Samsung sets sights on iPad mini with new Galaxy Note 8.0 tablet

Samsung (005930) is finally gaining some momentum in the tablet market after a slow start with the original Galaxy Tab, which launched in late 2010. The South Korean consumer electronics giant now has a number of slates available in the 7- and 10-inch ranges, but Apple’s (AAPL) 8-inch iPad mini opened new doors for mid-size tablets following its release this past November. Samsung was already putting a mid-range tablet together when the iPad mini debuted last year, and now the company is finally ready to take the wraps off its latest Note series device: The Galaxy Note 8.0.

[More from BGR: BlackBerry 10 browser smokes iOS 6 and Windows Phone 8 in comparison test [video]]

With a footprint that measures 8.3 inches by 5.4 inches, the Galaxy Note 8.0 can be used comfortably with one hand but provides much more screen real estate than a 7-inch tablet. As this slate falls into Samsung’s Note lineup, it also includes an S Pen stylus and an updated suite of stylus-ready apps.

[More from BGR: The end of unlimited BBM could erode BlackBerry’s standing in emerging markets]

Samsung’s new 8-inch Note slides perfectly into the gap between the Galaxy Note II and the Galaxy Note 10.1. “It’s the best of both worlds,” Samsung Mobile’s director of product planning Shoneel Kolhatkar said during a briefing.

Key specs include an 8-inch 1280 x 800-pixel TFT display, a 1.6GHz quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, 32GB or 64GB of internal storage, microSDXC support, a 4,600 mAh battery, Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean and a sleek case that is 25% thinner that the Galaxy Note 10.1. The Note 8.0 also includes an integrated 3G antenna, but a Wi-Fi-only version will be available shortly after the 3G version launches.

While Samsung focused mainly on the consumer market with the first Galaxy Note tablet, The Note 8.0 is as much about enterprise as it is about consumers. ”The next big thing is being extended to business,” Samsung Electronics’ marketing boss Travis Merrill told reporters at a recent meeting in New York City. Great features like the ability to run multiple apps at once in different windows extends the slate’s utility in a business environment, and Samsung’s “SAFE” certification means the tablet is secure.

Other intriguing features include a new “Readers Mode,” which conserves battery, dims the screen and changes the tablet’s contrast settings to make it a great eReader, and a host of new second screen features that make the Note 8.0 a solid TV companion.

The Galaxy Note 8.0 will launch in a number of markets around the world including the United States beginning in the second quarter this year. Pricing has not yet been announced.

Samsung’s full press release follows below, and be sure to check out our hands-on impressions of Samsung’s new Galaxy Note 8.0 tablet.

INTRODUCING THE GALAXY NOTE 8.0,
A NEW ERA OF PORTABILITY AND EVERYDAY PRODUCTIVITY

SEOUL, Korea [February 24, 2011] – Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, a global leader in digital media and digital convergence technologies, today announced the launch of the 8 inch tablet, the GALAXY Note 8.0; a new era of intelligent Note technology set to re-ignite the mid-size tablet category that Samsung established in 2010. Providing unrivalled multimedia performance within a compact one-hand-grip screen, the GALAXY Note 8.0 has the power and advanced technology to evolve the tablet experience and ensure you achieve new levels of efficient multi-tasking while benefitting from superb voice call functionality*. Furthermore, the intelligent S Pen brings together the latest innovation and the ease of using a traditional pen and paper; creating a sophisticated mobile experience that will enhance life on the go.

“Back in 2010 the launch of the first Samsung GALAXY Tab with 7 inch screen opened a new chapter in the mobile industry. Now almost three years later, Samsung continues to evolve the sector that meets the demands of modern life.” said JK Shin, President of the IT & Mobile Communications Division at Samsung Electronics.

“The GALAXY Note 8.0 breaths fresh life into the category as it delivers the perfect fusion of portability and everyday productivity – the result is a pioneering, pocket-sized solution that enhances and enriches our everyday lives, whether at work or play,” added Shin.

At the core of the GALAXY Note 8.0’s innovative solutions are beneficial functions, including multi-window options to split the portable 8inch screen and allow optimal access to a number of live applications; a new generation of Samsung’s intelligent S Pen with advanced usability; access to a suite of S Note templates and tools that allow you to create, edit, manage and share everyday documents; the Samsung “reading mode” technology to enjoy e books with optimized resolution, video and voice calls*. In addition, a suite of exciting new content and services are pre-loaded for users at no additional cost including, for the very first time on Samsung GALAXY tablet, the innovative Flipboard, and Awesome Note.

A smart diary for life on the go

Slim and compact enough to become the perfect on-the-go work and play companion, the GALAXY Note 8.0 brings powerful performance and functionality to support even the most demanding of lifestyles. Designed to store and manage your personal and professional data efficiently, the new era device gives users the perfect pocket-sized hands-on organizational tool. Practical S Note templates and S Planner feature help to manage everyday tasks, including meeting notes, to-do lists and even personal diary entries. All content can be entered and updated with the finest of detail thanks to the evolution of the intelligent Samsung S Pen. Enhanced precision is offered with Handwriting-to-Text conversion and advanced Productivity Tools that support formula and shape recognition are now available at the touch of your S Pen.

New content and services

GALAXY Note 8.0 is packed with pre-loaded content and apps specifically for the value maximizing, mass multimedia consumer. Upgraded Chat-On provides easy instant messaging and group chatting in multiple formats – images, video, voice, contacts – for simple, enjoyable communication. Awesome Note, an integrated application that is introduced in android tablet for the first time with NOTE 8.0, is capable of unlimited note-taking uses including Memo, Diary and Must-remember lists. With Flipboard, your news, social network and other feeds come together in one stylish, flippable format so you can enjoy all your news and life’s great moments in one place. Flipboard developed a customized version of its application exclusively for Samsung that allows users to take the S Pen’s hover feature and preview article headers beneath Flipboard’s main screen tiles. Finally, Smart Remote, gives you a universal remote control and electronic programming guide allowing you to manage TV and video watching seamlessly.

A new age of S Pen intelligence

Optimized to aid personalized creativity, the Samsung S Pen has evolved to increase everyday usability and enhance creation expression. Embedded within the tablet, the S Pen is an extension of the GALAXY Note 8.0. Removing the S Pen from the device will automatically launch innovative features such as Pen Detection that will suggest adapted menus that it thinks you’ll need and Page Buddy, a feature that will intuitively activate your most recently adapted S Note home screen.

S Pen technology is now so advanced that it doesn’t even have to touch the screen. With Air View, the S Pen needs only to hover over the screen to see previews of videos, emails, photos and appointments on SPlanner without opening the file or application in full. S Pen Gesture allows images and content to be easily edited and cropped, whilst Paper Artist and Photo Note allow photos to be artistically personalized.

In addition, for the very first time in GALAXY NOTE category, you can use S Pen to control the physical menu/back buttons on the device with WACOM technology.

Maximizing mass multimedia consumption

Creative multi-tasking with the GALAXY Note 8.0 is effortless due to innovative Dual View feature, two multi window options that seamlessly allow you to facilitate multi-screen usage. Dual View’s split screen accommodates optimal operation of different apps, such as launching the S Note on the web browser screen and allowing content to be resized, dragged and dropped as required.

Multi-tasking is extended to phone calls*. Pop Up Note allows you to access S Note at any time to keep track of key actions and Pop Up Video ensures you can keep surfing the web whilst chatting – content windows can be easily resized by pinching to enlarge or reduce.

Perfect info-tainment partner

Packed with features to engage, entertain and excite, the GALAXY Note 8.0 supports your practical everyday needs. Reading Mode transforms the GALAXY Note 8.0 into an e-Book reader, provides the optimal reading conditions to ensure you can curl up and enjoy a good book. You can even turn it into a universal remote control with Smart Remote, to seamlessly manage TVs, set-up boxes, DVD & Blu-ray players.

This article was originally published on BGR.com

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Insurgents Launch 4 Attacks in Afghanistan

KABUL — Afghan intelligence agents on Sunday shot and killed a man in a sport utility vehicle that officials said had been packed with explosives, foiling what they described as an attempt to set off a massive explosion in a neighborhood of narrow streets lined with foreign embassies.

At about the same time, Taliban suicide attackers set off three separate car bombs in two provinces near the capital. But the bombs did minimal damage,  officials said, and the toll from the Sunday violence was low. In addition to the two attackers and the suspect, two security guards and a police officer were also killed and five other people wounded, including one attacker who managed to flee.

A spokesman for the Taliban, Zabiullah Mujahid, said the insurgents were behind the three successful bombings. But he disavowed knowledge of the attempt in Kabul, saying Taliban commanders in the city had no plans for an attack on Sunday.

While it is not unusual for the Taliban to deny having a hand in a failed attack, much about the attempted bombing Sunday remained murky, with officials hailing Afghan security forces for acting quickly but offering only the barest details about how the man identified as a bomber was spotted.

The police chief of Kabul, Gen. Mohammed Ayoub Salangi, said the suspect was in a Toyota sport utility vehicle and was trying to pass through a checkpoint when he was recognized by agents from the country’s intelligence service, the National Directorate of Security.

The man “was gunned down,” General Salangi said. The agents had to act quickly, he added, saying that there was no time to inspect the vehicle or question the suspect because that would have given him the chance to detonate the explosives.

General Salangi, who in an earlier statement said there were two men in the car, did not say how or why the agents recognized the man. But he added that the car bomb was quickly defused and carted away.

The bombing attempt, in the Wazir Akbar Khan neighborhood, led some embassies to did briefly lock down the streets on which they are located and on which they control security. The spot where the man was shot were was less than a mile from the United States Embassy and the headquarters of the American-led coalition, neither of which offered any comment.

Earlier in the day, in Jalalabad, a city in eastern Afghanistan, a single bomber in a Toyota Corolla directly targeted the Security Directorate, officials said, detonating his explosive-laden vehicle outside a building used by the intelligence agency. Two guards were killed and a third was wounded, said Hazrat Mohammad Mashraqiwal, a police spokesman in Jalalabad.

Later on Sunday, two people in another car laden with explosives tried to enter the district governor’s compound in Baraki Barak district of Logar Province, south of Kabul. But they were stopped by police officers guarding the compound, prompting one man to jump and make a run for it and the other to set off the car bomb, said Abdul Rahim Amin, the governor.

One police officer was wounded in the attack, along with the man who fled.

Earlier in Logar, around dawn, a minivan packed with explosives was set off at a police post near the provincial capital, Pul-e-Alam. One officer was killed and two others wounded, an official said.

Sharifullah Sahak contributed reporting.

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See the Mini Balenciaga Bag Kim Kardashian Gifted Niece Penelope

Mom & Babies
Celebrity Baby Blog

02/22/2013 at 05:00 PM ET

Mom Kourtney Kardashian has one! Aunts Kim and Khloé own one too. And now Penelope Disick is the latest family member to add Balenciaga‘s chic city tote to her closet.

“Penelope is wearing the little Balenciaga bag that I got her for Christmas!” Kim posted on Instagram Friday, along with an adorable photo of the mom-to-be with her 7½-month-old niece and her mini yellow handbag.

Is Kim gearing up for her little one? If she has a little girl, we have no doubt her wardrobe will be the envy of the playground. Although the expectant reality star recently revealed that if it’s up to dad-to-be Kanye West, their baby will be wearing lots of “big chains and leather pants.”

And to be fair, Penelope wasn’t the only Kardashian-Jenner kid to receive luxe fashions for Christmas. Kylie and Kendall also scored during the holidays.

Courtesy Kim Kardashian; Inset: Rex USA

– Shanelle Rein-Olowokere

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FDA approves new targeted breast cancer drug

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a first-of-a-kind breast cancer medication that targets tumor cells while sparing healthy ones.

The drug Kadcyla from Roche combines the established drug Herceptin with a powerful chemotherapy drug and a third chemical linking the medicines together. The chemical keeps the cocktail intact until it binds to a cancer cell, delivering a potent dose of anti-tumor poison.

Cancer researchers say the drug is an important step forward because it delivers more medication while reducing the unpleasant side effects of chemotherapy.

"This antibody goes seeking out the tumor cells, gets internalized and then explodes them from within. So it's very kind and gentle on the patients — there's no hair loss, no nausea, no vomiting," said Dr. Melody Cobleigh of Rush University Medical Center. "It's a revolutionary way of treating cancer."

Cobleigh helped conduct the key studies of the drug at the Chicago facility.

The FDA approved the new treatment for about 20 percent of breast cancer patients with a form of the disease that is typically more aggressive and less responsive to hormone therapy. These patients have tumors that overproduce a protein known as HER-2. Breast cancer is the second most deadly form of cancer in U.S. women, and is expected to kill more than 39,000 Americans this year, according to the National Cancer Institute.

The approval will help Roche's Genentech unit build on the blockbuster success of Herceptin, which has long dominated the breast cancer marketplace. The drug had sales of roughly $6 billion last year.

Genentech said Friday that Kadcyla will cost $9,800 per month, compared to $4,500 per month for regular Herceptin. The company estimates a full course of Kadcyla, about nine months of medicine, will cost $94,000.

FDA scientists said they approved the drug based on company studies showing Kadcyla delayed the progression of breast cancer by several months. Researchers reported last year that patients treated with the drug lived 9.6 months before death or the spread of their disease, compared with a little more than six months for patients treated with two other standard drugs, Tykerb and Xeloda.

Overall, patients taking Kadcyla lived about 2.6 years, compared with 2 years for patients taking the other drugs.

FDA specifically approved the drug for patients with advanced breast cancer who have already been treated with Herceptin and taxane, a widely used chemotherapy drug. Doctors are not required to follow FDA prescribing guidelines, and cancer researchers say the drug could have great potential in patients with earlier forms of breast cancer

Kadcyla will carry a boxed warning, the most severe type, alerting doctors and patients that the drug can cause liver toxicity, heart problems and potentially death. The drug can also cause severe birth defects and should not be used by pregnant women.

Kadcyla was developed by South San Francisco-based Genentech using drug-binding technology licensed from Waltham, Mass.-based ImmunoGen. The company developed the chemical that keeps the drug cocktail together and is scheduled to receive a $10.5 million payment from Genentech on the FDA decision. The company will also receive additional royalties on the drug's sales.

Shares of ImmunoGen Inc. rose 2 cents to $14.32 in afternoon trading. The stock has ttraded in a 52-wek range of $10.85 to $18.10.

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Investors face another Washington deadline

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors face another Washington-imposed deadline on government spending cuts next week, but it's not generating the same level of fear as two months ago when the "fiscal cliff" loomed large.

Investors in sectors most likely to be affected by the cuts, like defense, seem untroubled that the budget talks could send stocks tumbling.

Talks on the U.S. budget crisis began again this week leading up to the March 1 deadline for the so-called sequestration when $85 billion in automatic federal spending cuts are scheduled to take effect.

"It's at this point a political hot button in Washington but a very low level investor concern," said Fred Dickson, chief market strategist at D.A. Davidson & Co. in Lake Oswego, Oregon. The fight pits President Barack Obama and fellow Democrats against congressional Republicans.

Stocks rallied in early January after a compromise temporarily avoided the fiscal cliff, and the Standard & Poor's 500 index <.spx> has risen 6.3 percent since the start of the year.

But the benchmark index lost steam this week, posting its first week of losses since the start of the year. Minutes on Wednesday from the last Federal Reserve meeting, which suggested the central bank may slow or stop its stimulus policy sooner than expected, provided the catalyst.

National elections in Italy on Sunday and Monday could also add to investor concern. Most investors expect a government headed by Pier Luigi Bersani to win and continue with reforms to tackle Italy's debt problems. However, a resurgence by former leader Silvio Berlusconi has raised doubts.

"Europe has been in the last six months less of a topic for the stock market, but the problems haven't gone away. This may bring back investor attention to that," said Kim Forrest, senior equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh.

OPTIONS BULLS TARGET GAINS

The spending cuts, if they go ahead, could hit the defense industry particularly hard.

Yet in the options market, bulls were targeting gains in Lockheed Martin Corp , the Pentagon's biggest supplier.

Calls on the stock far outpaced puts, suggesting that many investors anticipate the stock to move higher. Overall options volume on the stock was 2.8 times the daily average with 17,000 calls and 3,360 puts traded, according to options analytics firm Trade Alert.

"The upside call buying in Lockheed solidifies the idea that option investors are not pricing in a lot of downside risk in most defense stocks from the likely impact of sequestration," said Jared Woodard, a founder of research and advisory firm condoroptions.com in Forest, Virginia.

The stock ended up 0.6 percent at $88.12 on Friday.

If lawmakers fail to reach an agreement on reducing the U.S. budget deficit in the next few days, a sequester would include significant cuts in defense spending. Companies such as General Dynamics Corp and Smith & Wesson Holding Corp could be affected.

General Dynamics Corp shares rose 1.2 percent to $67.32 and Smith & Wesson added 4.6 percent to $9.18 on Friday.

EYES ON GDP DATA, APPLE

The latest data on fourth-quarter U.S. gross domestic product is expected on Thursday, and some analysts predict an upward revision following trade data that showed America's deficit shrank in December to its narrowest in nearly three years.

U.S. GDP unexpectedly contracted in the fourth quarter, according to an earlier government estimate, but analysts said there was no reason for panic, given that consumer spending and business investment picked up.

Investors will be looking for any hints of changes in the Fed's policy of monetary easing when Fed Chairman Ben Bernake speaks before congressional committees on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Shares of Apple will be watched closely next week when the company's annual stockholders' meeting is held.

On Friday, a U.S. judge handed outspoken hedge fund manager David Einhorn a victory in his battle with the iPhone maker, blocking the company from moving forward with a shareholder vote on a controversial proposal to limit the company's ability to issue preferred stock.

(Additional reporting by Doris Frankel; Editing by Kenneth Barry)

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AIG, HP, Abercrombie, Zynga are big movers

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks that moved substantially or traded heavily Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq Stock Market:

NYSE

American International Group Inc., up $ 1.17 at $ 38.45

The insurer posted a $ 4 billion loss at the end of 2012 on costs from Sandy, but its operating profit topped Wall Street expectations.

Hewlett-Packard Co., up $ 2.10 at $ 19.20

The latest quarter showed some progress at the PC maker, which has been struggling with a shift toward smartphones and tablets.

Abercrombie & Fitch Co., down $ 2.19 at $ 46.86

The teen clothing retailer’s profit rose during the holiday quarter, but sales trends deteriorated. It plans to close up to 50 U.S. stores.

Rackspace Hosting Inc., down 74 cents at $ 54.59

The website hosting company is cutting prices for its cloud bandwidth by one-third and setting tiered prices for other services.

Nasdaq

Zynga Inc., up 23 cents at $ 3.19

The online games maker could be closer to offering lucrative gambling games in the U.S. after a Nevada law legalized online gambling.

Aruba Networks Inc., up $ 4.60 at $ 25.40

The maker of equipment for wireless networks reverted to a profit and posted higher revenue in its latest quarter as demand grew.

WebMD Health Corp., up $ 4.14 at $ 20.44

The health website predicted another sales decline for this year, but the drop was not as steep as Wall Street expected.

Charter Communications Inc., up $ 7.99 at $ 85.02

New customers and more video and advertising sales helped the cable TV provider narrow its fourth-quarter loss.

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India Ink: In Hyderabad, Anger and Frustration

Srinivas Mahesh, 28, was snacking outside his hostel near the Konark Theater in Dishknagar, his usual hangout in Hyderabad, when he heard a loud explosion Thursday evening. Not long after, he saw smoke filling up the air. Once he realized it was a bomb blast, instead of rushing back to his hostel he resolved to helping the injured.

“I saw disfigured bodies for the first time in my life,” he said. He helped three severely injured people into ambulances and took another injured man by auto to Osmania Hospital.

Mr. Mahesh, who is originally from Kurnool, came to Hyderabad two years ago to do a graduation in engineering from Ashok Institute in Dilsukhnagar. After yesterday’s blasts though, he might have to return home.

“My parents were visiting Hyderabad in 2007, when there were blasts. They had a tough time then,” he said. “After yesterday, they are convinced that this city is cursed and want me home.”

More than 24 hours after two bombs went off near the ever-crowded Dilsukhnagar bus stand, there is palpable frustration and anger in the area. N.Pradeep Reddy, 29, a chartered accountant who lives in Dilsukhnagar, heard the first blast and came to the balcony of his house. Then he saw the second explosion. Aghast, he couldn’t move for several seconds, he said.

Mr. Reddy’s family has been in Hyderabad for 10 years now, but now he is disillusioned with the charm of the city, he said. “No one cares for our lives here – not the politicians, not the media not the police,” he added.

Hyderabad has been the site of numerous explosions in recent years, including two in 2007 attacks that killed dozens of people.

Soon after Thursday’s blasts, the road in front of the Dilsukhnagar bus stand had a median dividing it into two. While traffic was allowed on one side, the other side of the road was cordoned off by the police.

“This is obstructing traffic and adding to the commotion,” said P. Sadanandam, who commutes through the road regularly. “They are not doing this for security, it is just so that the VIPs can visit the blast site and have a photo-op,” he said angrily.

Andhra Pradesh Director General of Police and other senior police officers visited the at blast site today to look for evidence.

All the shops on a two kilometer stretch on the Dilsukhnagar main road were shuttered down all day today. Some security men outside the shops said that this was not due to the bandh, or shutdown, that the Bharatiya Janata Party had called, but because the shop owners were sure that there would be no customers today. They might open on Monday, they said.

Narsing Vennala, 25, sells flowers on the main road. He is one of the only three flower vendors who reopened their shops today. A temple next door needs flowers, he said, and therefore he had to come to work.

His 18-year-old sister is so paranoid about his coming to work a day after the blasts that she keeps calling him every half-an-hour to check if he is alright.  Mr Vennala walks home at 11 p.m. every night, and he plans to do the same even today.

“Whatever had to happen, happened,” he said. “Now how long can we stay hungry and not earn because of that?”

“Bharat mata ki jai,” (Victory for mother India) was loudly shouted by a bunch of residents. They said that was their answer to those that were against peace in the country.  There was also some anti-Pakistan sloganeering.

One resident estimated that there were 500 to 600 educational institutions in Dilsukhnagar. They have offerings ranging from short-term computer courses to three-year degrees. Thousands of students, from smaller towns and neighboring districts, live in hostels around their respective institutions. Many of them were on the streets yesterday to help the injured.

While some students don’t see any option but to stay in the city, others, like Mr. Mahesh, are packing their bags.

“I have to go home, even if I don’t like to,” he said “My family will be worried every day I stay in Hyderabad.”

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Courtney Lopez: Gia Thinks Our Dog Is Having a Baby

Mom & Babies
Celebrity Baby Blog

02/22/2013 at 01:00 PM ET

Denise Truscello/Wireimage

Mario Lopez is a man of his word.

Following a December wedding, the EXTRA host declared he and wife Courtney would get to work expanding their family immediately — and he wasn’t kidding.

In January, the couple discovered they were indeed expecting.

“Mario and I are so excited to add to our family! I found out a month ago and surprised Mario with the good news at breakfast,” Courtney tells PEOPLE.

But the proud parents aren’t the only ones gearing up for a new addition. Big sister Gia Francesca, 2, already has babies on the brain.

“Gia kind of understands that there is a baby in my belly,” Courtney notes. “She also told me our dog Julio has a baby in his belly — so who knows!”

Despite a bumpy start — “I had a rough couple of weeks when I first found out,” she shares — the mom-to-be is feeling better and already sporting quite the blossoming belly. “I am showing so much faster this time around,” she says.

And with warmer weather on the way, Courtney will be swathing her bump in floor-length frocks — but plans on forgoing a few fashion ensembles from her past.

“I love being pregnant in the summer! I live in maxi dresses,” she says. “Looking back at my first pregnancy, there are certain things that I wore and I have no idea why. I looked horrible and I won’t do that again!”

Originally from Pittsburgh, the expectant mama is thrilled to have settled down with her growing family on the West Coast. Her only wish? That her children will one day enjoy a winter wonderland.

“I don’t miss the East Coast at all — especially the humidity,” she explains. “The one thing I do want my children to experience from an early age is snow. There is nothing like being a kid playing in the snow.”

– Anya Leon

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FDA approves new targeted breast cancer drug

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration has approved a first-of-a-kind breast cancer medication that targets tumor cells while sparing healthy ones.

The drug Kadcyla from Roche combines the established drug Herceptin with a powerful chemotherapy drug and a third chemical linking the medicines together. The chemical keeps the cocktail intact until it binds to a cancer cell, delivering a potent dose of anti-tumor poison.

Cancer researchers say the drug is an important step forward because it delivers more medication while reducing the unpleasant side effects of chemotherapy.

"This antibody goes seeking out the tumor cells, gets internalized and then explodes them from within. So it's very kind and gentle on the patients — there's no hair loss, no nausea, no vomiting," said Dr. Melody Cobleigh of Rush University Medical Center. "It's a revolutionary way of treating cancer."

Cobleigh helped conduct the key studies of the drug at the Chicago facility.

The FDA approved the new treatment for about 20 percent of breast cancer patients with a form of the disease that is typically more aggressive and less responsive to hormone therapy. These patients have tumors that overproduce a protein known as HER-2. Breast cancer is the second most deadly form of cancer in U.S. women, and is expected to kill more than 39,000 Americans this year, according to the National Cancer Institute.

The approval will help Roche's Genentech unit build on the blockbuster success of Herceptin, which has long dominated the breast cancer marketplace. The drug had sales of roughly $6 billion last year.

Genentech said Friday that Kadcyla will cost $9,800 per month, compared to $4,500 per month for regular Herceptin. The company estimates a full course of Kadcyla, about nine months of medicine, will cost $94,000.

FDA scientists said they approved the drug based on company studies showing Kadcyla delayed the progression of breast cancer by several months. Researchers reported last year that patients treated with the drug lived 9.6 months before death or the spread of their disease, compared with a little more than six months for patients treated with two other standard drugs, Tykerb and Xeloda.

Overall, patients taking Kadcyla lived about 2.6 years, compared with 2 years for patients taking the other drugs.

FDA specifically approved the drug for patients with advanced breast cancer who have already been treated with Herceptin and taxane, a widely used chemotherapy drug. Doctors are not required to follow FDA prescribing guidelines, and cancer researchers say the drug could have great potential in patients with earlier forms of breast cancer

Kadcyla will carry a boxed warning, the most severe type, alerting doctors and patients that the drug can cause liver toxicity, heart problems and potentially death. The drug can also cause severe birth defects and should not be used by pregnant women.

Kadcyla was developed by South San Francisco-based Genentech using drug-binding technology licensed from Waltham, Mass.-based ImmunoGen. The company developed the chemical that keeps the drug cocktail together and is scheduled to receive a $10.5 million payment from Genentech on the FDA decision. The company will also receive additional royalties on the drug's sales.

Shares of ImmunoGen Inc. rose 2 cents to $14.32 in afternoon trading. The stock has ttraded in a 52-wek range of $10.85 to $18.10.

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Investors face another Washington deadline

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors face another Washington-imposed deadline on government spending cuts next week, but it's not generating the same level of fear as two months ago when the "fiscal cliff" loomed large.

Investors in sectors most likely to be affected by the cuts, like defense, seem untroubled that the budget talks could send stocks tumbling.

Talks on the U.S. budget crisis began again this week leading up to the March 1 deadline for the so-called sequestration when $85 billion in automatic federal spending cuts are scheduled to take effect.

"It's at this point a political hot button in Washington but a very low level investor concern," said Fred Dickson, chief market strategist at D.A. Davidson & Co. in Lake Oswego, Oregon. The fight pits President Barack Obama and fellow Democrats against congressional Republicans.

Stocks rallied in early January after a compromise temporarily avoided the fiscal cliff, and the Standard & Poor's 500 index <.spx> has risen 6.3 percent since the start of the year.

But the benchmark index lost steam this week, posting its first week of losses since the start of the year. Minutes on Wednesday from the last Federal Reserve meeting, which suggested the central bank may slow or stop its stimulus policy sooner than expected, provided the catalyst.

National elections in Italy on Sunday and Monday could also add to investor concern. Most investors expect a government headed by Pier Luigi Bersani to win and continue with reforms to tackle Italy's debt problems. However, a resurgence by former leader Silvio Berlusconi has raised doubts.

"Europe has been in the last six months less of a topic for the stock market, but the problems haven't gone away. This may bring back investor attention to that," said Kim Forrest, senior equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh.

OPTIONS BULLS TARGET GAINS

The spending cuts, if they go ahead, could hit the defense industry particularly hard.

Yet in the options market, bulls were targeting gains in Lockheed Martin Corp , the Pentagon's biggest supplier.

Calls on the stock far outpaced puts, suggesting that many investors anticipate the stock to move higher. Overall options volume on the stock was 2.8 times the daily average with 17,000 calls and 3,360 puts traded, according to options analytics firm Trade Alert.

"The upside call buying in Lockheed solidifies the idea that option investors are not pricing in a lot of downside risk in most defense stocks from the likely impact of sequestration," said Jared Woodard, a founder of research and advisory firm condoroptions.com in Forest, Virginia.

The stock ended up 0.6 percent at $88.12 on Friday.

If lawmakers fail to reach an agreement on reducing the U.S. budget deficit in the next few days, a sequester would include significant cuts in defense spending. Companies such as General Dynamics Corp and Smith & Wesson Holding Corp could be affected.

General Dynamics Corp shares rose 1.2 percent to $67.32 and Smith & Wesson added 4.6 percent to $9.18 on Friday.

EYES ON GDP DATA, APPLE

The latest data on fourth-quarter U.S. gross domestic product is expected on Thursday, and some analysts predict an upward revision following trade data that showed America's deficit shrank in December to its narrowest in nearly three years.

U.S. GDP unexpectedly contracted in the fourth quarter, according to an earlier government estimate, but analysts said there was no reason for panic, given that consumer spending and business investment picked up.

Investors will be looking for any hints of changes in the Fed's policy of monetary easing when Fed Chairman Ben Bernake speaks before congressional committees on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Shares of Apple will be watched closely next week when the company's annual stockholders' meeting is held.

On Friday, a U.S. judge handed outspoken hedge fund manager David Einhorn a victory in his battle with the iPhone maker, blocking the company from moving forward with a shareholder vote on a controversial proposal to limit the company's ability to issue preferred stock.

(Additional reporting by Doris Frankel; Editing by Kenneth Barry)

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