AUSTIN, Minnesota: If you have to come down with a strange disease, this town of 23,000 on the wide-open prairie in southeastern Minnesota is a pretty good place to be. The Mayo Clinic, famous for diagnosing exotic ailments, owns the local medical center and shares some staff with it. Mayo itself is just 40 miles east in Rochester. And when it comes to investigating mysterious outbreaks, Minnesota has one of the strongest health departments and best-equipped laboratories in the country. And the...

TUESDAY

The Times

has been the centre of takeover speculation over the past few months and confirmation that Brown has brought a 20% stake in Forth only presses home the question of how much longer it will remain independent. Shares in Forth Ports fell from a high of more than 22 in early 2007 to under 17 by November, while Babcock’s infrastructure funds pulled off a trio of ports deals in December after valuations of ports leveled after the impact of the credit crunch. With Forth offering a of over 2% it is likely to bid a battle with business growth on the horizon. Buy.

Home shopping retailer, , dispelled fears that it would have suffered from Royal Mail postal strikes after its second-half update yesterday. Like-for-like sales were up 14% in the 20 weeks to January 6, marking an acceleration from the 11.1% reported at October’s half year results. A drive to pull new customers, although benefiting next year’s bottom line, will constrain short-term profitability. Despite any concerns N Brown in reasonably prices at 12 times current-year earnings. Hold on.

Daily Telegraph

The , the spread-betting firm, appears to be on of the only winners off the back of the credit crunch. It announced yesterday a 63% increase in first-half profits to 48.2m pre-tax, and increased interim dividend by 50%. After a good run it would not be surprising if the shares were also hit by profit taking, nevertheless yesterday’s weakness does not seem merited. Buy.

Investors in the last publically listed UK port operators, Forth Ports, shouldn’t be surprised at the news that has built a stake in the company. As Europe’s third largest ports operator, Babcock may see Forth as a break up target but other infrastructure funds and port operators will now be eyeing up Forth. Buy.

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LOS ANGELES—Nicole Richie and Christina Aguilera popped out a baby bella and beau (respectively) at Britney Spears ‘ former base Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on Saturday. And even though there is no guarantee that the little babes will become buddies, at least they can bond over the fact that they both have yummy mommies who don?t mind the pregnancy pounds. Video: Pop Tarts Talk “At first I guess it was weird for Nicole to be gaining weight so fast after having been so...