Silly/Odd News Stories from around the World

[ganbaru]

Calif. man who said he fled zombies pleads guilty
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...05-13-22-49-48

Wisconsin boy gets handwritten response from Biden
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...05-14-07-25-29

[SaintessHeart]

U.S. hedge fund calls for Sony Entertainment spin-off

(Reuters) - Billionaire hedge fund investor Daniel Loeb on Tuesday called on Sony Corp to spin off its lucrative entertainment arm, setting the stage for a clash between his activist Wall Street fund and management at the Japanese electronics maker.

Loeb said his Third Point hedge fund had accumulated a little more than 6 percent of Sony's shares - a stake worth $1.1 billion - making it the largest stakeholder in the inventor of the Walkman portable music player and Trinitron TV.

In a letter Loeb personally delivered to CEO Kazuo Hirai at Sony's headquarters, the fund manager said Third Point was willing to put up another 200 billion yen ($1.97 billion) to support an initial public offering of up to a fifth of the entertainment arm, which includes one of Hollywood's top film studios and a leading music label.

Loeb, 51, is one of the best known figures in the secretive hedge fund industry with a record of clashing with corporate executives over strategy, including engineering a successful boardroom shake-up at Yahoo Inc last year.

"HIDDEN GEM"

In his letter, Loeb endorsed Hirai's attempts to revive Sony, but said the problems of the company's electronics business distracted from the value of U.S.-based Sony Entertainment, an asset he called a "hidden gem".

Loeb said the proposed spin-off of a unit that is home to artists such as Beyonce and Adele and produced movie franchises like "Iron Man" and "Spider-Man" could add another 60 percent to Sony's stock price.

While Sony has sold off real estate and other assets to cover losses on consumer electronics, Hirai sees the entertainment business as core to the company's long-held vision of marrying content and hardware.

"The entertainment businesses are important contributors to Sony's growth and are not for sale," Sony said in response to Loeb's proposal. "We look forward to continuing constructive dialogue with our shareholders as we pursue our strategy."

Hirai, a 52-year old Sony veteran who started his career in the music business, is due to give an update on his strategy for the company at a briefing in Tokyo on May 22.

JAPAN CHALLENGE

Sony shares have already doubled this year amid a rally in Japanese shares as foreign investors bet economic policies of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will pull the economy out of a two-decade slump.

Loeb cited the hopes for economic reforms raised by Abe in making his case for change at Sony.

"Sony stands at the crossroads of compelling corporate opportunity and massive Japanese economic reform," Loeb wrote in the letter, which was made available to media. Corporate leaders like Hirai, he added, "can spearhead this important growth."

Third Point's flagship fund posted a return of 10.5 percent for investors in January-April, a time when the rest of the hedge fund industry lagged with an average return of just under 5 percent. The fund was helped by its positions in Yahoo, a bet on Greek government bonds and its holdings of Japanese shares.

After taking a stake in Yahoo, Loeb agitated successfully to oust the CEO and members of the Internet company's board after charging that directors were living in "an illogical Alice-in-Wonderland world."

But Loeb does not have a well-known track record in Japan where activist investors have had little success, rebuffed by corporate boards packed with insiders and creditor banks that tend to side with management in maintaining the status quo.

Investors and analysts have argued for years that Sony could be worth more in a break up because of a decade-long slump in its electronics business as it ceded ground to rivals such as Apple Inc in portable music and Samsung Electronics in flat panel TVs.

RIGHTS OFFERING

Rather than a traditional IPO, Loeb has proposed selling a 15-20 percent stake in Sony Entertainment through a rights offering to existing Sony shareholders. The move would allow the parent company to shift some debt off its balance sheet.

Taking the unit public would provide incentives for its executives to run the operations more efficiently. Raising its profit margins to the industry average could in theory add another 625 billion yen in market value, Loeb said.

Loeb cited Sony Financial, the profitable insurance arm that was spun-off but is still majority-owned by Sony, as an example of how the move could be beneficial for the group.

Most importantly, the cash generated could be used to help streamline the electronics business, which suffers from a lack of focus even after Hirai took the helm from former CEO Howard Stringer in 2012, Loeb said.

Hirai's strategy to revive Sony in consumer electronics is to focus on cameras, PlayStation game consoles and smartphones.

Loeb's proposal could trigger buying of Sony's stock, said Tetsuro Ii, chief executive of Tokyo-based fund manager Commons Asset Management. Sony closed Tuesday up 1.2 percent at 1,877 yen, valuing the entire company at $19 billion.

"Be it Sony or Panasonic, at the end of the day these electronics companies have to do something. It's not a bad thing that this option exists," Ii said.

Sharp to seek Samsung edge for survival as Apple sales lose steam

(Reuters) - Japanese display maker Sharp Corp, a supplier to Apple Inc, will aim to boost sales to the iPhone maker's chief rival Samsung Electronics Co under a three-year rehabilitation roadmap to secure its survival.

The business plan, due for release on Tuesday, will lean further on banks that last year saved it from failure, as a 200 billion yen ($2 billion) convertible bond will fall due in September, three sources familiar with the plan told Reuters late last week.

Sharp will also release full-year earnings figures, including forecasts for the year to next March 31 when operating profit is expected to reach 52.9 billion yen, according to the average estimate of 13 analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The company's plan will target annual operating profit of 150 billion yen by the year to March 2016, helped by expanded screen shipments to its Korean partner, the sources said. Sharp posted annual operating profit in the 100 billion to 200 billion yen range throughout the five years to March 2008, before its TV and display businesses were battered by overcapacity, a strong yen, and stiff competition from Korean and Taiwanese rivals.

Sharp was rescued last October by 360 billion yen in emergency loans from Mizuho Financial Group, Mitsubishi Financial Group and other lenders. To secure the bailout, it had to mortgage offices and factories in Japan, including one that makes screens for Apple's iPad and its latest iPhone.

The company also agreed to trim its workforce by 10,000 people and seek buyers for overseas assets including TV assembly plants in China, Malaysia and Mexico.

Sharp will borrow a further 150 billion yen this year from its banks to help meet its near-term debt obligations, and will give the lenders a number of senior management positions, the sources said on condition that they not be identified.

SOFTENING GROWTH

A key challenge for Sharp's recovery, however, is keeping its factories busy enough to earn profits that will satisfy its creditors despite slowing growth in its business making screens for Apple's iPads and iPhones.

Analysts project annual profit growth at Apple to average less than 5 percent over the next decade, compared with an average of 60 percent over the past five years.

In January, Sharp had to curtail production of 9.7-inch iPad screens, hurting output levels and threatening its recovery in profitability. The Japanese company is preparing to begin large-scale production next month of screens for Apple's next iPhone model, the sources said.

Sharp's earnings for the year ended on March 31 are expected to include a worse-than-forecast 500 billion yen net loss, in part because it had to write off panel plant assets after lower-than-anticipated production levels left it with excess capacity, sources familiar with the situation told Reuters early this month.

In a March agreement with Samsung Electronics that provided cash-strapped Sharp 10.4 billion yen in capital in return for a 3 percent stake, Japan's leading liquid crystal display fabricator also promised to supply small display screens to the world's biggest maker of mobile phones.

An earlier plan for Hon Hai Precision Industry, a Taiwanese company that builds many of Apple's gadgets, to buy 9.9 percent of Sharp unravelled as the Japanese company balked at relinquishing any managerial control to its prospective partner.

Although Hon Hai and Sharp have said they remain in contact, cooperation for now is limited to their shared ownership of the world's most advanced LCD plant in Sakai, western Japan, and a plan to jointly sell smartphones in China.

Sharp in December also sought help from mobile chipmaker Qualcomm Inc, agreeing to sell an equity stake for $120 million. The two companies plan to develop new screens based on Sharp's power-saving IGZO panel technology.

Sharp's shares have staged a turnaround since sinking to their lowest in more than three decades last October while it struggled with debt and sought a bailout.

Since mid-November, its share price has more than tripled, compared with a 70 percent rise in the benchmark Nikkei average. It surged 12.4 percent on Monday to close at 506 yen, its highest close in more than a year.

The company will release its latest earnings results and forecasts for the current business year at 2:00 a.m. EDT. Its president, Takashi Okuda, will hold a news briefing at 4:00 a.m. EDT to present the three-year business plan.

Is it just me, or are Japanese big businesses are becoming as namby-pamby as the general stereotype of males in the country?

[RRW]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

Is it just me, or are Japanese big businesses are becoming as namby-pamby as the general stereotype of males in the country?

nah It just the case turning a bigger ship take long.

[Bri]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/s...-suggests.html

Evidence for idiocracy?

[AnimeFan188]

Mayor says Japan's wartime sex slaves were necessary:

"Osaka's outspoken mayor has said the system in which Asian women were
forced to become wartime prostitutes before and during World War II was
necessary to "maintain discipline" in the Japanese military."

See:

http://news.msn.com/world/mayor-says...were-necessary



Also:

Japan pulls back on denials of WWII sex slavery:

"A new document has surfaced detailing testimony from a Japanese solider who
admitted to abducting Chinese women to use as military sex slaves."

See:

http://news.msn.com/world/japan-pull...ii-sex-slavery

[Xellos-_^]

Originally Posted by AnimeFan188

Mayor says Japan's wartime sex slaves were necessary:

"Osaka's outspoken mayor has said the system in which Asian women were
forced to become wartime prostitutes before and during World War II was
necessary to "maintain discipline" in the Japanese military."

See:

http://news.msn.com/world/mayor-says...were-necessary

already being discuss in the Normal News Thread

Also:

Japan pulls back on denials of WWII sex slavery:

"A new document has surfaced detailing testimony from a Japanese solider who
admitted to abducting Chinese women to use as military sex slaves."

See:

http://news.msn.com/world/japan-pull...ii-sex-slavery

how is either this story "silly"?

[AnimeFan188]

Originally Posted by Xellos-_^

already being discuss in the Normal News Thread
how is either this story "silly"?

Not silly, but certainly odd how some Japanese politicians have gone from denial
to apologist-mode without skipping a beat.

[Seitsuki]

Politicians doing that is odd?

Where've you been?

[AnimeFan188]

Originally Posted by Seitsuki

Politicians doing that is odd?

Where've you been?

I was expecting them to double-down on the denial.

"We didn't do such things during the war! It's all a *conspiracy* to defame us!"

[ganbaru]

UN: Eat more insects; good for you, good for world
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...05-13-11-12-39

[TinyRedLeaf]

Hong Kong cries fowl over flattened rubber duck

Hong Kong (May 15, Wed): The giant inflatable rubber duck which has attracted tens of thousands of visitors since it sailed into Hong Kong two weeks ago was reduced to a sad deflated disc today in the city's harbour.

Duck mania has gripped Hong Kong since its arrival, with locals and tourists flocking to catch a glimpse of the 16.5m-tall (54-feet) artwork, conceived by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman.

But those who made the trip to Victoria Harbour to see it this morning were left disappointed as the wind had been firmly taken out of the duck's sails, leaving it looking like a floating fried egg.

Organisers said that the duck had been deflated last evening as part of scheduled maintenance work and that it would be towed to a shipyard today for thorough checking.

A spokesman for the organisers said there are no details yet about when the duck would be re-inflated.

AFP

[ganbaru]

Fighting eagles crash land on Minn. airport runway
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...05-14-14-39-16

Geneva auction sells nearly $5M of actress' jewels
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/actre...ction-3m-1-gem

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

Hong Kong cries fowl over flattened rubber duck

Someone should set up a roast-duck-kebab pushcart nearby. Sure to make alot of money.

[RRW]

There was a crash landing Sunday at the Duluth International Airport, but it didn’t involve airplanes. Rather, it was two bald eagles, which were fighting in midair when they locked talons. In a rare spectacle of nature, they were unable to disengage in time before crashing to the runway.

“Apparently, mature eagles will sometimes fight over territories,” Randy Hanzal, a Minnesota conservation officer, told GrindTV in an email. “They will do battle in the air, crashing into each other and grabbing an intruding eagle with their talons.

http://www.grindtv.com/outdoor/natur...nd-at-airport/

[JokerD]

In the Philippines, an election decided by the flip of a coin

(CNN) -- In the hi-tech era of electronic voting, election authorities in the Philippines settled a dead heat between two candidates for mayor in a decidedly old-school way -- by flipping a coin.

When all the ballots were counted after Monday's election, the two men running for mayor in the town of San Teodoro -- Marvic Feraren and Boyet Py -- both ended up with 3,236 votes each, CNN affiliate ABS-CBN reported Wednesday.

To break the impasse, a decision was taken to use a coin, Reny Pagilagan, the town's acting election officer, told the local broadcaster.

The Philippine Commission on Elections permits coin flips as a way of deciding tied votes, according to ABS-CBN.

So, the two rivals faced off inside a ring of desks in a bare-walled room, taking it in turns to flick the coin to the ground.

At the end of the contest, Feraren, the son of a previous mayor, was declared the winner.

The outcome was received without negative reaction in San Teodoro, which is in the province of Oriental Mindoro, ABS-CBN reported.

Erm, coin flip, ok...
Although I think it was more amazing that they both got the same amount of votes...

[RRW]

YouTube

https://youtu.be/7U6Oqvuticg

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

[ganbaru]

Birth of anteater has Connecticut zoo staff puzzled
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...05-17-08-47-14

GREENWICH, Conn. (AP) -- An anteater has given birth at a Connecticut conservation center, prompting officials there to wonder how the mother conceived.

Officials at the LEO Zoological Conservation Center tell the Greenwich Time ( http://bit.ly/14wsum4 ) they had removed the only male anteater from the enclosure in August, long before the six-month gestation period for baby Archie would have begun.

[Anh_Minh]

Anteater Jesus?

[NoemiChan]

Originally Posted by JokerD

Erm, coin flip, ok...
Although I think it was more amazing that they both got the same amount of votes...

The fact is it's ridiculously LEGAL.Win 3 out of 5 and you win.

[Anh_Minh]

*shrug* Here (France), the older candidate wins. I think a coin flip is fairer.