AMEC plc acquires Alberta in-situ oil sands specialist for C$45 million

CALGARY — AMEC plc, an international engineering and project management company, says it has struck a deal to acquire Bower Damberger Rolseth Engineering Ltd., a specialist in-situ oilsands operations, from its owner-managers for C$45 million in cash.

Calgary-based Bower Damberger provides specialist technical engineering services to the fast growing in-situ heavy oil, gas and oil production industries. The company has 85 employees and focuses on thermal recovery of in-situ oil through its steam assisted gravity-drainage methods.

In-situ deposits are those which lie too far below the surface to be recovered by open-cast mining.

“This is an important acquisition for AMEC and one which enhances our position in the fast growing Canadian oilsands market,” said Samir Brikho, AMEC’s chief executive.

Goodbye Pay TV, BBC-ITV Launch Free Satellite TV Service

BBC and ITV on Tuesday launched Freesat, the new, free, digital satellite television service .Reaching almost all of the UK (98% of households), Freesat has over 80 free digital channels – television, radio, interactive – plus high definition (HD) services from the BBC and ITV.

Freesat has no sub scri ption and no contract; all that is required to receive it is a one-off payment for equipment.Freesat’s channel line-up will grow each month, with up to 200 channels on air by the end of the year.

“Today is a landmark day for digital TV in the UK – the launch of a new digital satellite service which brings free HD programmes to everyone. With more than 9.6 million HD-ready televisions already sold in the UK, but only a tiny fraction of those who own them currently able to receive HD programmes, there’s a big opportunity for Freesat to lead the way in introducing the UK to high definition viewing ,” Emma Scott, Managing Director, Freesat, said .

Hormone makes food more appealing, study suggests

A hormone produced by the stomach makes people want to eat by making food more appealing, which could be a factor in overeating and obesity, a new Canadian study suggests.

The findings from the study, conducted by researchers from Montreal’s McGill University, were published in the journal Cell Metabolism.

Researchers gave the hormone, known as ghrelin, through an intravenous drip to a group of study subjects and gave a placebo to others. Both groups viewed pictures of food before and after receiving the hormone or placebo.

By using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure brain activity, the researchers found that ghrelin increased activity in parts of the brain that process food cues.

Child virus fears spread to China’s capital

BEIJING (Reuters) – Fears of a virus that has killed at least 26 children in China gripped parents in Beijing as officials on Tuesday temporarily closed two kindergartens amid a spreading outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease.

The health scare prompted the Foreign Ministry to seek to assure the country it was doing its best to contain the outbreak.

“The Chinese government is paying great attention to the virus and related departments are taking effective measures to stop it from spreading,” ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a news conference.

The number of children infected in the kindergartens has not been confirmed and the sick are being examined to find out what kind of virus triggered the outbreak, Xinhua quoted the Beijing Center for Disease Control and Prevention as saying.

NBC tears up script for selling new shows

Canada’s biggest television networks are still weeks away from their annual trip to Los Angeles to check out the new shows Hollywood has produced for the fall – but the deal making has started early.

In a move that would have been unusual a decade ago in the TV industry, NBC announced yesterday that it has reached an agreement to sell several new shows to CanWest Global Communications Corp. ahead of the traditional annual spring screenings.

CanWest acquired the rights to four new series, including the remake of the 1980s action drama Knight Rider, and the comedies My Own Worst Enemy, Kath and Kim and a spinoff of The Office.

Such deals are usually done late in May after the U.S. studios screen the new shows for Canada’s networks, then the programs are opened up for bidding.

Hollywood studios, actors break off labour talks

LOS ANGELES — The Screen Actors Guild and major studios broke off three weeks of contract talks without agreement on Tuesday, stoking fears of renewed Hollywood labour unrest after a 100-day writers strike that ended in February.

News of the stalemate came in a statement from the studios’ bargaining agent, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, about 90 minutes after a self-imposed deadline for reaching a settlement had passed.

The statement from studios blamed “SAG’s continued adherence to unreasonable demands,” citing the union’s proposals to increase the “residual” payments actors earn for DVD sales as one of the key stumbling blocks.