Choosing a much-detested raccoon as its mascot made a clear statement: Porter Airlines was going to be a daring, different kind of airline.
And the upstart that some doubted could ever succeed given the volatility of the aviation industry is celebrating its fifth birthday on Sunday.
Robert Deluce, president and CEO of Porter Airlines, uses the mascot, whom they call Mr. Porter, an alter-ego of sorts, to illustrate why they
BlackBerry services buzzed back to life across the world Thursday, after a three-day outage that interrupted email messages and Internet services for millions of customers.
Research In Motion Ltd., the Canadian company that makes the phones, posted a statement that says services are improving.
Many BlackBerry users have been unable to send and receive emails and messages in an outage that started Monday in Europe. Web browsers haven’t been working either. On Thursday morning, BlackBerry users on Twitter and online forums were reporting that their phones were buzzing with incoming messages again.
RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis apologized for the outage in a video posted to the company’s site Thursday morning.
“It’s too soon to say that this issue is fully resolved,” Lazaridis said. “I’d like to give you an estimated time of full recovery around the world, but I cannot do this with certainty at this time.”
A crucial link in BlackBerry’s European network failed Monday, and a backup also failed. Although the underlying issues were quickly repaired, the system had built up a backlog of emails and messages that needed to be wound down. Meanwhile, messages destined for Europe were piling up at BlackBerry data centers in the rest of world. By Wednesday, the outage had spread to the U.S. and Canada, slowing service to a crawl there.
RIM shares were down 35 cents, or 1.5 percent, at $23.53 in premarket trading in New York. Investors have taken the outage in stride, figuring that it’s only one of many problems RIM is facing. The shares are up slightly since the outage began.
Pancreatic cancer is notoriously lethal _ there are almost as many deaths from it each year as there are new cases. The deaths this week of Apple founder Steve Jobs and Nobelist Ralph Steinman bring unusual attention to this less-well-known type of cancer that has actually been declining despite no big advances in treatment or finding it early.
A decline in smoking, one of the top risk factors for the disease, may be behind the drop in cases.
Jobs lived more than seven years after being diagnosed with a neuroendocrine tumor _ a less common, slower-growing and more treatable type of pancreatic cancer than the kind that killed Steinman a week ago and actor Patrick Swayze two years ago.
The Apple chief kept details of his illness behind a firewall and declared he was cured after cancer surgery in 2004. However, five years later, gaunt and having lost a lot of weight, Jobs had a liver transplant. Experts said it was likely because his cancer had returned or spread.
A liver transplant sometimes can cure the type of cancer that Jobs had. But if it comes back, “it’s usually in one to two years,” said Dr. Michael Pishvaian of Georgetown University’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.
In January, Jobs announced his third and final leave of absence. He resigned in August and died on Wednesday.
Part of what makes pancreatic cancer so deadly is that the pancreas is as vital as the heart. You can live with just part of a liver or a colon, or only one kidney or lung. But the pancreas is a fish-shaped organ that makes digestive enzymes and insulin and other hormones that enable the body to make energy from food.
In the United States, pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer deaths. About 44,030 people will be diagnosed with it and about 37,660 people will die of it this year in the U.S., the American Cancer Society estimates.
Possible symptoms are fatigue, back pain, abdominal pain, unexplained weight loss, loss of appetite, jaundice and nausea, according to the Lustgarten Foundation, a private group that finances research on the disease.
This cancer often is not found until it is advanced or has spread, and overall survival is dismal: 20 percent after one year and only 4 percent after five years.
However, with a neuroendocrine tumor like the one Jobs had, “people can live a longer time; median survival is five to eight years,” said Dr. Alan Venook, a pancreatic cancer specialist at the University of California, San Francisco.
The lifetime risk of developing pancreatic cancer is about 1 in 71, according to the cancer society. Men and blacks account for more cases than women and whites, possibly because of differences in smoking rates unsecured personal loans. Smokers have two to three times more risk of developing the disease. Use of smokeless tobacco also raises the risk.
Obese people, those who don’t exercise much and diabetics also have more risk for pancreatic cancer. Alcohol use might play a role: Most studies haven’t tied it to pancreatic cancer, but heavy drinking can lead to diabetes and liver and pancreas problems that pose a cancer risk, the cancer society says.
The best hope for a patient is that the tumor is operable. That was the case in February 2009, when U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had a small, early-stage pancreatic tumor removed at New York’s Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
On the horizon are immune system treatments _ research that Steinman, the Nobel recipient from Rockefeller University in New York, was studying in the lab and trying on his own pancreatic cancer.
The immune system has a hard time recognizing and fighting cancer because the enemy is not an invading germ but our own cells gone rogue. Treatments called therapeutic cancer vaccines are ways to modify cells to help the immune system recognize the risk.
One such vaccine by NewLink Genetics, a small biotech firm in Ames, Iowa, is in late-stage testing now for pancreatic cancer. The company website says the larger study was initiated after a mid-stage test suggested improvement in survival.
Dr. Roderich Schwarz, chief of surgical oncology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, has enrolled a few patients in some immune therapy studies, which have not paid off in the past.
“Vaccines are coming along,” and last year’s approval of one for advanced prostate cancer suggests researchers may be learning to overcome some of the drawbacks of the past, he said.
“It’s quite possible that vaccines will claim their territory in the treatment of these challenging tumors,” Schwarz said. “It’s still in the development stage rather than the proven stage.”
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Online:
Cancer Institute: http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/types/pancreatic
Cancer Society: http://www.cancer.org/Cancer/PancreaticCancer/index
Survival rates: http://bit.ly/oAxKl5
Research and support: http://www.curePC.org and http://www.lustgarten.org
Vaccine study: http://www.linkp.com/products/hyperacute-pancreas.html
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez headed back to Cuba on Saturday for a fourth phase of chemotherapy that he expects to be his last round of treatment for cancer.
Supporters greeted Chavez with songs and a prayer outside the presidential palace before he left for the airport along with Bolivian President Evo Morales, who was accompanying him to the island.
Chavez told the crowd that he is confident he is overcoming the illness.
“I’m sure that this week we will close the cycle of chemotherapy and we will be turning the page,” he told supporters, standing at the doors of the presidential palace.
“Chavez’s cancer is now part of this history,” he added, likening it to the short-lived coup he survived in 2002.
Chavez waved to the crowd wearing the red beret and fatigues from his years as an army paratroop commander.
Later, a military band played Venezuela’s national anthem at the airport as Chavez and Morales prepared to board their flight to Havana pay day loans.
Speaking earlier at the presidential palace, Chavez said he expected to undergo medical tests in Havana on Saturday night and then resume chemotherapy Sunday. He said he would return from Cuba before next weekend.
Once the treatments are finished, he said, it will be “goodbye to the threat of cancer, and then on to life.”
“I will come out strengthened,” Chavez said.
The 57-year-old leader referred to his 2012 re-election campaign saying “the battle that lies ahead is hard.”
He underwent surgery in Cuba in June to remove a tumor from his pelvic region. Since then, he has undergone three rounds of chemotherapy treatments, two of those in Cuba.
He has said that the treatment aims to prevent any cancerous cells from reappearing and that tests have shown no signs of a recurrence.
Japan’s new prime minister has promised to restart nuclear plants following safety checks ordered after the crisis at the tsunami-damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant.
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda also said Tuesday in his first policy speech since taking office two weeks ago that the country should reduce its reliance on atomic energy over the long term, but offered no specifics.
More than 30 of Japan’s 54 reactors have been idled, causing electricity shortages amid sweltering summer temperatures.
Noda also said he would press ahead with the recovery of the tsunami-battered northeastern region, calling on his fellow citizens not to forget “the spirit of dignity of all Japanese” in the face of disaster.
The economic news is gloomy, and the stock market is down 4 percent this year.
So where are mutual fund managers finding real values, aside from bargain-hunting among stocks with depressed prices? Top fund manager Chuck Akre sees lasting value in the stocks of three discount retailers, each with a gain more than 20 percent this year.
They’re among the top holdings in the Akre Focus Fund. One of Akre’s largest stakes is in Dollar Tree Stores Inc. The other two are off-price apparel rivals: Ross Stores Inc., owner of Ross Dress for Less stores, and TJX Cos., which runs the T.J.Maxx and Marshalls chains.
The impressive rise of these stocks in a down market
Stocks are plunging at the opening of trading on news that the U.S. economy added no new jobs last month. Treasury yields fell and gold rose.
The jobs report was the weakest in almost a year. It renewed fears that the U.S. might slip back into recession.
A strike by 45,000 Verizon workers lowered the job totals. Those workers are back on the job. Private employers added 17,000 jobs. Without the Verizon strike the total would have been 62,000.
Ten minutes after the opening bell, the Dow Jones industrial average is down 245 points, or 2.1 percent, at 11,248. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index is down 27, or 2.3 percent, at 1,176. The Nasdaq composite index is down 56, or 2.2 percent, at 2,490.
Annual retail sales rose 4.6 per cent to $37.8 billion in June, compared to the year earlier period, driven mainly by strong gains in sales at motor vehicle and parts dealers, Statistics Canada said Tuesday.
On a monthly basis, sales rose 0.7 per cent in June compared to May, the third month in a row that retail sales made gains, the agency said.
All of the gains were driven by strong sales in automotive and gasoline. Excluding sales at motor vehicle and parts dealers, retail sales decreased 0.1 per cent month over month.
Higher sales and lower prices at new car dealers accounted for most of the 1.6 per cent increase in volume terms over May.
Gains were reported in 6 of 11 subsectors. On a month over month basis, the largest increase was registered by motor vehicle and parts dealers, up 3.4 per cent. New car dealers led the gain with growth in sales of 3.3 per cent, the third increase in four months. Sales at used car dealers rose 10.4 per cent in June, more than offsetting the declines in the three previous months.
Building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers registered a second consecutive increase, rising 2 no faxing 1 hour payday loans.1 per cent. Stronger sales of hardware and home renovation products continued in June.
Sales at food and beverage stores rose 0.3 per cent, after three months of declines. Higher sales at supermarkets and other grocery stores accounted for most of the gain.
Receipts at gasoline stations fell 1.3 per cent after four consecutive monthly increases. This was the second decline in 12 months.
Electronics and appliance store sales declined 3 per cent in June. Sales in this subsector have been relatively flat since the third quarter of 2010.
Miscellaneous store retailers reported a 2.4 per cent decline in sales, offsetting gains made in April and May. Stores in this subsector include office supplies and stationery stores, gift stores and pet supplies stores.
Retail sales rose in seven provinces in June. Ontario retailers registered sales gains of 0.5%, a third consecutive monthly gain. Sales in this province have been on an upward trend since early 2009.
Pyongyang’s vow Monday to scrap all South Korean property at a joint mountain resort could mark the end of what was once a rare haven for curious southern tourists within the borders of North Korea.
For a decade, visitors from the South came in droves to Diamond Mountain, essentially a modern South Korean resort an hour’s drive into the North, where they could play golf, relax in hot springs and soak up the folklore of the beautiful nearby mountain.
However, one of the few bright spots of cooperation between the divided countries has been on hold since a North Korean soldier shot and killed a South Korean woman visiting the resort three years ago.
North Korea is now threatening to end it completely by getting rid of South Korean assets and opening up the resort to international investors. On Monday, Pyongyang ordered all South Korean workers at the resort to leave within 72 hours and banned any South Korean property from being removed.
The North is angered by Seoul’s refusal to resume the lucrative tours until Pyongyang formally apologizes for the shooting death and allows a joint investigation.
Diplomats from the United States and the two Koreas are separately pursuing tentative talks meant to jump-start North Korean nuclear disarmament talks, but the meltdown at Diamond Mountain of what was once a promising symbol of potential inter-Korean cooperation shows how deep animosity runs on the Korean peninsula.
The South immediately expressed regret Monday about the North’s comments on Diamond Mountain and voiced its intention to seek international mediation.
Nestled near a craggy mountain range that stretches down to the sea, the resort drew hundreds of millions of dollars of South Korean investment until the shooting death brought cross-border tours to a halt in July 2008.
Diamond Mountain tours kicked off in 1998 under the initiative of a South Korean tycoon with roots in the North. Nearly 2 million South Koreans flocked to the resort, eager to see its beauty and be part of a spirit of reconciliation that blossomed during two liberal South Korean governments’ engagement with the North.
Often hailed as the peninsula’s most beautiful peak, Diamond Mountain has been a subject of praise by both ancient and modern Korean musicians, painters and historians. The North’s media often tout its beauty, describing the way white clouds drift over its saw-toothed peaks.
The land around Diamond Mountain, however, has been seen tension since the 1950-53 Korean War. Thousands of troops died fighting to conquer hills lying south of the mountain during the war. Two years before the tours began, a group of armed North Korean infiltrators slipped south of the border aboard a submarine, rattling South Koreans until most of the agents were killed.
The start of the tours led to many of the troops guarding the border to fall back and allowed South Korean businesses to capitalize on a tourism asset they had long eyed.
The languishing resort appeared in fair condition last year when family members separated by the truce that ended the Korean War were briefly reunited under a Red Cross program. A handful of workers were stationed there by South Korea’s Hyundai Asan company, the resort’s operator. Slogans were carved into hillside rocks, with propaganda billboards hailing North Korean leader Kim Jong Il as “the sun of the 21st century.”
Ties between the Koreas frayed badly last year. The North bombarded a South Korean island last November, killing four people. It also denies responsibility for the sinking of a South Korean warship that killed 46 sailors in March last year.
North Korea in June told the South to draw up plans to salvage its assets. Hyundai Asan estimates $370 million in sales have been lost since the tours were suspended. North Korea had annually won tens of millions of dollars from the tours, analysts believe.
Hope that tours could be revived followed a meeting of nuclear envoys from North and South Korea held in Indonesia last month. A later visit by a high-level North Korean diplomat to New York was another sign that a thaw could be looming in the Korean peninsula’s icy ties.
But last month the two countries failed to agree on an additional round of talks on the fate of the resort.
“The Diamond Mount program is holding on to its last breath,” Kang Sung-yoon, a North Korea professor at Seoul’s Dongguk University, said.
So your 401(k) has shrunk into a 301(k)
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