Can Mass. casinos compete?

The state's gaming czar says local casinos are ready to weather mounting competitive pressures in New York and Connecticut in 2015, as his commission gears up to regulate its first gambling facility in Plainville and grapples with uncertainty over whether there will be a third Bay State casino in Southeastern Massachusetts.

Gaming Commission chairman Stephen Crosby said developments such as New York approving three new upstate casinos on Dec. 17 — including one in Schenectady, 90 minutes from the MGM Springfield project — have been "part of the calculation from the beginning."

"The Springfield facility is going to take a backseat to nobody," Crosby said. "I think we are going to have by far the most compelling, most competitively well-positioned facilities out there."

But Michael Paladino, who assesses the credit worthiness of casino companies for Fitch Ratings, said the types of casinos New York has opened, and the commercial one rumored on Connecticut's Bay State border, generally eat away at the existing local customer base, not add to it.

"We do think the market in the Northeast is saturated, particularly with the competition coming online in New York and Massachusetts," Paladino said. "It means that, generally, new competition has limited ability to grow the market, and essentially cannibalizes existing properties to a great degree."

MGM, which this year was licensed to build an $800 million casino in downtown Springfield, isn't worried.

"We are confident that as an urban revitalization project our innovative design, tested marketing plan, and strong brand will make MGM Springfield a premiere destination resort casino in the Northeast," MGM spokeswoman Carole Brennan said. "We are moving full steam ahead for a spring 2015 groundbreaking."

Boston College professor Richard McGowan, a casino expert, expects to see Massachusetts projects cut back as New York facilities come online, and for the Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods casinos to adjust to hold on to market share.

"In the long run ... you're going to see a repeat of Atlantic City, eventually," McGowan said, referring to the widespread shuttering of casinos this year. "There's going to be too many."

The first facility to open will be the $225 million Penn National slots parlor at the Plainridge Race Course in Plainville, expected in June. Crosby said the commission will add 10 to 15 staff members to regulate the Penn facility, which he called the gaming panel's "real focus" in 2015.

Meanwhile, there is a dearth of developments for the "Region C" resort casino license in the southeastern part of the state, with a Jan. 9 deadline for interested parties to submit a list of principals for background checks.

KG Urban has been approved to pursue a license in Region C, but has yet to announce an operator or win the support of New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell, who is shopping the municipal golf course and a waterfront industrial site to casino operators.

"The market here in the Southeast is clearly weaker than it is in the other two regions," Mitchell said. "We're not holding our breath, but we're also open for a good proposal still."

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Market Basket ends 4 percent discount

BOSTON — The 4 percent discount that Market Basket shoppers enjoyed on most purchases for the past year is coming to an end.

The New England supermarket chain introduced the discount in January in response to high energy costs and cutbacks in the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Company officials tell The Boston Globe the plan was always to phase out the discount, which ends on Saturday.

A family feud over the company's future led to a worker revolt and customer boycotts last summer. It ended with Arthur T. Demoulas gaining control from his cousin, Arthur S. Demoulas.

While some customers hoped the discount would continue, others say Market Basket still offers lower prices than many competitors.

The company operates more than 70 stores in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine.

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Latest advertising spending estimates underscore softness in TV

The latest numbers on advertising expenditures underscore the trend of softness in TV growth this year, according to ad tracking firm Kantar Media.

Spanish-language TV was the big driver of modest TV advertising growth during the third quarter, according to the latest Kantar report. Spanish-lingo TV registered a 23.7% gain in spot TV advertising, thanks in large part to the World Cup soccer tournament. Cable networks saw a 7.9% gain in the third quarter, compared to just 0.2% for national network buys, even as the spending on the midterm elections heated up in key battleground states.

For the first nine months of the year, overall TV spending was up 7.1% compared to the comparable period in 2013. That's better than the magazine (-4.3%), newspaper (-9.2%) and radio (-3.8%) advertising categories, which were down year-over-year, and a slightly bigger gain than Internet advertising (5.7%) during the frame.

But the disproportionate gains for Spanish-lingo TV (28.1%) during the nine-month period raise questions about growth potential for the rest of the TV market. Cable TV grew 7.9% during the January to September frame, while broadcast networks eked out a 3.0% gain, according to Kantar.

Overall spending by the top 10 advertisers was $11.5 billion from January to September, down 1.7% from the comparable period in 2013. Packaged goods giant Procter & Gamble claimed the top spot among advertisers overall with $2 billion during the frame, which still marked a 16.1% year-over-year drop and the company's third consecutive quarter of declining advertising expenditures across all media. AT&T, another blue-chip advertiser, saw spending decline 11.3% for the frame.

Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer is the biggest gainer overall, growing 19.5% to $1.03 billion. General Motors also registered a 4.5% uptick to $1.3 billion.

Kantar execs noted a clear trend of smaller advertisers helping to fill the gap in spending during the third quarter.

"After a relatively robust first half when spend grew by 3.1%,the pace of ad spending slowed during Q3 and a principal cause was Top 100 marketers becoming more restrained with their budgets," said Jon Swallen, Kantar Media North America's chief research officer. "In contrast, mid-sized advertisers, who are the core of the ad market, continued to supply foundational support and grew their total spending by 6-7 percent during the quarter."

© 2014 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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China jails 4 for 2013 fatal fire at poultry plant

BEIJING — Two fire chiefs and two poultry farm bosses have been convicted and sentenced to prison terms of up to nine years in relation to a fire at a plant in northeastern China last year that killed 121 people and injured 76 others, state media reported Saturday.

The June 2013 fire in Jilin province was China's deadliest industrial accident in five years and highlighted continuing violations of safety regulations despite recent improvements in the country's work safety record.

Survivors at the time described workers, mostly women, struggling through smoke and flames in the poultry processing plant to reach doors that turned out to be locked or blocked after an electrical short ignited flammable goods.

On Friday, two district courts in Changchun city sentenced two bosses of the plant and two fire officials, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

The chairman of Jilin Baoyuanfeng Poultry Co., Jia Yushan, was sentenced to nine years in prison and fined 1 million yuan ($160,000) for not ensuring the working environment was safe, and former general manager Zhang Yushen was sentenced to four years for installing substandard equipment, Xinhua said.

Lyu Yandong, the former chief of the local fire department, and his deputy Liu Guicai were convicted of abuse of power and sentenced to prison terms of up to 5 1/2 years. Prosecutors previously said they had failed to carry out any serious inspections of the plant and falsified information after the fire to try and cover that up.

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US mission in Havana to become embassy amid thaw

HAVANA — A half-century after Washington severed relations with Cuba, the United States' seven-story mission looms over Havana's seaside Malecon boulevard as the largest diplomatic outpost in the country.

Cuban guards stand at close intervals on the street outside, and islanders line up by the thousands each year for a shot at a coveted visa.

The gleaming U.S. Interests Section suddenly is poised to become an even more important presence in Cuba as the two countries negotiate the first phase of their historic detente — transforming the complex into a full embassy that would reflect the Obama administration's hopes of new influence on the communist island.

Roberta Jacobson, assistant U.S. secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, will be the highest known U.S. administration official to visit in decades when she comes next month for annual talks on migration that will now also focus on the details of re-establishing full diplomatic relations.

The discussions are expected to cover expanding staffing in the two countries' interests sections and letting diplomats travel outside their respective capitals without having to ask permission.

Also part of the reopening of the embassy: symbolic measures such as raising the American flag on the Malecon.

"Opening an embassy is a symbolic gesture, but symbols are really important," John Caulfield, who was Interests Section chief from 2011 to 2014, said by phone from Jacksonville, Florida, where he retired.

"This is a pretty powerful symbol by our president that we want to have a more normal relationship with Cuba despite the fact that we have the obvious differences," he added.

Cuba's interests section is a stately manor in Washington's Adams Morgan neighborhood. It, too, stands to become an embassy.

Diplomats say privately that Washington hopes to boost staffing in Havana, currently at about 50 Americans and 300 Cuban workers, as more American travelers and trade delegates are expected to come here under new rules to be set by the White House softening the U.S. trade embargo on Cuba.

An agreement could also ease or scrap rules that require U.S. diplomats to channel all requests through Cuba's Foreign Ministry; the diplomats would be able to deal directly with at least some other branches of government.

The U.S. Interests Section has often been a flashpoint for conflict, and its decades of hybrid status reflect the dysfunctional relationship between the two deeply intertwined countries.

The building first opened as an embassy in 1953, the same year Fidel Castro launched an ill-fated assault on a barracks that is considered the onset of the Cuban Revolution.

Eight years later, with Castro then in power, the countries broke ties and Switzerland stepped in to safeguard both the embassy and the ambassador's residence, a sprawling, immaculately groomed estate in Havana's finest neighborhood.

After the break, Washington was without a presence in Cuba until 1977, when the interests sections were opened under President Jimmy Carter. The missions technically operate under the aegis of the "protecting power" Switzerland.

Cuba later built the adjacent "Anti-Imperialist Plaza," which has hosted nationalist rallies where Castro gave long speeches railing against Washington, and concerts demanding the return of the Cuban intelligence agents whom the U.S. freed last week as part of the detente. Huge marches streamed past the Interests Section in 2000 to demand the return of the young Cuban rafter Elian Gonzalez.

On the wall of a conference room in the mission hangs the bronze head of an eagle that topped the nearby USS Maine monument until it was ripped down in a 1961 anti-Yankee protest following the failed Bay of Pigs invasion. The wings and body sit in a musty Cuban museum storage room awaiting a possible reunion with the head on the day that Havana and Washington become friends.

In 2006, U.S. diplomats installed an electronic billboard that scrolled messages extolling democracy and human rights to Cubans on the street below. An outraged Cuban government erected dozens of black flags to obscure the signs.

"The consequence of that was, for years, they did not allow us to import lightbulbs," Caulfield recalled with a chuckle.

The U.S. Interests Section is closely watched by cameras and guards on both sides, a function of both the longtime tensions and general increased security at American diplomatic missions following 9/11. Cuban police make pedestrians cross the street to use another sidewalk, and no parking is allowed.

Some neighbors say they love living nearby: Nobody ever gets robbed, and the employees and visa-seekers support local private businesses that were allowed to open under President Raul Castro's economic reforms of recent years.

"Because the whole area is so well guarded, it's very safe," said Pedro Hernandez, 73, who runs a modest snack bar out of his home. "There are no problems with crime of any kind, and that's very good for us."

American diplomats say low-level harassment was routine for many years, as Cuba restricted their movements and activities and dragged its feet on permission to do standard maintenance. Cuban state media routinely portrayed the building as a den of spies.

Both sides gradually moved toward a remarkably civil relationship in recent years. The electronic sign came down in 2009, as did the black flags — though they still fly on special occasions. The countries started granting diplomatic travel permission more easily. Envoys exchanged home phone numbers and even dined together occasionally. Long-stalled talks on migration and restoring mail service resumed.

Once details of the new diplomatic relationship are worked out, actually turning the mission into an embassy requires little more than changing a few signs and ordering a new letterhead, experts said.

"A few strokes of the pen and that's it," said Wayne Smith, who was a junior diplomat in Cuba when relations were severed in 1961 and returned to head the Interests Section in the late 1970s.

Some who served in the U.S. Interests Section are awaiting the change with a mixture of excitement and wistfulness at not being here for the transition.

"I would have loved to be there to raise that flag," Caulfield said.

___

Associated Press writers Anne-Marie Garcia and Michael Weissenstein in Havana contributed.

___

Peter Orsi on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Peter_Orsi

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Hearing set on regulations for ride-sharing companies

BOSTON — Fans and critics of popular ride-sharing companies like Uber and Lyft will get a chance to weigh in on proposed regulations that could govern how the firms operate in Massachusetts.

Gov. Deval Patrick wants to give the state Department of Public Utilities the power to regulate the activity.

The hearing is scheduled for Wednesday morning at the state transportation building in Boston before the Department of Transportation and Registry of Motor Vehicles.

The proposed regulations would require the companies to obtain certificates to operate, conduct criminal background checks on drivers and have liability insurance.

A union representing cab drivers have argued that the changes would do little to help the taxi industry, which claims the ride-sharing firms operate illegally.

Uber-Boston has issued a statement in support of the proposal.

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Hospital closes, leaves emergency room open

QUINCY — An emergency room is all that remains of a 124-year-old hospital in Quincy.

After reaching an agreement with state regulators, Quincy Medical Center officially closed its doors at midnight, replaced on Saturday by the 24-hour satellite emergency care facility that will continue operations until at least the end of 2015.

The hospital's owner, Steward Health Care, said it was losing $20 million a year in the face of increased regional competition.

Quincy Medical Center announced in November that it planned to close, and state officials waived a required 90-day notice that would have forced Steward to keep it open until February.

The hospital said it had no inpatients remaining at the time of closing.

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Mass. skiing awaits cold

Massachusetts ski areas are awaiting this week's forecasted return of colder weather to make more snow and kick the season up a notch.

Wachusett Mountain Ski Area in Princeton, which opened Nov. 21, had one of its strongest and earliest launches in years for a record month.

"As the result of cold early temperatures, we were able to make snow early, and then we got the bonus of a 10-inch snowstorm around Thanksgiving," marketing director Tom Meyers said. "So we've had one of the best Novembers we've ever had."

But December has been a different story.

"December has been challenging all month, not just the last few days," Meyers said. "We've made snow whenever we can, but it's been not as cold as it was early. But, nevertheless, we still have over three-quarters of the mountain open, and the forecast now calls for cold temperatures to return … and we're looking to start making snow again and building base depths, expanding coverage and opening additional terrain."

Wachusett had 14 trails and four lifts open yesterday, with snow base depths of eight inches to 12 inches.

Jiminy Peak Mountain Resort in Hancock opened Nov. 16 with expanded snow-making operations. Yesterday, 34 trails and nine lifts were in operation with average snow base depths of eight inches to 28inches. 

"The season started out very solid and … we were able to get all our snow-making terrain open before Christmas," CEO Tyler Fairbank said. "We've never been able to do that before."

Rain on Christmas Eve and into Christmas knocked down Jiminy Peak's trail count a bit, but with a significant amount of manmade snow on the mountain, it was able to recover very quickly with its grooming fleet, according to Fairbank.

It's been a slow start at Nashoba Valley Ski Area in Westford, where eight of 18 trails and eight of 11 lifts were open yesterday.

The recent warmer weather has proved a challenge, according to marketing and corporate sales director Pam Fletcher. This time last year, Nashoba Valley had its entire mountain open thanks to a series of December snowstorms and more days of super cold temperatures.

"But with the cold weather coming, we can cover and open a slope from bare ground," Fletcher said. "And we already had, going into the rain, decent coverage — anywhere from 2 feet in some areas to 2 inches. That depth really helps you when you're going into the warm weather that we got over the holiday. We just need a couple of cold nights, and they can cover the whole thing."

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Short-sellers get last-minute gift with debt relief extension

WASHINGTON — For David Foster of Chicago, it was a stunning and welcome early Christmas present for him, his wife and three young children.

The Senate's 11th-hour extension of the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act through Dec. 31 will save Foster, who works for a nonprofit ministry group, from having to pay the IRS about $28,000 next year on $100,000 of mortgage debt canceled by his bank as part of a short sale on his condo. Before the Senate's action, he told me he had no idea "how or where we could come up with" that sort of money.

The federal tax code treats forgiven debt as ordinary income to the borrower, taxable at regular rates. But under an exception that took effect in 2007, qualified home mortgage debt that is canceled by a lender as part of a short sale, loan modification or foreclosure is treated as non-taxable. However, that exception expired last Dec. 31 and its renewal has been in doubt all year leaving short-sellers such as Foster unsure whether they would be facing crushing taxes in 2015.

Thousands of Americans who completed short sales during 2014 and received cancellations of mortgage debt by banks had reason to celebrate when the Senate extended the exception for transactions just before adjourning for the holidays. According to data prepared for this column by research firm RealtyTrac, nearly 122,000 short sales went to closing nationwide between January and October, involving an estimated average debt forgiveness of about $88,500. The average seller had a mortgage balance one and a half times higher than the market value of the house.

In a short sale, an underwater homeowner agrees to sell the property to a new purchaser, typically for a price well below what is owed to the bank. If the bank agrees to the sale, the proceeds pay off part of the loan balance and the bank forgives, or writes off, the rest.

Richard Eastern, CEO of Washington Property Solutions Inc. in Bellevue, Wash., a brokerage specializing in short sales, says people such as Foster are the lucky ones. Substantial numbers of owners have been rushing to beat the Dec. 31 deadline. "I got a call today from a client who asked, 'we're still scheduled for Dec. 29, right?' " Eastern recounted. The typical client served by his firm is an underwater owner with $300,000 of mortgage debt on a $200,000 house.

But Eastern said he has dozens of other listings where a 2014 closing won't be possible, and some of these clients "are now devastated" in the wake of the Senate's limitation of the extension to 2014 transactions only. They could be plunging into a federal tax policy black hole when they complete their sales next year, uncertain of any further extension of the debt forgiveness law.

Eastern is mystified that Congress could not have lengthened the extension to two years, retroactive for 2014 and good through Dec. 31, 2015, a provision approved in a bipartisan vote by the Senate Finance Committee last summer. He predicts that without protection from heavy tax burdens, many underwater owners will opt instead for bankruptcy filings. In some cases, they might be able to qualify for an "insolvency" declaration, which could wipe away tax liability for unpaid mortgage balances.

How do you know whether your short sale, loan modification or foreclosure is covered by the extension for 2014? Though a tax professional familiar with the law should be your best guide, here are the key tests you'll need to pass: The house securing the mortgage debt must be your principal residence. The maximum amount of debt that qualifies for relief is $2 million ($1 million if you are married filing taxes separately.) Any portion of the mortgage debt forgiven that was used for purposes other than improving or building the house — say you refinanced, pulled cash out and used it to buy a car — will not qualify for the exclusion and may be taxable.

What are the prospects that Congress will extend the law for 2015, covering people who didn't quite make the deadline for 2014? Not great. The Republican tax policy leadership in the House favors broad tax reforms in the upcoming session and wants to put an end to temporary tax code benefits that require periodic extensions.

Unless proponents can make a strong case for mortgage debt relief as a permanent part of the tax code, it will be tough to get it extended again.

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SpaceX plans lots of launches, and then a Mars mission

Once the launchpad for Apollo and space shuttle flights, NASA's Launch Complex 39A is now in the hands of SpaceX and its enigmatic billionaire leader, Elon Musk.

With a 20-year lease, the privately held Hawthorne, Calif.,-based company is rebuilding the launch complex at Kennedy Space Center to fit its rockets — the Falcon 9 and the soon-to-debut Falcon Heavy super-rocket — just as it envisions reshaping the space-launch industry.

The overhaul of 39A is the Central Florida centerpiece of SpaceX's plans. The company also has two other leased launchpads, Launch Complex 40 nearby at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, and one at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. It plans to build a fourth pad near Brownsville, Texas.

Its short-range goal is to pursue private and military launch contracts. Eventually, SpaceX hopes to colonize Mars.

Next up will be the company's fifth NASA-contracted mission to haul equipment and supplies to the International Space Station.

The launch of SpaceX's Dragon resupply capsule, postponed three times, now is scheduled for a Jan. 6 liftoff from Launch Complex 40.

Starting in 2018, SpaceX is one of two private rocket companies with contracts to ferry astronauts to the space station.

"Elon wants to rule the world," said John Logsdon, professor emeritus at George Washington University's Space Policy Institute. "The company has a long-term strategy to become a, or maybe the, dominant player in space activity."

SpaceX's longer-term plans are not dependent on NASA, but on spurring a worldwide increase in private space launches, Logsdon said.

And with all the company is investing now, it is gambling on an extremely robust private-space business in the 2020s, said George Abbey, a former director of NASA's Johnson Space Center and now a senior fellow of space policy at the Rice University Baker Institute for Public Policy.

The company "has got to be successful in capturing the launch-vehicle market," Abbey said of SpaceX. The company would not grant an interview.

Industry advocates such as Eric Stallmer, president of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation trade group, think there will be a lot of space-launch business in the next decade.

Stallmer said launches are by far the biggest cost of putting a private satellite into service. So as competition and innovation drive down launch costs and increase reliability, the market should increase "exponentially" from the 30 commercial launches a year now seen worldwide, he said.

"They (SpaceX) keep challenging themselves and the industry, and they keep succeeding, and it's really changing the way we do business in space," he said.

In interviews, Musk often has talked of his dream of sending astronauts to Mars. SpaceX already is pursuing some Mars-landing technologies. Musk has said he could reach Mars by 2030 — ahead of NASA's plans to do so — and envisions creating a colony there.

The commercial space industry is full of ambitious new companies, including others like SpaceX, run by charismatic billionaires. They must compete with established companies such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin, the European cooperative Arianespace, Russia's Soyuz and others that have strong relationships with governments and satellite companies.

Two, Orbital Sciences and Virgin Galactic, had disastrous setbacks this fall. Orbital's rocket and capsule blew up on liftoff in Virginia, on a space station resupply mission in October. Three days later, Virgin's SpaceShipTwo crashed during a test, killing a pilot.

SpaceX has successfully launched its Falcon 9 rocket 13 times.

During the next several years, SpaceX has contracts for 40 more rockets, include five for launching the Falcon Heavy.

All five of the big rockets and 23 of the others are scheduled to launch from Florida.

That could change once SpaceX finishes its private launch complex near Brownsville, said Roger Handberg, who specializes in space policy at University of Central Florida.

In Florida, SpaceX can launch only on dates approved by the Air Force, but in Texas the company has freedom to launch on its own schedule. He expects the company's private payloads to be launched mostly in Texas.

SpaceX nearly went bankrupt before it started winning NASA contracts, Handberg said. And the company's deals with NASA to service the space station likely will last only through 2025, when the station is scheduled to be decommissioned.

Though SpaceX has won some U.S. military launches, most remain committed to old-guard contractors such as the United Launch Alliance, a partnership of Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

This year, the U.S. Department of Defense awarded to ULA a long-term, no-bid contract extension for 36 military launches. Musk blasted the deal in congressional testimony, and then SpaceX sued the federal government. That suit is pending.

UCF's Handberg said it's unclear whether there will be enough private rocket-launch business for SpaceX, as other companies emerge and older ones dig in.

———

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Identity theft victims face months of hassle

SAN FRANCISCO — As soon as Mark Kim found out his personal information was compromised in a data breach at Target last year, the 36-year-old tech worker signed up for the retailer's free credit monitoring offer so he would be notified if someone used his identity to commit fraud.

Someone did. The first monitoring report showed crooks opened accounts in his name at Macy's and Kohl's department stores, where they racked up more than $7,000 in charges. "My heart basically sank," he said. Over the next seven months the New York City resident spent hours on the phone, most of a day in a police station filing a report, and countless time sending documents to banks and credit reporting agencies to clear his credit history.

He's hardly alone. The Target hack during last year's Black Friday shopping weekend was just one in a wave of data breaches that have exposed more than 100 million customer records at U.S. retailers, banks and Internet companies. The latest high-profile hack, at Sony Pictures Entertainment, resulted in Social Security numbers and other personal details of nearly 50,000 current and former Sony employees and film actors being stolen and posted online for anyone to see. While cases are difficult to trace, analysts at Javelin Strategy & Research estimate that one in three Americans affected by a data breach ultimately became the victim of fraud last year — up from one in nine in 2010.

Although banks often absorb bogus charges, it's up to victims to clean up their credit histories and recover stolen funds. On top of lost time, money and emotional energy, victims face the frustration of rarely seeing anyone pay for the crimes. Identity theft cases are rarely prosecuted, said Avivah Litan, an analyst who studies fraud and identity theft for the research firm Gartner. Local police have limited resources, and criminals are often overseas, "so unless it's part of a bigger pattern, they're not going to spend much time pursuing it." Kim said a police detective who took his complaint later told him the accounts were opened by someone in California, but Kim never heard any more about the investigation.

In the past year, Target and other major retailers have said they're increasing security. President Obama has urged banks and stores to speed up adoption of "chip-and-pin" payment cards, which are harder to hack. But reports of data breaches continue. And as Federal Trade Commission member Terrell McSweeney said recently, "Disturbingly, the news has seemed to desensitize many people to the real risks created each time an event occurs."

Kim can't be certain Target was the source of the fraud he experienced, he acknowledged. Experts say crooks often steal or buy consumer information from more than one source, and use it to compile a complete dossier on potential victims. That's likely the way hackers last year impersonated the rich and famous to get credit reports on Paris Hilton, Michelle Obama and even General Keith Alexander, then-head of the National Security Agency.

Alexander told a public forum this fall that when he tried to file his taxes, he learned someone else had already claimed a $9,000 refund in his name. Fraudsters also used his identity to apply for about 20 credit cards. The FBI eventually caught a suspect, he said; the FBI declined comment.

Meticulous by nature, Kim documented every conversation with an investigator or company representative. He was fortunate, he added, that his employer let him use the phone and fax machine where he works. "If I worked at a stricter company, it would have been a nightmare," he said. But Kim was never reimbursed for sending affidavits and other documents by certified mail to various banks and agencies.

While identity theft is certainly a global problem, experts say it's difficult to measure worldwide losses. However, a Department of Justice study estimates identity theft of all kinds was responsible for U.S. financial losses of $24.7 billion in 2012 — nearly double the $14 billion lost from all other property crimes such as burglary and theft. According to Javelin surveys in the U.S., when an existing credit card is exposed and then used for fraud, the average loss is $1,251. When a social security number is exposed and then used to open new accounts, the average loss is $2,330.

Banks take the biggest financial hit, but identity theft victims' out-of-pocket losses can range from an average of $63 for misuse of credit cards to $289 for fraud involving social security numbers. Of course that doesn't quantify lost time and stress.

Albert, who didn't want his last name published because he fears being victimized again, learned in 2012 that his personal information was exposed by a data breach at University of Miami Hospital, where he'd gone for minor surgery. After submitting his federal tax return the following year, the 60-year-old Miami resident found the government had already issued a refund to someone else using his social security number.

It took eight months for the airline reservations employee to get his $4,000 refund, which he needed to pay off debts. Albert said he doesn't know if the tax scammer used personal information from the hospital breach or some other source. But experts say health records are a treasure trove for scammers, since they may contain financial information, insurance numbers and personal data that can be used to obtain drugs, medical services or other benefits.

Albert now subscribes to a credit monitoring service and has asked reporting agencies for a "freeze" to block any applications for credit in his name. However, that "freeze" required a laborious process to lift when he later applied for a mortgage and then Internet service from AT&T. He still worries someone will claim the Social Security benefits he's counting on when he retires.

"There's a rage that comes up, when you realize what happened," he said. "You feel violated. You feel attacked."

Kim just got all of the fraudulent accounts removed from his credit history this month. He and other victims say the experience has made them even more careful about their financial data and credit records. Kim, for example, registered for a security alert from the major credit reporting agencies, which advises lenders to contact him if someone tries to get credit in his name.

The alert expires in seven years, but Kim said he "absolutely" plans to renew it.

"I have to be watchful," he added. "I know something else could happen."

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AP National Reporter Martha Mendoza contributed to this report from San Jose, California.

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Drug companiess to lose $65 billion on patents

Pharmaceutical companies will lose an estimated $65 billion in sales by 2019 due to patent expirations of leading drugs, according to one research and consulting firm.

The companies that will likely be hardest hit include Otsuka, Eli Lilly and AstraZeneca, which has a research and development center in Waltham, according GlobalData.

Eli Lilly and AstraZemeca have seen profits fall in the central nervous system therapeutics market since 2010, with AstraZeneca losing the greatest share over the past three years, said Adam Dion, a GlobalData analyst covering healthcare industry dynamics.

AstraZeneca "has been bleeding sales" in that market since it lost its patent on Seroquel, a treatment for bipolar disorder, which led to the entry of cheaper, generic alternatives, Dion said.

The company's market share has dropped from about 9 percent in 2010 to about 3 percent last year, he said.

"In the United States, when a patent expires on a small-molecule drug, the generics can be many, and you can lose 90 percent of your revenues or more," said Seamus Fernandez, a Leerink Partners analyst. "That kind of competition decreases the sustainability of your revenue stream."

Eli Lilly's market share fell from 14.3 percent in 2010 to 11.2 percent in 2013, primarily due to decreasing sales of Zyprexa, which is used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, Dion said. Zyprexa sales have plunged from more than 
$5 billion to $1.2 billion since the company lost its U.S. patent exclusivity in 2011, he said.

Otsuka's anti-psychotic drug Abilify was the sales leader in the central nervous system market, with $9.5 billion last year, Dion said. But the company stands to lose $6.2 billion by 2019 as a result of generic competition after Abilify's U.S. patent expires next year, "making it the biggest victim of the pharmaceutical industry's current patent cliff," he said.

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New app hits the parking SPOT

For Boston drivers, easy and parking are two words rarely found together.

SPOT CEO Braden Golub wants to change that. His new mobile app launched on Thursday connects private spot owners and drivers looking for a place to park.

The idea was born out of necessity, said Golub, who was up early Saturday mornings feeding the meter on his girlfriend's car, when she stayed at his Back Bay apartment.

As he walked home, he noticed 20 out of the 25 spots in his private lot empty.

"I would've gladly paid someone to park her car in one of those empty spots," he said. "There's got to be a better way."

Through the app, spot owners rent their unused space for anywhere from an hour to a month and SPOT takes a 15 percent cut on the transaction.

Owners set their own price, which is generally 40-60 percent cheaper than nearby garages.

Touted as the airbnb.com of parking, SPOT amassed 6,000 users since its beta launch in June.

About 90 percent of those users are renters, while only 10 percent are spot owners, but Golub said he hopes to build up inventory in the coming months.

Allston resident Sasha Garfunkel uses SPOT to find parking in Brookline when she visits her boyfriend.

"It's been really easy and convenient," she said. "In Brookline you're not allowed to park anywhere and sometimes I'd have to have my boyfriend come pick me up, so I jumped on the opportunity not to have to do that."

Golub took other cities into consideration for the launch, but found Boston was the "perfect geographical area" for an app like SPOT.

Since SPOT only deals with private property, they have not run into any issues with the city.

SPOT plans to expand to Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Miami, Los Angeles and San Francisco in early 2015.

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Virus, drought to hike grocery prices despite cheap gas

A dramatic drop in the price of gas won't make your grocery bill any easier to swallow because officials are forecasting a hike in food prices in nearly every category, due to brutal drought, fluctuations in demand and a virus afflicting farm animals.

"For 2015, we're predicting the price of food will increase 2 to 3 percent," said Annemarie Kuhns, agricultural economist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service, which takes into account several factors, including the Consumer Price Index, the price of energy and grocery store wages.

The USDA is predicting hikes of 4.5 to 5.5 percent for beef, veal and pork — by far the highest jump expected.

Poultry, seafood, dairy, and fruits and vegetables are also expected to climb by 2.5 to 3.5 percent, with sugar and sweets seeing a 2.5-percent hike, the USDA fears.

Eggs, cereals and bakery products are all expected to increase less than 1.5 percent.

Beef and veal prices will likely continue to reflect a cattle inventory that is at a historic low due to drought in Texas and Oklahoma, Kuhns said, while porcine epidemic diarrhea virus, which affects pigs' litter sizes and increases piglet mortality, is expected to push up the price of pork.

Demand for cheese and other dairy products also remains high, supporting increased prices, she said.

The hikes are expected even as major drops in the prices of gas and diesel needed to transport food are saving grocery stores big money.

"For the food supply chain, if the price of fuel and energy in general is going down, it's a windfall," said Andrew Wolf, senior equity research analyst at BB&T Capital Markets' Food and Agribusiness Group in Boston. "They won't lower their prices, but it'll mean less inflation in prices because one of their big costs has just dropped."

Nationally, the average price of regular gasoline on Friday was $2.60 per gallon, down 11.7 cents from a week earlier and 65.2 cents from last year, while the average price of diesel was $3.44, down 8 cents and 41 cents, respectively.

But whatever amount consumers save through lower gas prices could be cancelled out by the across-the-board food price increases the USDA is predicting.

"If the price of food increases 2 to 3 percent, that would have some negative impact on household budgets because it's higher than the rate of inflation and wage rates," said Alan Clayton-Matthews, associate professor of economics and public policy at Northeastern University.

The impact will be particularly hard felt by people already struggling to make ends meet, said John Drew, president and CEO of Action for Boston Community Development.

"The vast majority of Americans will be affected because most people's wages aren't going up," Drew said. "But it will affect the poor and unemployed or underemployed even more because a lot of them still are just trying to hold onto their housing. If the price of food goes up, they're going to have to decide: Do I pay the rent or mortgage, or do I feed my family?"

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Hackers to Sony: ‘Christmas gift’ to be the worst

Sony hackers have promised to release a disastrous "Christmas gift" that will "put Sony Pictures into the worst state" — another round of embarrassing personal emails, according to multiple news reports.

One of the emails allegedly ridicules Leonardo DiCaprio for passing on an upcoming Steve Jobs biopic.

"Was this about the deal ... or did he just change his mind," movie producer Mark Gordon said in a leaked email, which was published online yesterday. "The latter," responded Sony Pictures co-chairman Amy Pascal, reports state.

The Sony hack, which was first reported last month, has not only revealed thousands of private emails sent by top executives, it also made thousands of employee Social Security numbers public and leaked five new Sony films, including the "Annie" remake, Brad Pitt's "Fury," and "Still Alice" to online file-sharing hubs.

In one of the leaked messages, Oscar-winning movie producer Scott Rudin reportedly called Angelina Jolie a "minimally talented spoiled brat," according to multiple reports.

But it looks like the worst is yet to come — "We are preparing for you a Christmas gift," reads a message from the hackers that was posted online yesterday, according to Variety. "The gift will be larger quantities of data. And it will be more interesting. The gift will surely give you much more pleasure and put Sony Pictures into the worst state."

Evidence is mounting that North Korea, outraged over the upcoming comedy "The Interview," may have launched the cyber attack.

The comedy is about a pair of hack TV journalists — played by Seth Rogen and co-star James Franco — who are recruited by the CIA to assassinate Kim Jong Un after they land an interview with the North Korean leader.

North Korea's state-run news agency KCNA declared the film an "act of war" and promised "a merciless counter-measure" if the U.S. allowed it to be distributed.

"The Interview" is set to be released in theaters Christmas Day.

Herald wire services contributed to this report.

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Crunch time again for health insurance sign-ups

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama's push to cover America's uninsured faces another big test Monday.

This time, it's not only how the website functions, but how well the program itself works for millions who are starting to count on it.

Midnight Monday, Pacific time is the deadline for new customers to pick a health plan that will take effect Jan. 1, and for current enrollees to make changes that could reduce premium increases ahead of the new year.

HealthCare.gov and state insurance websites are preparing for heavy online traffic before the deadline, which gives consumers in the East three hours into Tuesday to enroll.

Wait times at the federal call center started creeping up around the middle of last week, mainly due to a surge of current customers with questions about their coverage for next year. Many will face higher premiums, although they could ease the hit by shopping online for a better deal. Counselors reported hold times of 20 minutes or longer for the telephone help line.

About 6.7 million people now have coverage through Obama's signature law, which offers subsidized private insurance. The administration wants to increase that to 9.1 million in 2015. To do that, the program will have to keep most of its current enrollees while signing up more than 2 million new paying customers.

People no longer can be turned down because of health problems, but picking insurance still is daunting for many consumers. They also have to navigate the process of applying for or updating federal subsidies, which can be complex for certain people, including immigrants. Many returning customers are contending with premium increases generally in the mid-to-high single digits, but much more in some cases.

Consumers "understand it's complicated but they appreciate the ability to get health insurance," said Elizabeth Colvin of Foundation Communities, an Austin, Texas, nonprofit that is helping sign up low-income residents. "People who haven't gone through the process don't understand how complicated it is."

Last year's open enrollment season turned into a race to salvage the reputation of the White House by fixing numerous technical bugs that crippled HealthCare.gov from its first day. With the website now working fairly well, sign-up season this year is a test of whether the program itself is practical for the people it is intended to serve.

New wrinkles have kept popping up, even with seemingly simple features of the Affordable Care Act.

For example, most current customers who do nothing will be automatically renewed Jan. 1 in the plan they now are in. At this point, it looks like that is what a majority intends to do.

While that may sound straightforward, it's not.

By staying in their current plans, people can get locked into a premium increase and miss out on lower-priced plans for 2015. Not only that, they also will keep their 2014 subsidies, which may be less than what they legally would be entitled to for next year.

Doing nothing appears to be a particularly bad idea for people who turned 21 this year, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a Washington group that advocates for low-income people.

Researchers at the center estimate that 21-year-olds will see a 58 percent increase in the sticker price for their premiums just because they're a year older. An age-adjustment factor used to compute premiums jumps substantially when a person turns 21. A 20-year-old whose premium was $130 per month in 2014 will see the premium climb to $205 a month in 2015, solely because of that year's difference.

Tax-credit subsidies can cancel out much or even all of the impact. But if consumers default to automatic renewal, their tax credits will not be updated and they will get the same subsidy as this year.

"Even in the best possible scenario of how many people we can expect to come in, we will still see a substantial number of people defaulting," said Judy Solomon, a health care policy expert at the center. She worries that some young adults may get discouraged and drop out.

Reviews of HealthCare.gov and state health insurance exchanges are mixed.

An Associated Press-GfK poll this month found that 11 percent of Americans said they or someone else in their household tried to sign up since open enrollment began Nov. 15. Overall, 9 percent said the insurance markets are working extremely well or very well. Twenty-six percent said the exchanges are working somewhat well, and 39 percent said they were not working well. The remaining 24 percent said they didn't know enough to rate performance.

So far it has been a frustrating experience for Marie Bagot, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She and her husband are in their 60s, but not yet old enough for Medicare. The husband, who works as a chef, will turn 65 around the middle of next year and qualify for Medicare. Bagot said they were happy with their insurance this year under Obama's law.

"As you get older, you worry about your health," she said. "I was very pleased with the price we got."

But Bagot said she received a notice from her insurer that her current plan will not be available next year in her community. The closest alternative would involve a premium increase of more than $350 a month, even with their tax credit subsidy. After days of trying to find a comparable plan through the federal call center and after visiting a counselor, Bagot said she opted to keep their current coverage, while hoping costs go down after her husband joins Medicare.

"I cannot afford it, but I'm going to try to," she said.

Monday is not the last chance for consumers like Bagot. Open enrollment doesn't end until Feb. 15.

___

Associated Press Director of Polling Jennifer Agiesta contributed to this report.

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Journalists, police are detained in Turkish raids

ANKARA, Turkey — Police conducted raids in a dozen Turkish cities Sunday, detaining at least 24 people — including journalists, TV producers and police — known to be close to a movement led by a U.S.-based moderate Islamic cleric who is a strong critic of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

It was the latest crackdown on cleric Fethullah Gulen's movement, which the government has accused of orchestrating an alleged plot to try to bring it down. The government says the group's followers were behind corruption allegations that last year that forced four Cabinet ministers to resign.

Gulen, who lives in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania, denies the accusations.

During a speech on Saturday, Erdogan vowed to "bring down the network of treachery and make it pay."

The state-run Anadolu Agency said a court issued a warrant to arrest 32 people connected to the movement, and that 24 of them were detained in raids in Istanbul and other cities across Turkey on Sunday. They included Ekrem Dumanli, the chief editor of Zaman newspaper, who was taken into custody at his paper's Istanbul headquarters, which was broadcast live on television.

Those with arrest warrants included Hidayet Karaca, the chief executive of Samanyolu television, as well producers of two of its TV shows. Both Zaman and Samanyolu are affiliated with the movement.

Anadolu said those detained are suspected of "using intimidation and threats" to try to wrest control of state power. The state-run news agency said some of the police officers detained are suspected of fabricating crimes and evidence while investigating an organization close to the al-Qaida terror network back in 2010. 

Hundreds of supporters gathered outside Zaman's headquarters to protest the detention of Dumanli and other suspects, shouting: "Free press cannot be silenced."

Turkey's journalism associations also denounced the raids targeting journalists, while Human Rights Watch said the detentions look "like another attempt to crack down on critical media."

Several police officers believed to be close Gulen's movement were arrested earlier this year for alleged illegal wiretaps and other charges. The government has said it wants Gulen extradited to Turkey from the United States. Many see his moderate movement as an alternative to the more radical interpretations of Islam.

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UMass Lowell gets $1.4m grant for eye injury study

LOWELL, Mass. — A University of Massachusetts Lowell researcher has received a $1.4 million grant to fund a study into the link between serious eye injuries and lifting heavy objects.

Professor David Kriebel, a faculty member in the school's Department of Work Environment, is evaluating whether preventable factors such as muscle strain can cause retinal detachment. The retina pulling away from blood vessels is a common medical emergency that can lead to irreversible vision damage.

Kriebel said that if the study confirms the link, his research team will be able to recommend strategies for preventing the injury.

The study will be conducted over four years in collaboration with the Reliant Medical Group of Worcester.

The grant came from the National institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

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Lower lobster catch in 2014 means higher prices

PORTLAND, Maine — The 2014 lobster fishing season appears to have resulted in a lower total catch than the previous two years — meaning slightly higher prices for consumers — but it remained a productive year, lobstermen say.

Maine's lobster fishery, the largest in the country, topped 125 million pounds in 2012 and 2013. The 2012 catch of more than 127.2 million pounds was the highest since record-keeping began in 1880.

This year's catch was robust, but fishermen and industry officials said they don't expect to touch those numbers. As a result, the value of lobsters rose, as did their price tag in markets.

The high catches of 2012 and 2013 seemed to depress value somewhat, as the $2.69 per pound lobstermen averaged for their hauls was the lowest since 1994, state records show. The 2013 price of $2.89 per pound was the fourth lowest in that same time period.

Some lobstermen reported a slightly higher price in 2014, said Sheila Dassatt, executive director of the Downeast Lobstermen's Association.

"We are not hearing any unhappy complaints this year," Dassatt said. "They were happy that they didn't have to catch as many in order to make as much money."

The season typically picks up after the bulk of lobsters shed shells and reach legal catch size. Fishermen said this year was characterized by a slightly later shed than 2012 and 2013, when the shed took place in June.

This year's shed appeared to happen in mid-July, when catches started to pick up, said Patrice McCarron, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen's Association. She and others in the industry said this year's season seemed like a reversion to a more typical lobstering year, while the early sheds and huge catches of 2012 and 2013 were likely anomalies.

"I think the expectation is it's probably not a record year, but probably very strong," McCarron said. "The overall signal of the fishery was much more in line with what we typically see."

State officials will provide official data for the lobster fishing year, which runs all year long but peaks in the summer, in 2015.

Lobster catches came on strong in August this year, said Steve Hale, a Rockland lobsterman who has been fishing for lobster for more than 30 years. He described recent years as "unusual" in terms of the volume of catch, and said this season was more traditional.

"Everybody paid their bills," Hale said. "I think statewide, it's going to be a little less."

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Your info has been hacked. Now what do you do?

SAN FRANCISCO — Criminals stole personal information from tens of millions of Americans in data breaches this past year. Of those affected, one in three may become victims of identity theft, according to research firm Javelin. Whether shopping, banking or going to the hospital, Americans are mostly at the mercy of companies to keep their sensitive details safe. But there are steps you can take to protect yourself against the financial, legal and emotional impact of identity theft — and most of them are free:

AS A RULE:

— Closely guard your social security numbers — and those of your children — as well as credit and debit card information and account passwords.

— Shred unneeded financial records and credit offers.

DETECTIVE WORK:

— Examine credit card bills for irregularities each month.

— Get a free credit report once a year from at least one of the major reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion), and review it for unauthorized accounts. Ignore services that charge a fee for credit reports. You can order them without charge at www.annualcreditreport.com . If you order from each agency once a year, you could effectively check your history every four months.

DO PAID SERVICES WORK?

— Some experts say there's not much to be gained from a paid credit monitoring service. But if a business sends you a notice of a data breach, it can't hurt to sign up for any monitoring they offer for free. These services will tell you if a new account is opened in your name, but they won't prevent it, and many don't check for things like bogus cellphone accounts or fraudulent applications for government benefits. Some do offer limited insurance or help from a staffer trained to work with credit issuers and reporting agencies.

SOMEONE STOLE MY IDENTITY, WHAT DO I DO?

— The Federal Trade Commission recommends immediately notifying one of the credit agencies and requesting a 90-day credit alert. (Each reporting agency is supposed to notify the others, but you may want to contact all three yourself.) The alert tells businesses to contact you before opening any new accounts in your name. You can renew the alert every 90 days, or you're entitled to keep it in effect for seven years if you've filed an identity theft report with police.

— Contact the credit issuer to dispute fraudulent charges and have the bogus account closed.

— Request your credit report and ask the reporting agencies to remove bogus accounts or any incorrect information from your record. Consider asking the reporting agencies to place a full freeze on your credit. This blocks any business from checking your credit to open a new account, so it's a stronger measure than a credit alert. But you should weigh that against the hassle of notifying credit agencies to lift the freeze — which can take a few days — every time you apply for a loan, open a new account or even sign up for utility service.

— Submit a report through the FTC website: www.consumer.ftc.gov . Click the "privacy & identity" tab, which will walk you through creating an affidavit you can show to creditors.

— Keep copies of all reports and correspondence. Use certified mail to get delivery receipts, and keep notes on every phone call.

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Boston City Council set to discuss regulations for rideshare cos.

The Boston City Council is diving into the controversy over rideshare companies such as Uber, scheduling a public hearing tomorrow to discuss potential regulations for the services that taxi drivers say have an unfair advantage because they don't have to follow city rules.

"What we want to do is in a public forum give all sides an opportunity to air it out and give us an opportunity to listen," said City Council President Bill Linehan, who requested the hearing, adding that it may not necessarily lead to the council drafting legislation.

The council hearing comes as the mayor's taxi advisory committee continues to try to hammer out new for-hire transportation regulations at the direction of Mayor Martin J. Walsh.

"The mayor's task force and the hearing, I think, are serving complementary purposes," said Councilor Josh Zakim, who is the council representative on the mayor's committee.

The committee has met several times, chairman Chris English said.

"We're at the point where we're getting to the real meat of the discussion," English said.

Uber, Lyft, and taxi industry representatives plan to be at the hearing tomorrow, but taxi drivers are also organizing a protest against Uber earlier in the day.

"It is time to take action against illegal vehicles for hire on the streets of Boston," said Donna Blythe-Shaw, a spokeswoman for the Boston Taxi Drivers Association, in a statement.

Taxi drivers held another rally over the summer, honking and driving circles around Uber's Boston headquarters.

Uber spokesman Taylor Bennett said in a statement the company is open to regulations that allow Uber to operate.

"We'd like to see sensible regulations for all participants in the transportation ecosystem — including both taxi and ridesharing — that promote innovation, and embrace greater opportunity for drivers and more choice for riders," he said.

Over the summer, a public hearing in Cambridge over proposed regulations became heated on both sides, with supporters of Uber and Lyft and taxi drivers crowding into a small basement room to strongly and loudly express support for their respective sides.

Uber has come under fire around the world for what opponents say is an illegal taxi service operating without proper licenses, and was banned entirely in Nevada this week.

Uber also is facing a class-action lawsuit alleging it charges a "fictitious" fee to riders going to and from Logan International Airport.

Earlier this month, an Uber executive was widely criticized for suggesting the company could hire its own journalists to dig into the private lives of reporters who are critical of the service.

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Obama buys 17 titles at independent bookstore

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama tried to draw attention to independently owned businesses on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, a day that is increasingly being marketed as one for deal-hungry consumers to remember to patronize these mom-and-pop outlets while doing their holiday shopping.

He bought bags of books — 17 titles in all — during a stop at Politics and Prose, a popular Washington bookstore now owned by a former Washington Post reporter and his wife, also a former Post reporter who also worked for Hillary Rodham Clinton at the White House and State Department.

In recent years, the Saturday after Thanksgiving has been advertised as "Small Business Saturday." It's designed to drive foot traffic to independent businesses in between the frenzy of Black Friday sales at mass retailers and the Cyber Monday deals available online.

Obama browsed the bookstore's racks with his daughters, Malia and Sasha. He held one shopper's baby and chatted with author David Baldacci. While paying at the cash register, another patron encouraged Obama to close the U.S. facility in Cuba where suspected terrorists are detained.

"Hope you can close Guantanamo," the patron said.

"We're working on it," Obama replied, then cheerily added to the crowd of shoppers: "Any other issues?"

Obama also joked, "Hope it works," when he handed his credit card to the cashier. That appeared to be a reference to when a restaurant declined his card while he dined out in New York City in late September.

Obama bought a mix of titles apparently chosen to satisfy readers young and old. The White House declined to reveal how much he paid.

Among the books in the president's shopping bags for mature readers were "Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth and Faith in the New China" by New Yorker writer Evan Osnos, "Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End" by surgeon Atul Gawande and "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr.

For younger readers, Obama's purchases included three titles in the "Redwall" series by Brian Jacques, two titles in the Junie B. Jones series by Barbara Park and "A Barnyard Collection: Click, Clack, Moo and More" by Doreen Cronin.

Obama and his daughters also shopped at Politics and Prose on the Saturday after Thanksgiving last year.

___

Follow Darlene Superville on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap

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Antigua's PM names De Niro special economic envoy

ST. JOHN'S, Antigua — The prime minister of Antigua & Barbuda has appointed actor Robert De Niro as special economic envoy of the twin-island nation in the eastern Caribbean.

The administration of Gaston Browne said in a statement Saturday that the appointment comes after De Niro signed a memorandum of agreement on Friday for a $250 million hotel investment in Barbuda.

Officials said De Niro and Australian businessman James Packer will help renovate and expand a former five-star luxury resort that closed several years ago.

Browne said he expects the deal to be signed late next month and for construction to begin in the next 12 months.

He said De Niro will help attract more investment and American celebrities to Antigua & Barbuda as special economic envoy.

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Legal loophole lets Germany spy on own citizens

BERLIN — German lawmakers probing the surveillance activities of the U.S. National Security Agency have uncovered a legal loophole that allows the country's foreign intelligence agency to spy on its own citizens.

The agency, known by its German acronym BND, is normally forbidden from eavesdropping on Germans or German companies.

But a former BND lawyer told Parliament this week that Germans aren't protected while working abroad for foreign companies.

The government confirmed Saturday to The Associated Press that work-related calls or emails are attributed to the employer. If the employer is foreign, the BND can intercept them.

Opposition lawmakers have accused Germany's government of feigning outrage over alleged NSA spying while condoning illegal surveillance itself.

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Cyber Monday going mobile

Record-breaking online Thanksgiving Day sales for big-box retailers Walmart and Target point to strong Cyber Monday results tomorrow, with mobile shoppers poised to overtake desktop shopping for the first time ever.

The National Retail Federation forecast online holiday sales to grow between 8 percent and 11 percent in November and December to as much as $105 billion. The trade group is set to release survey information today about the number of people who plan to shop online tomorrow.

"But it's clear there's a lot of demand from online shoppers already this holiday season, many of whom know that some of the best online deals are yet to come," spokeswoman Kathy Grannis said.

Walmart had its second-highest online sales day ever on Thanksgiving — topped only by Cyber Monday in 2013 — and it expects its biggest Cyber Monday to date tomorrow. Walmart has doubled the number of Cyber Monday deals, including a Samsung 55 4K Ultra HD LED HDTV for $998 ($500 off), a Hamilton Beach 6-Speed Classic stand mixer for $24 ($25 off) and a PlayStation 4 Lego Batman & Little Big Planet Console bundle with the choice of an extra game and a controller for $449 ($189 off).

Target's online Thanksgiving sales, meanwhile, jumped more than 40 percent from last year for its biggest online day ever. It saw the most growth in traffic and sales from mobile shoppers.

Thanksgiving Day online sales grew 14.3 percent from a year earlier, and this year marked the first time when mobile traffic accounted for more than half (52.1 percent) of all online retail traffic, an increase of 22.4 percent, according to IBM Digital Analytics. On Black Friday, online sales were up 9.5 percent year-over-year with mobile devices accounting for 27.9 percent of all online purchases, an increase of 28.2 percent over last year. .

Amazon is catering to mobile shoppers by, for the first time, announcing exclusive "lightning deals" via its mobile app on Cyber Monday, it's busiest day for mobile shopping.

But the lines between pre-Black Friday events, Thanksgiving night, Black Friday and Cyber Monday continue to blur as consumers think holistically on where, when and how to shop, according to analyst David Schick of Stifel, Nicolaus & Co.

"A number of retailers are more willing to offer deals well before and after Black Friday for a much longer duration than previous years — now more than just Cyber Monday or Cyber Week," he said in a report.

Office supplies chain Staples will start offering its Cyber Monday deals online today, including a $149 Asus X205 laptop ($100 off) and a Dell 24" monitor for $99 (also $100 off). Macy's also will preview its Cyber Monday specials today.

But employers still can expect less productivity tomorrow, as 85 percent of employed Cyber Monday shoppers say they'll scour the Internet for deals during work for an average of four hours, according to a survey by RetailMeNot, a digital offers website.

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Home equity lines of credit come back in vogue

WASHINGTON — If you're thinking about taking out a new home equity line, you're hardly alone. Credit lines tied to home equity — known as HELOCs — are one of the fastest-growing segments in the mortgage market. Volume during the first half of 2014 is up by an extraordinary 21 percent compared with the same period last year, according to data collected by credit bureau Equifax.

The main reasons: Owners' equity holdings nationwide are up sharply — the Federal Reserve estimates gains at nearly $4.5 trillion since 2011 — and interest rates are near historical lows. Owners borrowed $66 billion against those fattened equity stakes during the first half of this year, a six-year high. Banks and other lenders extended 670,000 new HELOCs during the same period, also a six-year high, according to Equifax.

What are these people doing with their sudden access to ready cash and how much are they pulling out? A new national survey, based on a representative sample of 1,364 homeowners with HELOCs, offers some important answers. The study was conducted last month by research firm Vision Critical for TD Bank.

The No. 1 finding: Most people aren't spending their home equity line money on dumb stuff. There's no evidence of a repeat of the wacky days of the last decade when houses morphed into ATMs and credit lines paid for groceries and nights out on the town. By contrast, 52 percent of current borrowers say they are using or have used their drawdowns for projects that are likely to increase the market value of their properties — updating kitchens, adding bathrooms, putting on a new roof and similar remodelings. Another 29 percent have used their HELOC money to take advantage of today's wide gaps in interest rates among different financial products. They are consolidating debts — paying off credit card balances with interest rates in the double-digits using equity line funds borrowed at rates in the low single digits.

Nearly a quarter of borrowers say they've used some of the equity line dollars as form of insurance against unforeseen "emergency" expenses — paying off bills for events that popped up without warning and might have been otherwise unaffordable. Other major uses, according to the survey: Buying new autos (27 percent of borrowers); paying medical bills (18 percent); spending on kids' and adults' education costs (15 percent): travel (15 percent); and small-business investments (13 percent). Relatively few owners (13 percent) say they use their equity line dollars for day-to-day expenses.

Michael Kinane, TD Bank's head of consumer and mortgage lending, said he interprets the strong recent surges in home equity borrowing as a delayed reaction by owners who have put off home improvements and other expenditures for years because they were unsure about the economy, their jobs, and where real estate values were headed.

"Now they're stepping back in," he said, "they've got more confidence" in the economy and they've seen their property values increase to the point where they can responsibly pull out some cash secured by their equity.

Home equity lines as a financial product "are much safer" in 2014 — for borrowers and lenders alike — than they were a decade ago, Kinane believes. Most banks now limit the combined loan-to-value ratio — the total of the primary mortgage balance plus the maximum draw amount on the new credit line compared with the home value — to 80 percent. And full documentation of income, employment, credit and property values is the rule, not the exception.

In 2005 and 2006, by contrast, 100 percent ratios were readily available with minimal underwriting and documentation. Some lenders, including TD Bank, now allow select customers to borrow more (TD's ceiling is 
89 percent), but only those applicants with pristine credit reports, high FICO scores, lots of income and plentiful financial reserves.

Today's rates and fees on HELOCs generally are as good as or better than they were at the height of the boom. A quick search of deals offered on Bankrate.com last week turned up rates anywhere from the low 3 percent range to 4 percent and up, depending on the dollar limit on the line and applicants' credit scores. Some credit unions and banks offer special rates — below 3 percent — for existing customers or members with solid credit.

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Justices weigh limits of free speech over Internet

WASHINGTON — Anthony Elonis claimed he was just kidding when he posted a series of graphically violent rap lyrics on Facebook about killing his estranged wife, shooting up a kindergarten class and attacking an FBI agent.

But his wife didn't see it that way. Neither did a federal jury.

Elonis, who's from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, was convicted of violating a federal law that makes it a crime to threaten another person.

In a far-reaching case that probes the limits of free speech over the Internet, the Supreme Court on Monday was to consider whether Elonis' Facebook posts, and others like it, deserve protection under the First Amendment.

Elonis argues that his lyrics were simply a crude and spontaneous form of expression that should not be considered threatening if he did not really mean it. The government says it does not matter what Elonis intended, and that the true test of a threat is whether his words make a reasonable person feel threatened.

One post about his wife said, "There's one way to love you but a thousand ways to kill you. I'm not going to rest until your body is a mess, soaked in blood and dying from all the little cuts."

The case has drawn widespread attention from free-speech advocates who say comments on Facebook, Twitter and other social media can be hasty, impulsive and easily misinterpreted. They point out that a message on Facebook intended for a small group could be taken out of context when viewed by a wider audience.

"A statute that proscribes speech without regard to the speaker's intended meaning runs the risk of punishing protected First Amendment expression simply because it is crudely or zealously expressed," said a brief from the American Liberties Union and other groups.

But so far, most lower courts have rejected that view, ruling that a "true threat" depends on how an objective person perceives the message.

For more than four decades, the Supreme Court has said that "true threats" to harm another person are not protected speech under the First Amendment. But the court has been careful to distinguish threats from protected speech such as "political hyperbole" or "unpleasantly sharp attacks."

Elonis claims he was depressed and that his online posts under the pseudonym "Tone Dougie" were a way to vent his frustration after his wife left him and he lost his job working at an amusement park. His lawyers say the posts were heavily influenced by rap star Eminem, who has also fantasized in songs about killing his ex-wife.

But Elonis' wife testified that the comments made her fear for her life.

After she obtained a protective order against him, Elonis wrote a lengthy post mocking court proceedings: "Did you know that it's illegal for me to say I want to kill my wife?"

A female FBI agent later visited Elonis at home to ask him about the postings. Elonis took to Facebook again: "Little agent lady stood so close, took all the strength I had not to turn the bitch ghost. Pull my knife, flick my wrist and slit her throat."

Elonis was convicted of making threats of violence and sentenced to nearly four years in federal prison. A federal appeals court rejected his claim that his comments were protected by the First Amendment.

The Obama administration says requiring proof that a speaker intended to be threatening would undermine the law's protective purpose. In its brief to the court, the Justice Department argued that no matter what someone believes about his comments, it does not lessen the fear and anxiety they might cause for other people.

"The First Amendment does not require that a person be permitted to inflict those harms based on an unreasonable subjective belief that his words do not mean what they say," government lawyers said.

The National Center for Victims of Crime, which submitted a brief supporting the government, said judging threats based on the speaker's intent would make stalking crimes even more difficult to prosecute.

"Victims of stalking are financially, emotionally and socially burdened by the crime regardless of the subjective intent of the speaker," the organization said.

The case is Elonis v. United States, 13-983.

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Follow Sam Hananel on Twitter at http://twitter.com/SamHananelAP

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Sony's new movies leak online following hack attack

At least five new movies from Sony Pictures are being devoured on copyright-infringing file-sharing hubs online in the wake of the hack attack that hobbled the studio earlier in the week.

Copies of DVD screeners of four unreleased Sony movies including the upcoming "Annie" are getting some unwelcome early exposure, but nothing compared to the frenzy enveloping "Fury," the war pic still in theaters since bowing last month.

"Fury" has been downloaded by over 888,000 unique IP addresses since showing up on peer-to-peer networks on Nov. 27, according to piracy tracking firm Excipio. That's high enough to be the second most downloaded movie currently being pirated, and it's not out of movie theaters yet.

Another big Sony movie, "Annie," is also being pirated, this one three weeks ahead of its own wide release. Other Sony movies being downloaded include "Mr. Turner," "Still Alice" and "To Write Love on Her Arms."

Sony declined comment, but a source with knowledge of the circumstances surrounding the hacking earlier this week divulged that the multi-title leak is likely related to the hacking. Many of the leaked copies are watermarked.

In the attack on the studio's corporate systems Nov. 24, an image of a skeleton appeared on company computers with a message that said, "Hacked by #GOP," with the group behind it calling itself "Guardians of Peace." The message threatened to release "secrets and top secrets" of the company. Currently being investigated is a connection between upcoming Sony movie "The Interview," and North Korea.

Sony's outbreak marks the biggest piracy incident since July, when Lionsgate saw "Expendables 3" pop up online three weeks before its theatrical release. Police arrested two men in London earlier this week in connection with the movie.

While "Fury" has emerged as a hot ticket in file-sharing circles, the other Sony titles aren't seeing as much sampling. "Annie" has been downloaded by over 184,000 unique IP addresses. Studio is hopeful "Annie" won't be pirated as much because family films aren't subject to as much illegal downloading as titles that skew more toward young males.

"Still Alice," "Mr. Turner" and "To Write Love on Her Arms" are seeing only modest piracy activity, all below 100,000 unique IP addresses since Nov. 27.

© 2014 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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Thousands rally in Moscow against health care cuts

MOSCOW — At least 5,000 Russians marched through Moscow on Sunday to protest against plans to lay off thousands of doctors and close hospitals in the capital amid a flagging economy.

Doctors, patients and other protesters braved the freezing cold to voice their opposition to an ongoing Moscow health care reform that could remove up to 10,000 doctors from their jobs and close 28 hospital and clinics by early next year.

The demonstration followed a previous doctors' rally early this month, which was the first social protest in Russia in a decade. The pressure on the country's budget has intensified as the economy is taking a hit from low oil prices, a drop in the value of the national currency and from Western sanctions over its role in the deadly conflict in eastern Ukraine.

Many of the protesters were dressed in white coats over their winter jackets. Some carried banners with the names of the hospitals that are being closed.

"Save money on war, but not on doctors," one banner read.

Authorities defend the reform as a much-needed step to modernize a decrepit Soviet-era health care system and close down hospitals that are deemed inefficient. They also say it as a step toward implementing President Vladimir Putin's election pledge to increase doctors' salaries to twice that of the average employee by 2018.

Protesters lamented not only the cuts but also the secrecy that has surrounded the reform, the details of which only became public following a leak to the press in October.

"We're here to show our solidary," said Tatyana Korshunova, 69, who works at a research center. "Nobody explained anything to us, there was no discussion (of the reform)."

Moscow psychiatrist Dmitry Albertovich, who would not give his last name for fear of reprisal, said pretty much everyone in the medical community agrees that a reform is needed, "but it's not the issue of what we need the reform for, but it's about how it is being done — this is a disgrace."

The 48-year-old's job is safe for now but he says four units in his hospital with dozens of staff have been cut.

Moscow authorities said they would offer training programs for those who are being laid off, but doctors have criticized the effort saying it means they are being offered jobs that they are not qualified for.

"You cannot turn a surgeon into a psychiatrist just like that," Dmitry Albertovich said. "They will never be good at it."

The Moscow health department this week held round table discussions with medical professionals, while Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin offered the doctors a one-off severance payment of up to 500,000 rubles ($10,700) each.

The move came just days before the Sunday rally and was considered by some as an attempt to muffle the protest.

Valentin Abdulkhayev, a 37-year-old doctor at a tuberculosis clinic, said the offer of the severance pay is "merely about obeying the law. It's what they were supposed to do."

A petition adopted at the end of Sunday's rally called for the resignation of Mayor Sobyanin and top Moscow health officials.

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Swiss reject plan to hoard gold, limit immigration

BERN, Switzerland — Voters in Switzerland on Sunday overwhelmingly rejected plans to protect the country's wealth by investing in gold and to drastically limit immigration or to eliminate a special tax that draws rich foreigners, according to polling firm gfs.bern.

A proposal to require the Swiss central bank to hold a fifth of its reserves in gold was opposed by 78 percent of voters and supported by 22 percent, projections based on tallies provided by selected voting districts indicated. At last count, the measure — which had drawn attention worldwide and required the backing of a majority of voters and cantons (states) — was rejected in 22 of 26 cantons.

The plan would have forced the Swiss National Bank to buy massive amounts of gold within five years and likely causing the global price for the valuable metal to jump.

"After this clear decision by the people, there are no further grounds to pursue another similar initiative," one of the three parliamentarians behind the proposal, Luzi Stamm, told Swiss broadcaster SRF of its defeat. But he said the campaign had at least raised awareness of the central bank's shortcomings.

The proposal to limit immigration to 0.2 percent of Switzerland's population — about 16,000 immigrants a year for a country of 8 million — received the backing of 26 percent of voters, while 74 percent opposed it. Currently, immigration is estimated at around 80,000 a year.

The "Ecopop" initiative would also have forced Switzerland to devote a large chunk of its foreign aid to programs aimed at reducing population growth in poor countries.

As with the gold initiative, government and business leaders warned voters the measure could do more harm than good and further inflame tensions with the European Union. Andreas Thommen, a Green Party member who oversaw the campaign, told SRF it had been "a David and Goliath battle" against the establishment, and Switzerland "missed the opportunity to set the course for a sustainable future."

Earlier this year, Swiss voters narrowly backed a proposal by the nationalist People's Party to reintroduce quotas for immigrants. The outcome has proved to be a political headache for the Swiss government as it now needs to renegotiate bilateral treaties with the EU, of which it isn't a member.

A third national referendum, which would have abolished special tax discounts for rich foreigners living in Switzerland, was also defeated, according to gfs.bern. The pollsters predicted 60 percent voted against the measure, while 40 percent were in favor of it, and only one of the country's 26 cantons said yes to getting rid of a flat tax rate that helps attract the super wealthy.

Official results are expected to be published later Sunday.

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Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed to this report.

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Dreamworks Animation in talks to sell to Japan's Softbank

DreamWorks Animation could soon have a new owner in Japan's SoftBank.

Jeffrey Katzenberg is in talks to sell his toon studio to the conglomerate. The deal would value DWA at around $3.4 billion, according to The Hollywood Reporter, which first reported the news.

Katzenberg would remain the head of DWA should the deal occur, with the exec signing a five-year contract to remain its CEO.

SoftBank is said to be offering $32 a share to purchase DWA, higher than its current stock price of $22, as of Friday.

DreamWorks Animation, which has released its films through 20th Century Fox, starting with "The Croods," last year, has a mixed record at the box office of late. While "How To Train Your Dragon 2" is a hit, earning $611 million this summmer, it missed with "Mr. Peabody & Sherman," taking in just $273 million. "Turbo" also didn't live up to expectations, although the film has since spun off an animated series on Netflix.

However, DWA has scored considerably with its acquisition of AwesomenessTV, a digital network targeting a young online audience -- something that likely helped attract the attention of SoftBank, which has a number of major investments in digital platforms.

The company owns significant shares in Alibaba, Sprint, Yahoo and GungHo Online Entertainment, a mobile gamemaker.

DreamWorks Animation has operated as a publicly traded company since 2004.

The potential takeover by SoftBank comes as DWA hired Fazal Merchant last month to replace Lew Coleman as its new chief financial officer. Merchant is a former DirecTV and Barclays Capital executive.

DreamWorks Animation declined to comment on the news, saying it doesn't "comment on rumors and speculation."

© 2014 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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Tech-friendly cities struggle with new biz rules

BOSTON — A renowned technology hub that is home to some of the country's top universities, Boston is emerging as an unlikely battleground for web-based businesses like Airbnb and Uber, with some saying more regulations are needed to prevent the upstarts from disrupting communities and more established industries.

Boston, prompted by the arrival of the mobile app Haystack, recently banned services that allow people to offer their public parking spaces for sale. Now the City Council is considering restrictions on ride-sharing services like Uber, Lyft and Sidecar and lodging websites like Airbnb, HomeAway and FlipKey, which allow users to book short-term stays in private residences. Across the river in Cambridge, home to Harvard and MIT, officials have been trying for years to restrict rideshares.

From New York to San Francisco, cities have been wrestling with the same questions and developing solutions ranging from outright bans to minimum safety requirements. At the heart, officials say, the issue is about balancing public safety and governmental oversight with the services' growing popularity.

But technology companies point out that the push for regulation is ironic in many technology-heavy cities that have built their reputations, in large part, on being on the leading edge.

"For a city known for its innovation and progressiveness, it is shocking that Cambridge would cling so blindly to the past," Uber wrote on its website in June as it called on supporters to speak out against proposed regulations.

Andrea Jackson, the chair of Cambridge's Licensing Commission, said Uber was oversimplifying the challenges emerging business strategies pose to cities.

"We know that these things are likely here to stay," she said. "My only concern is that they are safe. I want to make sure the drivers have background checks. I want to make sure they have adequate insurance."

Safety mandates have been imposed in other cities. Chicago, for example, assesses licensing fees and requires rideshare companies to submit to background checks, vehicle inspections, driver tests and random drug screens of their employees. The companies are also required to obtain $1 million in commercial auto liability coverage.

Uber spokesman Taylor Bennett said the company understands the need for thoughtful regulations but will fight attempts to protect the local taxi industry.

Cab owners complain rideshares offer lower prices because they avoid licensing fees and other costly mandates imposed on their highly-regulated industry. Boston-area cab drivers staged a noisy, rolling protest around Uber's downtown Boston office in May.

"Simply reacting to taxi or creating regulations or ordinances to protect taxi is protectionism, and that only serves one entrenched industry when consumers are clamoring for more and better options to get around town," Bennett said.

Bennett said Uber is focused on securing specific, statewide authority from legislators to operate in Massachusetts, as they have in Colorado and other states.

For short-term lodging services, cities have focused their energies on imposing local hotel taxes, establishing basic registration programs, and making sure property owners meet minimum housing standards.

Austin, Texas has set up a licensing system with an annual fee and limits on the number of units in a building — or houses in a residential neighborhood — that can be rented at a given time. Portland, Oregon allows single-family homeowners — but not apartment and condo owners — to offer short-term rentals, as long as they complete a safety inspection and neighbor notification process.

In Boston, City Councilor Salvatore LaMattina, who has requested public hearings on Airbnb-type services, says short-term lodging operators should, at minimum, be required to register with the city, so officials at least know where they are, for safety reasons.

He's also concerned the services could eventually end up pricing out families and full-time residents. Landlords, increasingly, are turning their apartments and condos into full-time lodging operations rather than renting them to longer-term tenants, he says. "They're taking away the affordable housing stock," LaMattina said. "I'm working to keep my neighborhoods stable, with families that know each other."

Airbnb spokesman Nick Papas disputed that notion, citing a company-commissioned study that suggests offering rooms for short-term rentals provides extra income to families living in high-cost metropolitan areas.

"We've heard countless stories from people who have been able to stay in their home and the neighborhood they love thanks to Airbnb," he said.

Papas says the San Francisco company has already had "productive conversations" with Boston leaders and looks forward to working on "clear, progressive and fair" rules for home sharing. But he declined to elaborate on what proposals the company would support and which it would strongly oppose.

"We believe people should be able to share the home in which they live," Papas said.

Brooks Rainwater, of the National League of Cities, which is helping cities develop strategies to address these new services, says it's not surprising that the most pitched battles are playing out in tech-friendly cities like Boston and Cambridge.

The college students and young professionals that comprise a large part of their populations are usually the early adopters. And historical urban centers are also the ones that tend to have outdated and oftentimes byzantine local codes.

"It's really a reflection of cultural shifts that are happening in cities globally. As society is speeding up, people are expecting services are their beck and call," Rainwater said. "The landscape is constantly shifting. ... Cities are actually working fairly swiftly to address these issues."

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Emilio Alcalde, Krishna Mahon, A&E Olé Networks Brazil, on Brazil's pay TV market

A&E Olé Networks - a joint venture between AETN and Ole Communications - operates channels such as A&E, History and Bio across Latin America, playing an important role in circulation of US and domestic programming throughout the region.

The company established a new office in Brazil in 2012 in order to increase production of original Brazilian content and currently has a 6% share of the Brazilian pay TV market.

In the opening session of the RioMarket TV Seminars on Wednesday, A&E Olé Networks' Original Content Director for Brazil, Krishna Mahon took part in the panel dedicated to "How to meet the programming profile and production costs of a TV channel".

Variety interviewed Krishna Mahon, together with Emilio Alcalde - A&E Ole Networks' General Manager for Brazil - posing 10 questions about how they view the Brazilian pay TV market and the overall growth potential of A&E Olé Networks Brazil.

Emilio, what share does A&E Olé networks have in Brazil's pay-TV market?

Our share of audience January to June 2014 is 6%, (YTD) including A&E, History and the launch of the new brands, Lifetime and H2, adding the potential for significant growth in audience for the near future.

What are the main bases for your success in the Brazilian market?

I believe the main bases for the success in the Brazilian market are the great programming coming from A&E International, strong adaptation of content, localization and digital/marketing presence.

Without any doubt all of our great brands, especially History, which is one of the pay TV leaders, have a strong presence in the market. Earlier this year we welcomed Rick Dale, from American Restoration, in a consumer event at São Paulo where we had over 20,000 fans come to meet them in a local mall. There is also a great potential for A&E's new tagline 'Be Original' as well the launch of Lifetime and H2 channels this year.

We have a great team of professionals who are engaged with the brands, and programming strategies which are tailor made by Brazilians for Brazilian audience, based on the A&E's recognized brand series, local productions and local acquisitions. And of course, we have the esteemed commitment of the A+E Network's top management to support development of the market.

How do you position your activities in Brazil in comparison with the rest of A+E in Latin America?

There are not a lot of big differences in the activities that we develop in Brazil with the rest of Latin America, besides the language. We focus our energies on positioning our group as leaders in the market as we do in other countries, developing strategies to grow our business in distribution, brand positioning, ad sales, original productions, digital and social media platforms.

What have been your principal experiences in screening shows from Brazilian independent producers?

There are not a lot of options for acquisitions currently in the market, and that's a real challenge for all the networks. Having said that, we had good numbers with "Investigação Criminal" and "Polícia 24h", both acquisitions aired on A&E. Same happens with our original productions for A&E and History.

Krishna, have these shows benefited from support from the Fundo Sectorial?

No.

How has the 2012 pay TV law changed your business?

Our group understood the importance of localization long before the pay tv law, we knew Brazilian content gives us audience, so we had enough hours on History and A&E to comply with the quota, therefore we believed the law was positive at first.

Unfortunately, other networks that didn't co-produce and were not prepared, had to run to the market and acquire whatever was available. Now there's a lack of options for acquisitions of ready to air series, costs to produce have gone up and ultimately audience suffers the biggest negative impact.

What are the strongest potential areas of growth in Brazilian independent TV production - for example, animation, documentary series, fiction?

We have a great challenge/opportunity with factual programming, especially reality series, as Brazilian producers are still learning how to make them and ensure they don't look or feel fake.

The field that has most business opportunity in terms of licensing products and long shelf life is animation, but unfortunately this is not our area.

Do you have any fixed partnerships or outlook deals with Brazilian independent producers.

We identify best producers depending on the area, and we have several different partners, but nothing fixed, quite the opposite. We don't do two productions at the same time with any partner. Also our doors are open to fresh new ideas and we understand there's a great potential with the new upcoming producers.

Through your partnerships in Latin America do productions from Brazilian independent producers circulate abroad?

Yes, sometimes they do. We try to produce for the entire region, but we understand it depends a lot on the theme. Productions from Mexico or Argentina sometimes do well; sometimes they don't perform as well as in that specific market. With Brazilian content, besides these normal variations, there's a language issue as well as cultural differences, but we do have successful cases.

Do you have further expansion plans in Brazil or other territories that can be disclosed at present?

Our expectations are to continue growing within the Brazilian market.

© 2014 Variety Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media; Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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