Pfizer settles foreign bribery case with U.S. government

(Reuters) - Pfizer Inc has agreed to pay $60.2 million to settle a U.S. government probe of the drugmaker's use of illegal payments to win business overseas, government officials said on Tuesday.

The settlement is part of a broad crackdown on bribery by multinational companies in foreign countries that has hit several of the world's biggest pharmaceutical companies.

Pfizer in 2004 became the first pharmaceutical company to volunteer information about past wrongdoing to the Justice Department, but the case has taken years to resolve.

Last year, Johnson & Johnson agreed to pay $70 million to settle U.S. charges that it paid bribes and kickbacks to win business in Greece, Iraq, Poland and Romania, the first such settlement by a big drug company.

The 1977 Foreign Corrupt Practices Act makes it illegal for U.S. companies and foreign firms whose stock is traded in the United States to bribe government officials in foreign countries.

Eight of the world's top 10 drugmakers have warned of potential costs related to charges of corruption in overseas markets, according to a Reuters examination of U.S. filings.

Pfizer's general counsel, Amy Schulman, said of the settlement, "The actions which led to this resolution were disappointing, but the openness and speed with which Pfizer voluntarily disclosed and addressed them reflects our true culture and the real value we place on integrity and meeting commitments."

According to a complaint filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Pfizer's misconduct dates back to 2001. Company employees bribed foreign officials to use Pfizer's products and boost prescriptions, the complaint said.

The improper payments were made to officials in Russia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kazakhstan, Serbia, Czech Republic, China and Italy.

In China, for example, Pfizer employees hosted "club-like meetings" with recreational and entertainment activities for government doctors who wrote a lot of prescriptions.

The company also created programs under which government doctors could accumulate points based on the number of prescriptions they wrote for Pfizer products. The points could be redeemed for gifts ranging from medical books to cell phones, tea sets, and reading glasses.

Separately, the SEC charged Wyeth, which Pfizer acquired in 2009, with similar violations. The agency said subsidiaries marketing Wyeth's nutritional products in China, Indonesia and Pakistan bribed government doctors with cash, BlackBerrys, cell phones and other incentives.

Pfizer and Wyeth agreed to separate settlements in which they will pay a total of more than $45 million. They neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing.

In a parallel action, the U.S. Department of Justice said a Pfizer subsidiary, Pfizer H.C.P. Corp, had agreed to pay a $15 million penalty to resolve a department investigation of similar violations.

Pfizer H.C.P. admitted that between 1997 and 2006, it paid more than $2 million of bribes to government officials in Bulgaria, Croatia, Kazakhstan and Russia, and admitted that it made more than $7 million in profits as a result of the bribes, the Justice Department said.

Pfizer H.C.P.'s penalty was reduced because of Pfizer Inc's cooperation in the ongoing investigation of other companies and individuals, the department said. The agreement requires the company to implement rigorous internal controls and to cooperate fully with the department.

(Reporting by Toni Clarke, Ben Hirschler, Aruna Viswanatha and Jonathan Stempel, editing by John Wallace)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pfizer-settles-foreign-bribery-case-u-government-155843038--finance.html

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'Lincoln' First Look: Daniel Day-Lewis Becomes Honest Abe

First official photo of Day-Lewis in Steven Spielberg's Abraham Lincoln biopic shows the actor's uncanny resemblance to the 16th president.
By Josh Wigler

Daniel Day-Lewis in 'Lincoln'
Photo: Touchstone Pictures/EW

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1691319/lincoln-daniel-day-lewis-honest-abe.jhtml

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Ear Bud Headphones Leave Younger People In Need Of A Hearing ...

Health and Fitness | General health | * Written by Abigail Aaronson | Monday, 06 August 2012 09:54 | Word Count: 551

Young people have always had a sense of invincibility. Cigarette smoking, excessive drinking, reckless driving and loud music are all activities young people are known to partake in without thinking about the repercussions. However, these days even the more cautious youngsters are inflicting permanent damage on themselves without even realizing it. Younger people may be sentencing themselves to a visit to a hearing center just by using the most popular form of headphones today: ear buds.

As you may already know, ear buds are the very small pairs of detached headphones that fit into each ear opening. They typically come free with the purchase of an mp3 player. Ear buds took over the music market decades ago because their small size makes them more portable and discreet, and their lack of a headband allows travelers to lay their heads down for a more comfortable listen.

But these headphones have been proven to cause hearing damage to people who use them extensively. Loud noise can damage the tiny hair cells in the inner ear that pick up sound waves and signal the auditory nerves so that the brain can then process those waves as sounds. Loud noise for a short period of time can flatten and disable those hair cells, which is why we feel slightly deaf after a rock concert. However, exposing your ears to loud noises on a regular basis for extended periods of time can cause permanent damage and may land you in a hearing center at a premature age.

Here's something else to consider: people who work in factories, shipyards or anywhere else with loud machinery are usually advised to wear ear plugs on a daily basis to protect themselves from permanent hearing loss. However, the typical volume at which people crank up their music through ear buds exposes the ears to roughly the same number of decibels as working around loud machinery does. Because many people today listen to music for several hours a day on portable devices, they are suffering the same damage as a factory worker would if he or she went to work every day without wearing any protection. That damage is irreversible and can be severe enough to bring you into a hearing center.

Also, the actual speakers in ear bud headphones are located closer to the eardrum and sensitive inner ear parts than any traditional headphones. Fortunately, a certain design of larger headphones is coming back in style. The large headphones usually sported by disc jockeys are gaining popularity because of their retro style and high sound quality. These have been shown to cause less hearing damage than ear buds.

These headphones are designed to block out outside noise. Some even advertise total elimination of outside noise. This is important because when outside noise is reduced or eliminated, the listener is able to hear their music clearly at a lower volume. Ear buds, on the other hand, block out the least amount of noise of all types of headphones, and the music device must therefore be turned up louder to compensate for and cover up the outside noise.

If you're suffering from the results of excessive use of ear buds, there is a jacksonville, fl hearing center?ready to work with you today. Visit?http://www.miracle-ear-jacksonville.com for more details.

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Business Loans: Unsecured Business Loans Finance Which Suit ...

In an individuals day to day life often seem be hectic as he/she has various activities to indulge in. But what is the use on doing so much of work you are unable to get the desired output. In spite of this situation are you now interested in starting a new business? What will be your reaction when you come to know that now you are acquired with a plan that does not pledge collateral? Yes unsecured business loans have now come to every UK civilians rescue. These finances smoothly suit every individuals requirement. Hence these credits you can easily acquire ample funds to start a business.

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For submission the applicant has to accomplish simple terms of eligibility before making a request. Initially the applicant must be a voter of UK who must be above 18 years old. The applicant must work in a reputed company with a standard salary of at least 1000 and must hold an active bank account in their own name. The major drawback of these finances is the high interest rates. But the UK lenders grant you with cheap rates with stretchy refund options.

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Source: http://theredarmystudio.blogspot.com/2012/08/unsecured-business-loans-finance-which.html

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Police dispatcher: Shooting at Sikh temple in Wis.

OAK CREEK, Wis. (AP) ? A police dispatcher in Wisconsin says there has been a shooting at a Sikh temple outside of Milwaukee.

Oak Creek Police Department dispatcher Stephanie Uljanec says the shooting took place Sunday morning at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin but she doesn't know how many people are shot or if there are fatalities.

Oak Creek is south of Milwaukee along Lake Michigan.

Fran McLaughlin, spokeswoman for the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Department, says a call came in at 10:26 a.m. She says officers are at the scene but she has no other information to report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-08-05-Sikh%20Temple-Shooting/id-ec8e0c95579b46d3b790dc92792ef684

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University of Colorado's in-house lobbyists hire out for other firms

WASHINGTON???Three top University of Colorado public administrators responsible for lobbying on the school's behalf are making hundreds of thousands in additional dollars a year working on the side lobbying for other, sometimes competing, organizations, federal and state records show.

CU's vice president for government relations, Tanya Kelly-Bowry, collects more than $170,000 in state-supported salary and benefits heading a nine-person government-relations team at the university.

While that is defined as a full-time position, Kelly-Bowry also collected more than $180,000 in extra income for her side business last year as president of Policy Matters LLC, according to state and federal records.

In earning that money, Kelly-Bowry represented the interests of a couple of school districts, the Colorado Historical Society and the Jefferson Center for Mental Health. She is registered as a lobbyist both at the state level and in Washington.

"I feel very fortunate that I work for CU, and I have other clients," Kelly-Bowry said. "The way lobbying works and advocacy works is you work and you work until the job is completed. Sometimes it takes more time, and sometimes it takes less time."

CU president Bruce Benson said he was aware of the arrangement and agreed to it, mostly because he believes Kelly-Bowry brings a high value to the school, both in lobbying and as one of his executive advisers. The practice breaks no laws or ethics requirements.

"I need team people, and she is a team person, and that is very important," Benson said. "I went into this with eyes wide open. Don't ever think I didn't know what was going on."

The arrangement comes at a time when CU has increased in-state tuition rates every year for the past four years. Benson and other top CU officials say increased rates come because the school receives fewer state dollars now than ever before.

Last year, just less than 6 percent of CU's overall budget came from the state. The state's contribution to CU's Boulder campus has dropped from $80 million in 2002 to a proposed $55 million for 2012.

This makes lobbyists ? who act as ambassadors for whatever cause they are paid to represent ? increasingly important.

They help tell good stories to individual lawmakers, both in Congress and at the state house. And they also increasingly seek out federal grants and other streams of money to keep money for research flowing.

CU has restructured some of its Washington team to match federal priorities to research projects in Colorado.

That push has paid off: In 2008, CU received $476.3 million in federal research dollars. In 2012, that figure jumped to $682.9 million.

CU spends to get that money, though.

According to federal disclosures, the university spent $860,872 in 2011 on federal lobbying costs and has spent $293,956 for the first half of 2012. School officials say last year's expenditures are artificially high because of some overreporting and that this year's numbers are more accurate.

That compares with $200,000 spent by Colorado State University in 2011 and $420,000 by Penn State University in the same year.

None of this troubles Rep. Cheri Gerou, Republican vice chairwoman of the state Joint Budget Committee, who has worked with Kelly-Bowry.

"If her supervising entity is pleased with her performance, then I'm not going to tell someone they are making too much money," she said. "Anything I've ever seen has shown that she has integrity."

Kelly-Bowry isn't the only one with this arrangement within CU's government-relations team. Through her firm, Policy Matters, she employs David Sprenger, CU's senior director of federal relations, and, until recently, Todd Saliman, who was the university's senior adviser for government relations.

Saliman is now CU's chief financial officer.

Before his promotion, Saliman last year brought in $120,000 in private lobbying contracts for Kelly-Bowry's business. He also collected a $96,000 salary from the university in fiscal years 2011 and 2012.

Over the past two years, Sprenger, who lives in Washington, D.C., had a handful of other clients for whom he lobbied in the nation's capital, including the Jefferson Center for Mental Health, the Colorado Hospital Association and HealthGrades Inc.

He collected a $115,000 salary from CU in fiscal 2011 and $118,013 in fiscal 2012. From his side lobbying, he collected roughly another $100,000 in 2012 and more than $200,000 the year before.

Kelly-Bowry said she balances her time by playing different roles for different organizations she represents.

"The roles are different; we're hired to do a job; we monitor the budget; it's a much different role than we have at CU," she said.

She said on weeks she represents multiple clients, there "are different times for different hearings. You may have a budget hearing that is specifically scheduled for legislation, a county issue, an education issue, you balance your time."

Allison Sherry: 202-662-8907, asherry@denverpost.com or twitter.com/allisonsherry

Source: http://www.denverpost.com/nationalpolitics/ci_21243418/university-colorados-house-lobbyists-hire-out-other-firms?source=rss

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Lead Me On ? Learn About Internet Marketing Leads - Internet ...

Business is the idea of selling something. From large to small, a product must be sold. Where there is a product, there is someone who wants it. This is a never-ending circle. Seemingly these days one of the most proficient methods of getting this product sold is by way of Internet. The general idea of advertising is to generate as many Internet marketing leads as possible. The more leads you have, the more likely you are to sell your product.

This is what could be known as a strategy. To build off the game plan you have developed is key to success. There are countless leads to be had off the net, which in turn can keep you quite busy with your business if you play it right. In essence another lead brings you one step closer to another sale. It?s that simple. It is also a big business for one marketer to sell to another; this is where the flow of the income keeps its consistency. The realm of Internet marketing is a big and competitive racket, this is not for the weak. It is mind boggling on just how quick new products and services are actually surfacing on the net daily. The drive of this new movement tends to be dictated by the strength of the search engines. However, there are situation where technology rules as the benefiting factors in the changes and growth of this market. It is a seamless and very fast moving train. You will want to be sure to jump aboard as soon as you have a marketable plan.

Many times the product itself is the key to the growth of this field, and in turn generates its own hits. By building an e-mail list, you can pretty much be sure to gain and retain new leads for business. Like all old marketing axioms state, the list is the key to the money. There is no real difference of the medium that the sales are generating from, the fact remains that if you have a large list of contacts and a great source of leads it will bring you to more sales. The only problem that may hinder this whole process is the Spam filter issue. This however is not a huge issue, and it can actually be your most powerful tool for the gaining of leads. E- mail is a great way to stay in touch with not only family and friends, yet business associates and buyers as well. Keeping this in mind, you will be able to keep track of what is going on in the market, as well as your business. Basically the start of the lead funnel starts with the e-mail tracking and lead generator.

If you use this system wisely, there are great incentives to using your e-mail as a lead generator. This system will pass responsive customers your way, many times without you even knowing about their whereabouts or how they found you. There is other lead generating methods out there if you so desire to check around. There is the popular pay per click method. This is a great way to advertise and you can get great exposure this way, as your site will have a link on someone else?s site. One of the best methods of getting your name out there is to associate yourself with forums. Forums are the hot spot for other marketers to haggle and mingle. This is generally a free domain, so this is either way money mark up if you gain any income from it. The best method of having marketable exposure is to have a product that is in high demand. This is always good process as everyone wants to have what it is they are looking for. If you have it they will come.

What you need to be sure of is your demographics, you most certainly not fair well if you target a group of tennis enthusiasts, To try and peddle off your quilting products. Keep it to where you know will sell. When starting up your own Internet marketing business, the last thing you should do is forget or forego a good lead generating plan. Doing so will end up costing you money, where it could have gone to good use.

To Your Success
Cody Moya

Tags: business opportunity leads, Entrepreneur, home business opportunity, small business, make money online, online marketing, make money, affiliate program, internet marketing, home business

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Source: http://www.freeinternetmarketingcourses.com/blog/2012/08/04/lead-me-on-%E2%80%93-learn-about-internet-marketing-leads/

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