Author: xaurav

French pharmaceutical group Sanofi-Aventis has made a $18.5bn (£11.9bn; 14.5bn euros) cash bid for biotechnology firm Genzyme.

Sanofi’s interest in the US-based firm emerged earlier this month, but this is its first formal offer.

But Sanofi did not go straight to Genzyme’s investors, making a formal approach to the company’s board.

Genzyme, which employs about 11,000 people worldwide, researches treatments for a range of serious illnesses.

The offer has been made at $69 per share but observers expect Genzyme to hold out for a higher bid.

Sanofi is France’s fourth-largest company by market value.

If the deal went ahead, it may become the biggest corporate swoop on a US firm by a French group since media conglomerate Vivendi’s purchase of Seagram in 2000.

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European captain Colin Montgomerie selects Edoardo Molinari, Padraig Harrington and Luke Donald as his Ryder Cup wildcard picks.

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Everton are condemned to their worst league start for more than a decade by an Aston Villa side who were lucky to keep the visitors at bay at Villa Park.

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A 20-year-old man is in a critical condition in hospital after he was assaulted in Randalstown, County Antrim.

It happened on Main Street just before 0100 BST on Sunday.

One man has been arrested and is helping police with their inquiries.

Detectives are keen to speak to two women who were in the area at the time of the assault.

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The BBC’s Gill McGivering travels on a US military helicopter carrying aid to the Pakistani city of Kallam

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Holyhead RNLI lifeboat braved gale-force winds and “horrendous” sea conditions to bring a yacht with four people on board back to port.

The skipper of the 33ft boat put out a may day call at 1130 BST on Sunday when he was about three miles west of South Stack lighthouse, Anglesey.

The lifeboat crew had just returned from training when they were tasked with finding and returning the yacht.

Three men man were on board and a teenager celebrating his 13th birthday.

RNLI spokesman Ray Steadman said: “It was horrendous sea conditions.

“At some points the lifeboat could not even see the 33ft boat. In those sea conditions it was disappearing in the swell, although it was not taking water on board.

“The lifeboat was able to spot them fairly rapidly.

“But because of the nature of the weather, it took a lot longer to bring the vessel to Holyhead harbour, where it was heading.

“The crew were very relieved to be on dry land.

“They were invited up to the lifeboat station for warm drinks and to make sure everything was okay. They were very grateful for that.”

Mr Steadman said the rescued vessel, the Brakesea Light, was returning to the north west of England after a six-week voyage down to Spain.

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House star Hugh Laurie among the top British hopes at the Emmy television awards in the US on Sunday night.

The Blackadder star is the only Briton in an outstanding actor category which includes Lost star Matthew Fox and Mad Men’s John Hamm.

Sir Ian McKellen and Michael Sheen are also in the running for an acting award for their work in The Prisoner and The Special Relationship respectively.

Dame Judi Dench and Dame Maggie Smith are also nominated for acting.

Dame Judi is recognised for her work in Cranford, while Dame Maggie is nominated for Capturing Mary.

Dame Judi has previously been shortlisted by the Emmys for her Cranford role in 2008.

Laurie’s Emmy nomination is his fourth for his role as curmudgeonly doctor Gregory House.

He has already won two Golden Globes for the show – in which he has starred since 2004.

Sheen’s third outing as former British prime minister Tony Blair has earned him his first Emmy nomination, for The Special Relationship.

It is an account of the close working bond between Mr Blair and former US president Bill Clinton. Dennis Quaid, who portrayed President Clinton, is also up for an acting award.

The film was written for TV by Peter Morgan, the screenwriter of The Queen and Frost/Nixon. Morgan is nominated for an award in the mini-series writing category.

Other actors flying the flag for the UK include Sir Patrick Stewart and Sir Michael Gambon – both up for best supporting actor in a mini-series.

The Pacific, a World War II mini-series about the US Marine Corps has the most nominations, with 24.

Glee, a musical series set in a high school, has 19 and Mad Men – which is shown on BBC Four in the UK – has 17.

George Clooney will be presented with a Humanitarian Emmy for organizing the Help For Haiti Telethon earlier this year.

The 62nd Emmy Awards will take place in Los Angeles.

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A Sinn Fein councillor has claimed a woman in her late 50s was punched and thrown to the ground by marchers as she tried to cross a parade in Ballymena on Saturday.

Monica Digney said the woman was taken to hospital after the attack and has been left traumatised.

The police have confirmed that they are investigating a report that a woman was assaulted during Saturday’s parade.

Ms Digney said she visited the woman following the attack.

“I was shocked at what I saw. This lady, who is almost 60-years-old and who suffers from ill health was trembling with fear and clearly traumatised by this frightening experience,” she said.

“She had bruising to her face and her wrist and several fingers were heavily strapped.”

Ms Digney said the woman was crossing the road near the junction of Broughshane Street and William Street when a gap appeared in the parade.

“She was grabbed by a man wearing a Black Institution sash who attempted to stop her.

“She managed to break free but as she reached the kerb she was grabbed by the coat and punched on the face by another male,” she added.

“A third struck her as she fell to the ground and subjected her to a barrage of sectarian abuse.

“All three wore Black Institution regalia and were part of the parade.”

Ms Digney said she will be asking for a meeting with the local PSNI commander to discuss the incident.

Thousands of members of the Royal Black Institution took part in parades on Saturday across Northern Ireland.

The last Saturday in August is traditionally the most important day in the Royal Black Institution’s year.

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Darren Bent strikes an injury-time penalty to give Sunderland a dramatic win over Manchester City, who are left to rue an amazing Carlos Tevez miss.

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Fernando Torres volleys in to give an unconvincing Liverpool victory over West Brom at Anfield.

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Three Pakistan cricket players have been questioned by police over claims they were involved in a betting scam, the team manager has said.

Yawar Saeed said police had taken three players’ mobile phones. Cricket was not “institutionally corrupt” in Pakistan, he said, and the claims were unproven.

The News of the World claims it paid a middleman for details of three no-balls later bowled by Pakistan as predicted.

England won the match at Lord’s on the fourth morning on Sunday.

Scotland Yard said a 35-year-old man was being held on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud bookmakers.

The allegations relate to three no-balls delivered by Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif on Thursday and Friday. A no-ball occurs when a bowler oversteps the line behind which balls should be delivered.

After the match, Pakistan’s captain Salman Butt told a news conference he and his team-mates had “given our best”.

“I would say that everybody in this team has given 100%.”

Mr Saeed said Mr Amir, Mr Asif and Mr Butt had all had their mobile phones taken away by detectives.

The police inquiries come after the News of the World claimed that in exchange for £150,000, a middleman gave it details of three no-balls which players later bowled at the predicted times.

The paper claims that Pakistani players were secretly paid to deliberately bowl the no-balls so gambling syndicates could bet on them and make money.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Yousef Raza Gilani said the allegations made his country “bow its head in shame”.

He has asked his government’s Ministry of Sport to conduct an inquiry.

Pakistan’s Sports Minister Ijaz Jakhrani said any players found guilty would face life bans.

“We will take strict action, but first we will have to look at the inquiry report [from the British police] and once it is out and implicates someone then we will give exemplary punishment,” he said.

If any wrongdoing was proven, he said “all the players involved must forget to play for Pakistan in the future”.

England’s victory by an innings and 225 runs on Sunday gave them a 3-1 series win.

England captain Andrew Strauss said the allegations had “removed the gloss” from his side’s victory.

“The mood was rather sombre. Cricket was in the headlines for the worst of reasons,” he added.

“I can’t really comment on the specific allegations, but clearly it has been a tough day.”

The forthcoming one-day internationals and Twenty20 matches against England would continue as normal, he said.

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Thousands of Indonesians have been forced to flee after a volcano erupted on the island of Sumatra.

Officials issued a red alert after Mount Sinabung began to spew lava shortly after midnight (1900 GMT).

Smoke and ash reportedly shot 1,500m into the air, and witnesses said they could see lava from the volcano from several miles away.

Mount Sinabung, some 60km (40 miles) south-west of Sumatra’s main city Medan, has not erupted for 400 years.

The volcano had been pumping out smoke all day Saturday, but alert levels had not been raised, and local media reported that villagers had been taken by surprise.

The Medan Tribune quoted one local resident as saying he panicked and ran when he saw lava coming towards his him “like a ball of fire”.

Priyadi Kardono from Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency told the BBC that more than 10,000 people were being evacuated from nearby villages.

But he added that some had already gone home as volcanic activity was decreasing.

Surono, head of the nation’s volcano disaster alert centre, told AFP news agency that the alert level had been raised to red because the situation was “clearly dangerous”.

“Initially we thought the ash and smoke were triggered by rain but now we know the driving pressure was from magma,” he said.

The Indonesian archipelago lies on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” and has at least 129 active volcanoes.

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The mother of a Cheshire teenager who was left severely brain damaged by the MMR vaccine has won a compensation award from the government.

Robert Fletcher, 18, from Warrington, suffered a fit 10 days after he had the vaccination when he was 13 months old.

His mother Jackie received the £90,000 payout from a medical assessment panel last week.

The family successfully appealed after their application for compensation was originally turned down in 1997.

They had originally applied through the Government’s Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme.

Robert has frequent epileptic fits, is unable to talk, stand unaided or feed himself, but is not autistic.

Mrs Fletcher always believed that her son’s epilepsy was triggered by the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine.

The ruling and compensation award was made by a jury made up of a judge and two doctors.

It said the ruling had no relevance to the question of a link between the vaccine and autism.

Dr Andrew Wakefield was the lead author of the controversial study, published in The Lancet in 1998, which suggested there may be a link between MMR and autism and bowel disease.

His comments and the subsequent media furore led to a sharp drop in the number of children vaccinated against these diseases.

The study has since been discredited and The Lancet has said it should not have run it.

Mrs Fletcher has campaigned for justice for her son for the past 16 years.

She said: “I feel vindicated by it because over the years I’ve been labelled anti-vaccine and a scaremonger and all sorts of things, when all I’ve been trying to do is highlight what’s happened to my son, to help safeguard other parents’ children.

“What I’m hoping now is that other parents whose children have suffered a similar reaction to Robert can maybe go down the same route that we’ve gone down to achieve justice for their children.”

A Department of Health spokesperson said: “This decision reflects the opinion of a tribunal on the specific facts of the case and they were clear that it should not be seen as a precedent for any other case.

“The safety of MMR has been endorsed through numerous studies in many countries. Thankfully, more parents are having their children vaccinated with MMR and consider it as safe as other childhood vaccines.”

He added: “MMR vaccine has been used extensively and safely around the world for over 30 years. Over 500 million doses have been given in over 100 countries.

“The World Health Organisation recognises MMR as being a ‘highly effective vaccine which has (such) an outstanding safety record’.

“Parents and carers should continue to get their children immunised when called to do so.”

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An Aboriginal man has been elected to Australia’s House of Representatives, becoming the first indigenous MP in the country’s history.

Ken Wyatt, 57, took the seat of Hasluck in Western Australia for the centre-right Liberal Party.

Neither the Liberals nor the governing Labor Party gained enough seats at last week’s election for a majority.

Mr Wyatt has dismissed the racist hate mail he received, saying it was time for Australia to move forward.