Superior Botox

An interesting find here.

Doctors have come up with a treatment that could help millions of middle-aged Britons with weak bladders - a shot of the celebrity cosmetic treatment Botox.

They claim that an injection of the virulent toxin directly into the bladder wall can improve symptoms in the over-50s, making a 'significant' impact on their quality of life.

The jab works for up to 24 weeks, reducing incontinence and making a massive difference to a sufferer's social life and general health.

Those taking part in a trial in London claimed they slept better, had more energy, could go out more and become involved in relationships.

This is the first time Botox has been shown to have a medical use for a condition affecting up to one in six Britons over 40.

Doctors from the London hospitals Guy's and King's College tested 34 sufferers for whom other treatments had failed. Half had the injections, while the rest were given a placebo.After being monitored over 24 weeks, the researchers noted marked improvements in symptoms among those who had Botox.

Measuring the effects on a scale of one to 100, they said the physical impact of incontinence had been reduced from 100 to 65, leaving them more confident.
Their social limitations fell from 72 to 39, the negative effect of the condition on their emotions fell from 100 to 65 and the effect on relationships fell from 67 to 50.

The impact of the condition on sleep and energy levels fell from 83 to 58.
Writing in the specialist urology journal BJU International, the researchers said the injections were made using a cytoscope, a long tube described as 'minimally invasive'.

Genting- A Route to Macau?

Jonathan Cheng did a write-up today expressing his concerns about the possibilities of a Genting entry into Macau's casino business.

I paraphrased his article.

Fresh from a recent move by by Genting Bhd to take a 3.2 per cent stake in MGM Mirage and buying a US$100m debt notes, the talk continues among punters that Genting is after a foothold in Macau, where MGM has a joint-venture casino and resort with gambling heiress Pansy Ho.

Genting dominates in Malaysia and has a huge new resort ready to start in Singapore. However, Macau the jewel in the casino landscape continues to elude it.

Macau, the most explosive growth story for the gambling industry is still hampered by a global recession and ham-stringed by strict visa restrictions imposed on mainland Chinese visitors.

Macau watchers are of the view that any attempt by Genting to get into the lucrative market may be difficult, despite a potential window of opportunity opening before it.

Last month, MGM said regulatory enforcers in New Jersey had criticized MGM's relationship with Ho, the scion of Stanley Ho's family, calling her "unsuitable." Experts say any ruling by the New Jersey Casino Control Commission against the partnership could jeopardise MGM's presence in either New Jersey, where it owns half of the Borgata in Atlantic City, or in Macau.

This in turn could leave an opening for an eager beaver like Genting, whose management said publicly last year that Macau holds attractive opportunities, despite the fact that all of Macau's gambling concessions were handed out years ago.

Just after New Jersey's report was made public, Genting bought US$100 million (RM350 million) of MGM debt, which sent Genting shares soaring on speculation about what the debt purchase could mean. On Tuesday evening, MGM confirmed that it had sold a 3.2 per cent equity stake to Genting. A spokeswoman for Genting yesterday declined to confirm or comment on any equity stake sale, which was first reported in the Financial Times.

If a piece of Macau is what Genting is after, significant obstacles could stand in the way.

MGM, experts say, if confronted with a choice between giving up New Jersey or Macau, it is still uncertain if MGM would want to relinquish its beachhead in the promising Chinese market. And even if MGM should look to pull out of Macau, Pansy Ho would have the right of first refusal on any stake sale. There is also the sticky legal question — still untested — about if, how and under what conditions a Macanese gaming concession could be transferred.

That's not all: If Genting were to jump into a partnership with Ho, it would likely draw regulatory scrutiny from Singapore, where Genting's commitment to its Resorts World project is more or less non-negotiable. Singapore's government could balk.

That all adds up to a daunting set of "what ifs," but given how quickly things are moving in the gambling sector, it may be wise not to rule anything out. Investors seem to see opportunity in Genting's moves to get a piece of MGM, pushing Genting's Malaysia-listed stock up by nearly 24 per cent in the three weeks since Genting first made public its purchase of MGM debt.

Of course, it is possible that Genting has something other than Macau on its mind. After all, MGM has attractive assets and a big presence in Nevada. It also has interests in other markets, including a proposed project in Vietnam.

Genting's purchase could also be a smart move from an opportunistic perspective, should MGM weather the financial crisis, catching the Las Vegas icon at the bottom of the market. The US$7-a-share offer that MGM made last month comes at a sizable discount to its historical trading range.

MGM was forced to sell the stake in a round of equity fund-raising last month, in part to help it finish its massive City Centre project in Las Vegas. — Wall Street Journal (Jonathan Cheng, Business Times, Singapore)

Amanda Holden-Botox Beauty

I was watching a Susan Boyle video on You-Tube and I watched with awe the spontaneous reaction of the female judge besides Simon Cowell. She looks adorable.

I was to find out that she was Amanda Holden, a 38-year old blond beauty. What I saw was actually a botoxed version of her face-lift.

Amanda has admitted to freely using Botox injections.

According to the Daily Mail, Amanda confirmed to have used Botox.

Manhattan plastic surgeon Dr. David Shafer agrees that Amanda looks great. However, she could use a bit more in her crow’s feet area and definitely had some filler in her cheeks.

According to Amanda, the surgery was not drastic as her skin scars easily.

Amanda apparently does not like the idea of growing old gracefully.

Looks like for the moment, Botox is good for Amanda.

Working Girl

Excellent movie.

I love Melanie Griffith in her role as the underdog secretary, Tess and how she was played out by her boss, Katherine who stole her idea for a merger. Melanie is a beauty that grows on you espcially the way she speaks. A young Harrison Ford helped in making this movie such a watchable fare.

Great song by Carly Simon "The River Runs" and the haunting melody and music pulsates through out the movie.

A great revisit for me.

Morrie Talks About Life and Death

Morrie says, "Once you learn how to die, you learn how to live."

He contends that people do not think about dying because they are virtually 'sleepwalking' daily. They do not experience the world fully. In a half asleep mode, they do things they automatically think they have to do.

According the Morrie, when you face death, all these changes. You begin to focus on the essentials.

When you realize you are going to die, you see things differently. Material things pale in importance.

You will make time for things spiritual.

Gobbledygook,Grilling and Greed

I went to the MEASAT AGM this afternoon. They held it at the Mandarin Mutiara Hotel besides KLCC. Bukan main. There was no door-gift and also no cookies or cakes to go with the tea. Speaks volume for the company's respect for minority share-holders.

The meeting started when I got in. The bunch of directors sat facing us. The CEO, a business graduate white-man from Yale yakked away and to me, most of it was gobbledygook. Then came his response to the queries of the Minority Group. The projected slide was atrocious and amateurish and he got a chiding of his life from some brazen shareholder.

In my mind, I thought only one of the directors seems to know what he was talking about, the rest sat perched to their seats like clay pigeons, getting fat on directors' fees.

The CEO took a lot of grilling and as usual sidestepped questions. They always do when they are in a bind. The chairman just paid lip service. Can't expect him to do more.

Then the resolutions were passed and the meeting adjourned for high tea.

And what do you know, the hungry ghosts appeared at the venue. Senior citizens, mostly ladies swooped upon the food and some with open bags dumped the food into these bags for future consumption. Two ladies screamed in pain as trays of tim sum scalded them.

I skipped the tim sum section and went for the satay. Before you can say "Ah!", someone scooped up all the chicken satay and I was fortunate to get half a dozen of beef satays. I got some beehoon and half a sausage bread and started eating.

Meanwhile all around me, there was rushing, pushing and grabbing and squealing.

Absolutely shameless. A woman half bent for age had two plates full of fried rice and meehoon. Can she consumed such quantity?

After having a piece of water melon, a cake and some bread pudding,I took a lift back for home from Kheng Joo and his wife.

The only thing good this day was at the AGM at UEM Land where I received RM10 worth in a Touch and Go Card.

The Heat is at home for US Casinos

The fun is back in Macau. With the rising stock markets in the East,
US gaming companies are set to cash in some of their chips in Macau. It is timely now to sell or float assets in the Chinese gambling enclave so as to prop struggling parent businesses back home in Las Vegas.

These debt-laden US casino operators are betting on a rally in stock prices and signs of recovery in Macau's gaming market to spur interest from investors who have endured a volatile and mostly brutal year in gambling stocks.

Sources say Wynn Resorts is getting ready to dust off the initial public offering plans it started last year for its Macau unit in what some say could be a more than US$2 billion (RM7 billion) offering.

Las Vegas Sands is also preparing an initial public offering of its Macau division, having hired Goldman Sachs to run the offer.

Meanwhile, speculation is building that MGM Mirage, under pressure from US gambling regulators and saddled with about US$14 billion in debt, may sell its stake in its Macau joint venture.

Malaysian gaming group Genting, which recently bought a US$100 million stake in MGM and has been eyeing opportunities in Macau, is seen as a potential buyer.

What's fuelling the activity is the US casino operators' aim to monetise Macau assets in order to support struggling operations in Las Vegas, bankers and analysts say.

"What I think is driving the speculation at this moment is the financial distress that a lot of the parent organisations standing behind some of the assets in this market are facing," Adam Rosenberg, the global head of gaming for Goldman Sachs, said at a global gaming conference in Macau last week.

"As they've said, they're considering all alternatives to deal with their operational and financial situations."

The time to act is now, say analysts and bankers, as competition on Macau's Cotai strip is only picking up. City of Dreams, a mega casino resort by Melco Crown, opened up this month, adding another casino operator to the mix.

After dropping 21 per cent in the first three months of the year, Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng Index has risen 62 per cent since its low in March, luring potential IPO candidates such as Sands and Wynn back to the market.

"The capital markets are presenting an opportunity," Andrew Zarnett, managing director at Deutsche Bank Securities, said at the same conference. "It's temporarily open, which means there's something to be done."

Share prices for most US gaming companies have bounced strongly from their March lows but are trading at a fraction of a year or two ago.

Raising equity to reduce debt may be the best way for casino firms to avoid breaching their loan covenants, analysts said.

For example, MGM's credit default swaps, which measure the protection for bonds, more than trebled in March from January, signalling how costly it could be for the firm to sell debt then.

While MGM and Wynn have already raised cash through the sale of notes or stock in the United States, the deal spotlight is strongest in Macau, which is the world's biggest gambling market and is showing signs of a faster recovery compared with Las Vegas.

A Sands offering in Hong Kong could raise up to US$1.1 billion, according to Merrill Lynch.

Wynn delayed its planned Hong Kong listing when the global financial crisis hit in the fourth quarter, bankers say. The firm had hired UBS, Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank for an offering aimed to raise as much as US$3 billion to help fund the firm's planned mega resort, a local newspaper said last July.

Meanwhile, analysts say Genting has been eyeing investment opportunities in Macau, even though there are only six gaming licences available and few assets up for grabs.

Genting looks best placed to buy MGM's stake, if the firm decides to sell in Macau, analysts say.

A 3.2 per cent stake in MGM, a share sale of US$425 million in Genting's Singapore unit by the family that owns the Malaysian firm and the subscription of a combined US$100 million worth of MGM's notes by Genting and its unit Resorts World have raised talk that the Malaysian gaming company is preparing to buy MGM's stake..

The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement asked the state's Casino Control Commission to make MGM "disengage itself from any business association" with Pansy Ho, the US firm said in May..

"It could mean either MGM or Pansy Ho has to exit the partnership in Macau and that will create opportunities for Genting," said CLSA analyst Aaron Fischer.

MGM would be a willing seller, analysts said.

"MGM will relish the opportunity to get out of Macau," said Sanford Bernstein analyst Janet Brashear. "They need the cash and they haven't been able to succeed in the Macau market." — Reuters

The Genting foray into Macau may just begin anytime soon.

Manohara files Police Report

True to her intention,Manohara Odelia Pinot mada a police report yesterday in Jakarta against her husband.

The ex-model apparently has also named the pilot of the private plane that abducted her from Jeddah and a guard that purportedly beat her up in the plane.

The saga continues.