Rabu, 5 Februari 2014

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KLCI futures higher in early trade

Posted: 05 Feb 2014 06:11 PM PST

The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) futures contract (FKLI) on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives opened higher on buying interest despite the weaker cash market.

At 9.32am, spot month February 2014 was six points better at 1,784, March 2014 gained 5.5 points to 1,783 and September 2014 rose seven points to 1,781.5.

June 2014 was flat at 1,773.

Turnover amounted to 1,200 lots while open interest totalled 32,733.

The benchmark FBM KLCI was 0.22 of-a-point lower at 1,785.66 points after 32 minutes of trading.-- Bernama

Gold down 20 sen

Posted: 05 Feb 2014 06:15 PM PST

[unable to retrieve full-text content]The physical price of gold as at 9.30am stood at RM129.49 per gramme, down 20 sen from RM129.69 at 5pm yesterday.-- Bernama
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CVS calls it quits: No more tobacco products - USA TODAY

Posted: 05 Feb 2014 08:56 AM PST

WASHINGTON — Drug store giant CVS Caremark announced Wednesday it will no longer sell tobacco products at its 7,600 pharmacies by Oct. 1.

CVS sells $2 billion in tobacco and tobacco-related products a year, or 3% of overall sales, but CVS officials said selling cigarettes while promoting wellness doesn't make sense.

"Selling tobacco is very inconsistent with being in that business," said Helena Foulkes, CVS's pharmacy president. "We really thought about this decision as it relates to the future as a health company — it's good for customers and our company, in the long run."

Foulkes told USA TODAY that CVS sees its future as an alternative to the doctor's office, with 26,000 pharmacists and nurse practitioners counseling customers about how to control their high cholesterol, diabetes and high blood pressure.

"Any form of tobacco use makes those chronic conditions more difficult to deal with," she said. "This is good for business and the right thing to do."

President Obama — a former smoker — hailed the announcement, saying in a statement Wednesday: "As one of the largest retailers and pharmacies in America, CVS Caremark sets a powerful example, and today's decision will help advance my administration's efforts to reduce tobacco-related deaths, cancer, and heart disease, as well as bring down health care costs — ultimately saving lives and protecting untold numbers of families from pain and heartbreak for years to come."

STORY: Obama applauds CVS decision on tobacco

CVS officials met with tobacco company executives Tuesday to explain the decision, understanding that eliminating tobacco products from the pharmacies would likely affect the tobacco industry's bottom line, as well.

"Obviously, you would think they would be disappointed about the decision," said Larry Merlo, CEO of CVS Caremark, of the meeting with the officials. But he said they understood the rational behind the decision. And it probably won't be a huge loss for them: Morgan Stanley issued an analysis Wednesday stating that CVS probably accounts for about 2% of industry sales.

"We do not believe that CVS's exit — or the potential exit of other pharmacy chains in the future — will reduce total sales," the statement reads.

Other pharmacies are expected to eventually follow suit, and some cities in California and Massachusetts have banned tobacco sales at all pharmacies. The American Pharmacists Association asked for a ban on sales in 2010 at pharmacies, including at grocery stores that have pharmacies, according to an article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Wednesday

As the Affordable Care Act is implemented, it's important to help people stay healthy, said Troy Brennan, the company's chief medical officer.

"It's expensive to provide health care for all the people through the ACA," Brennan said. The company will announce a "very large" smoking cessation program in the spring.

Foulkes said seven out of 10 smokers would like to stop, and half have tried to in the past year.

Ezekiel Emanuel, a University of Pennsylvania bio-ethicist and one of the architects of the health care law, said he sees smoking as one of the top health issues facing the United States. He agrees that reducing smoking-related costs is important as more people become insured so others don't have to take on the burden of those costs and called working to reduce smoking "kind of a no-brainer."

CVS expects to lose about $2 billion in sales annually, Foulkes said, but the company hopes to recoup its losses in other ways, including an increased focus on its pharmacy management benefit program to help insurers save money on employees' health. Merlo said the change would not affect their bottom line.

And while they intend to look at other ways to push a health-oriented focus, Merlo said they had no plans to eliminate alcohol or candy from the pharmacies, saying that "occasional use does not cause the problems that tobacco does." Instead, they intend to focus on keeping tobacco out of the hands of young people so they don't begin lifelong addictions, he said.

More than 480,000 people die from smoking-related ailments a year, according to the JAMA article by Brennan and Steven Schroeder, director of the Smoking Cessation Leadership Center at the University of California.

Smoking has gone down significantly, from 42% of adults in 1965 to 18% today. This comes after increases in taxes, and public areas — such as airports, bars and federal buildings — where smoking is prohibited. Advertising also diminished the appeal of smoking. Just this week, the American Cancer Society launched an advertising campaign aimed at how teenagers would look in the future if they begin smoking now. Still, 42 million people smoke and 16 million are sick, according to JAMA.

The Rhode Island-headquartered company maintained that its exit from the tobacco category will not affect its 2014 operating profit guidance. Its shares are down about 1% in pre-market trading.

Follow @KellySKennedy on Twitter.

Source: 4 arrested in connection with drugs in Hoffman's apartment - CNN

Posted: 05 Feb 2014 08:24 AM PST

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • NEW: Police release names of suspects, all facing drug-related charges
  • Police found Hoffman's personal journal in his apartment, sources say
  • Source: Police recover 350 bags of what is believed to be heroin
  • Hoffman withdrew $1,200 from ATM the night before he died, source says

New York (CNN) -- Four people believed to be connected to the drugs found in Philip Seymour Hoffman's apartment were arrested late Tuesday night, law enforcement officials told CNN.

During the raid that led to the arrest of the three men and one woman, police recovered 350 glassine-type bags of what is believed to be heroin, the officials said.

Apartments at 302 Mott Street in Manhattan, where the four were arrested, are part of the investigation into Hoffman's death, according to a police source.

The source identified suspects being investigated in connection with drugs sold to Hoffman as Juliana Luchkiw, 22, charged with criminal use of drug paraphernalia, criminal possession of a controlled substance and unlawful possession of marijuana; Max Rosenblum, 22, charged with criminal use of drug paraphernalia, criminal possession of a controlled substance and unlawful possession of marijuana; Robert Vineberg, 57, charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance and criminal use of drug paraphernalia; and Thomas Cushman, 48, charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance.

Vineberg was found to have the actor's phone number stored in his cell phone, a law enforcement official told CNN.

When police were called to Hoffman's fourth-floor Manhattan apartment Sunday, they found the actor lying on the bathroom floor with a syringe in his left arm. He was wearing shorts and a T-shirt, his eyeglasses still resting on his head, according to law enforcement sources familiar with the inquiry.

Investigators discovered close to 50 envelopes of what they believed was heroin in the apartment, the law enforcement sources said. They also found used syringes, prescription drugs and empty glassine-type bags, the sources said.

Also found in Hoffman's apartment was his personal journal, resting on a living room TV stand, two law enforcement sources said.

Hoffman's final hours

No fentanyl found

Preliminary tests Tuesday showed the heroin recovered from the apartment does not contain fentanyl, a law enforcement official told CNN. More testing will be done.

Fentanyl is a powerful narcotic used to treat cancer patients' pain.

Last week, Maryland officials said heroin tainted with fentanyl had claimed at least 37 lives since September. And last month, at least 22 people in western Pennsylvania died after using heroin mixed with fentanyl.

While results of an autopsy will definitively reveal exactly how Hoffman, 46, died, the role heroin may or may not have played is a key part of the investigation.

Final hours

Police are trying to piece together the actor's movements last weekend as they look for anyone who might be linked to the drugs that apparently killed him.

On Tuesday, a law enforcement source told CNN that the night before Hoffman died, he withdrew $1,200 from a grocery store ATM near his apartment.

Hoffman got the money in six transactions Saturday night, according to the source.

A witness told investigators he saw the Oscar-winning actor talking to two men wearing messenger bags about 8 p.m.

Police are also reviewing surveillance video, including video of a restaurant where Hoffman had brunch Saturday morning with two people.

How heroin kills you

'I'm a heroin addict'

In a 2011 interview with "60 Minutes," Hoffman discussed his past struggles with drug and alcohol addiction.

"Anything I could get my hands on, I liked it all," he said.

Fear, Hoffman said, made him sober up.

"You get panicked. ... I was 22 and I got panicked for my life. It really was, it was just that," he said. "And I always think, 'God, I have so much empathy for these young actors that are 19 and all of a sudden are beautiful and famous and rich.' I'm like, 'Oh my God. I'd be dead.'"

But last year, Hoffman said he'd fallen off the wagon, started taking prescription pills and slipped into snorting heroin, according to TMZ.

Magazine writer John Arundel said he met the actor at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah two weeks before his death.

"I said, 'What do you do?' And at that point, he took off his hat and he said, 'I'm a heroin addict,'" Arundel said.

"Didn't look like he was (joking). Seemed like he was having one of those 'coming to God' moments -- where it just stuck him as, 'this is the revelatory moment.'"

But actor George Clooney said he had dinner with Hoffman a few months ago, and he seemed fine.

"I have to say he seemed in pretty good shape," Clooney said. "I mean, there's no way to explain it."

Filmmaker Chris Barrett interviewed Hoffman January 17 at the Sundance Film Festival. "He didn't look well at Sundance. His skin color was very pale, but he wasn't disheveled as some media was reporting," Barrett told CNN.

Dim the lights

Family and close friends of the actor will hold a private funeral service in New York. Plans are also under way for a memorial service later this month. No information on the dates was available.

On Wednesday night, the famed Broadway theater district will dim its marquees for one minute at 7:45 p.m. in Hoffman's memory.

Hoffman appeared on Broadway three times.

CNN's Ray Sanchez in New York contributed to this report.

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