The United States Marine Corps and a book publisher are at odds over a new book that describes a purported secret Marine mission into China in 1952 that the author said resulted in the destruction of an atomic laboratory complex. The publisher, E.P. Dutton, calls the book an ''incredible true account,'' but Marine Corps officials say that it is actually an imaginative work of fiction.

The book is ''Sing a Song to Jenny Next'' by Lawrence Gardella, who died of leukemia as his manuscript was going to press. The book recounts what the author describes as a series of covert adventures during the height of the Korean War, involving him and five other Marines who purportedly received special training under the direction of agents of the Central Intelligence Agency, parachuted into China, linked up with Nationalist Chinese sympathizers and destroyed an atomic laboratory near the Korean border.

Moreover, the author said he engaged in a series of battles against Communist troops during a 1,000-mile, 22-day journey across northern China before he managed to rendezvous with an American submarine in the Yellow Sea. During his escape, which he said was led by an anti-Communist woman rebel whom the author dubbed ''The Dragon Lady'' after the character in the comic strip ''Terry and the Pirates,'' he claims to have seen comrades killed, Nationalist Chinese massacred, Russian officials killed and American prisoners of war in cages. 'Enough Credibility'

''It is a great story that does the Corps credit, but as far as we can tell, it never happened,'' said a Marine Corps officer who asked not to be identified. But Charles Corn, a former marine captain and Dutton's editor in chief, thinks otherwise. ''We assembled numerous shreds of evidence and finally decided that it had enough credibility to warrant its publication,'' he said. ''It's a matter of historical record that such raids into China took place. My experience as an editor is that one can sense if a book has authenticity, and this one does.''

Jacques de Spoelberch, Mr. Gardella's agent, likewise says he believes in the essential accuracy of the book and in the probity of Mr. Gardella. ''Nothing ever came up that led me to believe it was a magnificently constructed fantasy,'' he said. The agent, who was an editor for 12 years at Houghton Mifflin, compiled letters and testimonials from Mr. Gardella's doctors, priest, lawyer, banker and friends.

Even at that, Dutton asked whether Mr. Gardella was willing to take a lie-detector test. Mr. Corn and Mr. de Spoelberch both say that he agreed to do so but that Dr. Mortimer Greenberg, chief of hematology af Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, where the author died on Feb. 16, 1981, indicated that the test could go awry because of a nervous condition caused by the medication he was taking.

In a long article about Mr. Gardella in its issue of Aug. 10, 1980, The Middlesex (Mass.) News quoted Dr. Greenberg as saying that ''most of what he says is based on some kind of fact.''

Official records confirm that Mr. Gardella did indeed enter the Marine Corps in Boston at age 17 on Feb. 1, 1952, and they agree that he was discharged on July 24 of that year. According to Capt. Joann Schilling of the Marine Corps public-affairs office in Washington, Mr. Gardella, after basic training at Parris Island, S.C., was assigned to Marine Barracks at Annapolis, Md., remaining there as a security guard until his discharge.

Mr. Gardella, long a construction worker in Boston, said that after his rescue President Truman visited him in the naval hospital at Annapolis on June 28, 1952 and said that the Government would arrange for a medical discharge, using the pretext that he had asthma, from which he had suffered as a boy. He said that Mr. Truman asked him not to tell anyone of the covert operation and that he had kept his promise until he talked about it while in a partial coma after undergoing chemotherapy for the leukemia, which he said he believed he may have contracted during the China mission. Harassment and Threats

The author recounts several instances of harassment and threats against him and his family by persons unknown, but whom Mr. Gardella suspected were Government agents, after it became known that he intended to tell his story.

Captain Schilling said that the Privacy Act prohibited revealing the precise nature of Mr. Gardella's discharge, but she said his records show that no punitive action was ever taken against him.

Mr. Gardella acknowledged in his book (which takes its title from what the author said was the Central Intelligence Agency code for the mission) that Marine Corps records said that he never left the States and that there are no records on any of the men who went on the mission with him.

Illustrations: photo of Lawrence Gardella


COLUMBIA, Mo. Sept. 29— Roy M. Fisher, the dean of the University of Missouri School of Journalism since 1971, announced today he would leave the post next August to concentrate on ''writing and teaching in the field of national communications.''

The dean, who was the editor of The Chicago Daily News before taking the post here, said he planned to teach at the school in the fall of 1983 after taking a one year sabbatical in Washington.

The school has 1,200 students and 65 faculty members in graduate and undergraduate programs.

In January, the Associated Press Managing Editors rated Missouri the top journalism school in the country. Last May, however, the American Council on Education in Journalism withdrew accreditation for its news publishing program and placed on probation the school's largest program, its advertising sequence.

Under Dean Fisher, 63 years old, the school has opened up an exchange program for Chinese journalists, improved the facilities for its radio and television broadcasting and developed new ties with the Gannett Newspapers. The school is now housed in Gannett Hall, which was largely financed by the newspaper chain, the largest in the country.

Dean Fisher said he had asked the chancellor of the university, Barbara Uehling, to appoint a student-faculty search committee to find a successor.


EVEN when refined gold commands a mere $315 an ounce, the prospect of raw gold can quicken pulses. Last Friday the shares of Franklin Consolidated Mining sparkled, reaching 1 7/8 bid, up from 1 1/2 bid a day earlier. Volume was surprising for the over-the-counter market: 37,200 shares. The excitement over this obscure gold mining company reflects interest in its century-old mine to the east of the Continental Divide near Idaho Springs, Colo.

Franklin has spent the last 10 years constructing a mill and an assay facility that management says cost more than $1 million. When Franklin begins milling operations this week, it will mark the firstfull scale production at the mine since the 1920's.

Depressed metal prices following World War I closed down virtually all the Western precious-metal mines. At the time gold sold for $6 an ounce, and silver, the Franklin mine's second most important resource, sold for 80 cents an ounce.

That ended an era of mule-powered mining. The mules quickly became blind as they pulled the ore cars in the pitch black. Some were born in the mine and never reached the surface until they died and were lifted up the shaft for burial.

The mechanized methods of today, taken with gold over $300 an ounce, should lead to profitable operations for Franklin soon, says Gifford A. Dieterle, the company's executive vice president and chairman.

Mr. Dieterle, who in a more conservative role is a geology lecturer at Hunter College in New York, said in a telephone interview that he learned of the mine in his travels as an oil and gas consultant.

Speaking of the prospects, he said he hopes the price of gold will go no lower than $300 an ounce but feels the company could make a profit at an even lower price.

He believes that Franklin has some unusual strengths. First there is its modern equipment. Moreover, Franklin's well-insulated milling plant can operate year round. Seventy thousand gallons of water needed to winnow the gold out of the ore are stored 9 to 12 feet below the surface in steel tanks that can be warmed with heating coils if winter weather threatens to freeze it. The company's flotation gravity mill is rated at 150 tons a day.

Most mining companies are perennially strapped for cash. By contrast, Franklin has more than $400,000 in cash and cash equivalents. Weekly expenses, including labor, range from $25,000 to $32,000. Mr. Dieterle does not expect to spend much of the reserve before the mine becomes profitable.

The speculative interest in the company began some time ago. The price range for the shares during the last 12 months has been 1 1/4 to 4 1/2. There was a 4-for-1 stock split last May.

Standard & Poor's has no Franklin page in its Over the Counter Reports, and no brokerage firm has written up the company since it went public four years ago. Even so, the mining company's shares are quoted daily in the supplemental section of the over-the-counter listings in The Wall Street Journal.

Will the company succeed? No one can say. Mr. Dieterle said the management had been careful to understate prospects to avoid undue speculation. Thus, he would not comment on profit prospects.

Raymond P. Sanford Jr., a broker at Cowen & Company, is less reticent. In a letter to clients, he tells of the 15-man crew and the diggings in various levels of the extensive mine. He says he personally owns 22,000 shares and has purchased more than 150,000 shares for his clients. There are 15.4 million shares outstanding.

Mr. Sanford said, ''I feel the downside risk is minimal and upside potential is great.'' He emphasized that this was a personal judgment and not a recommendation by his firm.

Perhaps Mr. Sanford has gold fever. At today's relatively high prices, few domestic mines have been able to operate profitably - even with gold at prices nearly 10 times as high as it was during the depression.


As New York's statewide election campaign gets under way, politicians are relying more than in the past on campaign consultants, who are moving beyond their original roles as detached specialists in advertising, polls and mailings.

More and more, the consultants are branching out from these specialities to take over campaigns completely -''one-stop shopping'' for the candidate. Their numbers and fees are growing every year, with onetime campaign workers concluding that there is more influence, prestige and money in the consulting business.

Some consultants lend credibility to a campaign by the mere fact of their retention. Some can actually raise money to help pay their substantial fees. Others have formed unofficial alliances and business relationships with party politicians and other clients whose support can be important for a candidate. Some advise politicians on a continuing basis, not just during campaigns.

One pioneer - David Garth, probably the most successful political consultant in the New York area - was courted by several statewide candidates this year because he brings money and credibility to a candidate. It was Mr. Garth who gave credibility to Edward I. Koch, a candidate with a very fragile political base when he first ran for Mayor in 1977.

Bruce Caputo, when he was planning his campaign for the Republican nomination for the United States Senate this year, selected Arthur Finkelstein as his pollster and political consultant - partly, Mr. Caputo said, because of Mr. Finkelstein's connections with the Conservative Party, Senator Alfonse M. D'Amato and the Nassau Republican chairman, Joseph M. Margiotta.

''I needed wise counsel by someone trusted by D'Amato and the Conservative Party,'' Mr. Caputo said before he dropped out of the race against Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan March 8. .

In last year's municipal campaign, Richard Bernstein, the wealthy political unknown who was the Republican candidate for City Comptroller, said that he had hired Roger Stone, a new political consultant, to give him ''credibility'' as a candidate. Mr. Stone ran Ronald Reagan's Presidential campaign in the state in 1980.

''Roger lent me credibility,'' said Mr. Bernstein. ''It was bad enough to be a Republican in a city election, but I was also someone unknown.'' The ''credibility'' was expensive. Mr. Stone charged a $20,000 fee as well as a $70,000 commission on Mr. Bernstein's extensive radio and television campaign. Pollster Also Fund-Raiser

Mr. Bernstein, a wealthy real estate operator, could afford it, but David Dinkins, who couldn't, used a pollster to help him raise funds for his campaign for the Democratic nomination for Manhattan Borough President - expanding the pollster's role to that of fundraiser.

Mr. Dinkins, who had been defeated by Borough President Andrew J. Stein four years earlier, spent almost $50,000 for a Boston pollster and political consultant, John Martilla, even before he qualified for the ballot last July. The early poll, according to Mr. Martilla, was used to demonstrate that Mr. Dinkins could be a credible candidate despite his earlier defeat. The poll's results were shown to potential contributors, who were encouraged to open their checkbooks.

One political figure, Howard J. Samuels, a potential candidate for this year's Democratic gubernatorial nomination until Mayor Koch entered the race, is chairman of the board of Dresner, Morris & Tortorello, which conducts polls and buys time for radio and television ads. Mr. Samuels said that the firm had done some polling for him this year.

Unlike most other consultants, the firm also jumps party lines and as a result has been criticized by Democratic National Committee aides, among other Democrats. Richard Morris defends the firm's political neutrality. ''We're not a political club,'' he said. ''We're a business.'' One Ideology Favored

Most consultants stick to one party and even one ideology within that party. ''I stick with progressive, liberal Democrats,'' said Joseph Mercurio a onetime West Side Democratic district leader. ''Money is certainly a factor, but the ideology is important to me,'' he said.

Mr. Garth also generally handles liberal Democrats. If he does work for a Republican - like Senator H. John Heinz of Pennsylvania, who is running for re-election this year - Mr. Garth's partner, Ronald Maiorana, a former press secretary to Nelson A. Rockefeller, handles the campaign.

Mr. Garth has also started a trend toward full campaign management, in which the consultant oversees every phase of a campaign, sometimes using other consultants as subcontractors. In pursuit of this goal, Mr. Garth forced longtime friends and aides of Governor Carey out of key campaign roles so his strategy and operations would be unchallenged.

Mr. Garth is the most expensive of the local consultants, judging by the mayoral campaign last year. He charged Mayor Koch $25,000 a month plus 15 percent commission on television time and expenses, for a total of about $380,000. The Garth fees accounted for about 25 percent of the total Koch campaign spending, with most of the rest going for television time. It's Costly to Lose

Losing campaigns can be costly. City Comptroller Harrison J. Goldin's rival in the Democratic primary last year, Assemblyman John C. Dearie, spent $205,000 for consultants. A total of $85,000 of that went to another experienced campaigner turned consultant, Ethan Geto, a longtime adviser of Attorney General Robert Abrams.

Even incomplete campaigns can be expensive. Two Garth proteges, Mark Penn and Douglas Schoen, charged William Woodward, a candidate for member of the City Council at large, $96,776 for a campaign that was aborted last fall by a Federal Court postponement of all City Council primaries and elections.

The Penn-Schoen firm, following the trend toward full campaign management by consultants, extended what began as a polling operation into campaign mailings and campaign management for Mr. Woodward. Some Skepticism of Results

Robert Squier, who heads the Communications Company of Washington, is skeptical about the trend. ''A lot of people are operating as generalists,'' he said. ''You have a lot going on in this business - hiring subcontractors and making out on the exchange.''

Steven Matthews, who was Comptroller Harrison J. Goldin's campaign manager and is now on his city staff, said that the consultants provided a detached view and ''can often get a candidate to do something that a staff person cannot.''

He said that one drawback was that some consultants undertook too many campaigns and were unavailable. ''We're constantly chasing them around the country; it's not the same as having somebody right here,'' he said.

''There's no great magic,'' he added. ''All of it is mirrors and smoke.''

Illustrations: photos of Roger Stone, Arthur Finkelstein, David Garth photo of Robert Squier


Interest Rates Move Lower By MICHAEL QUINT

Short- and long-term interest rates declined yesterday in trading that dealers said was dominated by speculative buying of securities firms and other traders who had been heavy sellers last week.

Institutional investors were still on the sidelines, though yesterday's speculative purchases showed that at least some investment managers expected them to begin buying notes and bonds soon.

''I think some buyers are waiting for the fresh supply of Treasury issues that will come with the February refunding,'' one institutional salesman at a government securities firm said. The Treasury is expected to sell about $9.5 billion of new three- , 10-and 30-year issues in early February.

3-Month Bill Sold at 12.505%

In the money markets, interest rates of outstanding Treasury bills declined by about a quarter of a percentage point in secondary market trading, though rates at the regular Monday auction of new three- and six-month bills were hig her than similar issues sold a week ago. The three-month b ill, for example, sold at an average rate of 12.505 percent, up f rom 12.12 percent last week.

The six-month bill sold at an average rate of 13.102 percent, up from 12.81 percent a week ago. The results of six-month bill auction mean that banks and savings institutions may offer a maximum rate of 13.352 percent on new six-month savings certificates starting today, up from 13.06 percent last week.

Many analysts described yesterday's sharply higher prices as a correction from the unreasonably low levels of late Friday, when news of a $9.8 billion increase in the basic money supply raised fears that the Federal Reserve would need to tighten monetary policy.

Daniel T. Napoli, trading manager at Merrill Lynch Government Securities, said that ''All the talk in recent weeks about the money supply bulge kept investors on the sidelines and made dealers operate in a climate of fear,''

''The Fed seems to have snugged up its policy a bit,'' Mr. Napoli continued, ''but now that the number is out, we don't have to talk about it, and it is beginning to look like the Street tightened before the Fed.''

The result, he said, is that short-term rates have increased to levels that anticipate a 14 1/2 percent rate for overnight bank loans in the Federal funds market - a rate that is well above the 12.47 percent rate on Friday or yesterday's average of slightly less than 13 percent. Fed Drains Credit

Yesterday, the attention of market participants was so far removed from the Federal funds rate that prices rose sharply and yields declined despite a move by the Fed to drain credit temporarily from the banking system for three days.

Commenting on the anticipated return of institutional buyers who fueled the November bond market rally, Mr. Napoli noted that the trend toward lower prices so far this month enabled many buyers to stay on the sidelines longer than they would have otherwise.

''With the economy in such a difficult state, it is difficult to expect further rapid growth in money supply that would lead to increased inflation, so I have to think these prices are attractive,'' the Merrill Lynch official concluded.

In advance of tomorrow's Treasury auction of $5.25 billion of new two-year Treasury notes, the outstanding 13 percent issue due Dec. 30, 1983, was offered at 97 1/4 to yield 14.65 percent. Treasury Bonds Up Sharply

Even steeper price gains were recorded for longer-dated Treasury notes and bonds, with the 14 1/4 percent notes due in 1991 offered at 97 7/8, up almost 1 3/4 points, to yield 14.65 percent, while the 14 percent bonds due in 2011 were offe red at 98 1/2, up 2 points, to yield 14.21 percent.

In the tax-exempt market, dealers said prices were firm but did not increase so much as in the volatile Treasury market. Among recent issues, the A/A+-rated 14 5/8 percent bonds of the Texas Municipal Power Agency were offered in the dealer market at 100 3/4, up from last week's public sale price of 100.

Today, underwriters led by Salomon Brothers are expected to announce tentative yields for $100 million of Baa-1/A-rated bonds of the Municipal Assistance Corporation of New York. Outstanding 12 3/4 percent M.A.C. bonds due in 2008 were offered by dealers yesterday at a price of 91 to yield 14.04 percent to maturity.

Following are results of yesterday's auctions of new three- and six-month Treasury bills: PICK UP TREASURY BILL AGATE

Illustrations: Graph of 6-month T. Bills: Oct. 81' Jan. 82'


SAN DIEGO, Jan. 30— Johnny Miller, who says candidly that he is the best front-runner in professional golf, is exactly where he likes to be - in the lead - after three rounds of the San Diego Open.

In flawless weather that helped everyone post low scores, Miller shot a four-under-par 68 today to take a three-stroke lead over Tom Kite. His cumulative score was 200, tying the 54-hole record of 16 under par for the Torrey Pines Golf Course.

By Miller's estimate, Kite and the others will have to shoot in the 60's in the final round to catch him. And Kite agreed: ''The way Johnny is playing. I'll need to shoot 66 or 67 just to stay in reach.'' ''I'm definitely in the driver's seat,'' Miller said after today's ro und, ''and I probably could win with a par 72. But I want to play un der par tomorrow. Anything under par, it's going to be tough to be at me.''

Kite, with his best putting round in recent weeks, scored 66-203 for second place at 13 under. Counting his last rounds of the 1981 season, this was Kite's 30th round at par or better.

Tom Weiskopf, who is playing well again, scored 68-204 for a tie with Fuzzy Zoeller, who scored 70. Grouped at 206, or 10 under par, are George Burns, Gil Morgan and Curtis Strange.

The tournament, fourth stop on the 1982 schedule of the TPA Tour, is being played at what many consider one of the best municipal golf courses in the country. Miller believes that with some modification, Torrey Pines would be suitable for a United States Open. Besides the weather, another reason scores were low was that the Bermuda grass was still winter-dormant, with the result that there was virtually no rough.

The San Diego Open is the only mainland tournament West of the Rockies that Miller has not won, and he feels he is on his way to making up that deficiency.

Miller, winner of two tournaments in 1981, said he lost momentum after a bogey at the seventh hole, but that was not reflected in his card, which carried six birdies and two bogeys.

Miller started the day at 12 under par, and immediately moved to minus 13 with a birdie 3 at the first, where he sank a 20-foot putt. He reached 14 under after hitting a 4-iron to one and a half feet from the pin on the fourth hole.

Miller was feeling good about all this until he three-putted the seventh from 22 feet. His first putt missed by five feet, and he missed the next one.

Miller retrieved the lost stroke with a bir die 3 at No.10 on an 18-foot putt. On the 13th, a par 5, he wedged to four and a half feetand sank the putt for birdie.

He took his second and last bogey at 14, where a poor lie caused his shot to fly over the back of the green, but Miller made up ground with birdies on the 16th from 15 feet and on the 17th from 18 feet.

Kite, last season's leading money-winner with $375,700, had what he called a ''fantastic'' day on the greens, making putts that ranged from two feet to 18. He said that as long as the greens were in such good condition and as long as the weather was so balmy as it was today, ''the guys will shoot low scores even if the course is 15,000 yards long.'' He also observed that scores would continue to be low all around the country until rough starts growing in the spring, beginning with the Masters in April.

Kite started at seven under par and gained a stroke with a birdie at 4, where he canned a long 18-foot putt. On the sixth, a par 5, Kite wedged his third shot to two feet from the stick for another birdie.

He missed the green of the seventh, and a poor chip cost him his only bogey. Kite birdied the par-5 ninth by hitting a wedge to two feet. On the 13th, a par 5, he wedged to 10 feet and sank the putt for birdie, and he followed that with a 12-foot birdie putt on the 14th.

On the home stretch the red-haired Texan birdied the 17th with a 15-foot putt and the last hole with a 12-footer. Weiskopf, winner of 14 tournaments and the British Open in 18 years on the tour, reported he made ''a lot of birdies and a lot of mistakes.'' He recalled taking three bad swings on long iron shots, which are usually one of his strengths.

''I usually don't hit shots that bad,'' he said. One of the unusual aspects was that he took a double bogey on the seventh from the fairway. His 4-iron drifted into the canyon beside the green, and it took some hacking to get out of that mess.

Weiskopf's up-and-down card included the double bogey and two bogeys against eight birdies for a net score of 68. Tom Watson also played what he called ''variety'' golf, seven birdies and four bogeys for 69. Watson thought he would need an ''exceptional'' round to catch Miller tomorrow, plus some help: ''Johnny will have to fumble and I'll have to run it back for a touchdown.''


Google’s higher than anticipated revenues (but lower than anticipated profits) leave analysts optimistic, but cutting prices By Seth Weintraub, Benjamin Snyder, and JP Mangalindan

Below the fold is a roundup from the analysts above:

Jordan Rohan from Stifel Nicolaus: The overall tone of business for Google is strong with revenue growth exceeding our and consensus estimates. Margins were the key issue, as the company added 900 net employees in addition to bringing on 300 through the AdMob acquisition. This growth in spending pressured EBITDA margins, which fell below 60% for the first time in six quarters. Capex of $476 mn was nearly double the levels of last quarter and up fourfold over year ago levels. Overall, it is clear that Google is in investment mode in search, mobile, and display. Price target: drops from $675 to $600

Douglas Anmuth at Barclay’s: We are maintaining our 1-Overweight rating but lowering our price target to $550 on ~17.5x ourv2011E PF EPS of $31.30. We recognize thatvGoogle shares may be under some pressure or range-bound in the very near-term & that revenuev& EBITDA growth are likely to decelerate in 2H10, but we believe Google’s valuation remains reasonable at ~15x 2011E PF EPS, & closer to11x excluding cash & interest income. Price target: drops from $650 to $550

Mark S. Mahanay, Neil A. Doshi, and Rohit Kulkarni from Citi: If You Take Away Only One Thing From GOOG’s CQ2 Results, Let It Be This – While the expense level was a surprise to the Street, Annualized Cash Costs Per Employee were consistent with Q1 & Cash Profit Margin Per Employee was consistent with historic norms. We believe the REAL surprise was the material acceleration in U.S. Revenue. For 1st time ever, GOOG U.S. grew faster (26% Y/Y) than GOOG International (23%). This is Bullish. Because the Cyclical Recovery, Search Monetization Improvements, & New Revenue Contributions (Display, YouTube, Mobile) that are accelerating GOOG U.S. will almost inevitably soon accelerate GOOG International. Price target: drops from $630 to $620

Deutsche Bank’s Jeetil Patel, Herman Leung, and Matt Chesler: We maintain our BUY rating on shares of Google, and lower our PT to $610. While the 2Q revenue upside was re-invested back into the business, we do think shares already reflect the re-investment (based on after-hours trading). At ~15x 2011 EPS, shares do have support from 21% profit growth in 2010 (although 16% in 2H 2010 due to re-investment), with multiple expansion from improved bottom-line performance (preferably driven by click growth) ahead. As such, we think the stock has upside to $610, or 20x 2011E EPS. Price target: drops from $655 to $610

James Mitchell, Ingrid Chung, Jordan Monahan, and Fred Krom from Goldman Sachs: Google exceeded our 2Q10 revenue estimate by 1%, while missing our operating income and EPS estimates by 3%. Revenue growth accelerated by 2.6% yoy (ex-FX) on 1.6% easier comps, and we think, more display advertising. Expense growth outstripped revenue growth on re-staffing. As a result, operating income and EPS grew 20%-23% yoy, lagging gross revenue growth for the first time since late 2008. We raise our gross revenue estimates by 1%-3% for 2010E-2012E on higher 2Q revenue and Euro appreciation, and reduce our 2010E EPS by 1% to $28.36, 2011E EPS by 1% to $32.48, and 2012E EPS by 3% to $37.10 on more expenses. Price target: drops from $654 to $600

Sameet Sinha and Randy Katz, JMP Securities: We maintain our Market Outperform rating and $650 price target on Google after the company reported 2Q10 non-GAAP EPS of $6.45, missing our estimate of $6.58 and consensus at $6.48. While revenue growth accelerated from 1Q10, investors will likely focus on stepped-up opex and capex investments into emerging business which will dampen operating leverage in 2010. Our checks are indicating that Google is already gaining strong traction in the display market and we can expect benefits to accrue in early 2011; we are in favor of this investment spend, as the opportunity for Google in Display and Mobile is significant, and we would treat any pullback (stock down 4% in after market) as a buying opportunity. We have decreased our 2010 non-GAAP EPS estimate from $27.96 to $27.21 (consensus at $27.46) and our 2011 non-GAAP EPS estimate from $31.71 to $31.35 (consensus at $31.56). Our price target remains $650, which implies a 14x multiple to our 2010 adjusted EBITDA estimate of $12.7 billion, down from $12.9 billion (consensus at $12.8 billion), versus the online marketing space which trades at 9x, which we believe is justified due to Google’s dominating share of marketing budgets. Price target: stays at $650

Imran Khan, Bridget Weishaar, Lev Polinsky, Shelby Taffer, Vasily Karasyov at J.P. Morgan: Revenue growth beats expectations; raising our F’10 net revenue growth rate by 300 bps. Net revenue grew 0.6% sequentially, above our estimate of a 2.8% decline and ahead of the Street’s expectation for a 1.6% decline. Domestic gross revenue grew 3% Q/Q (vs. our est. of a 1% increase), with strength in most of the major ad verticals, including CPG, retail, and travel. Int’1 revenue fell 1% Q/Q, better than our estimate of a 6% decline, despite underperformance in the UK. This is likely due to strength in certain non-European currencies as well as growth in emerging markets. We are now modeling F’10 net revenue growth of 22% vs. our prior est. of 19%.

Margins weaker than expected; reducing our F’10 EBITDA margins by 130 bps. 2Q pro forma operating margin was 52.5%, below our estimate of 53.7%. Google added ~1,200 employees in the quarter, 300 of whom came from M&A activity. Margins were also impacted by an increase in professional services, advertising, and promotional spend, as well as by legal costs incurred during the quarter. We are now modeling an F’10 pro forma operating margin of 53.6%, below our prior estimate of 54.4%. Additionally our F’10 EBITDA margin of 60.2% is 130 bps below our prior est. of 61.5%. Price target: drops from $566 to $558

Tim Boyd with MKM Partners: We view GOOG’s in-line 2Q10 report, in which top-line upside (net revenues of $5.09bn 2% ahead of the Street) was driven by a strong acceleration in U.S. growth, while the bottom-line shortfall ($6.45 in EPS $0.08 below consensus) was a function of increased R&D and G&A expenses, as a case of strong execution during dicey economic times, with a side order of increased investment in key growth opportunities. The stock’s 4% aftermarket sell-off strikes us a short-sighted reaction to the latter, especially considering the fact that GOOG’s FTM P/E currently resides 15% below its one-year average. In other words, we believe there is room in GOOG’s current valuation for a bit of margin compression, especially given the revenue upside. Reiterate Buy and $600 PT. Price target: stays the same at $600

Justin Post, Nat Schindler and Paul Bieber at Merrill Lynch: Google reported mixed results with revenues up 25%, above Street at $5.09bn vs. $4.98bn, but EPS was below at $6.45 vs. $6.52 (higher taxes impacted EPS by $0.18). Revenue upside was driven by U.S./ROW acceleration q/q, but expenses were higher, resulting in a margin miss. The frustration with the results is that potential upside is being plowed into personnel (with no end in sight), and there is a lack of commitment from management to any margin target. Management’s investment horizon seems longer that the Street’s; trust & patience is required. Price target: stays the same at $630

Marianne Wolk, Malindi Davies and Christopher Ferris, from SIG Susquehanna: We have a lot of evidence that GOOG is developing several new growth engines with success; we believe these growth vehicles could debunk the bear story that GOOG is a cyclical single product company by 4Q10/2011 and yield upside to top- and bottom-line estimates. Short-term investments in growth engines meant EPS missed slightly in 2Q. Price target: drops from $665 to $650

Summary: Google's higher than anticipated revenues (but lower than anticipated profits) leave analysts optimistic, but cutting prices By Seth Weintraub, Benjamin Snyder, and JP Mangalindan Below the fold is a roundup from the analysts above: Jordan Rohan from Stifel Nicolaus: The overall tone of business for Google is strong with revenue growth exceeding our and consensus estimates.…


Hiromasa Yonebayashi’s luminous, unsettling “When Marnie Was There” evokes Alfred Hitchcock, and not just because of the title. The animated story of troubled 12-year-old Anna (Sara Takatsuki in the subtitled version I viewed), who visits a spooky mansion inhabited by the elusive “Alice in Wonderland”-like girl of the title (Kasumi Arimura), is at times like a YA version of “Rebecca” (1940). Based on Joan G. Robinson’s 1967 novel, the story springs to vivid life through Yonebayashi’s exquisitely detailed, achingly atmospheric hand-drawn animation.

As in his previous film “The Secret World of Arietty” (2010), Yonebayashi demonstrates here that he is as a much a master of numinous realism as fellow Studio Ghibli artist Hayao Miyazaki is a genius of the surreal and fantastic. Though the narrative of “Marnie” bogs down toward the end, this does not diminish its spell.

Things don’t look very magical in the beginning, however, as Anna sits alone, away from her raucous fellow students, during recess. “There is an inside and outside,” she says in voice-over, as she draws the scene on her sketchpad. “And I am outside.” Then she collapses into a fit of asthmatic self-loathing. Many 12-year-olds, and former 12-year-olds, can sympathize.

Anna, though, suffers an extreme case of depressive social withdrawal, due in part to a back story that is gradually disclosed. Her foster mother follows a doctor’s advice and sends her to the seaside home of relatives, Kiyomasa (Susumu Terajima), a good-natured maker of toys and gimcracks, and his wife, Setsu (Toshie Negishi), a portly, maternal type with a big, sometimes annoying laugh.

Despite the warm welcome, Anna feels estranged. “This smells like a stranger’s home,” she says to herself, an example of dialogue that is sometimes as strikingly acute as the imagery. But her moodiness melts when she looks below at the radiant coastline, rendered with saturated, subtle colors and a minutely precise mise-en-scene. And later, when she gazes across the shallows, the wind rustling her hair and the reeds, and sees the Marsh House, abandoned but still grand, a place she feels she’s seen before.

But the house isn’t always derelict; sometimes it comes alive. Like the girls in Miyazaki’s “Spirited Away” (2001) and Henry Selick’s “Coraline” (2009), Anna has stumbled into a secret realm. Blond, blue-eyed Marnie, a girl as lonely as she, introduces Anna to a Marsh House full of period partiers reminiscent of those in the Overlook Hotel from “The Shining” (1980).

Is it a dream or a portal into a ghostly dimension? The satisfaction of the explanation, as is often the case, does not equal the chill of the mystery. But Yonebayashi has touched on the greater mystery underlying everyday life, a world pulsing with wonder and possibility, edged with a shadow of melancholy.

Summary: “When Marnie Was There” proves that Studio Ghibli animator Hiromasa Yonebayashi rivals Hayao Miyazaki; the former’s eye for the wonder of the everyday nearly equals the latter’s surreal and fantastic vision.


07/20/2015 AT 04:00 PM EDT

On Monday, Avid Life Media, Inc., the parent company that owns AshleyMadison.com,

confirming an alleged hacking that led to the release of unauthorized information off the extramarital hook-up site.

The company, with the help of law enforcement, is currently investigating the hacking scandal.

"We have always had the confidentiality of our customers' information foremost in our minds, and have had stringent security measures in place, including working with leading IT vendors from around the world," reads the statement. "As other companies have experienced, these security measures have unfortunately not prevented this attack to our system."

The data in question are millions of users' full contact information, which includes real names and addresses. This wouldn't be so problematic if it weren't for the popular site's slogan: "Life is short. Have an affair."

after Match.com, the affected site is known to connect married individuals based on a short questionnaire that nails down a preferred match.

The hacker group, which identifies as "The Impact Team," has revealed its reason behind the takeover. It calls AshleyMadison.com to task, along with sister sites Cougar Life and Established Men, for allegedly fooling customers into paying an added fee ($19) to completely erase their profile information.

The Impact Team is taking a stand, as stated in

: the flush of data will stop once all sites under the parent media company shut down for good. If not, all private user information will be released to the public.

Summary: "We have always had the confidentiality of our customers' information foremost in our minds, and have had stringent security measures in place," says parent company Avid Life Media, Inc.


Malaysia's prime minister is facing the risk of a criminal charge over allegations that millions of dollars were funnelled from an indebted state fund to his personal bank accounts.

The attorney general confirmed late on Saturday he had received documents from an official investigation that made the link between Prime Minister Najib Razak and the investment fund 1MDB.

The existence of the documents was first reported by the Asian Wall Street Journal on Friday, showing about $US700 million ($A916.71 million) were wired from entities linked to the fund into Najib's accounts.

The documents sent to the attorney general pave the way for possible criminal charges.

This is the first time a Malaysian leader faces criminal allegations.

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Summary: Documents sent to Malaysia's attorney general pave the way for possible criminal charges against Prime Minister Najib Razak.


Q: If I've accepted a gift or a meal from someone, how do I get around the presumption that I owe that person a favour? More broadly, once I've made a questionable choice, how do I get back on the ethical high road?

A: You already know you’ve made an ethical lapse — or at the very least, you know others perceive a lapse on your part. Now what?

First, understand that this sort of perception is a reason many companies prohibit receiving gifts of any significant value from business contacts or vendors. Many times, it’s usually a good idea to eschew such gifts even if they’re so small that they fall under your company’s prohibition, said Lamar Pierce, associate professor of organisation and strategy at Olin Business School, Washington University in St. Louis.

“Even small gifts or favours can generate feelings of reciprocity or indebtedness, both of which are natural human tendencies,” he said.

Our innate desire to reciprocate is the main reason why hospitals and doctors’ offices in the US and elsewhere increasingly ban pharmaceutical-company representatives from bringing small gifts — even those worth only a few dollars — or buying lunch for the medical staff. Even gifts of low value, Pierce said by email, can create a subtle bias. Pharma companies give those gifts to encourage doctors to prescribe their drugs. But, hospitals want to ensure physicians prescribe medication without any external influence or bias.

But you’ve already accepted the gift. The problem is that if you bring up the subject you could offend the person who gave you the gift. If you don’t bring it up, you may go overboard trying to be unbiased toward this person, and end up with a bias against him or her, Pierce said.

To get around this roadblock, reciprocate with whatever was done for you, such as buying lunch in return. Then, “if you need to make a business decision that involves this person, identify several people that you can talk through your decision-making logic with, making it clear to them about your concerns of impartiality,” Pierce said.

Although it’s best to avoid accepting any gifts or favours, Pierce said, if you operate in a culture where small reciprocal gifts are the norm, make sure to give a gift or buy the beers when it’s your turn. In that manner, you will head off any notions that you are beholden to someone.

To comment on this story or anything else you have seen on BBC Capital, please head over to our Facebook page or message us on Twitter.

Work Ethic is a twice-monthly column on BBC Capital in which we consider the ethical and interpersonal dilemmas that workers face around the world. We welcome knotty questions from readers at workethic@bbc.com.

Work Ethic is a twice-monthly column on BBC Capital in which we consider the ethical and interpersonal dilemmas that workers face around the world. We welcome knotty questions from readers at workethic@bbc.com.

Summary: Youâve done something questionable at work. Can you redeem yourself in the eyes of your colleagues?


A planned meeting of European Union leaders has been cancelled as crisis talks continue about Greece's place in the single currency zone.

All 28 leaders, including David Cameron, had been expected to attend Sunday's meeting in Brussels, but now talks will be confined to politicians from the eurozone countries.

European Council president Donald Tusk confirmed he had cancelled the meeting of all 28 members but said the leaders of the eurozone nations would meet later on Sunday and the meeting would "last until we conclude talks on Greece".

The move came after divided eurozone finance ministers held "very difficult" talks on Greece late into the night on Friday.

Some eight hours of talks failed to make a breakthrough, with eurozone nations citing a lack of trust in Greece's radical Syriza government implementing the austerity measures promised in exchange for a third bailout.

Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras has offered to implement tax rises and spending cuts in return for a financial lifeline of 53.5 billion euro to stave off bankruptcy and the possibility of crashing out of the euro.

Eurogroup president Jeroen Dijsselbloem said: "We had an in-depth discussion on Greek proposals. The issue of credibility and trust was discussed and also, of course, the financial issues involved."

The Dutch finance minister added: "It is still very difficult, but work is still in progress."

In Finland, there were reports that the coalition government was refusing to back further assistance for Greece.

In a sign of the increasingly desperate attempts to find a solution to the crisis, reports suggested that Germany was pushing the idea of a temporary five-year long Greek exit - Grexit - from the eurozone.

Theodoros Mihopoulos, who heads Mr Tsipras' office, said the report in Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper "is completely denied".

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Summary: The German finance minister says there can be no question of debt forgiveness for Greece, as bailout crisis talks get underway in Brussels.


08/14/2015 AT 06:40 PM EDT

Cookie Lyon may have a reputation for being glamourous, but show creator

says the character was based on his fierce "gangster" grandma from Philadelphia.

"She was a gangster, basically â a corrupt politician in the sixties and seventies who got blacks to come out to vote," Daniels tells

in the mag's September issue.

"My earliest memory was her on the phone with Frank Rizzo, the mayor of Philly, and my grandmother saying, 'Motherf-----, you better come down here with my money before I shoot yo ass.' Back then you didn't talk to white people like that," he goes on.

credits her with truly breathing life into Cookie.

"It's all about Taraji's choices," he says, "because you never know where she's going to come from; it might be an intelligent perspective, or an observant one, or a strategic, emotional, or defensive one. What Taraji has created with Cookie is that girl who's had to come up by whatever means necessary â she's given her a public forum."

Lucky for the show's creators– and us – Henson got over her initial reservations about joining the cast and accepted the role.

"I was done with television," she told

about the prospect of a small screen commitment, "I was like, 'I don't like being trapped in a little box. I'm a movie star!'"

The actress was also concerned about the script's incendiary moments, particularly one flashback scene involving a 5 year-old Jamal being thrown into a trashcan.

"I was like, 'Obama is going to hate us.' I really had issues," Henson said about her reaction to the scene.

was an opportunity she couldn't pass up.

"Once I dealt with the fear, I sat down and really thought about what this show could possibly do to prime-time network television if it was done right. I just took Cookie in and said, 'It is very important that this woman be played precisely. You must show the why. Because if you miss that, she's just a stereotype.'"

Summary: Show creator Lee Daniels says the character is based on his grandmother


Nicholas Kamm | AFP | Getty Images

Danny Meyer, chief founder of the Union Square Hospitality Group and Shake Shack.

According to regulatory filings, Meyer owns 7,440,822 shares of Class B stock of Shake Shack, the burger chain he founded in 2004 that's spreading like wildfire and is expected to go public this week. The filing states that the IPO would value Shake Shack at around $674.5 million, at a share price of $17 to $19 a share.

At those valuations, Meyer's shares—which represent 21 percent of the company—would be worth $127 million to $141 million. And the stock is likely to pop much higher once it opens.

Read MoreElderly billionaire does pushups faster than you

Shake Shack declined to comment on the IPO or Meyer's wealth. Yet Meyer's potential windfall, setting aside his existing wealth, instantly makes him one of the richest restaurateurs in the country.

Meyer has said little about wealth or money as his motivator. As he told The New York Times in 2011, "My favorite thing is watching people enjoy our food. I get sort of an insane amount of pleasure out of that."

Read MoreWealth gap worries millionaires

That pleasure may be even sweeter, however, after the IPO.

Some of the other investors in line to make millions from the Shake Shack IPO include Green Equity Investors, which holds 26 percent of the common stock, valued at more than $170 million, and Jeff Flug, president of Union Hospitality, who holds 4.9 percent of the company that could be worth more than $30 million.

Read MoreMost of French Laundry's stolen wine recovered

Summary: Danny Meyer has seen a lot of success in the restaurant business, but the Shake Shack IPO could mean a $141 million payday.


08/21/2015 AT 02:20 PM EDT

Molly Shattuck, formerly the oldest cheerleader in the NFL, was sentenced to 48 weekends in jail on Friday for raping a 15-year-old boy.

The ex-Baltimore Ravens cheerleader, 48, burst into tears as the judge announced her sentence, according to

. She then promised to make amends.

"I will spend the rest of my life making this right," she said.

to one count of fourth-degree rape in the Sussex County Superior Court in Georgetown, Delaware.

Her relationship with the boy allegedly

in May 2014. Shattuck eventually invited the victim, along with her children and some of their friends, to a vacation home in Delaware over the Labor Day weekend.

The boy later told police she gave him alcohol and performed oral sex.

On Friday, the victim's mother and father asked the judge to sentence Shattuck to more than just probation.

"Any adult who rapes a child deserves to be in prison," the boy's mother said in court, according to

. "Please hold her accountable."

Shattuck will spend every other weekend in jail for the next two years.

Summary: "I will spend the rest of my life making this right," Shattuck vowed


"I want to say a heartfelt thanks to the majority of Greeks who stood by the Greek government ... That was our most powerful negotiating weapon," he said on Saturday. "Greece achieved an important negotiating success in Europe.".

Top Marxist members of Tsipras's Syriza party, a broad coalition of the left, have so far been silent on the painful compromises made to win agreement from the Eurogroup.

But veteran leftist Manolis Glezos attacked the failure to fulfil campaign promises. "I apologize to the Greek people because I took part in this illusion," he wrote in a blog. "Syriza's friends and supporters ... should decide if they accept this situation."

Read MoreGreece saga fades, investors look at the economy

Glezos, a Syriza member of the European Parliament, is not a party heavyweight. But he commands moral authority: as a young man under the World War Two occupation, he scaled the Acropolis to rip down a Nazi flag under the noses of German guards and hoist the Greek flag, making him a national hero.

A government official said Glezos "may not be well informed on the tough and laborious negotiation which is continuing".

Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said the reform promises would be ready on Sunday and submitted to Greece's EU and IMF partners in good time. "We are very confident that the list is going to be approved by the institutions and therefore we are embarking upon a new phase of stabilisation and growth," he told reporters late on Saturday.

A government official said the reforms would include a crackdown on tax evasion and corruption.

The Brussels deal opens the possibility of lowering a target for the Greek primary budget surplus, which excludes debt repayments, freeing up some funds to help ease the effects of 25 percent unemployment and pension cuts. It also avoids some language which has inflamed many Greeks, angered by four years of austerity demanded by foreign creditors.

In the deal the hated "troika" of inspectors from the European Commission, European Central Bank and IMF, which monitors compliance with Greek bailout undertakings, is referred to as "the three institutions".

Summary: Greece's government prepared reform measures to secure a financial lifeline from the euro zone, but was attacked for selling "illusions" to voters.


(Virtual reality on consoles, at present, is only being publicly explored by Sony, whose Project Morpheus is exclusive to the PlayStation 4.)

VR is a still a nascent business. While Oculus has generated lots of buzz, it has only shipped one product—the Gear VR with Samsung. The Rift, its premier device, still does not have a firm ship date, though many industry insiders expect it could make its debut this holiday period.

The excitement is expected to translate into significant spending. And consulting firm KZero predicts the consumer market for virtual reality will hit $5.2 billion by 2018.

Read More'Exploding Kittens' game goes nuclear on Kickstarter

Valve, which got its start as the developer of the acclaimed "Half-Life" games, has been focusing more on Steam and the hardware businesses in recent years. In addition to the VR system, the company will unveil new Steam Machines, a living room PC system that's designed to help move the PC games on Steam from the desktop to the living room, as well as the final design for that system's controller and other "new living room devices."

Valve, traditionally, has not manufactured hardware itself, instead setting specifications for its PC partners and encouraging an open market. It's unclear at this point if the company plans to build the VR headset in house or rely on partners.

The company has been experimenting with VR for some time now, though. In 2013, engineers hacked together an idea for an augmented reality headset that Valve ultimately scuttled. (It went on to become the castAR headset, which raised over $1 million on Kickstarter.)

Read MoreA video game perfectly predicted Super Bowl score

Developers who have seen what Valve is working on have been extremely bullish on the device. Despite these accolades, Valve has previously said it did not have plans to ship its own headset.

Instead, it has been working with other VR industry players, including Oculus, to help them build out competing products. (The Rift, for example, will be compatible with Steam.)

That might seem curious to investors, but Valve has historically welcomed and encouraged competition, believing it is more beneficial to the gaming ecosphere.

Summary: Valve Software, creator of the industry's largest PC game digital distribution platform, will unveil new virtual reality hardware.


One of baseball's most pressing issues is the aging of its audience, and Manfred has spoken out about speeding up the pace of the game to help it connect with a new generation of fans.

"Our focus is to take out the dead time in the game, make sure our inning breaks are nice and tight," Manfred said during an interview at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics conference. "We are in and out in the amount we owe to advertisers but nothing more. We keep players in the batter's box to keep the action flowing a little more."

Last year, the average game lasted three hours, two minutes, clearly a number Manfred wants to reduce in an era of social media, multiple screens and fleeting attention spans.

Summary: Rob Manfred has spoken out about speeding up the pace of the game to help it connect with a new generation of fans.


Former reporter Vester Flanagan killed two of his former colleagues during a live broadcast.

The gunman who murdered journalist Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward during a live TV broadcast in Virginia wrote a letter claiming his actions were retaliation for the Charleston church shootings in June.

ABC News said it received a rambling 23-page manifesto two hours after a gunman shot to death a WDBJ reporter and cameraman as they were conducting a live interview near Roanoke, Virginia.

In the document that was faxed to the network, the author said he was motivated to commit the crime after Dylann Roof murdered nine people and wounded three others inside the South Carolina church.

“MY NAME IS BRYCE WILLIAMS,” he wrote.

“Why did I do it? I put down a deposit for a gun on 6/19/15. The Church shooting in Charleston happened on 6/17/15.

Alison Parker was in a relationship with WDBJ7 anchor Chris Hurst.

Murdered WSBJ7 cameraman Adam Ward. (Facebook)

“What sent me over the top was the church shooting. And my hollow point bullets have the victims’ initials on them.”

The killer, Vester Flanagan, was a former reporter at the station and used Bryce Williams as his on-air name.

He had been dismissed by the network after several behaviour-related incidents.

READ MORE: Suspect dead after reporter and cameraman murdered on live TV

READ MORE: Cameraman's fiancée watched as events unfolded live

He tweeted photos showing himself as a young adult. His social media accounts were suspended after he posted details and video of the shooting. (Facebook)

ABC News redacted some parts of the manifesto, replacing certain words with (deleted) in their publication.

“As for Dylann Roof? You (deleted)! You want a race war (deleted)? BRING IT THEN YOU WHITE …(deleted)!!!”

The author of the letter also praised the actions of the Seung–Hui Cho, who killed 32 people at Virginia Tech university in 2007, and reference Columbine mass shooters Eric Harris and Dylann Klebold.

Vester Flanagan uploaded dozens of older photos of himself. (Facebook)

Flanagan was fired by the station after numerous behaviour incidents.

“Also, I was influenced by Seung–Hui Cho. That’s my boy right there. He got NEARLY double the amount that Eric Harris and Dylann Klebold got…just sayin,” he wrote.

Throughout the long document the author claimed he had suffered racial discrimination, sexual harassment and bullying at his workplace.

He also said he had been attacked by white females and black men and talked about being targeted for being a gay black man.

“Yes, it will sound like I am angry...I am. And I have every right to be. But when I leave this Earth, the only emotion I want to feel is peace,” he wrote.

Flanagan posted older photos of himself to social media in the week before the shooting. (Facebook)

“The church shooting was the tipping point…but my anger has been building steadily...I’ve been a human powder keg for a while…just waiting to go BOOM!!!!”

*If you or anyone you know needs support contact Lifeline on 13 11 14

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Summary: The gunman behind the deaths of journalist Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward during a live TV cross in Virginia reportedly wrote a letter claiming his actions were retaliation for the Charleston church shootings in June.


Jamie Sabau | NHLI | Getty Images

Jack Johnson of the Columbus Blue Jackets skates against the Detroit Red Wings on November 18, 2014 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.

As professional hockey player Jack Johnson has discovered, father (and mother) don't always know best.

The Columbus Blue Jackets player filed for bankruptcy in October, despite having earned more than $18 million prior to this season as an athlete with the National Hockey League, The Columbus Dispatch wrote. Nearly all of that money is gone, and some of $5 million he will make this season is already promised to lenders.

After splitting from his agent Pat Brisson in 2008, Johnson turned to his parents, Jack Sr. and Tina, for help managing money. In a story that is all too familiar since the 2008 financial crisis, Johnson's mother took out $15 million in risky high interest rate loans in her son's name that he later defaulted on, leaving him high fees and mounting interest, according to the publication. The NHL player also faced three lawsuits because of the defaults, one of which is still pending.

Read MoreMadoff recoveries top $10 billion with new settlement

Johnson claims much of his parents' spending, including the purchase of a house in Manhattan Beach, Calif. and two cars, was made without his knowledge. In his bankruptcy filings, Johnson said he had assets of "less than $50,000" but "more than $10 million" in debts, according to The Columbus Dispatch.

For more on this story, check out The Columbus Dispatch.

Summary: The Columbus Blue Jackets player filed for bankruptcy in October after his parents poorly managed his assets for four years.


The announcement came on the heels of another dismal session in Chinese stocks, which tumbled 7.6 percent on Tuesday – following Monday's 8.5 percent plunge – sending the market to an eight-month low.

"[The] absence of coordinated policy stimulus comprising monetary easing, fiscal boost and property/asset market [measures] mean that relief remains flimsy as lagging and seemingly ad-hoc policy are assessed piecemeal," Varathan said. "The PBoC has its work cut out in stabilizing markets more durably," he said.

Read MoreExpert: China cut means nothing; QE by PBoC coming

U.S. stocks, which had reacted positively to the announcement initially, staged a reversal to end the session lower. The Dow Jones industrial average and the S&P 500 closed about 1.3 percent lower after rallying nearly 3 percent earlier, their biggest reversal to the downside since Oct. 29, 2008.

"We will know more today, but it seems that in the last hour of U.S. trading, markets have assessed it and decided that the policy isn't enough," said Emma Lawson, senior currency strategist at National Australia Bank. The benchmark Shanghai Composite swung between losses and gains in a choppy trading session on Wednesday. It closed down 1.3 percent.

More stimulus in the pipeline

Yu Song, economist at Goldman Sachs, said that while the latest monetary easing is a much need move to support the economy and market, he agrees it is unlikely to be sufficient.

His baseline forecast is for another 100 basis points in RRR cuts by the year end – most likely in two moves. The timings of the cuts will be data and market dependent, he said.

"Further benchmark interest rate cuts are relatively less likely compared with further RRR cuts, in our view, given policy makers' residual worry over inflation and concerns on FX outflows, though we still have another 25bp cut in our baseline," he said.

Read MoreAnalysts: Why Apple will weather the China storm

Besides monetary policy, Goldman also expects authorities will also step up fiscal support financed through local government bond issuances, better utilization of idle fiscal deposits and more support to the policy banks. China Development Bank, Export-Import Bank of China and Agricultural Development Bank of China, the so-called policy banks, have a different remit from state-owned commercial banks as they focus on providing long-term financing for key projects supported by Beijing.

Goldman wasn't alone in its predictions for further stimulus. ANZ economists Liu Li-Gang and Louis Lam also believe another RRR cut is on the cards amid weak demand in the economy.

"The PPI [producer price index] has remained in negative territories for 41 consecutive months, indicating that China's deflationary pressures remain strong," they said.

"In order to fend off deflation and maintain GDP [gross domestic product] growth at the target of around 7%, China will likely engage in further easing measures including another RRR cut of 50bps in the fourth quarter and additional targeted measures."

Summary: Hours after China unleashed a fresh bout of stimulus, investors are already looking for more aggressive action from authorities.


Boston-area hotels had their best showing since 2007 last year, reaching five-year highs in occupancy, room rates, and revenue per available room, according to the hotel consultancy PKF Consulting USA.

The average daily room rate in Greater Boston was nearly $185, an increase of 8 percent over last year. Occupancy was at 74 percent, up 1 percent, and revenue per available room rose 9 percent to more than $137, according to PKF's annual data, which are based on a monthly sample of hotel rooms in each year.

Over the past seven years, the best year for Boston area hotels was 2007, which had an average revenue per available room of almost $159.

Nationwide, the average daily rate was $106, up 4 percent; hotel occupancy rose above 61 percent, a rise of 2.5 percent; and revenue per available room increased 7 percent to $65, according to the hotel research firm Smith Travel Research.

“Boston continues to be a very strong hotel market,” said Andrea Foster, vice president at PKF. “We’ve seen and will continue to see strong average daily rate increases because of the scarcity of hotel room availability.”

Summary: Boston area hotels had their best showing since 2007 last year, reaching five-year highs in occupancy, room rates, and revenue per available room, according to the hotel consultancy PKF Consulting USA.


U.S. foreclosure filings in February fell to the level in more than seven years, and dropped 10 percent from January, RealtyTrac reported Thursday.

According to the real estate information firm, there were 112,498 filings last month. The number, which includes default notices, auctions and repossessions, marks a 27 percent drop from the prior year. It's also the lowest since December 2006.

(Read more: Spring thaw may not heat up this housing market)

The report also said there were 152,033 "zombie foreclosures"—owner-vacated homes. The figure nationwide remained flat compared to the third quarter of 2013 when the firm last reported on the number. Florida has the most in the country, followed by Illinois and New York.

(Read more: What's hot in the real estate market)

In a statement, RealtyTrac vice president Daren Blomquist said the biggest threat to foreclosures will be properties that have been lingering in the foreclosure process.

(Read more: 4 million renters want to buy. Can they?)

"These properties drag down home values in the surrounding neighborhood and contribute to a climate of uncertainty and low inventory in local housing markets," he said.

Summary: RealtyTrac's report also said the number of foreclosures was 27 percent lower than recorded a year ago.


"Buying these cars is kind of like buying a tuxedo, and the expectation is as a result of owning a tuxedo that you're going go to the party," said Tom O'Gara, a top supercar dealer in Beverly Hills, California. "You know, but a lot of times the party never comes."

Read MoreHow rich men go mansion shopping

O'Gara, however, is joining a new kind of party. It's called The Thermal Club. And it promises to give supercar owners a chance to experience their supercars to the fullest—and be part of an elite country club at the same time.

Thermal is a four-and-a-half-mile private racetrack in the California desert town of La Quinta that will be a $120 million playground for wealthy car owners and their families. (For the non-car lovers in the family, the club will include a spa, pool, kids' center and plenty of fine dining.)

Read MoreLambo vs 'Lamboat': Pitting supercar vs superboat

Membership costs $85,000 for an individual or $200,000 for a corporate membership. You also have to own land around the track. That will cost you between $400,000 to more than $800,000 per lot, depending on how close the property is to the track.

Members are then expected to build "garage villas"—fancy homes for your cars that could include elevators, viewing rooms and data centers to check your track times. Some villas are expected to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, in addition to the land price—hence, the $1 million garage.

Summary: A members-only racetrack, the Thermal Club, promises to give supercar owners a chance to experience their supercars to the fullest.


Jacob, fleeing his brother Esau, who had threatened to kill him for stealing his birthright, stops for the night at a place called Luz. There is no shelter to be had – some scholars believe he may even be in the Negev desert – so he lies down upon the ground, taking a stone for a pillow.

As he is falling asleep, or during his sleep, a vision appears to him in the form of a ladder rising up from Earth to heaven. On this ladder, angels are ascending and descending, and at the top is Yahweh himself, who promises him the land on which he lies and the distant reaches all around it. Jacob wakes, agrees to believe in God (if he keeps his promise), and decides that this spot truly is the house of God.

It's a gift for artists, this ladder – an amazing vertical connecting ground and sky, shooting up to the heavens like some fabulous straight rainbow. Upon each rung an angel may be taking a delicate step and there is God in the clouds to top the whole thing off. Yet no two artists have imagined the scene in quite the same way, to the point where the issue of faith seems to enter into the image: what can these artists believe?

Rembrandt has a peculiar scrum of spectral bodies more or less molesting the sleeping Jacob in an etching. William Blake has a glitteringly beautiful Cecil B DeMille stage set in which the ladder is anything but an upright structure, more like a dreamy catwalk spiralling gradually upwards, the angels lithe beauties among the stars. Gustav Doré has a vision of flickering light in which the angels appear like actors on the silver screen.

The ladder is a set of rickety steps in medieval art, a concise wooden structure in renaissance Germany, a flight of marble steps in rococo Italy and a stairway to heaven in Romantic painting. God is a word, a face, a swirling cloud, or a great numinous blank.

Many of these images appear in miniature in Continuum of Repair: The Light of Jacob's Ladder at the Whitechapel Art Gallery, a colossal installation that towers up to the ceiling and fills an entire gallery with objects, words and images, much as it fills the mind. It's the creation of the French-Algerian artist Kader Attia, and though it is anything but a literal depiction of Jacob, the ladder or the up-and-down angels, it amounts to a kind of parallel representation in its dense and original way.

Attia was born in 1970, one of seven in an Algerian family on the outskirts of Paris. His childhood was spent between the Christian west and the Islamic Maghreb, and his art is constantly pondering the relationships between them. Ghost, at the Saatchi Gallery, showed dozens of female figures kneeling in prayer, hijabs fashioned out of tinfoil so that they shone like space-age scientists. His performance-cum-sculpture Oil and Sugar makes an irreducibly simple but strong political metaphor out of the destruction of the latter by the former, and his most recent work, for the 2012 Documenta, was a quasi-ethnological museum contrasting the different uses of surgery in the east and west. His idea of what happened to Jacob that night is influenced by several different cultures.

Perhaps the vision was not some Old Testament ladder but in fact the bright glimmer of innumerable stars. Attia groups many small period etchings in glass cases, so that one notices how ideal printmaking is for these pinpricks of light in darkness. An early telescope angles up to the ceiling, echoing these shafts of starlight. The ruminations of Arab astronomers are presented next to those of Galileo and Kepler, drawings of Sirius as seen in Dallas in 1871 and of the Comet Loggia in 1884, resembling nothing so much as a cascade of Rapunzel tresses descending like a ladder from the sky.

What is a vision? Does it look more like a movie, or a ghost; does it happen like a brainwave in the head, or manifest as a hallucination, the result of extreme emotion or tiredness? Photographs, paintings and books are juxtaposed to send up new ideas of what might have happened.

Attia's gift is for proximity, analogy, subtle connection. He places the viewer in a labyrinthine archive in which other people suddenly appear and disappear in the shadows. Perhaps the angels were real people, moving about in the distance.

With all such thoughts in mind, and in play, you eventually come across a real ladder that takes you up above the ground. And there you will see a very simple and beautiful vision of infinity, such as might be contrived by any one of us – which seems to be the ethos of the entire installation.

For everything here – in this combination of art gallery, library, museum, theatre and observatory – is concerned with human aspiration, the urge to understand, to believe, to make sense of the cosmos, the endless desire to know more. Attia may have no explanation of the mysterious exchange between Jacob and Yahweh but he sends you back out of the darkness in just the right state of mind, between reason and wonder.

Summary: The biblical story of Jacob's ladder expands into a whole world of ideas for the French-Algerian artist Kader Attia, writes Laura Cumming


By Maria Yagoda and Patrick Gomez

09/25/2015 AT 09:50 AM EDT

Despite being passionate about women's empowerment and domestic violence issues for years,

had never heard of financial abuse – the tactics abusers use to keep victims feeling trapped, like restricting their access to credit cards or legal and financial support.

"It turns out that 98 percent of all domestic violence cases involve financial abuse, so it's a huge reason for why women stay in abusive relationships and why they go back after they leave," Washington tells PEOPLE. "They feel they don't have the tools to take care of themselves and their families."

When the Allstate Foundation approached Washington to design a purple purse to promote the issue in 2014, she didn't quite understand the purse part – until it really clicked.

"Abuse is hard to talk about, so we thought a purse is a beautiful object that can get the conversation started," Washington says. "It is a symbol of a woman's financial domain."

This is the second year Washington has designed a bag for the Allstate Foundation Purple Purse campaign. This year, she worked with designer Dee Ocleppo to make the design, opting for a sleek clutch that can be worn with a chain across the body. The exterior is faux croc, and the inside is a bright peacock color.

The bag, which will be sold limited edition, is designed to raise awareness and money for the issue in a concrete way.

"It's such a daunting vision to end all violence against women and girls, but this was so exciting to me because it's such a concrete way to tackle this problem," Washington shares. "It's fun to work on women's empowerment and be girly about it. It incorporates all of who I am – my love of fashion, art, design and human rights."

The purse represents so much more than just fashion – though it is, admittedly, quite fashionable.

"For me, it's a way of saying I believe in the end of domestic violence, and I believe in the end of financial abuse, and I believe in the ability of a woman to support herself financially," she says.

The new purple purse, which retails for $350, is available for purchase beginning Sept. 25 at select Saks Fifth Avenue locations and on

. Twenty-five percent of proceeds will go toward more than 160 domestic violence programs around the country.

Summary: The limited-edition clutch will raise money for domestic violence programs around the country


MELVILLE, N.Y., Sept. 4, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- To help build the confidence of many underserved children who would otherwise return to the classroom without essential school supplies or new clothes, Henry Schein, Inc. (NASDAQ: HSIC), the world's largest provider of health care products and services to office-based dental, animal health and medical practitioners, has launched its annual "Back to School" program. This year, more than 5,000 children will participate in the program. Since the program's inception in 1998, more than 32,000 children have headed back to school equipped for success.

Henry Schein "Back to School" events are taking place at 29 Henry Schein locations this year. In 2014, the program expanded beyond the United States and Canada to Spain, and this year includes Scotland. Participating children will be provided with school essentials, including backpacks filled with classroom supplies, books and hygiene products donated by Henry Schein. At many "Back to School" locations, children also will receive new first-day school outfits, personally selected and paid for by Team Schein Members.

"Our 'Back to School' program has been one of Henry Schein's longest-running and largest community service events, during which enthusiastic Team Schein Members make a significant difference in the lives of underserved children, boosting their confidence from the first day they walk through the classroom doors," said Gerry Benjamin, Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer of Henry Schein. "Giving back to society is a core value of Team Schein, and we are proud to host 'Back to School' every year, having grown the program from one event at our Company's headquarters in Melville to now 29 events worldwide."

At Henry Schein's worldwide corporate headquarters in Melville, N.Y., more than 600 children and their families pre-selected by local social service agencies received school supplies and clothes at a "Back to School" event yesterday. Dinner, games, balloon animals, face-painting and music were among the fun-filled activities.

To help identify participating children and families in the Henry Schein "Back to School" program, Henry Schein partners annually with local social service organizations. For the event at the Company's headquarters, Henry Schein partnered with 11 social service organizations, including Bethany House; Madonna Heights; Espoir Youth Program, Inc.; the Nassau County Department of Social Services; Family Service League; YES Community Counseling Center; MPowering Kids; Family and Children's Association; Hispanic Counseling Center; Pederson-Krag Center, Inc.; and The Raymar Children's Fund.

"For more than a decade, our families have participated in 'Back to School,' and it is always a pleasure to see the smiles on the children's faces as they excitedly receive brand new clothing, sneakers and more," said Donna Teichner, Assistant Director, Family Ties, Family and Children's Association. "Self-esteem and resources are major components to academic success, and with the school supplies and clothing the children receive thanks to Henry Schein, we are better able to ensure that our families – many of them enduring a variety of crises – can have their children return to school feeling empowered to do well and feel well."

"Back to School" is a flagship initiative of Henry Schein Cares, the global corporate social responsibility program of Henry Schein, and is supported by the Henry Schein Cares Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)(3) organization that works to help increase access to health care in underserved communities around the world.

Henry Schein Cares stands on four pillars: engaging Team Schein Members to reach their potential, ensuring accountability by extending ethical business practices to all levels within Henry Schein, promoting environmental sustainability, and expanding access to health care for underserved and at-risk communities around the world. Health care activities supported by Henry Schein Cares focus on three main areas: advancing wellness, building capacity in the delivery of health care services, and assisting in emergency preparedness and relief.

Firmly rooted in a deep commitment to social responsibility and the concept of enlightened self-interest championed by Benjamin Franklin, the philosophy behind Henry Schein Cares is a vision of "doing well by doing good." Through the work of Henry Schein Cares to enhance access to care for those in need, the Company believes that it is furthering its long-term success. "Helping Health Happen Blog" is a platform for health care professionals to share their volunteer experiences delivering assistance to those in need globally. To read more about how Henry Schein Cares is making a difference, please visit our blog: http://helpinghealthhappen.org/.

About the Henry Schein Cares Foundation

Established in 2008, the Henry Schein Cares Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)(3) organization, carries out its mission through financial and health care product donations that support health care professionals and community-based programs focused on prevention, wellness, treatment, and education; disaster preparedness and relief; and capacity building of health institutions that provide training and care. To learn more about the Henry Schein Cares Foundation, please visit: www.hscaresfoundation.org.

Henry Schein, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSIC) is the world's largest provider of health care products and services to office-based dental, animal health and medical practitioners. The Company also serves dental laboratories, government and institutional health care clinics, and other alternate care sites. A Fortune 500® Company and a member of the S&P 500® and the NASDAQ 100® indexes, Henry Schein employs more than 18,000 Team Schein Members and serves more than one million customers.

The Company offers a comprehensive selection of products and services, including value-added solutions for operating efficient practices and delivering high-quality care. Henry Schein operates through a centralized and automated distribution network, with a selection of more than 100,000 branded products and Henry Schein private-brand products in stock, as well as more than 150,000 additional products available as special-order items. The Company also offers its customers exclusive, innovative technology solutions, including practice management software and e-commerce solutions, as well as a broad range of financial services.

Headquartered in Melville, N.Y., Henry Schein has operations or affiliates in 33 countries. The Company's sales reached a record $10.4 billion in 2014, and have grown at a compound annual rate of approximately 16 percent since Henry Schein became a public company in 1995. For more information, visit Henry Schein at www.henryschein.com, Facebook.com/HenrySchein and @HenrySchein on Twitter.

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/henry-scheins-18th-annual-back-to-school-program-helps-more-than-5000-children-return-to-the-classroom-ready-to-succeed-300138159.html

Summary: MELVILLE, N.Y., Sept. 4, 2015/ PRNewswire/-- To help build the confidence of many underserved children who would otherwise return to the classroom without essential school supplies or new clothes, Henry Schein, Inc., the world's largest provider of health care products and services to office-based dental, animal health and medical practitioners, has launched its...


CAMBRIDGE — Maritime catastrophe. Artistic virtuosity. And a whirlwind of energy on the city’s musical frontlines.

Boston has had more than its share of distinguished musical residents, but few have a story — or a record of accomplishment — that can compare to that of Georges Longy, oboist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1898 to 1925.

By the time he retired and returned to his native France, this elegantly mustachioed musician was described as the supreme oboist in America, yet during his time here he also worked tirelessly off-stage to develop the musical life of his adopted hometown. The Georges Longy Club, the MacDowell Club, the Cecilia Society (later the Boston Cecilia), the Boston Musical Society — each of these was either founded or directed by Longy. A musician of modern sensibilities, he also used his positions of leadership to introduce a wide swath of new repertoire, both French and American, to Boston audiences.

But the most enduring institutional contribution Longy made to this city was by far the founding in 1915 of the music school that still bears his name. The Longy School of Music of Bard College, as it’s known nowadays, kicked off its centenary celebrations this weekend, dedicating an expanded edition of its annual SeptemberFest to honoring its founder and looking back to the era of the school’s birth.

Georges Longy had been playing in the orchestra of Paris’s Opera Comique when he was recruited to join the BSO after the ocean liner SS La Bourgogne sank off the coast of Nova Scotia in 1898 with the orchestra’s principal oboist, Albert Weiss, on board. When Longy later founded his school, he taught classes out of his Back Bay apartment. The emphasis was on solfege and other core fundamentals of French-style musical training, with instruction in small groups and with high standards.

Finding sufficient funding in the early years was a constant challenge. During a pre-concert panel discussion on the school’s history on Saturday night, when it was asked what might surprise Georges Longy most if he were to see the school today, one speaker replied: simply that it still exists.

The school’s most recent chapter has been more institutionally eventful than most. When Longy’s current president Karen Zorn took the reins in 2008, she determined that big changes were necessary to ensure the school’s survival. One of those came in 2012 when Longy merged with Bard College. Another came one year later, when the school made the controversial decision to close its preparatory division, a cherished musical hub for many Boston-area families.

Since then the school has been working with city youth in a different capacity, by investing in El Sistema-inspired initiatives including one impressive program that brings music students from underserved urban neighborhoods to rehearse and perform in an orchestra “side by side” with conservatory students. (Longy’s Side by Side orchestra will give its first performance of the season on Oct. 15 at First Church in Cambridge.)

On Saturday night, however, the focus was mostly retrospective, as school faculty, graduates, and current students performed an eclectic program of works, mostly by French and American composers, written in the era of Longy’s founding. Among the highlights was mezzo-soprano Pamela Dellal and pianist Brian Moll offering a deeply felt rendition of Amy Beach’s song “My Star,” and cellist Mina Kim and pianist Yoon Chung’s eloquent performance of Debussy’s Cello Sonata. The Horszowski Trio was also on hand and delivered an enthralling account of Arthur Foote’s rarely spotted Piano Trio of 1909, distinguished by its graciously Brahmsian slow movement, here given a particularly lithe and sensitive reading.

The night ended with a festive flourish, courtesy of mezzo-soprano Sophie Michaux and guitarist Adam Simon, who gave zesty renditions of two French music-hall classics. The celebration will continue with a series of fall events including an enticing program on Oct. 9 devoted to the songs of John Harbison.

At: Pickman Hall, Longy School of Music of Bard College, Saturday night

Summary: The Longy School of Music of Bard College kicked off its centenary celebrations this weekend, dedicating an expanded edition of its annual SeptemberFest to honoring its founder.


There are two big problems with the current automatic substitution system. First, generics are not identical to the branded drug. Generic drugs only have to meet the standard of 80 percent to 125 percent of the bioavailability of the referenced drug — a large range. For drugs with a narrow therapeutic dosage band, this kind of variation can be problematic — even dangerous. Furthermore, generic drugs are not required to have the same inactive ingredients, meaning that binders, flavors, dyes, and preservatives can be different, posing problems for people with sensitivities, and creating more variance in quality control. The FDA does not (and cannot) closely monitor the myriad factors that influence the safety and efficacy of a drug: How was the quality of ingredients purchased from suppliers tested? How was manufacturing and transportation controlled? How old is it?

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Most of this monitoring is achieved by self-regulation by the companies themselves, and this is where the key value of brand comes in. Companies like Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Merck, and Abbott Laboratories have invested billions of dollars in building their brands. A problem with a drug can result in a tremendous loss of consumer faith and stock market value. Accordingly, branded pharmaceutical firms invest heavily in quality standards and processes to protect their brands, and this diligent monitoring is probably the most powerful source of protection consumers have to ensure that their drugs are safe and of high quality. When patients give up the brand, they give up a billion-dollar incentive a company has in protecting them.

The second problem with automatic substitution is that it forces branded companies to subsidize generics, undermining competition and innovation. Generics already have a huge cost advantage over brands because they sidestep nearly all of the research and development and clinical testing expenses of developing new drugs. And thanks to automatic substitution, the brand's marketing efforts benefit generic drugs instead of their own. You do not have to be a rocket scientist to recognize the disaster lurking in that kind of system. Companies will be under-incentivized to develop new drugs — it's a classic "tragedy of the commons" problem.

Many people wrongly assume that having generic drugs compete with branded drugs makes the market more efficient. First, the pharmaceutical industry is already extremely competitive and not especially profitable. Studies suggest that the overall cost of developing a drug and getting it approved in the U.S. is between $500 million and $2 billion and most efforts fail. Furthermore, by the time a drug is approved by the FDA, it only has, on average, between seven and 12 years left on its patent clock to try to recoup that cost while competing against other branded drugs in the same class. Giving generics an advantage might increase price competition, but does so at the expense of multidimensional competition where firms simultaneously compete on price, quality, innovation, and more. In nearly every industry, it is this multidimensional competition that has led to innovation, and the higher standards of living we enjoy today.

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Automatic substitution is both a public-policy and a consumer issue. Consumers should not tolerate having their prescriptions swapped out for generics without informed consent. As a society, we should not tolerate a system that undermines the incentives for branded pharmaceuticals to develop innovative drugs.

The key thing that makes the pharmaceutical industry different from other industries is that it is regulated. The bulk of that $2 billion price tag in developing a drug is spent in clinical trials to ensure drugs are safe and effective. Forcing branded companies to subsidize generics doesn't solve the problem that testing is expensive, it just distorts market competition. We should instead be looking for ways to make clinical testing more efficient, and generally lowering the entry barriers to competition among branded pharmaceutical companies.

Commentary by Melissa A. Schilling, a professor of management and organizations at NYU Stern School of Business. She has also worked as an expert witness on legal cases involving pharmaceuticals and authored an Amicus Brief on behalf of business school professors regarding the Forest Laboratories' Namenda case. Follow her on Twitter at @mschilli1.

Summary: Automatic generic-drug substitution poses several big problems, says NYU Professor Melissa Schilling.


U.S. stocks declined on Friday, losing gains that had lifted the Dow industrials and the S&P 500 above their record closes, as rising unrest in Ukraine offset a better-than-expected April jobs report.

"It's very clear that this situation is unresolved, and the markets are watching closely. It's also a situation where many investors will see headlines and perhaps elect not to hold stocks over the weekend," said Jim Russell, senior equity strategist for US Bank Wealth management.

On Friday, Russia requested an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council over a Ukrainian army operation.

Gold futures erased a loss to turn higher, as did the CBOE Volatility Index, a measure of investor uncertainty, which pulled above 13.

"It's the uncertainty that matters," said Randy Frederick, managing director of active trading and derivatives at Charles Schwab, of the geopolitical concerns that offset gains that came with the largely upbeat data on the labor front.

The U.S. Labor Department reported the creation of 288,000 jobs in April from an upwardly revised 203,000 in March, with the jobless rate at 6.3 percent. Expectations called for the addition of 210,000 jobs during April. Analysts polled by Reuters also saw unemployment falling to 6.6 percent.

"The average person should be happy with this report, as the bottom-line number shows we were able to bounce back from the deep freeze we were in," Marc Doss, regional chief investment officer at Wells Fargo Private Bank, said of Friday's much anticipated nonfarm payrolls report.

Still, investors fretted over the data's impact on Federal Reserve moves ahead and also cited a drop in the labor pool as dampening cheer.

"The big question that'll come in is the labor participation rate, that's going to be the constant concern here," said Art Hogan, market strategist at Wunderlich Securities, referring to the numbers of those looking for work as declining by 806,000.

"That 6.3 percent unemployment rate will cause people to wonder when the Fed is going to start raising rates," said Doss.

"We thought there was a pretty good shot that the jobs number would be stronger than the consensus estimate, and also reasonably convinced that the market would discount to some degree a strong number as a bit of a weather-related snapback from January, February and March," said Russell.

"We're less than convinced that a true and clean run rate that is sustainable for the monthly jobs gains in the private sector has been established," Russell added.

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Summary: U.S. stocks declined Friday as unrest in Ukraine offset the US jobs report.


The movie has offended some Muslim authorities for its depiction of Moses, an important prophet in Islam as well as Christianity and Judaism, and the biblical exodus from Egypt.

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Egypt's ministry of culture banned the film before its slated release, and it has also been banned in Morocco.

The movie has also failed to air in Kuwait or Bahrain, even though it was expected to release there on December 25. Calls by CNBC to cinema outlets confirmed the movie was not being shown at this time in either country, and no screenings were planned in the coming days.

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In a statement carried by AP news agency, the Egyptian ministry said the movie included "intentional gross historical fallacies."

"(These) offend Egypt and its pharaonic ancient history, in yet another attempt to Judaize Egyptian civilization, which confirms the international Zionist fingerprints all over the film," the ministry said.

"Exodus: Gods and Kings", directed by Ridley Scott and starring Christian Bale as Moses, cost $140 million to produce, and brought in $24.5 million during the opening weekend.

Summary: Hollywood movie “Exodus: Gods and Kings” was banned this week in the UAE and Qatar, as the religious epic proves controversial in the Middle East.