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Trending on Thursday - June 30, 2011

5. Miracle of the Day -  Jesus cured the cancer


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Casey Anthony murder trial resumes after abrupt delay
The Casey Anthony capital murder trial resumes Monday after the judge overseeing the case abruptly ended Saturday morning's session.

Saturday had been planned as an extended weekend work day in the trial. But Judge Belvin Perry ordered a recess over the sudden emergence of what one analyst said must be a major issue.

"Obviously it's big, and obviously it's troublesome and obviously it's something that can't be disclosed," HLN legal analyst Linda Kenney Baden said.

Perry emerged from his chambers Saturday morning after nearly an hour of discussions with lawyers both in and out of the courtroom to announce the day's planned testimony would be canceled.

He said only that the delay was due to a legal issue unrelated to complaints prosecutors raised first thing Saturday morning about expected testimony from Kenneth Furton, a chemistry expert the defense had planned to call.

A defense attorney said he was hoping for a "quick resolution."
Casey Anthony trial: Week 5
Cindy Anthony's testimony
Outside Anthony trial courtroom
Cafe bustling over Casey Anthony trial

Anthony's lawyers are trying to discredit the prosecution theory that the Orlando woman rendered her 2-year-old daughter Caylee unconscious with chloroform, duct-taped her mouth and nose and stored the body in her trunk for a few days before dumping it in the woods. Anthony, 25, is charged with seven counts, including first-degree murder.

The defense says Caylee accidentally drowned in the family pool and that Anthony and her father panicked and covered it up.

In what has become a familiar strain during the trial, prosecutor Jeff Ashton complained to Perry that defense attorneys didn't disclose Furton's plans to testify about things that weren't contained in his initial report provided to prosecutors or mentioned in his formal interview with them.

Perry has previously admonished defense lawyer Jose Baez for failing to disclose planned testimony to prosecutors, going so far as to say he will consider contempt proceedings against Baez once the trial is over.

Furton was to testify about explanations for vile odors and the presence of chloroform in the trunk of Casey Anthony's car, where prosecutors claim she stored the body of her daughter before dumping the remains in a wooded field.

Chloroform can be given off by a decomposing body. One prosecution expert described the levels of the substance in the trunk of Anthony's white Pontiac Sunfire as "shockingly high." Several witnesses also testified for the state about odors that they said smelled like the unmistakable scent of human decomposition.

Furton did not provide specific alternative explanations for the presence of odors or chloroform in his initial report or in his interview with prosecutors, Ashton complained.

"Once again we are in the position of experts having supplemented their opinions without notifying the state," Ashton said.

Baez disagreed, saying nothing in Furton's planned testimony differed from his previous opinions.

"Mr. Ashton can continue to make these allegations and make these allegations and then suddenly they become true in his world," Baez said. "But I do not believe they are true."

Perry indicated that he would not allow Furton to testify on Saturday, but didn't rule on the controversy before ordering the trial to recess until 8:30 a.m. Monday morning. But he did hint at his frustration.

"You would think this would have grown old by now but I guess some things never change," he said.

Saturday marked the end of the fifth week of testimony in the trial, which began with opening statements on May 24.

Perry lengthened Saturday's work day from the usual half-day in an effort to speed the trial's conclusion. He originally told jurors, who are being housed in an Orlando hotel shielded from media coverage of the trial, that the trial could last six to eight weeks.

On Friday -- before Saturday's delay -- Baez said he expected the defense to rest on Wednesday or possibly Thursday. That would leave room for a rebuttal case from the prosecution and closing statements before the Independence Day holiday.

It is unclear how Saturday's delay will affect those plans.

Anthony could face the death penalty if convicted of the most serious charge, first-degree murder. The charges against her also include misleading authorities and aggravated child abuse.

Caylee was not reported missing to police until July 15, 2008, when Anthony's mother, Cindy Anthony, tracked down her daughter and demanded answers regarding Caylee's whereabouts. Prosecution witnesses described Anthony's behavior in the month after Caylee was last seen as nonchalant, testifying how she spent time with her boyfriend, went shopping and to nightclubs.

Baez said in his opening statement that Anthony behaved as she did because years of sexual abuse by her father had conditioned her to conceal the truth and hide her pain.

George Anthony has denied the claims that he abused his daughter or helped conceal his granddaughter's death.

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Gadhafi to stay out of Libya peace talks

African leaders Sunday welcomed Moammar Gadhafi's decision to stay out of talks to end Libya's conflict, entering its fifth month, as fighting raged between his troops and rebels near Tripoli.

Multiple rocket and heavy machine-gunfire was heard on the plains below the rebel enclave in the Nafusa Mountains, southwest of Tripoli.

Rebel commanders said the fighting centered on Bir al-Ghanam, a strategic point on the road to the Libyan capital.

Meanwhile, the African Union panel on Libya meeting in the South African capital Pretoria said Kadhafi would not participate in peace talks, in what appeared to be a concession.

The panel "welcomes Colonel Kadhafi's acceptance of not being part of the negotiations process," AU peace and security commissioner Ramtane Lamamra said, reading a prepared statement issued after four hours of talks.

A South African official who requested anonymity said after the panel meeting: "We wanted Kadhafi to make a public statement that he would not take part in the negotiations but he would not."

Asked about the significance of his refusal to make a statement, the official, part of the South African team that travelled to Tripoli last month in a failed bid to launch peace talks, said: "This means he is finished."

On Saturday, Abdel Hafiz Ghoga, vice chairman of the National Transitional Council (NTC), said that they had been in touch with loyalists over the possibility of Kadhafi submitting to internal exile.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Sunday there had been contact between the two camps that specifically involved the fate of Kadhafi.

"I know that they covered, for example, the fate reserved for Kadhafi himself, which is one of the central questions today...," he told France's RTL radio.

But Kadhafi government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim said Sunday the leader had no intention of quitting power.

"Kadhafi is here. He is staying. He is leading the country. He will not leave. He will not step down because he does not have any official position," Ibrahim said.

"We will not give in to some criminal gangs who took our cities hostage. We will not give in to the criminal organisation of NATO. Everyone continues to fight. We are ready to fight street to street, house to house," he added.

The wording of the AU panel's statement was far softer than South African President Jacob Zuma's opening remarks. He had again warned NATO against overstepping the mandate of the UN resolution imposing a no-fly zone over Libya.

"The intention was not to authorise a campaign for regime change or political assassination," Zuma said behind closed doors, according to a text of the speech.

Zuma urged both Kadhafi and the rebel NTC to make compromises to reach a deal in the face of a conflict that was degenerating into a protracted and bloody deadlock.

"On the ground, there is a military stalemate which cannot and must not be allowed to drag on and on -- both because of its horrendous cost in civilian lives and the potential it has to destabilise the entire sub-region," he said.

Jean Ping, head of the African Union Commission, its executive body, also underlined the regional effect of the conflict in his speech.

"The Libyan conflict ... is entering its fifth month, with its lot of suffering and its toll, each day heavier, in human life...," he said, according to text received by AFP..

"Tens of thousands of migrant African workers have had to return to their countries of origin...," he added.

"Hundreds of them have perished at sea, trying desperately to flee the fighting and other military operations."

News of the spread of weapons in Libya only reinforced fears of regional instability, he added, making a political solution all the more urgent.

The AU has been leading mediation efforts in Libya with the support of other key players including Russia.

As well as Zuma, Sunday's meeting was attended by other African presidents, Amadou Toumani Toure of Mali, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz of Mauritania and Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, as well as Congo Foreign Minister Basile Ikouebe.

They are to report back to a full summit of the African Union, of which Libya is a member, in Equatorial Guinea from Thursday.

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Justin Bieber, Bruno Mars, Gladys Knight, Nicki Minaj Added To BET Awards (Recap)

On Friday Justin Bieber, Bruno Mars, Gladys Knight, Nicki Minaj Added To BET Awards was a top story. Here is the recap: BET Awards '11 have expanded their lineup to now include Justin Bieber, Queen Latifah, Bruno Mars, Gladys Knight, Nicki Minaj, Taraji P. Henson, Big Sean, Ledisi, and Ne-Yo.

They join previously announced stars Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, Patti LaBelle, Steve Harvey, Kelly Rowland, Trey Songz, Lil Wayne, Drake, [deleted], Alicia Keys, Cee Lo Green, Jill Scott, Rick Ross, Ace Hood, DJ Khaled, La La Anthony, Shirley Caesar, Donnie McClurkin, Mary Mary, Deitrick Haddon, Faithful Central Choir, Music Matters artists Mali Music and Kimberly Nichole, and host Kevin Hart .

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China Stocks Priced for Hard Landing Signal 2nd-Half Rally by Top Brokers

The lowest Chinese stock valuations since economic growth collapsed three years ago are a sign to the nation’s biggest brokerages that it’s time to buy.

The Shanghai Composite Index’s 6.2 percent retreat this quarter sent the gauge to 11.6 times estimated profit, data compiled by Bloomberg show. It took the global financial crisis and a decline in China’s growth rate to a seven-year low of 6.8 percent to push valuations this low in November 2008. The Shanghai gauge rebounded 49 percent in the next six months.
Citic Securities Co. and China International Capital Corp., which predicted the drop this quarter, say the market will rally in the second half as inflation peaks and the government sustains the economic expansion by easing credit. EvenNouriel Roubini, the New York University economist who says China may face a “hard landing” after 2013, expects growth of at least 8.8 percent in 2011 and 2012.

“The market has basically priced in a very pessimistic outlook for the economy,” said Ling Peng, chief strategist at Shanghai-based Shenyin & Wanguo Securities Co., ranked China’s most influential research provider by New Fortune magazine last year. “A hard landing of the economy is very unlikely,” he said, forecasting the Shanghai index will advance as much as 15 percent by the end of the year to about 3,150.
Government Control

The gauge of more than 900 stocks traded mostly by local investors has trailed the MSCI Emerging Markets Index by 1.5 percentage points this quarter as the People’s Bank of China raised lenders’ reserve requirements for the 12th time since the start of 2010 and increased benchmark interest rates for the fourth time. Tighter monetary policy has spurred a drop in loans, cut money supply growth to the slowest pace since 2008 and sent short-term borrowing rates to a three-year high.

The government is curbing credit to tame consumer prices that boosted inflation to 5.5 percent last month, the highest level since July 2008. Retail sales trailed estimates in the past two months as rising prices eroded the buying power of China’s 1.3 billion people.

The Shanghai index rallied 3.9 percent to 2,746.21 last week after Premier Wen Jiabao wrote in an opinion piece in the Financial Times that China’s efforts to stem inflation have worked and the pace of price increases will slow. The stocks gauge added 0.4 percent to 2,758.23 at the 3 p.m. close today.

Beijing-based Bank of China Ltd. (3988) climbed 5.2 percent last week to 3.25 yuan, still below Citic’s share-price estimate of 4 yuan, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The lender has a price-to-book ratio 40 percent below its five-year average, the data show.
Growth Outlook

China Vanke Co., the country’s biggest developer, is valued at a 50 percent discount to MSCI’s gauge of global real estate companies, compared with a 10 percent discount two years ago, the data show. Shares of the Shenzhen-based company climbed 4.1 percent last week.

“The tightening that China has done for the last 18 months has been effective and seems to be coming towards an end,” said Philippe Langham, who runs the $855 million RBC Emerging Markets Fund from London. The government “still seems to have a large amount of control” over the economy, he said.

China’s expansion, which has averaged more than 10 percent during the past decade, may slow to 9.5 percent this year, according to the median estimate of 11 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The outlook compares with projected global growth of 4.3 percent, according to June forecasts from the Washington- based International Monetary Fund.
Credit Concerns

Roubini, the co-founder of New York-based research firm Roubini Global Economics LLC who predicted the worldwide financial crisis, said in a June 11 interview that China’s reliance on exports and investment may spur “massive” non- performing loans and cause the expansion to falter after 2013.

Credit Suisse Group AG cut its earnings forecasts for Shanghai index companies and advised reducing bank holdings in a June 20 research report. A surge in “off-balance sheet” financing may force policy makers to clamp down on credit growth for longer than investors anticipate, according to Hong Kong- based analysts Vincent Chan and Peggy Chan. Chinese profits may increase 10 percent this year and next, weighed down by banks’ non-performing loans, the analysts wrote.

Roubini Global still sees Chinese growth of 9.1 percent this year and 8.8 percent next year, according to the firm’s web site. Credit Suisse predicts an expansion of 8.7 percent this year and 8.5 percent in 2012. The Zurich-based bank has a target of 3,000 for the Shanghai index.
‘Control the Risks’

“There are some underlying problems for the long term but the situation isn’t as bad as some investors’ forecast,” said Pan Jiang, a Shanghai-based money manager at Franklin Templeton Sealand Fund Management Co., which oversees the equivalent of more than $2.6 billion. “We shouldn’t underestimate the government’s insight into the situation and its power to control the risks.”

Shanghai index profits will jump 32 percent in the next 12 months, topping the 19 percent growth rate for the MSCI emerging-market index, according to the average of more than 14,000 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

The Communist Party is boosting investment in affordable housing to counter a slump in manufacturing growth to the slowest pace since August. Premier Wen set a target to build 36 million social housing units over the next five years, according to a Feb. 27 online interview.
Cheap Valuations

Citic Securities recommended shares of property developers and cement companies because of the government’s housing measures. China’s biggest brokerage, which turned “positive” on the nation’s stocks in a June 20 report after being “cautious” since April, has a six-month target of 3,500 for the Shanghai index.

The Chinese equity gauge is valued at a 32 percent discount to the average 12-month forward price-earnings ratio since January 2006, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The ratio touched 11.1 on June 20, the lowest level since Nov. 7, 2008. The measure’s price-to-book ratio slid to 2.2 times last week, the least since February 2009. That was three months after the Chinese government announced a 4 trillion yuan ($618 billion) stimulus plan to revive growth amid the worst global recession since World War II.

“China’s stocks are close to a bottom in terms of valuation so there is limited room below the current level,” said Mei Luwu, a Shenzhen-based fund manager at Lion Fund Management Co., which oversees more than $7.8 billion. “Valuations for some industries like banks are at bottom levels.”
‘Back Up the Truck’

The Shanghai gauge may rebound about 20 percent in the second half of the year, CICC wrote in a June 13 report. China’s largest investment bank and the top-ranked China research provider in Asiamoney magazine’s survey forecasts peak inflation of about 6 percent in June and 2011 growth of 9.2 percent.

Hao Hong, CICC’s Beijing-based global equity strategist who had been “cautious” on China’s stocks since mid-April, said industries that will benefit from a second-half equity rally include cement, machinery, non-ferrous metals, property and insurance.

“A slowdown has been fully priced-in,” he said. “Depressed valuation, sentiment and technical indicators all augur well for a budding tradable rally. Back up the truck.”

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