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Indian conglomerate Reliance ADA Group’s media and entertainment division is launching Jump Games U.S.A., a publisher and developer of mobile video games, in its latest effort to expand into the United States.

Reliance Big Entertainment, which has been working to build up a name in Hollywood, said on Wednesday that Jump Games is “aggressively looking” to buy mobile content licenses and brands for distribution to mobile phones worldwide.

The company, which has licenses to create and sell games worldwide using popular brands such as Manchester United Football Club, did not give details of acquisition targets.

Jump Games, which has set up its U.S. headquarters in Chicago, expects “partnerships and alliances with America’s biggest firms will be critical” to expand here with “both organic as well as inorganic” growth, Reliance said.

It said Jump Games had appointed Amit Khanduja, a former Sun Microsystems Inc and Hewlett-Packard Co executive, as executive vice president for the Americas.

In May Reliance, controlled by billionaire Anil Ambani, signed deals with eight Hollywood production houses run by A-list actors, including George Clooney’s Smokehouse Productions, Tom Hanks‘ Playtone Productions and Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment.

The company is also expected to clinch a deal with Steven Spielberg and David Geffen to set up a new studio that would split Spielberg and Geffen from Paramount Pictures, sources familiar with the deal have told Reuters.

BJ’s Wholesale Club Inc (BJ.N) said on Wednesday quarterly profit rose as shoppers headed to its stores in search of low prices on food and fuel, and the No. 3 U.S. warehouse club operator raised its full-year profit forecast.

Profit for the second quarter ended August 2 was $36.5 million, or 61 cents per share, up from $36.3 million, or 55 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding a benefit of 3 cents per share for state income tax audit settlements, BJ’s earned 58 cents per share in the latest quarter. Analysts, on average, had been expecting it to earn 57 cents per share, according to Reuters Estimates.

Shoppers pay an annual fee to shop at warehouse clubs like BJ’s, Costco Wholesale Corp (COST.O) and Wal-Mart Stores Inc’s (WMT.N) Sam’s Club to get discounts on everything from fresh food to bulk-sized packages of paper towels.

Many warehouse club locations also operate gas stations, which typically sell fuel cheaper than local competitors. The gas stations have been a lure to shoppers in recent months, as they have looked to offset surging prices at the pump.

BJ’s quarterly net sales, which exclude membership fee revenue, rose 17.9 percent to $2.65 billion from $2.25 billion. Sales at clubs open at least a year, a key retail gauge known as same-store sales, jumped 15.5 percent, including an 8.1 percent contribution from sales of gasoline.

Membership fees and other revenue rose to $48.1 million from $46.8 million.

BJ’s said it now expects full-year earnings per share of $2.10 to $2.20, up from a previous forecast of $2.04 to $2.14. Analysts, on average, had been expecting it to earn $2.14 per share.

BJ’s also said its board authorized an additional $200 million for share repurchases.

Missiles fired from Afghanistan hit a militant hideout in Pakistan’s tribal belt Wednesday, killing at least eight people including some foreign extremists, security officials said.

The strike in the South Waziristan region was the first since key US ally Pervez Musharraf resigned as president on Monday and left Pakistan’s recently elected government in charge of tackling the militants.

Two missiles hit a house owned by a local tribesman with links to Islamic militants in Wana, the main town in South Waziristan, a known haven for Al-Qaeda and Taliban rebels, the officials said.

“It was a known hideout for militants. At least eight people were killed and some foreign militants are among them,” one security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

“The missiles came from Afghanistan,” the official said.

Residents said the owner of the house, named as Haji Yaqub, was wounded and was pulled from the rubble, but people were scared to stay in the area because aircraft were flying overhead.

“Arabs often stayed with him (Yaqub),” one resident said.

Pakistani authorities use the term foreigners to describe Al-Qaeda militants. Security officials said there were no immediate indications that senior Al-Qaeda rebels were killed in the latest strike.

There has been a series of missile attacks on militants in Pakistan in recent weeks attributed to US-led coalition forces or Central Intelligence Agency drones based in Afghanistan.

Al-Qaeda chemical and biological weapons expert Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar was killed in a similar missile attack in July. The Egyptian, 54, also known as Abu Khabab al-Masri, had a five-million-dollar bounty on his head.

Pakistan has come under mounting international pressure to clamp down on militants in the rugged tribal belt who are accused of launching attacks on US-led and NATO troops in Afghanistan.

US missile strikes have intensified this year and reports in US media have said that Washington is considering a further boost in operations, possibly including “hot pursuit” raids by ground forces.

A suspected US missile strike on an Islamist training camp in South Waziristan a week ago killed at least 10 militants

During talks with US President George W. Bush last month, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani called on the United States not to act “unilaterally” against Islamic militants in Pakistan.

The government launched negotiations with the Taliban earlier this year but has since launched several military operations, including an ongoing offensive in the Bajaur tribal region which has left around 500 people dead.

Australia’s Origin Energy on Tuesday formally urged shareholders to reject a 13.8-billion-dollar (12-billion-US) hostile takeover bid by Britain’s BG Group.

Australia’s second biggest energy retailer said the all-cash offer from global gas firm BG at 15.50 dollars per share undervalued the company and its prospects.

BG said in June it would go directly to Origin’s shareholders after the board snubbed a friendly bid at the same price in May. The takeover would be one of the biggest by a foreign company of an Australian firm.

“Origin is a strongly performing, Australian integrated energy company with an impressive track record of growth,” its chairman Kevin McCann said in a statement.

“Origin has developed the leading position in Coal Seam Gas (CSG) in Australia and the strength of this position will be a key driver for continuing growth.”

The company had shortlisted a number of global partners interested in accelerating development of the CSG reserves, he said.

Australia has huge reserves of CSG, which is methane trapped in coal deep underground. The gas was once considered too difficult to access but technological advances and high world energy prices have renewed interest.

Origin said it planned to provide shareholders with an independent valuation report containing “all relevant information about Origin’s value and prospects” before BG’s offer closes on September 26.

Shares in Origin, which have consistently traded above the bid price since BG’s approach, were 12 cents weaker at 16.04 dollars around midday Tuesday.

A spokesman for BG told Dow Jones Newswires the company was considering its response to Origin’s formal rejection of the bid and expected to issue a statement later Tuesday.

An Argentine priest went on trial Tuesday, charged with 17 counts of sexual abuse and corruption of three young boys.

Prosecutors say Julio Grassi, 52, abused three boys — including two minors — who attended his well-known “Happy the Children” Foundation for underprivileged youth. The boys are on a list of more than 350 witnesses who will testify against Grassi over the next few months. The archbishop of Buenos Aires is also on the list.

“Happy the Children” Foundation, created in 1993, converted Grassi into a renowned figure in Argentina, allowing him to bring in thousands of dollars (euros) in donations, many from important public figures who have since distanced themselves from the priest.

Grassi reiterated a claim of innocence Tuesday during an abruptly called recess due to alleged “irregularities” in the case, according to his lawyers. The priest has a Web site on which he also declares his innocence and says his life’s purpose is “to save children from a life on the street.”

More than 90 percent of Argentines identify themselves as Catholics, although less than 20 percent are practicing.

With inflation peaking to a 13- year high of 12.44 percent in an election year, the government looks set to dump the high-powered BK Chaturvedi Committee’s recommendations of a monthly increase in fuel prices till they are at par with cost.

The suggestions for raising petrol prices by Rs 2.50 a litre per month till March 2009 and diesel by Rs 0.75 till 2010 was not acceptable to even the Prime Minister’s Office and Oil Minister Murli Deora is likely to perform the ritual of giving the report a burial at a industry meeting tomorrow.

“No one can think of raising fuel prices when global rates are softening,” a top government official said.

Decline in international crude oil prices from highs of USD 147 per barrel last month to USD 113-114 per barrel currently, has led to a reduction in revenue losses on fuel sales by one-fourth to Rs 450 crore per day.

However, some suggestions such as use of smart card for sale of subsidised kerosene may get support when Deora chairs a meeting of heads of oil firms tomorrow to deliberate on the implications of the recommendations and reviews financial health of the fuel retailing firms.

Dual pricing of diesel - one for luxury diesel cars and one for trucks and tractors - may also not get support due to problems with its implementation. “Instead of charging big cars more for diesel, the Government should levy an ad valorem excise duty on such cars,” he said.

The proposal to levy a Special Oil tax on crude oil produced from fields awarded prior to 1999 is being hotly debated as some saw it as a “punitive measure” that went against the spirit of Production Sharing Contracts signed with private firms like Cairn India.

The suggestion of stripping state-run firms ONGC and OIL of any gains above USD 75 a barrel on oil they sell would yield the same amount as they have been contributing under the present system of subsidy sharing. ONGC earned USD 125.85 per barrel oil it produced in April-June but got only USD 69.14 a barrel after paying for fuel subsidies.

The move may bring companies like Cairn under the subsidy sharing scheme but the additional revenues would not be significant, the official said.

Upstream firms like ONGC bear one-third of the revenue losses that retailers IOC, BPCL and HPCL suffer on not being allowed to raise prices of petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene in line with cost.

In 2007-08, ONGC’s subsidy share was Rs 22,001 crore.

Petroleum Ministry in its preliminary report on the BK Chaturvedi Committee report to PMO has rejected calls for pricing fuel at export parity rates, saying it would result in refineries losing around Rs 27,600 crore in revenues.

Also, suggestions for reducing import duty on petrol and diesel to zero were not accepted as it would reduce duty protection to the domestic refineries vis-a-vis international refiners.

The official said tomorrow’s meeting may also dump the proposal for levying a Special Oil Tax on oil produced from fields awarded prior to the advent of New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) in 1999. The panel had favoured stripping state-run firms of any gains above USD 75 a barrel, and taxing private companies like Cairn at 40 per cent over this benchmark rate.

Tomorrow’s meeting would also review reports of shortages on diesel in some parts of the country and the financial position of IOC, BPCL and HPCL.

Though the Chaturvedi Committee had called for implementation of its report in total and not in pieces, the government is finding it difficult to implement the report in its entirety as inflation is already at a 13-year high of 12.44 percent.

Any increase in fuel prices would further lead to a rise in inflation, which an election-bound government can ill-afford, the official said.

The three-member panel, headed by Planning Commission member B K Chaturvedi that was asked by the Prime Minister to go into the financial position of oil firms, had also proposed levying a ‘Metro Extra’ tax of Rs 2 per litre on diesel in four installments in large cities where the fuel was being used in expensive cars.

The panel sought to lower the benchmark used for domestic retail pricing by 10-15 percent by shifting away from the current principle of trade parity pricing.

Export parity rates or the price that refiners would fetch if the fuel were to be exported, would be 10-15 percent lower than the trade parity pricing followed now, thereby bringing down the projected revenue losses.

Domestic retail price is at present determined in an 80:20 mix of import-parity and export-parity prices.

The Committee, besides suggesting freeing auto fuel pricing from government control, also recommended changes in distribution of domestic LPG by restricting only six refills per connection a year.

“I am told some recommendations of the Committee can be implemented (while some others) could be difficult to implement,” Deora had said last week in the first indications that the report may not get implemented.

Including kids in the evaluation of tuberculosis treatment is crucial, according to a new study.

William Burman from the Denver Public Health and the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, USA, and colleagues said that kids are an often ignored but important part of tuberculosis control efforts.

In high-burden settings, children make up as much as 20 percent of new cases of active tuberculosis.

Young children are also at high risk of having severe, rapidly progressive forms of tuberculosis.

However, nearly 40 years after the development of short-course treatments in adults, there are still major uncertainties about dosing for children of common TB drugs.

“Only in recent years has there been a substantial effort to manufacture child-friendly formulations of first-line tuberculosis drugs (such as crushable mini-pills, granules, oral suspensions),” the researchers said.

“And in the past 15 years, children have been included in only one study of new agents for tuberculosis: a large Phase 3 trial evaluating once-weekly rifapentine + isoniazid for treatment of latent tuberculosis,” they added.

The researchers said that including children in drug development is especially critical, as the two main threats to tuberculosis control, HIV-related immunodeficiency and drug-resistant tuberculosis, challenge our ability to develop effective drug regimens.

Burman and colleagues outline several traditional barriers to the involvement of children in tuberculosis drug development such as difficulty confirming TB diagnosis, concern about side effects, and regulatory requirements.

However, they also describe how these barriers can be overcome, arguing that researchers, regulatory agencies, advocates, and government agencies and private foundations that fund drug development must insist that the development pathways for all new treatments include specific plans for when and how children will be involved.

“Children have the same right to benefit from research as do adults. While this lack of involvement may be understandable in the short-term, it is not acceptable in the long-term,” the researchers said.

Four years older and 40 kilograms (88 pounds) bulkier, Germany’s Matthias Steiner enters his second Olympics craving the adrenaline rush of competing for the heaviest title in weightlifting.

The 24-year-old muscleman is among the front-runners for the gold medal on Tuesday in the men’s super heavyweight class, a title that carries with it the bragging rights of being the world’s strongest man.

“I’m in good shape,” Steiner said before a training session Monday. “I’ve had good training the last month. We are prepared for this. I think.”

Steiner has overcome great adversity since placing seventh in the 105-kilogram category in Athens 2004, where he was competing for his native Austria.

He changed his citizenship to German after a falling-out with the Austrian Weightlifting Federation. Then last year, tragedy struck when his wife died in a car accident.

The hardship seems only to have helped him focus on the sport.

Steiner went on to set a personal-best total of 451 kg (994.3 pounds) — the weight of a small cow — in qualifying for the Olympics. That’s nearly 50 kg (over 100 pounds) more than he lifted as a regular heavyweight in 2004.

“Until Athens, I was always trying hard to lose weight (to stay below 105 kg). But I couldn’t lose weight any more,” he said.

That’s a problem he no longer has to worry about since there is no upper weight limit in the super heavyweight class.

Built like a tank, Steiner now weighs 145 kg (320 pounds), slightly more than Scerbatihs but less than Ukraine’s Artem Udachyn, another medal contender.

He expected that a total of 455 kg (1,003 pounds) would be needed to medal in Beijing. The total score adds the heaviest weights lifted in the two events: snatch and clean and jerk.

That’s a lot more than he takes in training, but Steiner said he cannot find the willpower needed to take the biggest weights unless he’s competing.

“Some lifters take more in training, but I need the adrenaline of the competition,” he said.

Missing from the competition is weightlifting legend Hossein Rezazadeh, who announced his retirement before the Olympics after doctors said his health was in danger. Also known as the “Iranian Hercules,” Rezazadeh won gold in the past two Olympics and holds the world records for snatch, clean and jerk and total.

Steiner said he understood Rezazadeh’s decision. “He’s quitting as double Olympic champion,” Steiner said. “That’s a good way to be remembered.”

Sania Mirza’s woeful Olympic performance has seen her drop two places to 65 in the singles chart of the latest WTA tennis rankings issued on Monday.

After getting a bye in the first round, the 21-year-old Indian was forced to retire from her second round match in Beijing due to a nagging wrist injury.

The misery continued in the doubles as well as she and Sunitha Rao made a first-round exit but that has not affected her doubles rankings and the Indian continues to hold steady at 27th.

Meanwhile, in the ATP charts, Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi did not experience any major rise or fall despite a disappointing Olympic campaign in which the reunited partners were knocked out in the quarterfinals.

While Bhupathi rose a spot to 12th this week, Paes dropped a rung to 16th.

Facebook has overtaken MySpace to become the world’s most popular social networking site with 132 million unique visitors in June, according to new figures from web tracking firm ComScore.

The study also found that Facebook’s visitor growth far outpaced that of MySpace, with Facebook visits up 153 percent on an annual basis, compared to just three percent growth for MySpace. Other social networks showing strong global growth include Hi5 (100 percent) Friendster (50 percent), Orkut (41 percent) and Bebo (32 percent).

Comscore said Facebook grew 38 percent in the US, where it had 49 million visitors in June.

The strongest growth was in Latin America, where Facebook’s visitors grew by 1055 percent. The number of European visitors tripled to 35 million a month, while growth in the Middle East and Africa was 400 percent. In the Asia Pacific region visitors increased 458 percent.

“Facebook has done an exceptional job of leveraging its brand internationally during the past year,” ComScore executive Jack Flanagan said in a statement from the company. “By increasing the site’s relevance to local markets through local language interface translation, the site is now competing strongly or even capturing the lead in several markets where it had a relatively minor presence just a year ago.”

Comscore said the dizzying increases were helped by Facebook’s tiny global presence prior to its recent initiative to translate the site into other languages. A year ago, it had only one million unique visits a month in all of Latin America, three million in the Middle East and Africa, and four million in all of Asia Pacific.

Flanagan said international expansion was now the main target for the major social networking sites.

“While the social networking trend first took off in North America, it is beginning to reach a point of maturity in the region,” Flanagan said. “However, the phenomenon is still growing rapidly in other regions around the world - especially as the established American brands turn their focus to developing markets.”