profit rose by a third as it booked write-backs on two 2010 acquisitions.

Analysts had predicted that U.S. retailers would be actively re-stocking as consumer confidence improves, boosting top-line growth at Li & Fung this year, but latest data showed spending by consumers fell in June for the first time in nearly a year.

January-June net profit rose to US$312 million from a restated $235.5 million a year ago, beating an average forecast for $272.4 million from five analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. Li & Fung reports every six months in U.S. dollars. Core operating profit fell 22 percent to $221 million.

The company, valued at $16.7 billion, was founded early last century as a trader in porcelain, jade and silk. It now provides one-stop supply chain management - from product design, raw material sourcing and manufacturing to shipping and wholesale.

It is halfway through an ambitious 3-year growth plan and aims to expand its sourcing network to generate higher profits.

In a statement, the company said that while first-half core operating profit was relatively weak, the group was "very focused on taking the necessary steps to improve the second-half results and set the stage for 2013, the last year of its current three-year plan."

U.S. contributions to revenue for Li & Fung are the lowest ever at 60 percent, while Europe's is at a 5-year low at 21 percent as of end-December, Thomson Reuters data shows.

Li & Fung employs more than 28,000 staff worldwide and has a sourcing network of over 15,000 suppliers. The United States and Europe traditionally account for about 90 percent of its business.

The company said in May that its orders had not been affected by a slowing China economy, and it expected China to remain its main sourcing market over the next three years.

EARNINGS REVISED

Analysts have revised down their full-year Li & Fung earnings estimates on concern that high operating costs will keep margin growth in check. They say Li & Fung will have to rely on acquisitions to meet its targeted core operating profit of $1.5 billion in 2013.

Li & Fung's January-June core operating profit margin fell to 2.4 percent from 3.2 percent.

The company is seen as a potential bidder for Los Angeles-based J Brand, a women's apparel maker which hired Morgan Stanley to help it explore its strategic options, including a sale or an initial public offering.

Last month, analysts at Citi raised longer-term concerns over Li & Fung losing customers after U.S. clients such as children's clothing firm Carter's Inc and Gymboree Corp moved towards direct sourcing.

Eleven of the 20 analysts covering Li & Fung rate the stock a 'buy' or 'strong buy', with four recommending investors 'sell' the stock, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Li & Fung shares have risen around 17 percent since hitting a 9-month low late last month. The stock ended up 3.1 percent at a 13-week closing high of HK$15.98 ahead of the results on Thursday.

View the original article here

Thu Aug 9, 2012 2:14pm EDT

n">(Reuters) - Erica McGillivray grew tired of being asked by comic book store employees if she was buying the latest issue of "Batwoman" or "Birds of Prey" for her boyfriend.

So McGillivray, a 28-year-old "Star Trek" and comics fan, joined a group that believed women like her needed a geeky celebration to call their own.

McGillivray is now president of GeekGirlCon, the female answer to the male-dominated Comic-Con pop culture conference. The organization will hold its second convention this weekend.

The first GeekGirlCon in October 2011 drew numbers so large that organizers had to turn people away. So for its second convention the group found a bigger venue, trading seven rooms of meeting space for a downtown Seattle conference center.

Some 7,000 attendees are expected over Saturday and Sunday from throughout the United States and from as far away as Australia -- some dressed as Princess Leia, Wonder Woman or other geek heroes and heroines.

Big companies are taking notice of women's interest in all things geek. Video game maker Electronic Arts signed up to sponsor GeekGirlCon and will bring some of its titles, including an NHL game with a female hockey player.

"Women have always been a part of geek culture," said McGillivray, who started watching "Star Trek: The Next Generation" at age 3 with her mother. "We've just been in such small numbers, or kind of pushed to the fringes, that we haven't really been seen before."

BRING ON GIRL GAMERS

GeekGirlCon has emerged as the ranks of females among video game players has risen to 47 percent, according to the Entertainment Software Association.

Much of the female gaming increase comes from casual and social games played on mobile phones and Facebook, said Jesse Divnich, an analyst at video game research firm EEDAR. Female buyers will help push the $50 billion worldwide market up 3 percent to 5 percent a year through 2015, Divnich estimates.

"The myth that video games are for teenage boys has been proven wrong," Divnich said. Manufacturers are taking steps to understand women's gaming habits and preferences, in some cases adding female protagonists.

"It's something all the major players in this industry are striving for," he said.

In the past two years, Geeknet's online retailer ThinkGeek, which generates $18 million in quarterly revenue, has seen an upswing in purchases of items such as geek-themed jewelry and women's-sized T-shirts, according to PR manager Steve Zimmerman.

Women buy more than men from the company's website, although it is unclear how many are purchasing for themselves or for gifts. Sales of "Doctor Who" merchandise are about evenly split between men and women, Zimmerman said.

COMICS TO CODING

Still, women and girls are often overlooked in geekdom, one reason behind the creation of GeekGirlCon. Run by a 40-person, all-volunteer staff, the organization and convention celebrates and supports female geeks of all types.

The movement came together after the 2010 Comic-Con, when a panel discussion called "Geek Girls Exist" attracted a standing-room-only crowd.

The packed room inspired a group of women to start their own conference for females who enjoy everything from The Hulk and "Dungeons & Dragons" to computer coding or rocket science.

The first GeekGirlCon drew 4,000 people over two days. This year, guests will move among discussions on topics from robotics to computer programming, and comic-book fashions to female characters in "Star Wars".

Jane Espenson, a writer and producer for sci-fi TV shows "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Once Upon a Time," will speak about her new Web series, "Husbands." Comic book writer Gail Simone will appear with the "Batgirl of San Diego," a woman who spoke out at last year's Comic-Com - dressed as Batgirl - about the lack of female representation in comics. Female scientists from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory also will speak.

One panel, titled "Go Make Me a Sandwich," will tackle a hot topic: the hostility and harassment women face from some male geeks. Anita Sarkeesian, who campaigned to raise money for a project to explore female stereotypes in video games, will talk about hateful comments and threats leveled at her online, and how women rallied to her support.

On the lighter side, women at an evening entertainment program will sing along to a musical episode of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." A gaming floor will provide a chance to enter tournaments or try out new titles.

WANTED: EVEN MORE INCLUSION

Electronic Arts is bringing its NHL game, which last year added a female avatar option after a 14-year-old girl wrote a letter complaining that it was "unfair" and "not fun" to be represented by a male player on screen.

To help attract more women, EA acquired PopCap Games, maker of social and casual games such as "Bejeweled" and "Plants vs. Zombies" in a deal worth up to $1.3 billion.

Ginger Maseda works as EA's diversity and inclusion manager, a job created to help recruit women to the company and increase the female appeal of games. Maseda, a gamer most of her life, said sponsoring GeekGirlCon "makes sense for us, so we have a chance to really relate and understand what (females) want to see and what they want to play."

McGillivray said that although progress has been slow, she has seen more products geared toward women, an increase in female protagonists and women creators behind the scenes.

One goal of the conference, McGillivray said, is to raise awareness of how many passionate female geeks exist. She hopes that companies will start thinking: "Oops, we are missing half our market or more. How can we capitalize on that?"

(Reporting By Lisa Richwine; Editing by Maureen Bavdek)

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TAIPEI Aug 9 (Reuters) - Taiwan's Compal Electronics Inc , the world's No.2 contract laptop PC maker, said on Thursday that July consolidated sales fell 3.3 percent to T$56.08 billion ($1.87 billion) from a year earlier.

It did not give further details. (Reporting by Clare Jim; Editing by Ed Lane)

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