UPDATE 1-UAE’s Etisalat Q3 profit near-flat

* Q3 revenue 8 bln dirhams* Costs up 22 pct from Q3 2010DUBAI, Oct 18 (Reuters) - UAE telecoms operator Etisalat reported a 1 percent fall in third-quarter profit as operating costs rose faster than revenues.The Gulf’s largest telecoms carrier by market value made a profit of 1.72 billion dirhams ($468 million), compared with a profit of 1.74 billion dirhams in the same period a year ago.Analysts polled by Reuters on average expected the firm to post a quarterly profit of 1.71 billion dirhams.Etisalat, which unveiled its long-term evolution (LTE) high-speed network in September, said revenues increased by 8.6 percent to 8.04 billion dirhams in the quarter, up from 7.4 billion dirhams a year earlier. Yet operating expenses rose 22.3 percent over the same period.The 18-country operator’s shares ended Monday at a 13-month low of 9.99 dirhams.

GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks, euro rise on retail sales, crisis hopes

* Brent rises toward $113 on optimism over debt crisis* Euro extends gains against dollar after U.S. sales data* Bonds succumb to rising equity markets, retail salesBy Herbert LashNEW YORK, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Global stocks gained and the euro strengthened on Friday on growing optimism that Europe is on track to resolve its sovereign debt crisis and after data showed a surge in U.S. retail sales.Group of 20 finance ministers and central bank chiefs began two days of talks in Paris on Friday. Although investors do not expect a comprehensive strategy to Europe’s debt crisis to come out of Friday’s meeting, they hope it will provide an opportunity for officials to agree on the outlines of a plan in time for a European Union summit on Oct. 23.Government data that U.S. retail sales grew by 1.1 percent in September, the fastest pace in seven months, also boosted investor sentiment on the economy and the data was expected to help lift economic growth forecasts.The data, coupled with earnings from Google late Thursday that trounced analysts’ expectations, led investors to shrug off a rating downgrade on Spain by Standard & Poor’s and an unexpected slump in U.S. consumer confidence in October.The benchmark S&P 500 was on track for back-to-back weekly gains for the first time since early July, and gold headed toward its strongest weekly rise in over a month, signs that investors expect a resolution to Europe’s debt crisis is near.”The data hasn’t mattered for a couple of months. It matters here and there, but most of what today is, is Europe,” said John Canally, investment strategist for LPL Financial in Boston about how the G20 meeting trumped the economic data.”Just getting the details of this plan out there and making the details work is the most important thing,” Canally said.Stocks on Wall Street jumped about 1 percent while shares in Europe closed up 0.8 percent.The euro rose 0.7 percent to $1.3867.The Dow Jones industrial average was up 101.57 points, or 0.88 percent, at 11,579.70. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was up 13.19 points, or 1.10 percent, at 1,216.85. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 30.44 points, or 1.16 percent, at 2,650.68.Google led the Nasdaq higher as its shares jumped 5.8 percent to $591.50 after the Internet search giant said robust growth at its mobile business and a strong emerging market lifted its third quarter, allaying worries that a slowing Europe was hurting business.In Europe, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top regional shares provisionally closed up 0.8 percent at 974.46 points, while MSCI’s all-country world equity index gained 1.1 percent.The increased appetite for risk on Friday also lifted the price of crude oil more than 2.0 percent and pushed down the U.S. dollar and government debt, which usually benefit when news is bearish.”The outlook is good and getting better by the day. Risk is back on,” said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ in New York.Brent crude rose above $114 a barrel, propelled by hopes that European leaders would soon agree on how to curtail the long festering euro zone debt crisis.Early hints that China may loosen credit as inflation cools also boosted gains while investors mostly ignored a preliminary reading of consumer sentiment that sagged to 57.5 from 59.4 in September, a Thomson Michigan survey showed.November Brent crude rose $3.02 to $114.13 a barrel on the day of its expiry, while U.S. crude was up $2.17 at $86.40 a barrel.U.S. Treasury debt prices fell.The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note was down 19/32 in price to yield 2.25 percent.Spot gold prices rose $4.99 to $1,671.10 an ounce.

Michael Jackson’s legacy survives odd trial revelations

That was the picture that has emerged of the King of Pop’s private life during the first two weeks of the manslaughter trial of Jackson’s in-house physician, Dr. Conrad Murray.As bizarre as some of the revelations might be, they may add to Jackson’s legacy as a genius whose stature has risen since his death in June 2009 at age 50, pop culture experts said.Jackson’s odd, sometimes pathetic demeanor — largely forgotten in the worldwide grief over his death but on display again during Murray’s televised trial — may make him even more beloved by his fans.”Lets face it, we’re interested in this case because it is about Michael Jackson,” said Bob Thompson, a professor of pop culture at Syracuse University.”But the fact that he is gone also considerably changes how people perceive and emotionally engage in this kind of thing. The dead are the ultimate underdogs,” Thompson said.The most dramatic development in the trial so far has been a recording played for jurors in which Jackson speaks almost incoherently and slurs his words.Prosecutors say Murray made the recording after giving Jackson a drug treatment as a sleep aid. Medical examiners found the singer’s death resulted from an overdose of the anesthetic propofol combined with sedatives.”I think that has introduced an element of pathos to Michael Jackson,” Thompson said. “That slurred speech, he was saying, ‘I was deprived of my childhood. I want my money to go to a children’s hospital.’ How do you argue with something like that?”DOLLS AND BABIESWhen prosecutors showed the jury a photo of a doll on the bed where Jackson’s lifeless body was found hooked up to an IV, it made headlines.Photos of Jackson’s bedroom show he had several pictures and a poster of babies. The singer, who often said he was drawn to children because he never had a childhood himself, was tried and acquitted in 2005 of molesting a young boy.Stacy Brown, co-author of a book called “Michael Jackson: The Man Behind the Mask,” said the singer had collected dolls for years and had many at his Neverland Ranch in central California, where he also had theme park rides and a zoo.”In the grand scheme of things, especially as it relates to him, I don’t find it to be odd to have that doll there,” Brown said. “If anything, I would expect there to be more.”But for Jackson’s fans, a more disturbing revelation may be that the perfectionist “Thriller” singer appeared to be struggling during the strenuous preparations for his sold-out, 50-date London comeback tour — his first for 12 years.Jackson missed rehearsals in Los Angeles and those close to him had concerns about his health a week before he died. Tour director Kenny Ortega testified that on June 19, Jackson was too weak to rehearse and that he needed psychological help.Brown said the picture of Jackson painted at trial “has only added to what’s been going on since his death.”And that is his image has been rehabilitated — something that he might not have been able to do had he been alive.”