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On the Call: Pfizer CEO on Spinoff Plans

By The Associated Press

May 3, 2011 (AP)

New Pfizer CEO Ian Read discussed the company’s ongoing review of its businesses and research operations on a conference call Tuesday with analysts, who pressed for any news on plans to sell or spin off parts of the pharmaceutical giant.

Among those discussed are a unit that sells drugs that have generic competition, called established products, and one that sells those drugs and newer, patent-protected ones in emerging markets including Brazil, Russia, India, China, Mexico and Turkey.

QUESTION: Have you narrowed your options regarding strategic alternatives for your established products and emerging markets businesses? If you do spin or sell some of these businesses, what you will do with the cash proceeds?

ANSWER (Ian Reed, Pfizer CEO): “We are still reviewing all of our alternatives on the businesses outside of the core. … I don’t foresee at some point in the second half suddenly coming out with a detailed master plan but certainly we’ll lay out decisions we’ve taken and decisions we haven’t, and (then) give a clearer path forward. … If we do spin assets, the goal will be returning proceeds to shareholders.”

via On the Call: Pfizer CEO on Spinoff Plans – ABC News.

May 4, 2011
Bulgaria to recall its ambassador in Turkey

A Bulgarian government official confirmed on Tuesday that Bulgaria’s Ambassador to Turkey will be recalled soon for having once served as secret service agents for the nation’s former communist governments.

13 of the country’s ambassadors have already returned pending dismissal for the same reason.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Vessela Tcherneva said a further 22 ambassadors and permanent representatives will be recalled on June 1.

Novinite.com news agency reported on Tuesday that ambassadors from Bosnia, Greece, Romania, Georgia, Serbia, China, Sweden, Germany, Lithuania, Belarus and Macedonia, the United Nations and UNESCO have already returned.

The agency said ambassadors to Britain, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Russia, Turkey and Japan will return in June.

In December, a panel investigating Bulgaria’s communist-era police, published the names of 192 diplomats who had worked for the previous secret services, and parliament voted to ask Bulgaria’s president to remove 33 of them now serving as ambassadors.

May 4, 2011
Nissan Wins $1B Pact To Provide NYC Taxis Beginning In Late 2013

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)–New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Tuesday that Japanese automobile company Nissan Motor Co. (NSANY, 7201.TO) had won a 10-year, $1 billion contract to provide thousands of taxis to the city beginning in about two years.

The other “Taxi of Tomorrow” finalists were Ford Motor Co. (F) and Turkish car maker Karsan Otomotiv Sanayii ve Ticaret AS (KARSN.IS). At a press conference here, Bloomberg said none of the interested bidders proposed making their cars in the U.S., at least at first, so the move shouldn’t be seen as choosing a foreign company over a domestic one.

via Nissan Wins $1B Pact To Provide NYC Taxis Beginning In Late 2013 – WSJ.com.

May 4, 2011
Istanbul Armenian Church Doors to Open After 100 Year Wait

There have been no religious services in the Istanbul Armenian Surp Vortvots Vorodman Church (Children of Thunder) for the past 100 years. But the doors to the church will finally open this July.

Deacon Vagharshak told me that the site hadn’t been used as a church since World War I. “The community has been dreaming about renovating the church and in 1987 plans were drafted but the amounts needed were staggering. It remained a dream.”

Today, renovations on the church are in full swing. After renovations are complete, the church, with its original style intact, will also serve as a cultural center.

This building was built upon the edict dated February 2, 1828 granted Mahmud II to Kazaz Artin (Harutyun Amira Bezdjiyan); and its plans were drawn by royal architect Kirkor Amira Balyan and M.Devlet Garabet. The compound is comprised of a cathedral (Mother Mary) and two chapels (Surp Khach and Surp Vortvots Vorodman) and opened for services on October 14, 1828.

The transformation project in this monumental building is targeted to constitute an example for other churches.

Kevork Karakeuzian, who directs the renovation project, says the cost is 2.7 million Turkish Liras of which 70% has been allocated by the Turkish government. The balance is being contributed by the Istanbul Armenian Patriarchate.

The entire project was a part of the renovations in the city related to the Istanbul’s run as a 2010 European Capital of Culture. A total of 610 projects were completed with a total budget of 300 million Turkish Liras.

“What’s really important is that this is the first time that the government has allocated such a large sum for the renovation of a church,” says Karakeuzian.

Allaying concerns that the renovated structure would be used solely as a cultural center, Mr. Karakeuzian said that religious services could be held and that there would be a place to light candles.

via Istanbul Armenian Church Doors to Open After 100 Year Wait | Hetq online.

May 4, 2011
In Love with Istanbul

Cruising along the Bosphorous

Author: Sion Dayson @ paris (im)perfect

Sometimes when I travel I feel as if I’ve just lived an entirely different life. Of course, we travel for new experiences and to immerse ourselves in other cultures.

But I mean there are a few instances where I sink into the new place so deeply it feels as if it’s become my whole reality. An inexplicable feeling grabs hold; I’m full with the sense that some part of me belongs even as everything is also foreign and unknown.

On rare occasions – Paris was such a case – this feeling does presage a new life.

It’s been awhile, though, since I’ve felt thus transported.

Well, add Istanbul to the list. I can’t believe I was only there for a week; it felt like its own small lifetime. It helped, I’m sure, that 1) I was with my family so I truly was with people from my “real” life and 2) we had an extraordinary homebase that made us feel like we already had family there.

I don’t usually stay in hotels when I travel. I couchsurf, stay with friends, do apartment swaps – these feel like they put me in closer connection to the true city.

For our reunion, though, I wanted to join my family where they were comfortable and we chose a modest hotel in Sultanahmet in the Old City. We couldn’t have chosen better.

It’s no luxury experience. No. It’s a basic hotel but it has Ruhat at reception who by the end of the week was part of our clan. When I had to move for the final day, in fact (I stayed an extra day alone and the hotel was full), I still used Hotel Peninsula as my base and felt as welcomed as if I lived there. The man who served breakfast each morning literally told me I was family now. He looked as if he was going to give me a hug when I left.

more photos: In Love with Istanbul « paris (im)perfect.

May 4, 2011
Golden Rules of Tallahassee Democrat “Faith and Courtesy”

International Center for Journalists continues to realize cross border projects all around the world. One of them is Turkish-Armenian-American journalists exchange program which combines 7 Turkish and 6 Armenian journalists to make them observers in different American media organs. Our author Mehmet Fatih Oztarsu is one of the participants of this project. Every journalists have gone to different regions of the US and they are visitors of American journalists. Oztarsu lives in Florida with his Armenian partner Ofelya Kamavosyan and observes American media mechanism`s differences. He compares business ethics, journalism style and effects of Tallahassee Democrat with the direction of International Center for Journalists. The author shares his observations with interesting points for us: (more…)

May 4, 2011