Australians find huge mega-wombat graveyard

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First Stars in the Universe May Soon Be Detected

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Sweeping farm bill clears Senate (reuters)

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PostHeaderIcon US Restaurants Push Abroad to Robust Markets

By RICHARD GIBSON

Perhaps nowhere is the Americanization of the planet more evident than in the restaurant world.

There?s an Applebee?s in Athens; a Papa John?s pizzeria in Karachi, Pakistan; two Ruby Tuesdays in Bucharest; a Denny?s in Christchurch, New Zealand; a Chili?s Grill & Bar on a riverboat on the Egyptian Nile. And always there are the seemingly ubiquitous outposts of McDonald?s, Domino?s and KFCs that keep popping up, like tourists on holiday, wherever one goes.

As the restaurant industry in the U.S. turns increasingly dour, major brands are turning their attention abroad, where business remains relatively robust and growing middle classes are creating large pools of consumers eager to taste affordable American-style fare.

Not only do the companies encounter less competition there than in the U.S., but newly arrived brands also typically enjoy a novelty aura that attracts the curious. Finally, many franchisers sell operating rights to local businesspeople, who assume responsibility for the restaurants day to day and send royalty payments back to the chains? home offices, often giving the corporate owners a superior return on their investment.

?Trends continue to be in our favor,? says McDonald?s Corp.

President Ralph Alvarez. ?We?re growing [abroad] because demand exceeds our supply.?

Many investors in McDonald?s and multi-fast-food giant Yum Brands Inc.

are holding those stocks precisely because of the perceived opportunities overseas.

This year, Burger King, McDonald?s and Papa John?s International Inc.

are among chains intending to open more restaurants abroad than at home. And in laying out plans for combining Wendy?s International Inc.

with its Arby?s sandwich business, Triarc Cos. said it sees substantial possibilities abroad, where both brands have relatively few outlets.

YUM, which owns Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and Long John Silver?s, along with KFC, estimates that within 10 years 70% of its profits will come from outside the U.S. Today, about 55% does.

The company is a stellar example of how to cook up overseas potential. China, a market it entered 21 years ago, today delivers about 25% of the company?s annual profits. Its KFC brand has more than 2,000 locations in 500 cities across the Chinese mainland, with restaurants that not only serve chicken but also congee soup and fried dough at breakfast. (McDonald?s, which followed KFC to China, has fewer than half that number.) Yum is even venturing into the coals-to-Newcastle business of selling its version of Chinese food to the Chinese.

With 15,000 of its 35,000 restaurants outside the U.S., Yum continues to seek out new markets. KFC soon will enter Nigeria, its 106th country. Next year Yum plans to test the popularity of its best-selling domestic brand, Taco Bell, in India.

Casual-dining operators also are trekking abroad in search of profits. Chili?s parent, Brinker International Inc., which says its long-term vision is to become the ?dominant, global casual-dining restaurant portfolio company,? last year signed development agreements to expand in Australia, Canada, Ecuador, Honduras, Peru, Portugal, South Korea and Turkey.

As in the U.S., McDonald?s says, finding the right location is the company?s biggest challenge abroad. Prime real-estate targets are increasingly in suburbs ringing the cities of Europe, Asia and Latin America. The world?s largest hamburger chain, McDonald?s has more than 17,500, or about 56% of its restaurants, outside the U.S.

While McDonald?s Mr. Alvarez says that ?we?re not looking for new countries? to enter, archrival Burger King has been doing just that. In fiscal 2007, the No. 2 company in hamburger restaurants behind McDonald?s went into Japan, Poland, Egypt and Indonesia. In the past two years it has opened 34 restaurants in 14 cities in Brazil alone.

Another dominant U.S. player abroad is Domino?s Pizza Inc., with some 3,500 stores, or about 40% of its total, outside the U.S. That 25-year overseas presence recently helped offset disappointing domestic results; in the last quarter, international comparable sales ? free from the intense competition that has roiled the U.S. pizza market ? rose 8.8% from a year ago while Domino?s domestic business experienced a 5.2% drop.

Some restaurateurs modify their menus to cater to local tastes. In some parts of Asia, for instance, McDonald?s serves rice burgers: shredded beef between rice patties. Customers in the Netherlands can order a deep-fried patty of beef ragout. In India, its Big Mac ? called the Maharaja Mac ? is made with chicken rather than beef. But, says Mr. Alvarez, ?our core menu is still what you know in the U.S. People come to McDonald?s because they want an American product.?

Overseas success isn?t a sure bet. Papa John?s stumbled on its first foreign sojourn, when it entered Mexico in 1998. ?We didn?t have our act together,? says David Flanery, president of the pizza company?s international operations. ?We had the wrong franchise partner.?

As a result, the company eventually closed most of its 40-or-so stores there, found new local operators, revised its support structure and started over. Today, the Louisville-based firm has pizzerias in 28 countries.

Despite the allure, some big U.S. restaurateurs haven?t ventured outside North America. They include Cheesecake Factory Inc.,

Jack In The Box Inc.,

Panera Bread Co.,

CBRL Group?s

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store chain and Darden Restaurants

Inc.. Each has indicated it sees significant growth at home.

?We periodically look at international expansion to understand where opportunities exist,? says Darden spokesman Rich Jeffers. ?However, given the momentum that we have at our existing businesses and given the potential that we have with LongHorn [steakhouse], Bahama Breeze, Capital Grille and Seasons 52, we believe that our focus on domestic opportunity will consume most of our time over the next few years.? Darden does operate a smattering of Olive Garden and Red Lobster restaurants in Canada.

Write to Richard Gibson at dick.gibson@dowjones.com

Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page B5A

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FDA panel unanimously backs Onyx cancer drug

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Bieber's hot show melts down Apollo power

NEW YORK (AP) ? Justin Bieber had an unplugged performance at the Apollo Theater on Monday, but it wasn't intentional ? a problem caused a power outage during the singing sensation's big concert.

The singer was nearing the end of a private show in front of a packed house when the power for most of the stage instruments suddenly went out, said his manager, Scooter Braun.

"Then we hear the fire alarm," Braun said by phone Monday evening. "Literally, the boy blew up the Apollo ? he heated up the Apollo."

But Bieber still managed to finish his show, with the help of fans singing along with him.

"What it turned into was an Apollo moment, like one of those impromptu things," said Nina Flowers, the Apollo's rep.

"It was one of the most special nights I have ever been a part of," said Braun.

The power outage, which only affected the stage instruments and some lighting, occurred toward the end of the show. Braun said they were told the problem was supposed to be only a few minutes, but it stretched to more than 40 minutes.

At first, Bieber took the outage in stride.

"He was joking, he said it was all the hot girls in here," said Flowers.

He then got on the drums, which were working, for a solo, and had the crowd serenade Braun for his birthday.

But then Bieber got upset at the disruption of the show, which was being taped as part of an NBC special to air later this week.

"He started to get frustrated, because it had been 40 minutes," said Braun.

However, instead of getting mad, Bieber decided to put his energy into performing for his fans, who stayed in the audience during the delay.

"He walks out, he literally quiets the crowd, and he says, 'I'm sorry the power is out. . (But) you guys have always had my back. I'm going to sing 'Boyfriend' and you're going to sing it back to me.'"

He then launched into his hit song from his new album "Believe" as the crowd of mainly teen girls sang along as he danced, Braun said.

Flowers couldn't say what caused the power outage, but she praised the 18-year-old entertainer for finishing the show.

"He could have stopped; he could have not gone on and said, I did everything . but he came back on," said Flowers.

She added that Bieber showed reverence throughout the night for the famed theater, a hallowed hall where the likes of James Brown, Stevie Wonder and Bieber's idol, Michael Jackson, have performed.

"It was really like a special moment," she added.

Bieber's concert was part of a series of promotional appearances to push his album "Believe," out Tuesday. It has garnered strong reviews. Braun said he's hopeful the album will prove that Bieber has more to him than just hype.

"Every step of the way he's been doubted," Braun said. "''He is a great artist and entertainer and tonight he showed that."

___

NBC is controlled by Comcast Corp.

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Diplomats agree on "weak" text for Rio+20 green summit

By Nina Chestney and Valerie Volcovici

RIO DE JANEIRO | Tue Jun 19, 2012 5:59pm EDT

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Diplomats from over 190 countries agreed on a draft text on green global development on Tuesday to be approved this week at a summit in Rio de Janeiro, but environmentalists complained the agreement was too weak.

The summit, known as Rio+20, was supposed to hammer out aspirational, rather than mandatory sustainable development goals across core areas like food security, water and energy, but the draft text agreed upon by diplomats failed to define those goals or give clear timetables toward setting them.

It is "telling that nobody in that room adopting the text was happy. That's how weak it is," the European Union's climate commissioner Connie Hedegaard said on social network Twitter.

The text "has too much 'take note' and 'reaffirm' and too little 'decide' and 'commit'. (The) big task now for U.N. nations to follow up" on this, she added.

Expectations were low for the summit because politicians' attention is more focused on the euro zone crisis, a presidential election in the United States and turmoil in the Middle East than on the environment.

The first Rio Earth summit in 1992 paved the way for a global treaty on biodiversity, and the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gases, which is due to expire this year. The Rio+20 moniker is a nod to the 1992 summit.

Heads of state and ministers, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Francois Hollande and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, will meet with diplomats representing other nations from Wednesday for three days to discuss the text and possibly make some changes to its wording.

Observers do not expect major amendments.

U.S. special envoy for climate change, Todd Stern, told reporters on Tuesday he did not expect the document to change much after heads of state meet to discuss it.

"We don't have anything that we are expecting to try to drive into the document that is not there yet," he said.

'OVER BEFORE IT'S STARTED'

Environmental groups criticized the text, saying it omitted or watered down important proposals and challenged heads of state to act urgently to respond to climate change.

"This summit could be over before it's started. World leaders arriving tonight must start afresh. Rio+20 should be a turning point," said Oxfam spokesman Stephen Hale.

"There's no sign of that here. Almost a billion hungry people deserve better."

The draft text omitted a clause calling for governments to phase out fossil fuel subsidies, which have nearly tripled since 2009, despite a pledge by G20 countries to eliminate them.

Phasing out fossil fuel subsidies by 2020 would reduce annual global energy demand by 5 percent and carbon dioxide emissions by nearly 6 percent, according to the International Energy Agency.

Oil producing countries, including the United States, Venezuela and Canada, blocked inclusion of the clause, despite a huge social media push on Monday to include phase-out language in the text, with over 100,000 tweets on Twitter with the hashtag #endfossilfuelsubsidies.

An eagerly awaited decision on a governance structure for the high seas was also postponed for three years, after the United States, Japan, Canada, Russia and Venezuela opposed strong language to implement it.

"There's no commitment - it's like telling your girlfriend you promise to decide in three years whether or not to decide, whether or not to get married," said Susanna Fuller of the High Seas Alliance, a coalition of NGOs.

FOCUS ON IMPLEMENTATION

Others were slightly more optimistic.

"The document represents a positive step forward. While it is not the major breakthrough we had 20 years ago it puts us on the pathway to sustainable development," Selwyn Hart, diplomat for Barbados, told Reuters.

"The formal negotiations might be over but (leaders here tomorrow) need to focus on the implementation of some of the central issues dealt with in the document," he added.

Separately, in a meeting of big-city mayors at an old fortress in Rio, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and colleagues from around the world sought to show how cities, can make progress even if a multi-national agreement isn't possible.

Cities are responsible for up to three-quarters of global greenhouse gases.

Measures already underway in major cities, the mayors said, are on track to reduce their combined emission of greenhouse gases by 248 million tons by 2020, an amount equal to the current annual emissions of Mexico and Canada together.

The measures, the mayors said, include everything from better waste management to more efficient lighting, and would include biofuel and electric-powered municipal transport.

Noting the sluggish pace of the multi-national negotiations, Bloomberg said cities "aren't arguing with each other. We're going out there and making progress."

(Additional reporting by Paulo Prada; editing by Todd Eastham)

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