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Lynas to raise A$208m for Malaysia plant Posted: 08 Nov 2012 05:57 PM PST MELBOURNE: Australia's Lynas Corp Ltd plans to raise up to A$200 million (US$208 million) to help fund the start-up of its controversial Malaysian rare earths plant, as it set a timeframe of 3-4 months for the factory to start earning. The US$800 million plant - the world's biggest outside China - has been ready to fire up since early May, but Lynas has been embroiled in lengthy environmental and safety disputes that had raised questions about whether the firm's cash would last until the plant kicked off. A court on Thursday lifted a suspension on Lynas's licence to operate the processing plant, sending Lynas shares up 12 percent. The shares are suspended Friday morning. The plant near the eastern city of Kuantan is considered important to breaking China's grip on the processing of rare earths, which are used in products ranging from smartphones to hybrid cars. But protests over possible radioactive residue have drawn thousands of people. Lynas said the raising will comprise a fully underwritten institutional placement to raise up to A$150 million, and a share purchase plan to raise about A$50 million. "Funds raised will be used for working capital and general corporate purposes during commissioning and ramp-up at the Lynas Advanced Materials Plant," Lynas said in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange. Lynas said in a presentation it expected it would take 3-4 months to ramp up production from the plant, including shipping material from its Mt Weld mine in Western Australia, processing it and receiving its first cash from sales. - Reuters

Affin cuts target price on Unisem Posted: 08 Nov 2012 06:24 PM PST Affin Investment Bank cut its target price on Unisem Berhad to RM1.36 from RM1.38 after the semiconductor firm's third-quarter results came in slightly below the bank's expectations. Affin said a slower-than-expected recovery in global demand for Unisem products could pose a risk to its 'add' call on the stock. Unisem returned to the black after registering losses in the three previous quarters. The company reported a 58 percent rise in net profit for the third quarter compared with a year earlier, helped by lower operating expenses, higher foreign exchange gains and changes in product mix, it said in a Bursa Malaysia filing on Thursday. Affin attributed the turnaround to, among others, "further cost discipline by the group" and "improvement in product mix." At 10.17am, Unisem was up RM2.63 at RM0.975 while the benchmark composite index was down 0.26 percent at 1,636.84 points.

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Nor'easter: Northeast storm complicates Sandy cleanup - Chicago Tribune Posted: 08 Nov 2012 08:46 AM PST The nor'easter that stymied recovery efforts from Superstorm Sandy pulled away from New York and New Jersey Thursday, leaving hundreds of thousands of new people in darkness after a blanket of thick, wet snow snapped storm-weakened trees and downed power lines. From Brooklyn to storm-battered sections of the Jersey shore and Connecticut, about 750,000 customers — more than 200,000 from the new storm — in the region were without power in temperatures near freezing, some living for days in the dark. "We lost power last week, just got it back for a day or two, and now we lost it again," said John Monticello of Point Pleasant Beach, N.J. "Every day it's the same now: turn on the gas burner for heat. Instant coffee. Use the iPad to find out what's going on in the rest of the world." But most were just grateful the new storm didn't bring a fresh round of devastation. "For a home without power, it's great. It came through the storm just great," said Iliay Bardash, 61, a computer programmer on Staten Island without electricity since last week. "But things are not worse, and for that I am thankful." Nearby, Vladimir Repnin emerged from his powerless home with a snow shovel in his hand, a cigarette in his mouth and a question from someone cut off from the outside world. "Who won? Obama?" he asked. He didn't like the answer. "The Democrats ruined my business," he said, referring to his shuttered clothing manufacturing firm. Unlike other holdouts who got by with generators or gas stoves, the 63-year-old from the Ukraine has been without power since Sandy brought eight feet of water through his door and his neighbor's deck into his yard. He tried to beat the cold Wednesday night by sleeping with his Yorkie Kuzya and cat Channel. "I had the dog right here," he said, pointing to his left side, "and the cat on my chest. It was still too cold, but I cannot leave my house." Throughout Staten Island's beach area, the storm had blanketed growing piles of debris with several inches of snow. By mid-morning, it was starting to melt, filling the streets with filthy sludge. Roads in New Jersey and New York City were clear for the morning commute, and rail lines into New York were running smoothly so far, despite snow still coming down heavily in some areas. The nor'easter, as promised, brought gusting winds, rain and snow, but not the flooding that was anticipated. "The good news, thank goodness, is except for maybe 2 inches of snow, there were no other problems," said Randi Savron, 51, a schoolteacher who lives in the Rockaways, one of the areas that flooded badly last week. The idyllic beachfront boardwalk was loosed from pilings and ended up outside her apartment building door. She said it seemed like work would continue. But additional outages could stall recovery efforts, even though utility companies had prepared, adding extra crews ahead of the nor'easter. In New Jersey, there were about 400,000 power outages early Thursday; 150,000 of those were new. In New York City and Westchester, more than 70,000 customers were without power after the storm knocked out an additional 55,000 customers. For Consolidated Edison, the extra outages were dealt with swiftly, so there were only about 3,000 additional customers without power from the total Wednesday of 67,000. "I think we're going to be able to power through. Our objective was to get power restored to everyone by the weekend and we're still working with that goal," said Alfonso Quiroz, a spokesman for the utility.

Gunman Who Shot Giffords to Be Sentenced - New York Times Posted: 08 Nov 2012 08:55 AM PST By FERNANDA SANTOS Published: November 8, 2012 TUCSON — Jared L. Loughner is expected to be sentenced to life in prison on Thursday, three months after pleading guilty to 19 criminal counts in federal court, including murder and the attempted assassination of former Representative Gabrielle Giffords, who had been the target of the attack. Before the sentencing hearing began Thursday morning, Ms. Giffords sat in a corner at the end of a courtroom bench, next to her husband, Mark E. Kelly. Mr. Kelly was scheduled to read a statement on behalf of his wife, who continues to have difficulty speaking. It was the first time the family has confronted Mr. Loughner. Congressman Ron Barber, who was hit in the leg during the shooting, was also scheduled to speak, along with at least eight other victims, according to court officials. Yellow boxes of tissues had been placed on the edge of each courtroom bench. Mr. Loughner, 24, who has been held at a federal hospital in Missouri for more than a year undergoing psychiatric examinations, has been given a diagnosis of schizophrenia, but he was deemed competent in August to agree to the plea deal, under which he is not eligible for parole or to appeal his sentence. On Jan. 8, 2011, Mr. Loughner arrived at a public event being hosted by Ms. Giffords, then a member of the United States House of Representatives, at a Tucson shopping center, armed with a loaded Glock 9-millimeter pistol and carrying 60 rounds of extra ammunition. In less than 30 seconds, he fired 31 shots, killing six people and injuring 13 others. He stopped shooting only when he paused to reload. He was eventually tackled and restrained by onlookers. The dead included John M. Roll, 63, a federal court judge, Gabriel M. Zimmerman, 30, who had been an aide to Ms. Giffords, and 9-year-old Christina-Taylor Green. Ms. Giffords was gravely wounded after being shot in the head. Mr. Loughner, a community college student, had originally pleaded not guilty to 49 charges connected to the shooting spree. He had for years exhibited signs of mental illness, including yelling out in high school classes and complaining about voices in his head. At a court hearing in May 2011, he interrupted the proceedings with an incoherent outburst and was removed from the courtroom. It was at that hearing that Judge Larry A. Burns, a federal distirct court judge, ruled Mr. Loughner incompetent to stand trial. Mr. Loughner was initially being medicated by force, under orders of the Bureau of Prisons, but has been voluntarily taking medication since this summer. Dr. Christina Pietz, a psychologist who has been treating Mr. Loughner, said that over time he had become cognizant of his actions. Dr. Pietz testified at the August hearing that Mr. Loughner's feelings had evolved from regret for failing to kill Ms. Giffords, against whom he had harbored a secret grudge for several years, to contrition for wounding her and others and for taking people's lives. "I especially cried for the child" and "yelled a lot because it hurt so bad," Mr. Loughner once told Dr. Pietz, she testified, reading from notes she had kept of their encounters. Ms. Giffords resigned from Congress in January 2012 to focus on her recovery. Timothy Williams contributed reporting from New York.

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