NEW YORK | Wed Oct 10, 2012 1:21pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Books about war-torn Iraq and post-World War II Eastern Europe, Lyndon Johnson and Mumbai were among 20 finalists announced on Wednesday for the annual National Book Awards, among the most prestigious in U.S. publishing.

The National Book Foundation, which administers the awards, nominated five writers in each of four categories: fiction, nonfiction, poetry and young people's literature.

The finalists for the nonfiction prize included former New York Times reporter Anthony Shadid, who received a posthumous nomination for "House of Stone: A Memoir of Home, Family, and a Lost Middle East," and Robert Caro for the fourth volume in his monumental biography of former U.S. President Johnson, "The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume 4."

Both writers are Pulitzer Prize winners. Shadid died of an asthma attack while reporting in eastern Syria in February aged 43.

Nominees for fiction included well-known authors such as Junot Díaz for "This Is How You Lose Her" and Dave Eggers for "A Hologram for the King."

Louise Erdrich for "The Round House," Ben Fountain for "Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk," and Kevin Powers for "The Yellow Birds" were the other fiction finalists.

Nonfiction nominees also included Anne Applebaum for "Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1945-1956," Katherine Boo for "Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity," and Domingo Martinez for "The Boy Kings of Texas."

Winners will be chosen by panels of four or five judges, who include writers Brad Gooch and Susan Orlean for nonfiction and Stacey D'Erasmo and Janet Peery on the fiction side.

The poetry finalists included David Ferry for "Bewilderment: New Poems and Translations," Cynthia Huntington for "Heavenly Bodies," Tim Seibles for "Fast Animal," Alan Shapiro for "Night of the Republic" and Susan Wheeler for "Meme."

The young people's literature finalists were William Alexander for "Goblin Secrets," Carrie Arcos for "Out of Reach," Patricia McCormick for "Never Fall Down," Eliot Schrefer for "Endangered" and Steve Sheinkin for "Bomb: The Race to Build— and Steal—the World's Most Dangerous Weapon."

The four winning writers each receive a $10,000 prize.

The awards will be presented on November 14 at a gala ceremony in New York at which novelist Elmore Leonard and New York Times publisher Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr. will also receive lifetime achievement honors.

(Reporting by Chris Michaud, editing by Christine Kearney; and Peter Galloway)

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TOKYO | Fri Oct 12, 2012 3:47pm EDT

TOKYO (Reuters) - British finance minister George Osborne on Saturday blamed an effective German veto for the failure of a $45 billion merger between British defense firm BAE (BAES.L) and European aerospace group EADS (EAD.PA) this week.

Speaking to British reporters on the sidelines of an International Monetary Fund meeting in Tokyo, Osborne said the transaction might have succeeded if the national governments and the companies' shareholders had discussed it more thoroughly.

"It is not that we were committed to the deal, we just thought it worth discussing. We have been a bit disappointed primarily by Germany's attitude, which in effect vetoed the deal," Osborne said.

"I would like to have found more time to discuss the possibility of merger," he added.

Talks to create the world's largest aerospace and defense company collapsed on Wednesday. Several sources involved in the discussions said German Chancellor Angela Merkel had blocked the deal, but that Britain and France were supportive.

German sources have however said they were unconvinced by the deal's commercial logic, and were concerned the combined company could be locked out of U.S. defense deals.

BAE is a private British company, and the U.S. armed forces account for nearly half of its revenue. Because Washington is reluctant to give contracts to firms influenced by foreign governments, BAE considers minimizing state control as crucial to its business.

EADS has a more complicated share structure that gives big influence to German and French industrial groups and the French state. To keep its influence at the combined firm, Germany would have had to have bought out a holding by engineering firm Daimler.

Osborne said the British government's stance had been straightforward.

"We had some very clear red lines: we were absolutely clear our national security had to be protected, absolutely clear that we wanted to protect job and investment in the UK, and we were concerned about large shareholdings held by other countries."

(Reporting by David Milliken: Editing by Neil Fullick/Jeremy Gaunt)

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NEW YORK | Fri Oct 12, 2012 7:33pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Metropolitan Opera music director James Levine will return to the conducting podium in May 2013 - initially in a wheelchair - after a fall more than a year ago that left him partially paralyzed, the New York opera house said on Friday.

Levine, 69, who has been the Met's music director since 1976, will conduct the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in May 2013, before leading three operas during the Met's 2013-14 season, the Met said in a statement.

Met General Manager Peter Gelb called Levine's return to conducting "great news for opera lovers throughout the world," while Levine said: "I'm looking forward more than I can say to getting back to work."

Levine has been in long-term rehabilitation since injuring his spine in a fall while on vacation in August 2011 that required surgery and left him partially paralyzed.

While his upper body strength has returned, his injuries have left him temporarily unable to walk.

The Met said that for the time being, he will conduct from a motorized wheelchair. In anticipation of Levine's return, the Met's technical department is designing customized, elevating podiums that will be utilized on the Carnegie Hall stage and in the Met's orchestra pit.

Levine referred to the "long healing process" from his spine injury, but said he feels better with each passing day.

For the 2013-14 season, Levine is scheduled to conduct a new production of Verdi's "Falstaff" and revivals of Mozart's "Cosi fan tutte" and Berg's "Wozzeck."

The Met said that in recent weeks, Levine has gradually been taking on more of his duties as music director, including coaching members of the organization's young artist development program and holding artistic planning sessions.

His physician, Dr. Len Horovitz, who coordinates his medical team, said Levine was "an inspirational case, whose return to conducting will be a result of remarkable perseverance and hard work."

Levine made his debut with the company in 1971 and has conducted 2,441 performances there, more than anyone in the company's 129-year history. His last performance as a conductor was of Wagner's "Die Walküre" on May 14, 2011.

(Reporting By Ellen Freilich; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Eric Walsh)

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A portrait of the late pop star Michael Jackson is displayed on a slot machine at Gaming Expo Asia in Macau May 22, 2012.

NEW YORK | Fri Oct 12, 2012 1:54pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Michael Jackson was the ultimate entertainer, who oversaw all the details of his shows, from the slick choreography to the rhinestones and pearls carefully hand sewn onto his elaborate costumes, his longtime costume designer says.

As much as music and dance characterized the pop superstar, the late Jackson was also known for his style, from military outfits and regalia, to jewel-encrusted gloves, fedora hats and intricately beaded jackets.

In a new book, "The King of Style: Dressing Michael Jackson," Michael Bush, the man who designed and made Jackson's stage costumes for 25 years until the pop star's death in 2009, offers a behind-the-scenes look at the iconic superstar and the development of his signature style.

"The clothes had to work around the way he was performing," Bush told Reuters in a telephone interview. "He wanted his outfits, or his costumes, to be as entertaining on a hanger as they were on him. It was an added layer of refinement and detail that he was projecting to his audience."

Everything Jackson wore had a focus and was an extension of what he was doing on stage, with dance playing a pivotal role in the designs. He favored rhinestones and beading because they reflected the stage lighting.

Function, fitness and comfort were essential, with neckties and fringes forbidden because they could be grabbed by fans.

"It was very contrived. It was very thought out," said Bush, adding that as the stadiums got bigger, Jackson's pants got shorter and shorter, the better to see his rhinestone socks.

"Michael was concerned that the people in the back row paid just as much to see him perform as the people in the front, so no one got cheated out of the entertainment he was projecting, because everyone could see what he was doing," Bush said.

MAN OF PARADOXES

Each of the 800 to 900 costumes Bush and his partner Dennis Tompkins, who died last year, made for Jackson were over-the-top, skin tight, flashy pop-star creations. Many are shown in detailed photographs in the book, along with sketches and performance photos.

Still, away from the spotlight, Jackson preferred more casual, loose-fitting corduroy shirts, black cotton pants with front pleats, and loafers.

And despite all his fame and wealth, and gifts of expensive designer shoes, Jackson always performed in Florsheim shoes, which can be purchased in most U.S. malls.

"He taught himself to dance in Florsheims. They were comfortable and were what he had worn as a child star," Bush explained in the book, to be published October 23.

Jackson's style evolved from his military outfits, featuring taut lines and embellishments and designed with his female audience in mind. These were followed by a more rebellious, edgy look with leather jackets, including one with small spoons and forks dangling, like military medals, across the front.

"The first layer was the jacket, then we put the zipper underneath that and the buckles from the "Bad" album look, and then we asked: 'How can we make this larger than life on stage?'"

Strobe lights and electric jackets were the next step. Each album had its own look, which evolved from the look preceding it.

Perhaps Bush and Tompkins's greatest achievement was Jackson's "lean shoes," which were eventually patented. He first performed his "lean move," leaning forward at a 45-degree angle in the short film "Smooth Criminal" in 1987, thanks to behind-the-scenes magic.

Bush and Tompkins were tasked with developing shoes that would allow Jackson to perform the move before a live audience, without falling over. It took Tompkins a month but he devised shoes that bolted to the floor and worked perfectly on stage.

Although Jackson claimed not to have a favorite costume, Bush said the one the pop star liked the most, and in which he was laid to rest, was the pearl and bead encrusted white military jacket that he wore when his sister Janet handed him a Grammy award in 1993.

There wasn't time to track down the original jacket when the Jackson family contacted Bush and Tompkins and asked them to choose his final outfit, so they made a copy.

"Michael was a man of many paradoxes, most of which we were able to represent in the clothes we designed: Rigid military cuts that were also elastic and moveable; rebellious regalia, fit for army commanders, worn over the heart of a gentle man; bedazzled embellishments adorning a man blessed with a quiet humility; one of a kind, handcrafted clothes worn with aged, scuffed Florsheim shoes," Bush said in the book.

Jackson, 50, died in Los Angeles in June 2009 from an overdose of the surgical anesthetic propofol, which he was taking to help him sleep. His personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, is serving a four-year prison term for involuntary manslaughter.

(Editing by Jill Serjeant and Bernadette Baum)

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LONDON | Fri Oct 12, 2012 8:58am EDT

LONDON (Reuters) - Frantic drilling activity across the United States has at last begun to moderate, as the industry responds to the plunge in prices for natural gas and now liquids such as butane and natural gasoline.

Production companies have switched towards oil-rich and liquids-rich plays since 2008, driven by the gas glut and falling gas prices. But now the number of rigs targeting oil and condensate plays also appears to have peaked.

Between July 2008 and July 2012, the number of rigs drilling for gas fell by almost two thirds, from 1,555 to just 522, while the number of rigs targeting oil rose four-fold, from 393 to 1,427, according to oilfield services company Baker Hughes, as the industry responded to a record oil/gas price ratio (Chart 1).

Rigs shifted from dry-gas plays such as the Barnett shale underneath Fort Worth in Texas to wet-gas plays such as Eagle Ford in south-west Texas, where methane is found in association with heavier molecules like ethane, and oil-rich plays like North Dakota's Bakken.

High prices for co-products helped support continued gas drilling and production even as prices sank below $3 per million British thermal units. They have also significantly improved the economics of oil wells drilled in comparatively expensive shale plays.

Bakken wells cost an average $8.5 million each to drill, making them some of the most expensive in the country. But the internal rate of return is almost 60 percent, among the highest, according to a recent study by Bentek, in part because of the high yield of natural gas liquids, which can be stripped from the associated gas production and sold separately ("The Williston Basin: Greasing the Gears for Growth in North Dakota" July 2012).

CONDENSATE GLUT

The massive expansion of liquids output is now causing its own problems, however, as the market becomes flooded with record stocks of ethane, propane, butane and natural gasoline, weighing down prices.

Combined stocks of natural gas liquids (NGLs) currently stand at 188 million barrels, up from 147 million at the same point last year, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Butane prices have fallen to just $62 per barrel, down from $75 in 2011. Natural gasoline prices are down to $87, from almost $100 last year.

The total number of rigs drilling on land for some combination of oil, gas and condensates across the United States has fallen by 189 (9.6 percent) from 1,978 to 1,789 over the last 12 months.

Over the border, in Canada, the number of rigs drilling on land is down by 150 (29 percent) from 521 to 371 over the last year.

Rig counts alone provide a misleading indication of total drilling activity, since drillers have become adept at drilling faster, more accurately, minimizing downtime and generally becoming more efficient.

As the oil and gas boom has sent the costs of hiring rigs and crews soaring, the pressure to improve efficiency has become intense. Fewer drilling rigs can now drill more wells than before.

Nonetheless, there are signs the drilling market in North American is starting to cool slightly as poor prices for natural gas and now liquids have an impact.

In its second quarter earnings release, oilfield services company Schlumberger noted the hydraulic fracturing market on land in North America has weakened in recent quarters.

The downturn appears to be quite general across the United States, with rig counts down in most major petroleum-producing states (Charts 2-3).

DRILLING SHIFTS AGAIN

Outside North America, where prices are not so affected by freely available shale gas, drilling continues to rise.

In September, there were 1,254 rigs drilling for oil or gas outside the United States and Canada, according to Baker Hughes. It was more than double the number in 1999 and the highest number of operating rigs since 1986 (Chart 4).

The boom centers on the Middle East, where there were 381 rigs drilling last month, up from 292 in September 2011 and 276 in 2010. Latin America has also witnessed a sharp expansion in exploration and production activity, with a smaller uptick in Africa.

As surplus oil and gas production in North America depresses prices, more drilling assets and specialist crews will be redeployed overseas to take advantage of higher returns.

(Editing by Keiron Henderson)

(John Kemp is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed are his own)

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NEW YORK | Fri Oct 12, 2012 5:03pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Third-quarter U.S. earnings have just begun, but already U.S. companies are sounding alarm bells about the fourth quarter.

Outlooks for the fourth quarter - just two weeks old - are so far decidedly more negative than positive. Thomson Reuters data shows 11 negative outlooks so far from Standard & Poor's 500 companies and no positive outlooks.

Third-quarter guidance, meanwhile, at the comparable period showed 6 negative outlooks and no positive.

The market has seen this play out before - companies systematically lower the bar, only to exceed estimates by a fair amount, resulting in "surprises" that bolster stock prices. This hasn't happened yet in this earnings season, but investors are on the lookout for it.

"It's really an issue of whether companies are trying to set the bar lower and give themselves an easier target to beat or whether it really does reflect a substantial risk of a slowing global economy," said Rick Meckler, president of investment firm LibertyView Capital Management in New York.

However, U.S. companies so far are having a tougher time beating analyst expectations in the third quarter, with 59 percent of companies exceeding forecasts, below the 62 percent long-term average, based on Thomson Reuters data. And year-over-year growth is expected to be negative for the first time in three years.

Revenue trends have also been weak: Just 50 percent of companies that have reported have beaten estimates on revenue, compared with the 62 percent average, he said.

Warnings continue to come in for third-quarter reports, helping to drag down earnings estimates for the period. Several of those warnings have come from Kohl's (KSS.N) and other retailers, which do not report results until early November.

"For a lot of companies, particularly the multinationals that rely on global growth, I suppose China and Europe are at the heart of their fears," Meckler said.

Europe was cited more than any other reason for negative forecasts from S&P 500 companies for the third quarter, a Thomson Reuters survey showed, but China is a growing concern.

The slowdown in China's economy is expected to have one of the biggest effects on earnings in the U.S. technology sector, which had been among the earnings leaders. Since July 1, tech has seen a 10.4 percent drop in estimates, second worst only to materials - which is also affected by overseas demand.

Among companies guiding lower for the fourth quarter was software maker Adobe Systems (ADBE.O). It cited a faster-than-expected shift to subscriptions by customers.

Aluminum company Alcoa Inc (AA.N), which did not give a fourth-quarter earnings forecast, lowered its global aluminum consumption outlook to 6 percent growth, from 7 percent previously for 2012, and cited China as the main factor.

With results in from just 34 S&P 500 companies, estimates for earnings show a decline of 2.5 percent from a year ago, down from an October 1 forecast for a 2.1 percent fall.

If the percentage of companies beating earnings expectations stays at 59 percent, it would be the weakest earnings beat rate for any quarter since the fourth quarter of 2008, said Thomson Reuters earnings analyst Greg Harrison.

Estimates for the fourth quarter show S&P 500 earnings growth of 9.6 percent, down slightly from an Oct 1. estimate for growth of 9.9 percent, Thomson Reuters data showed.

Analysts said stocks could be in for more losses if the trend continues. The S&P 500 .SPX is down 0.2 percent since Wednesday, the day after Alcoa reported, and is off 3.1 percent since its September 14 intraday high for the year.

But Mike Jackson, founder of Denver-based investment firm T3 Equity Labs, believes the pessimism that has seeped into the market in recent weeks is overstated.

"Analysts overreact more negatively and lag positively," he said.

He sees S&P 500 industrials and telecommunications as sectors most likely to surprise to the upside on third-quarter earnings, along with energy, which has seen a big slide in earnings estimates.

(Reporting By Caroline Valetkevitch; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)

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