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Distressed Debt Investing: Notes from Invest for Kids Chicago 2011

Here is all the action from Invest for Kids Chicago 2011. Enjoy!

Michael Milken ? The Milken Institute

  • Milken noted that he would ot making specific predictions, but a thematic view of how he sees the world
  • Thinks it?s valuable to understand history, and, unfortunately, we never learn from history
  • Churchill said that when a solution to a problem is manageable it is always neglected
  • It is no surprise why Germany is winning in the EU, their unit labor cost are much less than all the PIIGS
  • Germany?s unemployment level is less than 6% vs 21% in Spain
  • Northern Europe has routinely the least amount of problems, and Southern Europe has the most
  • Valuable to look at 1) Perception vs Reality and 2) Capital Markets
  • Perception: What came first the chicken or the egg? The correct answer is egg. Reptiles were laying eggs before chickens existed, and the birds that layed the egg to the first chicken were not chickens.
  • You just need a different perspective on the problem to find the solution. Are we asking the right questions?
  • The U.S. surprisingly has grown it?s oil production more than any other country in the past 3 years. Volatility created alternative production. North Dakota is the 4th largest producing state. ~ 6% of crude output
  • Digital real estate is the important real estate. 6 billion digital phones in the world. Who is going to control the real estate?
  • Brazil: Manaus Brazil use to be the rubber capital of the world. Now it is an electronic manufacturing powerhouse. Foxconn is investing 12 billion in Manuas.
  • The world is moving east. Of the 50 largest GDP cities, 20 will be in Asia. Half of the European cities will drop of the list.
  • Asia has 59% of their population that is 20-34 years old. This is where production and demand will be.
  • The middle class is booming in China, Malasia, Thailand, Indonesia, Phillipines and India -This is where you need to invest.
  • Milken then moved on to his view of the capital markets by beginning with: What is the American Dream?
  • Access to capital is based on ability and not on social status.
  • Profit is a function of Financial Capital * (Human Capital + Social Capital + Real Assets)
  • Give capital to the productive people and employment booms. Figure out how to empower human capital. It is our largest asset as a nation.
  • In the 1920?s the automobile was innovation. 60% of the cost was raw materials and energy. Now innovation is the microchip which is less than 2% materials and energy.
  • It is too difficult to get into the U.S. which means we are losing the top minds. Other countries are getting the students that we will not let in. Australia and Canada, Singapore, and the U.K. are developing the best technology because they are talking more students from Asia.
  • An example of this is Hollywood. All of the 6 largest film studios were started by someone from within 50 miles from Warsaw, Poland. Think if we would not have let them in the country.
  • ? of all growth is from medical research
  • 70% of health is lifestyle, 30% hereditary
  • The U.S. is the heaviest country on Earth 36.5% obese
  • 1 trillion spent annually on obesity in this country. Think if we could save this just by eating less and changing lifestyle (Apparently we can deep fry butter and dip it in bacon fat. That is why we are fat)
  • Education: U.S. spends 2% of income on Education (33% on housing), Asia spends 15% on education
  • Moving on to Credit: Credit is what counts. Not leverage. Equity is too small a fraction of assets. This has all happened before. All banks in Texas were AAA, but when the energy cycle busts they all defaulted. We need to be extremely careful how we deleverage because it is a multiple factor on the economy.
  • Loans to real estate: Real Estate does not always go up forever it never has. No one knows when interest rates will go up but they know that they will and the cost of homes will go up.
  • 4 companies are rated AAA. However, S&P found away to rate 1600 leveraged securities AAA.
  • Sovereign debt is by far the worst credit. They always default. Adam Smith noted that countries never pay their debts after they reach a certain point of leverage. Greece defaults 1 of every two years before they were in the euro zone.
  • 1974 is important year to study. Interest rates doubled. The market feels like 74. The Nifty Fifty went from a P/E of 66 to 11. Investors lost half their money. Investors flocked to money managers to manage their money. (They could no longer just get by investing int the Nifty Fifty)

Barry Sternlicht (Starwood Capital Group)

Idea: Housing. Homebuilders. Specifically Toll, NVR, Lowes, and HD

  • The world is volatile so you have to look for themes.
  • Residential real estate is where you want to be based on his view of the world.
  • The average amount of house starts for the last decade was 1.1 million per annum. Currently at 300-400k.
  • It could not be a better time to buy a house. Low interest rates. Low housing prices. It is cheaper to buy than rent for the first time.
  • People are doubling up in rentals. Multi-generational families are growing which is causing housing formation to slow. Lots of pent of demand for houses.
  • 3-3.5 million people enter the U.S. every year. This causes the need for 1 million to 1.5 million houses. We are only building 400k.
  • Foreclosures and delinquencies are trending down. Prices are coming up and stabilizing. If you drop out distressed sales from banks they are up. Appraisals are hard to come by in distressed communities.
  • Sees a rebound in housing starts. People will find a way to finance and buy homes given the demand.
  • You could buy levered names but for a turbocharged return but he prefers: Toll, Lennar, DR Horton, and NVR. Specifically, he really likes Toll and NVR
  • Toll: Caters to the haves (vs the have nots). Their world will recover first. 23% gross margins, and over a billion worth of inventory in favorable areas.
  • Also likes Lowes: LOW owns 90% of their real estate. Earnings will be much higher in a bull market. Not only will P/E rise, but E will rise. You cannot be replaced by the internet. You have to have a lumber yard etc. They have lower margins than HD which they can improve. 71% remodeling exposure. Buying back shares. Have already bought back 13%. Trades at a reasonable multiple. TEV/EBITDA of 6.5x. Can buy back 70% of shares in 4 years. (Reminds him of Teledyne)

Richard Perry (Perry Capital):

Ideas: Fannie and Freddie Preferred Securities and RBS Tier 1 Securities.

  • Fannie and Freddie are in conservatorship of the U.S. Government
  • The U.S. has invested $107 billion in Fannie and Freddie
  • The agencies have $34 billion in PFD, $19 raised in '07 and '08
  • Not a litigation situation but it is interesting to look back and see what the government said when the agencies raised those preferreds. It makes you think they may be liable.
  • The PFD trade at 8.5 cents on the dollar. This is an asymmetric risk/reward situation.
  • The government needs to balance their budget. Could increase guaranteed fees slightly (10 BPS), reopen the mortgage market, and spur the economy
  • A 10 BPS raise would result in a $30 billion dollar deficit reduction over 10 years. This helps the government
  • Could also convert to common and monetize the government stake
  • OMB could improve $65 billion to $150 billion by 2021
  • House Financial Services recommended increasing the guaranteed fees
  • Likes the asymmetric risk/reward return
  • Moving on t RBS Tier 1: 10 billion in non cumulative Tier 1 Securities (preferred). EU directed RBS to stop paying dividends through 4/2012. Pari passu ?must pay? trade at a 25% to 35% premium to ?may pay?. RBS is a restructuring story. Recapped during 2008. Current Tier 1 is 11.3% vs 4% in crisis. 95% loan to deposit, peaked at 154% in 2008. Liquidity portfolio of ?170 is 121% of short term wholesale maturities. Sovereign exposure is ?772 or 1.6% of Tier 1. Tail risk is supported by the UK gov which owns 82%. ?50 bn equity injection by UK was junior to Tier 1. Dividend on common is not payable unless Tier 1 is paid. Large banks perpetual securities trade at 7% yield. Restoring dividends could save money by making the bank more acceptable to investors lowering interest costs. The preferred coupon is deminimus relative to ?48 billion in core Tier 1 capital

Tom Russo ? Gardner, Russo, and Gardner

Ideas: Large multinational parent companies (Nestle, Pernod Ricard, SAB Miller)

  • Thinking in terms of 10 year investments, not one year
  • If people think the S&P could go down because of Europe (13% of S&P revenue from Europe) they would not like his fund which is 70% in non U.S. companies, 30% in emerging countries
  • Europe is the place to be. Buy businesses that make their revenue away from Europe.
  • Global value investing ? ?is not for girlie men?L
  • Leading multinational firms benefit from: 1) Capacity to reinvest in high ROICS ? corporate wide 2) No dividend burdens (opposed to subsidiaries which are in different companies) 3) Corp culture is knowable (ethics) 4) Corp governance 5) Global talent pool 6) Global best practices ? SAB Miller uses their lessons learned in new markets 7) Low valuations are available (Europe is loathed) (revenues are not in Euros) 8) Reduce translation risk. (language barriers)
  • Likes when you can buy the global parent for a lower multiple than subs: Nestle, Unilever, British Tobacco
  • Value Strategy: Looking for 50 cent dollars, capacity to reinvest, capacity to suffer (in other words, a rock-solid balance sheet)
  • Nestle: Investing in countries with growing incomes leads to higher value added product revenues. A large ability to suffer (balance sheet). Stayed in Russia during ruble crisis
  • Pernod Ricard: Went to China. Large capacity to grow and invest. 15% of profits in China. Family controlled. Not thinking short term. India is a large opportunity in the spirit market
  • SAB Miller: Africa: Local brewed beer to bottled beer is a large opportunity in their own back yard. EBITDA margin is down, sales are up. Volatility permits reinvestment. Just bought Fosters.
  • Final thought: Money managers also need the capacity to suffer and stick with conviction in volatile markets.

Leon Cooperman: (Omega)

Ideas: Charming Shops, E*trade, KKR Financial.

  • Leon noted that Omega is normally a bottoms-up show but in this market you must address the macro environment to ?set the table?
  • Currently there is record stock and sector correlation
  • Thinks the U.S. will avoid recession but will remain in a slow growth environment
  • "We need 3% growth to dent unemployment, 9% unemployed, 10% more underemployed"
  • All of the global unrest is a result is a result of the economic unrest, wealth disparity, and the uncertainty in government
  • We could see riots in US like Arab Spring and UK.
  • Europe: Expects ECB to execute bailout
  • Obama wants to tax workers and punish savers: 50% of people are on the public dole, do not want a change
  • 2012 will be a test. ?If the president is in trouble, the market is in trouble?
  • By the Fed Model, equities are cheap. Yields are higher than interest rates. Average P/E is 15, average treasury yields 6%. Yields today are 3% and P/E is 12x.
  • Equities are cheap. They are the best house in the asset neighborhood.
  • The ten year could jump to 4-6% which would be a big loss in the bond world. Not the place to be. Rather be in credit than bonds. Rather be in stocks than credit
  • Charming Shops: Management needs to get out of Fashion Bug and sell Layne Bryant. No net debt. Lane Bryant alone worth 2x current stock price
  • E*Trade: Great business but invested in mortgage bank. 13.8 billion invested in mortgages. 700 million rolls of every quarter. Earning 80 cents per share. 100 million loan loss provision. 1.5 billion in debt yielding 9%. Improved credit could add 40 cents per share to earnings. A strategic M&A asset in the brokerage
  • KKR Financial: Dividend yield 9% covered 2x by earnings. 28% below book

Mark Lasry (Avenue Capital)

Ideas: GM and Hovnanian

  • GM: Had the largest market cap at one point a number of years ago $12.2 billion. In 2000 revenue surpassed Wal-Mart. Trades at 1x EV/EBITDA. People forget Apple needed a $150mm investment from MSFT. Now it is the largest company. Apple trades at $370 billion, with EBITDA of $35.6 billion. Avenue bought the bonds to create GM at 2x EBITDA now he is pitching it at 1x. US government owns 1/3 of GM, people are trying to find the right time so that they don?t buy in front of the government sale. Now is actually the right time to buy, when everyone knows the government is going to sell. Comps trade at 4-6x (Except Ford trades at 3.1x). So GM could go up 4x. Ford 3.1x, Honda 4.4x, Toyota 5.6x, Hyundai 5.9x.
  • Hovnanian: 7th largest home builder. Housing starts use to be 1.5 million, now 0.3-0.4 million. People will buy homes, the question is a matter of when. Interest rates are low, everyone wants to time it but they cannot. Buy the Senior Unsecured Bonds. Get paid to wait. HOV has a billion dollar NOL. Senior Notes trade at 35, current yield is 20%, (6.5 coupon). They have 350 million in cash on Balance Sheet. 1 billion dollars in land inventory. ?Everyone knows this market will turn a question of when? You don?t need the economy to grow faster than 1% for this to work, their view is 1% is the most probable outcome. If Europe defaults this will go down, but you are getting paid to take that risk

Michael Elrad: (GEM Realty)

Idea: Class A malls, specifically Macerich

  • Can you invest with conviction in a volatile market?
  • GEM looks at investing in 3 stages: (Top down, bottom up, and hedging)
  • Their top down analysis led them to Class A malls. Only way to buy Class A malls is through public companies (Simon, Westfield, GGP, Macerich, Taubman). 5 public companies control 80% of the Class A malls
  • 15 years ago retailers were declining. In reality, the fittest retailers survived and now the standing retailers are stronger credits and tenants are more diversified.
  • Today tenants pay more rent and have better credit
  • Sales per square foot have rebounded from the 2008/2009 period
  • NOI has been stable, even though retail sales have been volatile
  • Lost very little occupancy during recession
  • Currently stocks are 20% below their estimate of fair value
  • Macerich is 10% discount to peers. Recommending a 3 year long in Macerich (MAC). Macerich has a 4.9% yield, NOI growth 3% in 2012. 84% of assets are class A. Debt is 45% of EV. 10% discount to big 5. Could be added to S&P. Destaggered board, could be a take out candidate. Approximate a 12% IRR over 3 years. 17% in upside case. To hedge short Class B properties and strip malls (50% hedge ratio)\
  • Do not need to hedge internet risk, because strong internet companies need Class A space to enhance their brand (Apple).
  • This is the future of retailing: "The show room for the online presence"

Barry Rosenstein (Jana Partners)

Idea: McGraw Hill

  • This ideas reminds him of the 1980s. Companies with great assets that fail to create value. 3 reasons: Complacent boards, family CEO asleep at the wheel, Empire building. Or all 3.
  • McGraw Hill: 4 groups: Ratings, Financial Data (CapIQ, Ratings Direct), Educational text Books, Platts
  • Stock manages to under-perform year after year
  • Capital allocation is inefficient
  • Education needs the most capital but has the lowest returns on assets and growth
  • Bloated cost structure because of conglomerate nature
  • Impossible for analysts to value the sum of the parts
  • Management has committed to buy back shares, and cut costs
  • There is more to do: Education is better on it?s own, can take leverage to lower cost of capital (can?t get rated because of S&P currently); Private equity could buy it
  • Platts could trade 5-6x turns higher than conglomerate value
  • They can take out $200 million of costs per year, 6-7 dollars per share in value
  • 15% of market cap buy back over 2 years
  • Break off Platts, Financial. Suitors include Bloomberg, Reuters. Could get a high teen multiple
  • Ratings business is not as bad as it seems. Regulation could make it harder for entry into the business. Real size of claims is smaller than people think. Small number of cases survive.
  • Should trade at $60 per share or 40% upside.

John Keeley Jr.

Ideas: ITT, CFFN, ORIT, VPFG, RCKB, TBNK

  • Focus on spin offs, below book value, distressed utilities, S&L conversions, and emerging bankrupt companies
  • Spinoffs drift: not in an index, institutions sell, Individuals sell, no street coverage
  • Case Study: Charles Tandy. Learned from all his spinoffs
  • Average 33 spinoffs per year
  • Idea is ITT: Jan 12 ITT separated into ITT, Xylem, and Exelis. Xylem is fairly valued, Exelis is undervalued. ITT has a good niche, is unlevered, can make bolt-on acquisition, and has room for multiple expansion.
  • S&L conversions: CFFN, ORIT, VPFG, RCKB, TBNK
  • S&Ls have to wait one year to pay dividends, 3 to be acquired
  • TBNK and VPFG are coming up on their 3rd year
  • Dodd-Frank is going to force all of these companies to look for an acquirer. These are the ones they like. Buy the package.

Sam Zell (Equity Group Investments)

  • Globalization has already happened. GDP of Emerging economies equals GDP of developed. The trend is only beginning.
  • Developed world has a Damacles sword hanging above it: Demographics
  • If your population grows, productive investments will follow
  • By 2050. Japan will be one to one. Retired vs. working. Sees no reason to invest in that environment
  • The developed world is ?hungry?. People have aspirations. They are confident
  • Brazil: 25% of people in middle class. Going to 65%. Has 180 million people. Self Sufficient in food, energy, and water. Young and upwardly mobile population. Educated workforce. Brazil has pent up demand for products. 7 million houses under demand. Interest rates are high, inflation is high, expected returns are high. There is real demand for capital and that is why rates are high. Need to have a solid partner, cannot go in alone. Brazil reminds Zell of the U.S. in the 1950s. The people are extremely confident in themselves.
  • Trade rule of law for growth in developing countries. He is not ignorant to the risks.
  • Emerging markets are an extraordinary opportunity. Where do they need capital the most. Where are the highest returns?

Source: http://www.distressed-debt-investing.com/2011/11/notes-from-invest-for-kids-chicago-2011.html

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Iran worked on nuclear bomb design - U.N. watchdog (Reuters)

VIENNA (Reuters) ? Iran appears to have worked on designing an atomic bomb and may still be conducting secret research, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said in a report likely to raise tensions in the Middle East.

Citing what it called "credible" information from member states and elsewhere, the agency listed a series of activities applicable to developing nuclear weapons, such as high explosives testing and development of an atomic bomb trigger.

The report immediately exposed splits among the big powers about how best to handle the row over Iran's nuclear aims: the United States signalled tougher sanctions on Tehran but Russia said the report could hurt chances for diplomacy.

It was preceded by Israeli media speculation that the Jewish state may strike against its arch foe's nuclear sites. But Defence Minister Ehud Barak said on Tuesday no decision had been made on embarking on a military operation.

Iran, which denies it wants nuclear weapons, condemned the findings of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as "unbalanced" and "politically motivated."

IAEA chief Yukiya Amano is "playing a very dangerous game," Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's ambassador to the agency, told Reuters Television.

Tehran's history of hiding sensitive nuclear activity from the IAEA, continued restrictions on IAEA access and its refusal to suspend enrichment, which can yield fuel for atom bombs, have drawn four rounds of U.N. sanctions and separate punitive steps by the United States and European Union.

The report detailed evidence apparently showing concerted, covert efforts to acquire the capability to make atomic bombs.

Some of the cited research and development work by Iran have both civilian and military applications, but "others are specific to nuclear weapons," said the report, obtained by Reuters on Tuesday before an IAEA board of governors meeting.

Oil prices briefly rose after it was issued, with Brent crude trading up 11 cents to $114.67 a barrel at 1:33 p.m. EDT.

"I think the facts lay out a pretty overwhelming case that this was a pretty sophisticated nuclear weapons effort aimed at miniaturising a warhead for a ballistic missile," said prominent U.S. proliferation expert David Albright.

"It's overwhelming in the amount of details, it is a pretty convincing case," he told Reuters.

Western powers have pressured the major oil producer, which says its nuclear programme is aimed at increasing electricity generation, over its record of hiding sensitive nuclear activity and lack of full cooperation with U.N. inspectors.

The United States will look to put more pressure on Iran if it fails to answer questions raised by the IAEA report, a senior U.S. official said in Washington.

"That could include additional sanctions by the United States. It could also include steps that we take together with other nations," the official told reporters.

Separately, a second U.S. official told Reuters the United States was unlikely, for now, to sanction Iran's central bank but that it could target additional Iranian commercial banks or "front companies" possibly involved in its nuclear activities.

Russia criticised the report, saying it would dim hopes for dialogue with Tehran on its nuclear ambitions and suggesting it was meant to scuttle chances for a diplomatic solution.

"We have serious doubts about the justification for steps to reveal contents of the report to a broad public, primarily because it is precisely now that certain chances for the renewal of dialogue between the 'sextet' of international mediators and Tehran have begun to appear," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

Russia and the United States are among the six big powers -- also including China, Britain, France and Germany -- which have been involved in stalled attempts to find a diplomatic solution to the nuclear dispute with Iran.

Tehran has for years dismissed allegations of atomic bomb research, based largely on Western intelligence funnelled to the IAEA, as fabricated and baseless, and more recently sought to discredit Amano as a tool of Washington.

The IAEA said it had carefully assessed intelligence passed on from member states and found it consistent in terms of technical content, individuals and organisations cited and time frames. It said it had gathered its own supportive details.

"The Agency is concerned because some of the activities undertaken after 2003 would be highly relevant to a nuclear weapon programme," it said.

'STRONG INDICATORS OF POSSIBLE WEAPONS DEVELOPMENT'

The IAEA "has serious concerns regarding possible military dimensions to Iran's nuclear programme," the U.N body said in the report, which included an unusual 13-page annex with technical descriptions of research with explosives and computer simulations applicable to nuclear detonations.

It added: "The information also indicates that prior to the end of 2003, these activities took place under a structured programme, and that some activities may still be ongoing."

U.S. spy services estimated in 2007 that Iran had halted outright "weaponisation" research four years previously, but also that the Islamic Republic was continuing efforts to master technology usable in nuclear explosives.

The IAEA report included information from both before and after 2003. It voiced "particular concern" about information given by two member states that Iran had carried out computer modelling studies relevant to nuclear weapons in 2008-09.

"The application of such studies to anything other than a nuclear explosive is unclear to the agency," the IAEA said.

The information also indicated that Iran had built a large explosives vessel at the Parchin military complex southeast of Tehran in which to conduct hydrodynamic experiments, which are "strong indicators of possible weapon development."

Israeli officials had no immediate comment on the IAEA report, which was big news in a Jewish state that feels uniquely threatened by Iran. Israel is widely believed to harbour the Middle East's only nuclear arsenal.

For several years the IAEA has been investigating Western intelligence reports indicating that Iran has coordinated efforts to process uranium, test high explosives and revamp a ballistic missile cone to accommodate a nuclear warhead.

Iran, the world's No. 5 oil exporter, insists that its work to enrich uranium is for a future network of nuclear power plants to provide electricity for a rapidly growing population.

(Additional reporting by Dan Williams in Jerusalem, Arshad Mohammed in Washington, Steve Gutterman in Moscow and Zahra Hosseinian and Parisa Hafezi in Tehran; Editing by Robert Woodward)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/india/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111109/india_nm/india604063

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These monkey moms help sons hook up

Having your mother constantly watching your back may not be a sexy trait in human males, but in some primate species, mom rules the roost and her presence may help her sons hook up with eligible females, a new study suggests.

The female-ruled society of the muriqui monkey in Brazil is egalitarian and peaceful, the researchers say. The group's reproductive success, it seems, is spread evenly across the males of the group instead of being determined by male dominance, as it is in many other species.

"The new data show who's pulling the strings in muriqui society," study researcher Karen Strier, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said in a statement. "It's the mothers." This means males don't need to fight for dominance and territory, saving the muriqui from the warmongering habits of other primates.

Modest muriqui
The northern muriqui is a large, long-lived, socially complex and critically endangered New World primate. There are, at most, 1,000 animals left in patches of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, the only place the species is found.

The study looked at genetic data collected from feces of 67 monkeys, a sample that included 22 infants, their 21 mothers and 24 possible fathers. The researchers were then able to figure out the relationships between each of the monkeys.

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The genetic results match up well with decades of behavioral studies on this group of monkeys, showing that long-lived mothers stick around for the benefit of their sons. Males stay with their maternal groups for their entire lives, while females tend to migrate to different groups after they reach 6 years old.

"We knew from long-term behavioral studies that mothers, who can live into their thirties, stay with their sons for a lifetime," Strier said. "But the unexpected part of the story is that there may be reproductive advantages as a result of this living arrangement."

The researchers saw that the sons in the mother-son pairs who were physically closest were also the males that had the highest reproductive success. However, they didn't observe these mothers actively intervening in their son's sexual advances, unlike mother-meddling of the bonobos.

Mothering society
It's possible that this genetic advantage from a motherly presence could be why females tend to live long past their reproductive years in many primate species, including humans. "It would be really interesting now to look at paternity in other muriqui populations and in other species where mothers and sons stay together for life, to see if there are similar maternal effects," Strier said.

Another interesting characteristic of the monkey's society is how many males participate in mating. In many primate societies, access to mates is controlled by a dominant male. For the muriqui, many of the males are able to participate in mating, and no one male is dominant. The most successful male in this study sired only four of the 22 baby monkeys. A dozen other males also participated in the breeding of the group.

"What we see is that no one male is monopolizing reproduction," Strier said. "The pattern is that a lot of different males are siring infants, confirming what we had predicted from their behavior."

The study was published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences.

You can follow LiveScience staff writer Jennifer Welsh on Twitter @microbelover. Follow LiveScience for the latest in science news and discoveries on Twitter @livescience and on Facebook.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45208636/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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Brody Jenner, Avril Lavigne report assault in LA (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? Reality TV star Brody Jenner says he was hit with a bottle outside the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, and girlfriend singer Avril Lavigne tweeted that she was also attacked.

Los Angeles police Sgt. Keith Green said Monday that Jenner filed a police report of assault with a deadly weapon after being hit early Sunday outside the popular nightspot.

Green says Jenner was not given medical help and no one was arrested.

Green could not confirm Lavigne's involvement, but on her Twitter account, she said she "got attacked by 5 people last night out of nowhere. Not cool."

Jenner is the son of Olympian Bruce Jenner and a regular on MTV's "The Hills." He's also a stepbrother of the Kardashian sisters and has appeared on their reality show.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tv/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111108/ap_en_tv/us_people_jenner_lavigne

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Apple security chief leaves after phone flap: source

Apple's chief of security operations has left the company just months after the world's largest technology company faced criticism over the tracking down of what has been widely reported as a missing iPhone prototype.

The consumer device giant's vice president of global security, John Theriault, has retired, a person close to Apple said. Apple declined to comment.

Theriault joined Apple after a stint as chief of security at Pfizer, according to his LinkedIn profile. Prior to that, he was a special agent in the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Apple's security team was criticized after two of its members entered the house of a San Francisco resident in the summer to search for a "lost item", thought to to be a prototype of what eventually became the iPhone 4S.

The company's security staff was accompanied by San Francisco police, who said they did not enter the residence. The police said Apple had tracked the lost item to the house.

Apple did not find the item, but the company faced a backlash on the Internet and media after 22-year old Sergio Calderon came forward to say he had let the employees in thinking they were police officers.

An attorney for Calderon, David Monroe, said Friday that his client is in settlement negotiations with Apple and declined to comment further.

In 2010, Apple faced similar criticism when investigators raided a technology journalist's home to retrieve an iPhone prototype. The prototype, left by an Apple employee in a bar, had been sold to tech blog Gizmodo.

Dan Levine of Reuters also contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45170697/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/

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On Roy Rogers' 100th Birthday, Son And Grandson Share Their Memories

"Most of my generation, if you're from the East Coast or some of those areas there where there's still a restaurant available, they think he's just a chicken sandwich," the young cowboy laughs in a midwestern drawl, exasperated at a lifetime of clarification. "And then there's another school of thought that think he's a drink, a Coca Cola with some cherry syrup."

For most, having a culinary namesake or two would be reason enough to brag; in Dusty Rogers' case, poultry and soft drinks are beside the point. On Saturday, on what would have been his grandfather's 100th birthday, Dusty and his father want to remind the world of the real Roy Rogers: film legend, TV staple and cowboy gentleman.

An icon in the golden age of Hollywood, Rogers, who passed in 1998, was a film star -- with a staggering 100-plus films to his credit -- and host of both television and radio programs. He sang, too, barnstorming arenas across America with his family values roadshow and sunny post-Depression-and-war optimism. In the era when the western was king, Rogers was the workhorse, riding his trusty steed Trigger with a smile through soundstage sunsets on a weekly basis.

Roy Rogers Jr., 65, continues the tradition with stage shows in Missouri. They play traditional cowboy music, run old episodes of his dad's TV show and celebrate the values preached when kids played with stick horses, not joysticks. Rogers has planned a special extravaganza for Saturday's birthday celebration.

For the son of the late King of the Cowboys, it's all he's really known.

"I spent my first three or four birthdays on the movie set with my Dad -- I thought everyone worked on the movies until I got out to see that there were other people doing other jobs," Roy Jr. laughed in a conversation with The Huffington Post last week. It was a childhood filled with traditional values and chores like any other, Rogers said, but being a roaming cowboy was truly a way of life.

"We had to do merchandising shoots with them, we went on the road with them in the summer, we did the state fair and the rodeos, Mom and Dad would have us sing with them so we had to dress the part and sing the part, and so it was fun for us," he remembered.

But for all the fun times, what the second generation cowboy remembers best is the charity work that his father performed around the country. During the heyday of Rogers' fame in the 1940s and '50s, Jr. would tour hospitals with his dad as he visited countless polio-stricken children confined to iron lungs, with only their heads sticking out.

"Dad was able to get right to the side, and he'd say, 'Daniel, I know you're having a hard time and things are really rough for you right now, but if you work really hard you can get out of here,'" Rogers Jr. remembered fondly. "And he would take kids gun belts, he would take them by the dozen with him, and he would hang a little Roy Rogers gun belt over on the mirror above their head, because that's how they looked, and he'd say, 'Work real hard and you'll get out of this iron lung and you'll be able to wear that gun belt, and then I want you to come and see me in Hollywood when you get out.' Knowing that he'd probably never see them again."

The payoff, he said, overwhelms him even today.

"I cannot tell you how many of those kids have shown up at our show and said, 'I still have that gun belt, I still have that memory of your dad coming in,'" Rogers marveled. "And if he had not given me that encouragement, that I had to do it on my own and told me that I had to do it and no one else could do it for me, I may not be here standing here today.'"

He's often approached by kids who point to his father as a profound influence, even if they weren't confined to the iron lung, Jr. said. Given Rogers' place in history, following World War II and amidst the rebuilding of America from the Great Depression, being a TV dad was a fraught with responsibilities.

"He came at a time when World War II was coming on pretty heavy and a lot of people, their dad didn't come back or they came from broken homes, so Dad, for a lot of kids, because they didn't have a parent at home, was a father figure to a lot of kids," he said. "And so they looked up to him and they knew they could hang their hat on what he would ask them to do. To go to church on Sundays and Sunday school and to keep yourself neat and clean and take care of your animals and obey your mom and dad, and just basic, common sense things."

These days, TV shows, even the westerns, aren't quite as wholesome, which means Jr. does little browsing of his cable box.

"I've never seen 'Justified.' I have cable, but a lot of shows on there, like my dad used to say, some of the shows on there, I wouldn't even want Trigger to watch," he laughed, thinking of the famous steed. "So I haven't seen any of those. I started watching 'Deadwood,' but that got a little bit raunchy for me. That's a sign of the times, I guess, but no, I haven't seen too many of the westerns."

Besides, he's got his own show to put on, which airs on religious cable network RFD-TV. His son Dusty is his co-hosting cowboy, and while Dusty enjoys singing competitions such as "X-Factor," he's more into the old shows of his grandfather's past.

And what really delights Dusty is the audience of youngsters that come in to see their stage show; it was a fantastic surprise, he said, to find out that the recommended curriculum for kids homeschooled in Missouri includes some of the very same old westerns. Seeing them when they visit the show, Dusty said, is an absolute thrill.

"They're dressed to the nines, they've got the western clothes on, their boots are shined, their hats are in pristine condition, and they shake your hand like a real gentleman," he beamed. "It's just really neat to see that, that could potentially shape their lives. Because that's ultimately what Roy did for millions of kids, that role model shaped millions of kids' lives."

Roy Jr., Dusty and their band, The High Riders, perform live at 8:30 P.M. EST from Apple Valley, California, broadcast live on RFD-TV.



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circa 1951: American cowboy actor Roy Rogers (1911 - 1998) stands next to his costar, actor Penny Edwards, and a German shepherd dog, 'Bullitt,' in a still from an unidentified film. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/04/on-roy-rogers-100th-birth_n_1075587.html

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East runs low on snow days after Irene, new storm

Potomac Electric Power Company worker Mike Fitzgerald, of Baltimore, Md., works to restore power to homes left in the dark since Saturday's storm in Teaneck, N.J., Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2011. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

Potomac Electric Power Company worker Mike Fitzgerald, of Baltimore, Md., works to restore power to homes left in the dark since Saturday's storm in Teaneck, N.J., Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2011. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

Connecticut Light & Power workers tend to a high voltage power line in Windsor Locks, Conn., Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2011. Over 90% of the town has been without power since the Oct. 29, 2011 snowstorm. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy greets Christine Hallet, of Enfield, during his visit to JFK Middle School, which has been serving as a shelter, on Wednesday Nov. 2, 2011, in Enfield, Conn. The president of Connecticut Light and Power says he still believes most of the hundreds of thousands of customers still without electricity due to last weekend's snow storm will have their service restored by midnight on Sunday. (AP Photo/Journal Inquirer, Leslloyd F. Alleyne)

Potomac Electric Power Company workers work to restore power to homes left in the dark since Saturday's storm in Teaneck, N.J., Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2011. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

(AP) ? Alison Takahashi thought autumn of her senior year would be filled with memories-to-be like the homecoming dance, crossing her fingers over college applications and counting down to graduation from Glastonbury High School.

Instead, the dance is delayed, her graduation date is a question mark and she's squeezing in study time during daylight hours as she ? and hundreds of thousands of other Northeast residents ? spends days without power after last weekend's snowstorm.

"I feel so disorganized and disoriented because we've been living all over the place," said the 17-year-old Takahashi, whose family has bunked in hotels since losing power Saturday, and who has squeezed in study time for an SAT specialty test in Spanish as part of her application to Georgetown University.

She must take that test Saturday in her high school, where that night's homecoming dance has been postponed and town residents pop in to take showers and recharge their cellphones and computers.

Throughout the region and especially in hard-hit Connecticut, many school districts that lost several snow days to the remnants of Hurricane Irene in August found themselves losing this full week, too, because of snow-related power failures and tree damage.

A handful of districts in New Jersey also remained closed Thursday, leaving those and other districts wondering they would have to cut into vacations to regain the lost days.

Throughout the Northeast, the storm's legacy has left students, working parents and others looking for last-minute baby sitters as power-free day care centers remain closed, or going without access to email and other modern conveniences.

About 589,000 homes and businesses in the Northeast ? more than half of them in Connecticut ? went without power for a fifth day Thursday. Makeshift relief centers filled with weary parents and restless children.

The number of lost school days is forcing some districts to consider trimming their winter or spring vacations to ensure school doesn't stretch beyond June ? a consideration virtually unheard of so early in the academic year.

"It's a difficult situation when you lose five off the bat. It's only November and we haven't even had the real snow yet," said Paul K. Smith, superintendent of Bolton's schools, which were set to remain closed Friday for their fifth consecutive day.

He and several other superintendents said that the past 10 months have been unlike any they remember in recent decades.

Record-setting snows in January forced many districts in Connecticut and elsewhere to stretch their school years to compensate for lost days ? and just as they breathed a sigh of relief, Irene swept through the Northeast to steal away days at the start of the new school year.

Then, last weekend's rare October snow completed the triple whammy, forcing them to cancel even more days.

It also comes as many districts were wrapping up their marking periods and trying to compile report cards; as several sports were heading into state and regional tournaments; and as many students faced a Nov. 1 deadline for early admission consideration in certain colleges, some of which have said they will be flexible under the circumstances.

Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and some other states require public schools to have at least 180 days of classes and cannot extend the school year beyond June 30. Their state education departments can grant waivers in extraordinary circumstances, but rarely do.

"If this were to have occurred in March or April, then you're really up against it and at that point you'd probably be looking for some relief at the state level. But at this point so early in the year, there's still some flexibility to make up those days," said Joseph Cirasuolo, executive director of the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents.

Schools in Tolland, outside Hartford, lost 11 days to snow cancellations last year, 10 of them in January alone. As of this week, its numbers were sneaking up again for the new school year: three days lost from Irene and five this week from the snowstorm, forcing its school board to consider whether to reduce winter or spring vacations.

As for whether snowy days are ahead that could exacerbate the situation, Tolland schools Superintendent William Guzman was trying Thursday to balance optimism and realism: "I'm wishing for a mild winter and just taking it one day at a time."

Several students and parents said Thursday that being flexible was the only way they could maintain their humor as they gritted their teeth and faced another day without power, classes and many basic amenities. Several districts expected to reopen Monday but were not certain whether it would be possible.

"There's wires down all over in our neighborhood, so I don't know if they'll be gone and the buses can get in and out," said 13-year-old Brigid Gauthier, an eighth-grader in Simsbury, one of several towns remaining largely without power Thursday.

Even students and families whose electricity had been restored or who never lost it were thrown off kilter by the school days cancellations and what it meant to their schedules.

Seventeen-year-old Josh Florez, a senior at West Hartford's Conard High School, was spending his days volunteering at the town's relief shelter at the school, keeping up with training for his cross-country team and trying to schedule interviews with members of the state's congressional delegation for his hoped-for nomination to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

But he had faith Thursday that once classes resumed, teachers would pace the lessons to catch up without overwhelming students and that in the end, it would all work out.

"They'll make it so it's not impossible on us. I feel pretty confident they'll figure it out," Florez said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-11-03-October%20Snow/id-f6e88c3c12094dd8a8d95e1e13471c1e

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Ohio man who freed exotic pets was deep in debt

FILE - In this Oct. 19, 2011 file photo obtained by the Associated Press, carcasses lie on the ground at the Muskingum County Animal Farm in Zanesville, Ohio. Deputies who arrived at the private compound in Ohio where dozens of exotic animals were set free by their owner last month encountered lions and bears charging at them and crashing through fences, forcing them to shoot and kill the animals, according to reports released Friday, Nov. 4, 2011. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - In this Oct. 19, 2011 file photo obtained by the Associated Press, carcasses lie on the ground at the Muskingum County Animal Farm in Zanesville, Ohio. Deputies who arrived at the private compound in Ohio where dozens of exotic animals were set free by their owner last month encountered lions and bears charging at them and crashing through fences, forcing them to shoot and kill the animals, according to reports released Friday, Nov. 4, 2011. (AP Photo, File)

This photo provided by the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium shows one of three leopards that were captured by authorities a day after their owner, Terry Thompson, released dozens of wild animals and then killed himself near Zanesville, Ohio. Officials said Thursday Oct. 27, 2011, that six exotic animals will be quarantined instead of being returned to Thompson's wife.The office of Ohio Gov. John Kasich says the state Department of Agriculture has ordered the quarantine. (AP Photo/Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, Grahm S. Jones)

(AP) ? A debt-ridden man distraught over marital problems and deep in debt told one of his farmhands the night before he released a menagerie of African lions, Bengal tigers and other exotic animals that he had a plan and said to the caretaker: "You will know when it happens."

Terry Thompson threw open the animals' cages late in the afternoon on Oct. 18 and then committed suicide on his farm near Zanesville in eastern Ohio.

According to reports released Friday, sheriff's deputies who arrived at Thompson's private compound had no choice but to shoot the animals crouching between abandoned vehicles and tigers still coming out of their cages. When it was over, 48 animals were dead.

Nearly all the cages were unlocked and holes had been cut in the metal fencing. A tiger and a black bear were in the same enclosure, but the door was unlocked and open. "As I backed the team up, the tiger came out the door and charged right at us," said deputy Jay Lawhorne.

Deputies shot the tiger, and the bear, after it ran at other officers. Another deputy said he shot a charging black bear that dropped within 7 feet of him.

The reports released by the Muskingum County Sheriff's Office reveal how deputies suddenly found themselves in the middle of a desperate hunt. They also offer clues to Thompson's motive.

The 62-year-old told a farmhand that he was upset about his marital problems and that he had a plan, according to a deputy who talked with the caretaker.

Thompson then told the caretaker: "You will know it when it happens."

He and his wife had devoted their lives to the animals. He bought his first exotic animal, a lion cub named Simba, at an auction for his wife's birthday about 14 years ago.

Just days before he set the animals free, he told a deputy that he was having a tough time taking care of the animals after spending a year in prison on a gun conviction. He also was deep in debt to the Internal Revenue Service.

The accounts from deputies at the scene show just how close the animals came to attacking some of them. Authorities have defended their decision to shoot and kill the animals, saying they were trying to protect the public.

Deputies said they saw Thompson's body but couldn't get near him to determine whether he was alive because a white tiger "appeared to be eating the body," a report said. Authorities have said that it appeared one of the big cats dragged his body and that there was a bite mark on his head.

Other animals near his body started moving toward a pickup truck where, in the back, four sheriff's deputies armed with rifles began firing.

With only an hour of daylight left and no tranquilizers on hand, they were in the middle of a desperate hunt and decided that the only option was take down the animals, Lawhorne said.

Their main concern appeared to be making sure none of the animals got near or outside the fences that separated the farm from several neighboring houses and Interstate 70, according to the reports.

Two deputies shot a pair of lions running near a fence along an interstate highway. One lion got up and charged a deputy before he killed it. "One of the African lions that we had shot got up and started running towards us," a deputy said. "At this point, we opened fire on it again, eventually killing it."

One deputy said he shot a lion after it busted through a fence and race toward a road. At the same time, he saw other deputies firing at several other lions running through the front yards of neighboring houses.

He then came across a mountain lion that was hissing and showing its teeth.

Once night came, firefighters used thermal-imaging cameras to spot a grizzly bear bounding across a field. Deputies decided to shoot it.

Several of the cages and surrounding fencing had been cut, making it impossible for authorities to secure the animals, the reports said.

One lion came within three feet of an auxiliary deputy who was trying to close the cage doors but didn't see a hole had been cut in the cage, Lawhorne said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-11-05-Exotic%20Animals%20Loose/id-ded9ce4070d543c787c5c6f427a70d73

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