Pacquiao gets Romney pep talk before Marquez bout

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Defeated U.S. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney gave Manny Pacquiao a brief pep talk before the Filipino's non-title welterweight bout against Juan Manuel Marquez on Saturday.

Romney, who with his wife Ann was a ringside guest of Nevada State Athletic Commission chairman Bill Brady, visited Pacquiao in his dressing room during one of the fights on the undercard at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

"I wish you good luck tonight," a smiling Romney said in front of television cameras to Pacquiao, who has won world titles in an unprecedented eight weight divisions. "Have a great night. Good to see you."

According to Pacquiao's publicist Fred Sternburg, Romney began the short conversation by saying: "Hello Manny. I ran for president. I lost."

Pacquiao is no stranger to politics, having claimed a seat in his country's national congress in May 2010 when elected to the House of Representatives in the 15th Congress of the Philippines.

On Saturday, however, the 33-year-old Filipino southpaw will be aiming for bold vindication in the ring when he fights Mexican Marquez for a fourth and final time.

The two boxers fought to a draw in May 2004 before Marquez lost his WBC super-featherweight title to Pacquiao in a controversial one-point split decision in March 2008.

When they last met, in November last year, Pacquiao narrowly retained his WBO welterweight title with a controversial majority decision that was greeted by loud boo-ing from disgruntled Marquez fans.

"He (Marquez) always claims he won the fights," said Pacquiao, who has a career record of 54-4-2 with 38 knockouts. "So he needs to prove something.

"I am giving him a chance to prove he can win the fight because he thought he has won all three and he keeps talking about it.

"So it is very important to me, to win this fight, especially since Marquez really wanted this fight," said the Filipino who lost his most recent fight on a hotly disputed split decision to American Timothy Bradley in Las Vegas in June.

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2012 Elections Finally Over: Boustany Defeats Landry in Louisiana Runoff

GOP Rep. Charles Boustany defeated his GOP rival, freshman tea-partier Rep. Jeff Landry, in a runoff in Louisiana's 3rd Congressional District tonight. Boustany leads 61 percent to 39 percent, with 95 percent of precincts reporting and The Associated Press has called the race.

Fittingly, the last race of 2012 was a redistricting battle between two members of the same party - one that ended in a runoff more than a month after Election Day. It did not affect Democrats' net gain of eight House seats in 2012.

The four-term congressman Boustany was expected to win, having topped the multi-way field on Nov. 6 with just less than 45 percent of the vote. Landry collected 30 percent, while Democrat Ron Richard collected 22 percent. Richard later endorsed Boustany.

Landry, a member of the House Tea Party Caucus who voted against last year's deal to raise the debt limit, was supported by conservative Sen. Jim DeMint and the tea-party group FreedomWorks.

The two congressmen had split southern Louisiana for one term before the state lost one seat in 2010's redistricting, but the new 3rd District included far more of Boustany's old 7th District than Landry's old 3rd.

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Weakened typhoon set to make second landfall in Philippines

NEW BATAAN, Philippines (Reuters) - A much-weakened storm was set to make landfall in the Philippines' northwest on Sunday, five days after the year's strongest typhoon killed 540 people and caused crop damage worth about 8 billion pesos ($195.38 million) in the south.

The Philippines weather bureau issued storm alerts for northern provinces on the main island of Luzon as Bopha, with greatly reduced winds at its centre of 55 kph (35 mph), changed course back towards land after heading into the South China Sea.

Typhoon Bopha first hit land on Tuesday with winds stronger than Hurricane Sandy that devastated the U.S. East Coast in October.

Residents in typhoon-hit areas on southern Mindanao island have been appealing for food, water and other relief supplies.

On Saturday, President Benigno Aquino declared a state of national calamity in the typhoon-hit areas to control prices of basic commodities and allow local governments to draw special calamity funds for relief operations.

The official death toll rose to 540 people and nearly 850 are still missing, mostly in the Mindanao provinces of Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental. More than 1,000 were injured and about 370,000 are in temporary shelter areas.

"They have neglected us," farmer Cresencia Blanco, 57, told Reuters. Blanco said she and her neighbors around Osmena town in Compostela Valley had lost their homes and crops.

"They are focused on New Bataan," she said, referring to another town in the valley. "Since the typhoon struck, we only got a total of four kilos of rice, that's all."
Nearby, Blanco's son, Monching, held up a placard that read: "We're hungry. We don't have relief goods. Have mercy on us."

As people from Osmena gathered along a highway, a convoy of trucks carrying food supplies rumbled past, with people scrambling madly for packs of noodles thrown from the trucks.

Benito Ramos, executive director of the national disaster agency, said the United States had offered to send transport planes and helicopters to help bring food supplies to remote and isolated areas.
Security forces were sent to guard government warehouses and commercial centers to prevent looting after people raided a rice warehouse in a coastal area in Davao Oriental province.
Humanitarian agencies said some 5.4 million people affected by the typhoon urgently need food, potable water and shelter after Bopha wiped out 90 percent of houses in the worst-hit towns in Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental.

Donations from the international community have poured in, with U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta also ordering the Pacific Command to support relief and rescue operations.

Pope Benedict XVI also sent a message of support to typhoon victims. "I am praying for the victims, for their families and for the many who lost their homes," the Pope told Catholics gathered in St. Peter's Square.
In some parts of Mindanao, people took to gold panning as floodwaters swept a mining area in Mawab town. "Now, I can repair the roofs of my house," Alexander Chavez told Reuters as entire families descended on a river to gather gold tailings.

Gold traders were buying ingots at 1,600 pesos ($39) per gram, he said, adding they are earning 2,000 pesos a day. "Sometimes, the flood brings something good for us." ($1 = 40.9450 Philippine pesos)

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China's Wanxiang wins auction for U.S. government-backed A123

WILMINGTON, Delaware (Reuters) - China's largest maker of auto parts won a politically sensitive auction for A123 Systems Inc , a bankrupt maker of batteries for electric cars that was funded partly with U.S. government money, A123's investment banker said on Saturday.

Timothy Pohl of Lazard Freres said Wanxiang Group Corp's bid of about $260 million topped a joint bid from Johnson Controls Inc of Milwaukee and Japan's NEC Corp for the maker of lithium-ion batteries.

Siemens AG of Germany had also qualified to bid, according to two people familiar with the auction, who asked not to be identified. The auction began on Thursday.

Chinese companies have launched $51.3 billion worth of outbound deals this year, making it Asia's second-biggest spender on overseas acquisitions behind Japan, according to Thomson Reuters data.

While state-owned oil giants continue to dominate outbound deals, recently Chinese companies have targeted deals aimed at securing technology know-how. That shift is supported by China's five-year development plan that puts emphasis on industries such as high-end manufacturing equipment.

Earlier this year, Shandong Heavy Industry Group agreed to buy a quarter stake in Germany's Kion Group , giving China access to industrial technology from the world's number two fork lift truck maker.

Before that, Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group agreed to buy a majority stake in privately held German machinery manufacturer Schwing, while Sany Heavy Industry bought rival Putzmeister in a 360 million euro ($472 million) deal.

Wanxiang, one of the largest non-government-owned companies in China, has annual revenue of more than $13 billion and supplies auto parts to many of China's largest automakers.

POLITICAL BACKLASH

News of Wanxiang's winning bid comes only a day after the Canadian government approved a controversial deal allowing China's state-owned oil company CNOOC to buy energy company Nexen Inc for $15.1 billion.

Wanxiang's approach for A123 had stirred a political storm and one U.S. politician was quick to warn about A123 and its sensitive, U.S. taxpayer-financed technology falling into the hands of a Chinese company.

"Given the thin line between Wanxiang and the Chinese government, I am concerned about the government of China having access to sensitive technologies being used by our military forces," said a statement from Congressman Bill Huizenga, a Republican from Michigan where A123 has plants.

The sale did not include parts of A123's business that works with the U.S. Defense Department, a source close to the deal said. That portion of the company went to another bidder, which the source did not identify.

The sale must be approved by Delaware Bankruptcy Court judge Kevin Carey at a hearing scheduled for Tuesday.

Opposition to the deal will likely focus on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which would need to approve the sale to Wanxiang.

U.S. politicians and retired military leaders have already pressed the government panel to reject Wanxiang.

Separately, the U.S. government has also said it must give its consent before its $249 million grant to A123 can be transferred to a new owner. The battery maker can still draw $120 million under various government grants, according to court records.

It was unclear if the grant would be transferred to Wanxiang.

A123, whose customers include Fisker Automotive, General Motors Co , BMW and the U.S. military, received the U.S. government grant as part of a program to promote clean energy.

Wanxiang has had its eyes on A123 for a while. The Chinese company struck a $465 million investment deal meant to save A123 from bankruptcy earlier this year. That agreement fell apart after A123 failed to meet certain criteria, according to court documents.

The Chinese company is no stranger to investing in the United States.

Wanxiang generates about $1 billion in revenue in the United States by supplying parts to GM and Ford Motor Co and has bought or invested in more than 20 U.S. companies, many of them in bankruptcy, said a congressional report.

Those past investments could help Wanxiang get approval to buy A123, but the deal will be closely scrutinized because it involves advanced technology, said Andrew Szamosszegi, who wrote the report for the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.

A123 filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October.

The money from the auction will go toward paying off A123's creditors. The company listed liabilities of $376 million when it filed for bankruptcy.

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Republican Boustany wins Louisiana U.S. House runoff

(Reuters) - U.S. Representative Charles Boustany defeated fellow Republican Representative Jeff Landry on Saturday in a runoff for a U.S. congressional seat in Louisiana.

Boustany won a fifth term, capturing 61 percent of the vote in the southwest Louisiana district, with 100 percent of precincts reporting, according to the Louisiana Secretary of State's office. Landry lost his seat after only one term.

"Thank you! We couldn't have done it without you!" read a note on Boustany's campaign website late on Saturday.

The two lawmakers were forced to vie for a single House of Representatives seat after Louisiana's seven districts were reduced to six in the last redistricting cycle.

In a field of five candidates in the November general election, neither Landry nor Boustany mustered more than 50 percent of the vote, a requirement to win.

Boustany, of Lafayette, captured 45 percent of the vote and Landry, from New Iberia, drew 30 percent.

In Louisiana's open primary system, all candidates for an office appear on the same ballot, regardless of party affiliation.

Boustany, considered a Republican moderate, raised $3 million for the general election campaign, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

That was almost 50 percent more than Landry, who had backing from the conservative Tea Party movement for his support for smaller government.

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