NEW YORK — Reliance Industries, owner of the world’s largest oil-refining complex, made a cash offer at the weekend to buy a controlling stake in closely held LyondellBasell Industries , the bankrupt chemicals and fuels maker.

Terms were not disclosed.

The buyout would be co-ordinated with emergence from bankruptcy and represented a “potential alternative” to its reorgani sation plan, Rotterdam-based LyondellBasell said.

The offer is subject to due diligence and sufficient creditor support, Mumbai- based Reliance said in a news release.

Reliance said earlier this month it was considering “interesting opportunities” internationally as companies roiled by the world’s worst recession since the great Depression struggle to maintain cash flow. LyondellBasell, a maker of plastics such as polypropylene and polyethylene, was formed in December 2007 when Basell paid 12,7b n for Lyondell Chemical , which declared bankruptcy 13 months later.

The acquisition would help Reliance expand beyond its customer base in Asia into Europe and North America to become “a global player”, Gregg Goodnight, an analyst at Houston-based ChemAnalysis, said.

Chemical makers from Germany’s BASF , the world’s largest, to Dow Chemical, the largest in the US, are trying to sell low-margin assets such as styrene, which is used to make plastics.

Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment bought Canada’s Nova Chemicals for 2,6b n, including the assumption of debt. Huntsman has agreed to buy plants that make titanium dioxide pigment from bankrupt Tronox , barring a higher offer.

LyondellBasell sought bankruptcy protection after chemical demand plunged a year ago, Goodnight said. A concurrent drop in chemical prices reduced inventory values and related borrowing capacity, he said.

LyondellBasell said its management would work with all parties to ensure “value for the company’s creditors through the pursuit of a confirmable plan of reorganisation”. the company, which has a crude oil refinery and other operations in Houston, is a unit of new York-based Access Industries Holdings , founded by billionaire Len Blavatnik.

India’s Economic Times reported on November 9 that Reliance may spend as much as 6b n to buy assets from LyondellBasell Industries. Reliance, which is controlled by billionaire Mukesh Ambani, had 5,2b n in cash reserves in April.

“Reliance is reviewing a number of global opportunities for growth in its core business,” the company said in its news release. “This review is ongoing and there can be no assurance of the outcome with respect to any of the opportunities under review, including with respect to LyondellBasell.”

Lyondell Chemical and other US affiliates of LyondellBasell Industries filed for bankruptcy in January. Lyondell Chemical had assets of 27,1b n, debt of more than 19,4b n and more than 25000 creditors, according to the petition filed in US Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan.

Since the middle of the 19th century, the Daily Telegraph has stood as a refined, if fusty, institution run by erudite former public schoolboys such as Sir Max Hastings and bill Deedes.

That all changed when Tony Gallagher, a 45-year-old former Daily Mail executive with a fearsome reputation as a Fleet Street hardman, was named as the paper’s 14th editor since 1855.

Gallagher replaces will Lewis, who will launch and manage a new digital division for Telegraph Media Group (TMG) but remain editor-in-chief of the daily title and its sister paper, the Sunday Telegraph.

The promotion of Gallagher to the Daily Telegraph editor’s office marks the final stage in the paper’s transformation to a multimedia news organisation that is trying to appeal to a broader readership in both print and digital media.

It also cements the rise of a journalist who one former colleague said was “as relentless and driven as its possible to be” and a shift in the newsroom culture at the Telegraph titles, which are now run by a cadre of former Daily Mail executives. others include the Sunday Telegraph editor, Ian MacGregor, and Chris Evans, the head of news at the Daily Telegraph.

Many industry insiders detect the hand of the TMG chief executive, Murdoch MacLennan, in those hirings. he was a long-serving manager at the Daily Mail’s owner, associated Newspapers, until he was hired to run TMG in 2004 after Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay bought the company from former proprietor Conrad Black.

MacLennan’s arrival prompted a flurry of defections from the Mail to the Telegraph papers and a period during which many long-serving journalists left the titles. A former Telegraph journalist said Gallagher’s appointment was “emblematic of the fact that the Telegraph has become a paper of process rather than purpose”.

Since it was acquired by the Barclays the Telegraph group has moved to a new multimedia newsroom in Victoria, central London, and spent millions of pounds on its website, dramatically increasing its online audience.

Lewis’s appointment as managing director, digital, indicates the importance the Telegraph now places on its digital division. he will head an “entrepreneurial unit” with a staff of 50 based in Euston, away from the company’s main office in Victoria. Lewis will also oversee TMG’s existing digital businesses.

Lewis, the paper’s youngest editor when he was appointed in October 2006, told Gallagher he had got the top job this morning. The two men live in the same part of north London and drive to the Telegraph’s offices together. Lewis had intended to break the news on the journey, but they parked the car after getting stuck in heavy traffic. Gallagher was eventually informed over breakfast at a “greasy spoon”.

Gallagher is credited with masterminding the paper’s coverage of the MPs’ expenses scandal earlier this year, organising the title’s string of exclusive revelations and overseeing the Telegraph’s presentation and reporting of the saga in order to maximise its impact.

He did so by applying a journalistic modus operandi imported from the Daily Mail, which is renowned for its dogged, even ferocious, pursuit of stories.

One former colleague said Gallagher “did everything he was told to do, asked to do and shouted at to do at the Mail and returned it back with interest” during a long reporting career at the paper. “He did all the things that a good old-fashioned reporter would do,” added the senior industry source. “All the things that the PCC [Press Complaints Commission] wouldn’t allow you to do now.”

He reputedly worked so hard at the Mail that his wife used to bring his children to work on occasions so he could say goodnight to them.

Gallagher joined the paper from the South West News press agency in his early 20s and his commitment to the job immediately impressed Mail executives. Many reporters who worked with him said he worked diligently when he was on the road.

When the Sunday Times bought the serialisation rights for Andrew Morton’s biography of Princess Diana, he was involved in the Mail’s attempts to steal its thunder by revealing many of the book’s central allegations before its competitors could publish them.

He excites very different emotions among the Telegraph’s old guard, however, many of whom have left the paper since it was bought by the Barclays. “I can’t think of anyone in our profession that I would least like to cross the threshold of my home,” said one Telegraph journalist who left the paper willingly.

Gallagher was appointed executive editor, news, at the Daily Telegraph in June 2006 and imported some of the more brutal management methods employed at the Daily Mail, regularly bawling out journalists, according to former members of staff. That behaviour was tolerated at the Mail, but was anathema to many Telegraph journalists, one of whom compared the atmosphere at the paper before 2004 to that of a country club.

Local labor leaders and Democrats gathered together last week tothank Indiana Rep. Joe Donnelly for his vote on comprehensivehealth-care reform.

The first speaker at the event was local Democratic Party chairmanRick Ward.

Ward thanked Donnelly for his vote on the legislation and commentedon how Donnelly worked hard to represent all the different views ofhis constituency.

“He dealt with this issue on both sides of the fence,” said Ward.”He was elected not just for Democrats, but Republicans and all thecitizens of the second district. He listened to both sides of theissue. At the end of the day, Joe Donnelly did what was right. Hevoted in favor of health care for all.”

The second speaker was mayor Greg Goodnight, who warned of theeminent attack Donnelly faces from health-care lobbyists.

“There is an extreme amount of money coming from the health-careindustry trying to protect the status quo,” said Goodnight. “Theyhave a lot of interest in preserving how it is. They have a verygood system for themselves, and they see this as something thatwill be in the best interest of American families and not in theirbest interest.”

Goodnight also pointed to several statistics to demonstrate whyAmericans need health-care reform. “If you look at thisstatistically, the United States spends more per capita than anycountry in the world; we have a higher infant mortality rate thanCuba. Children have a better chance of dying in their first yearthan 38 other countries. Our life expectancy is less than mostother European countries. The No. 1 reason for bankrupts in thiscountry in the last five years is because they have no health careand have been faced with a catastrophic situation in theirhousehold.”

The mayor reminded the labor leaders to stand by Donnelly even whenthe onslaught of negative publicity from his vote starts in thenext election cycle.

“I am going to make a prediction those groups that I mentionedearlier are going to target him,” said Goodnight. “They are goingto put every ounce of energy in defeating him, and they are goingto misinform, mislead, and misinterpret those votes. Rememberthis.”

Howard County commissioner bill Thompson said it was Donnelly’svote that confirmed for him that this legislation was the rightlegislation for the residents of the second congressionaldistrict.

“There are many citizens in this country who don’t have good healthcare and something needs to be done,” said Thompson. “I was not 100percent sure what would be the best course of action for Washingtonto take, but when our congressman Joe Donnelly voted for this bill,I knew it was the right course of action.”

State Rep. Ron Herrell said this all hit home with him in the pasttwo months with situations he has faced with his family.

“My wife has been very ill. She had the flu for a week, and thedoctor said to take her to the hospital,” said Herrell. “She hadone of the worst cases of pneumonia the doctor ever saw in what hecalled a healthy person. She was in the hospital for a week. We gethome on a Friday. I pull in and get the mail. I look in the mail,and I had a letter from Anthem insurance. That was the first letterI opened. She was in the hospital for a week. She had sepsis. Iopened up that letter and Anthem has denied our coverage for a weekin the hospital. They said it could be taken care of at thedoctor’s office. I was irate. I called a man I knew at Anthem, andhe said he would look into it. He called me back later and saidthere is some new information and I should discard the letter. Idiscarded that letter into my computer bag so I could show peopleat the state house what is happening.”

He also told a story about a health-care problem his brother isfacing.

“My brother, who works for a company that puts in undergroundcable, told me that they were going to do away with his healthinsurance,” said Herrell. “It is a small company, and they arestruggling, too. Come the end of October, my brother is bringingthe company truck home and he passed out. He crossed the median,crossed the northbound lane, and ended up in the opposite lanesside ditch. He had a blood clot. He lost the sight in his left eye,and one third of the sight in his left eye. here is a man that hasworked hard his whole life, and now has no health insurance. … Justas the mayor said it is a catastrophic situation, and how does hemake his house payment. He didn’t overextend himself. … what kindof bailout is he getting?”

Herrell finished by saying that Donnelly was the one making surehis family was getting the help they needed.

GM Said to see No Saab Bids as Board Nears Shutdown (Update1)

Nov. 25 (Bloomberg) — General Motors co. doesn’t expect tofind new bidders for Saab and may shut the bankrupt unit afterKoenigsegg Group AB canceled a planned acquisition, peoplefamiliar with the matter said.

Saab’s future will be decided at a Dec. 1 GM board meeting,said the people, who asked not to be identified because thetalks are private. while directors might opt to keep Saab, asthey did with the Opel division this month, GM has a contingencyplan that calls for winding down the brand, the people said.

“They should just get rid of it,” said Tom Stallkamp,industrial partner at buyout firm Ripplewood Holdings LLC, whichwas part of an unsuccessful bid for Opel in Germany. Saab”really doesn’t matter in terms of technology, and there is nosynergy like there was with Opel.”

Closing Saab instead of selling would still help GM achievethe goal of trimming U.S. brands to four from eight whileworking to return to profit after a U.S.-backed bankruptcy. AKoenigsegg sale would have protected jobs at Saab while wrappingup GM’s affiliation with the brand by year’s end.

The collapse of that accord yesterday marked the thirdbrand sale to falter since GM’s July 10 exit from Chapter 11. GMbacked out of the Opel sale to a group led by MagnaInternational Inc., and Penske Automotive Group Inc. withdrew inSeptember from a plan to buy Saturn.

Contingency Plan

GM’s Saab contingency plan is modeled on its blueprint forSaturn, one of the people said. Saab owners would continue to becovered by GM warranties and be assigned to a new dealership forservice, the person said.

“We will take the next several days to assess thesituation and will advise on the next steps next week,” ChiefExecutive Officer Fritz Henderson said in a statement. “We’reobviously very disappointed with the decision to pull out.”

Earlier today, Beijing Automotive Industry Holding co.,which in September agreed to take a minority stake in theinvestment team set up by Koenigsegg to take over Saab, said ina statement it will “cautiously” reconsider plans to buy astake.

Expected Transaction

Saab had expected the transaction with Koenigsegg Group toclose by the end of this month, pumping in fresh funds tofinance a ramp-up of production of older models and productionof new car types.

The investment group includes Koenigsegg Automotive, makerof the $1.2 million CCXR sports car; China’s Beijing AutomotiveIndustry Holding co.; and Baard Eker, a Norwegian entrepreneur.The team is led by Augie Fabela II, an American who co-foundedRussian mobile-phone operator OAO VimpelCom.

“We’re extremely disappointed. It’s like a plane crash,”Eker said. “Our deadline was Nov. 30 and at one week away werealized that we had so far to go that we weren’t going to makeit, so unfortunately we had to call it a day.”

GM began getting indications of a possible snag over theweekend, and Koenigsegg Group’s board decided on Nov. 23 to backaway, one of the people said.

Koenigsegg Group had sought to obtain in advance all 400million euros ($600 million) of financing approved by theEuropean Investment Bank, while the lender planned to disbursethe funds in tranches, another person said. Rainer Schlitt, abank spokesman in Luxembourg, couldn’t be reached yesterday.

‘End of the Road’

“That’s it, goodnight, goodbye,” said Stephen Pope,chief global strategist for Cantor Fitzgerald in London. “Saabhas reached the end of the road, there’s nothing left in thetank.”

Saab traces its roots to aircraft company Svenska AeroplanAB, founded in 1937 to secure production of Swedish warplanes,and is based in Trollhaettan, a cradle of the country’s 19th-century industrialization. GM bought one half of Saab in 1990and took full ownership a decade later.

Posting losses in most of its years under GM, Saab hadplanned to become profitable by 2012 with annual sales of100,000 cars, according to Christian von Koenigsegg, one of theinvestors in the acquisition group.

Saab got Swedish court protection in February after GM saidit was cutting ties. Koenigsegg won the bidding for the unit inJune, and the European Investment Bank approved a 400 million-euro ($600 million) loan for Saab on Oct. 21 after an initialdelay. Saab had about 4,100 employees as of August.

Koenigsegg’s rivals for Saab included U.S. billionaire IraRennert’s Renco Group Inc. and Merbanco Inc., a group ofinvestors from Wyoming, a person familiar with the process saidat the time.

An aide to Rennert said yesterday that the billionairewouldn’t comment on Koenigsegg’s exit, and a voice-mail messageleft with Merbanco President Chris Johnston wasn’t returned.

At Saab’s peak of popularity in the 1980s, it appealed tobuyers who sought a European brand mixing safety, reliabilityand innovation. while Ford Motor co.’s Volvo championedpracticality, Saab peddled its aviation heritage withturbocharged engines and fighter-jet design elements.

Plunging demand and Saab’s losses made the unit a candidatefor disposal as GM slid toward bankruptcy. U.S. sales slumped 62percent this year through October, with just 513 deliveries lastmonth, and the European total plunged 59 percent. As of Nov. 15,Saab planned to reduce its U.S. dealership body by 37 percent,cutting 81 of 218 dealers.

Inventory Levels

“I don’t think that the inventory levels on Saab are veryhigh, so I would expect that dealers would get no new productsand the company wouldn’t have to heavily discount them to selloff the remaining stock,” said Eric Ibara, director of residualconsulting for Kelley Blue Book in Irvine, California.

Saab was among four U.S. brands GM planned to unload aspart of its restructuring to focus on Chevrolet, Buick, GMC andCadillac. The Swedish unit has been unprofitable for most of thetwo decades GM has owned it.

GM dropped Pontiac, had the Saturn deal fail and agreed tosell the Hummer sport-utility vehicle brand to China’s SichuanTengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery co., pending regulatoryapproval.

“You feel sorry for the guys at GM, because they just needto get Saab, Saturn and Hummer off their plate,” saidRipplewood’s Stallkamp, a former Chrysler Corp. executive.”Suddenly GM has all these leftovers when what they really needto do is start cooking a whole new meal.”

To contact the reporters on this story:Jeff Green in Southfield, Michigan, at Jgreen16@bloomberg.net;Niklas Magnusson in Stockholm at nmagnusson1@bloomberg.net;Katie Merx in Southfield, Michigan, at kmerx@bloomberg.net;

Last Updated: November 25, 2009 01:02 EST

We have all spent evenings with families whose children have taken the occasion to act out in the worst possible ways.

With dad, and often mom as well, working during the day, parenting is limited to a short period in the morning, dinner and a stretch of the evening.

Sometimes, keeping the children up results in children not getting enough sleep and in their developing bad sleep habits.

Common sleep problems include frequent awakening, talking during sleep, waking up crying, feeling sleepy during the day, having nightmares, bed-wetting, grinding teeth and waking early. While these may have deeper emotional causes, there are a number of steps parents can take to avoid or ease these problems.

Most important is to begin parenting with consistent routines for going to bed. Pick a bedtime that allows sufficient sleep, establish a routine of getting ready for bed and ready for sleep, and stick to it.

How much sleep do children need? Newborns sleep almost 16 hours a day, spreading it around in naps between feedings. At 2 months of age, infants sleep more at night than during the day. Between 4 and 6 months, infants begin to sleep through the night.

Toddlers younger than 5 need 11 to 13 hours, including a daytime nap. Children beginning school need 10 to 11 hours. And though your adolescent wont admit it, he will function best on eight or nine hours sleep each night.

Dont just send children to bed. Allow a winding-down quiet time, at least 20 minutes reading books or listening to quiet music. No TV.

Establish a routine: changing the diaper, going to the bathroom, shower and brushing teeth, etc.

Put children to bed awake so they learn how to fall asleep in bed by themselves. After the stories and the teeth are brushed, say goodnight, turn off the light and leave the room.

Make sure the sleeping quarters are quiet, dark and not too hot or cold.

Put infants on their backs to sleep.

If your child gets up, dont reward him but calmly and immediately lead him back to bed.

Tell him if he stays in bed, the door will remain open, but if he gets up, it will be shut (not locked) for from three to five minutes. Calmly put your child back to bed each time he gets out.

When he stays in bed for five minutes, open the door and praise him for doing a good job of staying in bed before saying goodnight.

Avoid using the childs bed as a place of punishment or play.

Making a natural sleep time a part of your childs routine will give him the energy to handle the problems he will meet the following day.

Sally Robinson is a clinical professor of pediatrics at UTMB Childrens Hospital, and Keith Bly is an assistant professor of pediatrics in the UTMB Childrens Emergency Room. This column isnt intended to replace the advice of a physician.

Keith Urban’s “heart stretched” the day he became a father.

The country singer was astonished by how much his life changed when wife Nicole Kidman gave birth to their first child, daughter Sunday Rose, 17 months ago.

When asked how life changed when he became a father, he said: “I think, as Nicole has said, it’s just the stretching of the heart. It is an indescribable feeling. It was much like the first time Sunday cried, when she came into the world. There are certain things in life you have to experience, otherwise, it’s just a vague concept of what it would be like. It’s had such a big impact on my life.”

The 42-year-old singer has even altered his musical career so he can spend more time with his family.

He added: “I structured the tour so I would do three shows in a row, then take about three or four days off. Now we have Sunday, it is about enjoying the simple pleasures – just being able to say ‘Goodnight’ to my girls and not be on the phone doing it.

“It’s the real normal things like that that have brought such a grounding to my life. It’s a wonderful experience.”

When you read Sunday’s story about Rae Carruth’s son Chancellor Lee Adams turning 10 on Monday – “His joy is very much alive” – you wondered if the former Panther’s wide receiver, in his prison cell, was also reading the story and, if so, what he was feeling.

Pride, certainly, that Lee, as he’s called, is walking and talking when the odds at birth were that he wouldn’t. Pride that the boy is muscular and strong, not a quitter.

Rae puffed with pride. Easy to imagine.

But if you were hoping he was also gnashing his teeth in regret and sorrow for conspiring to shoot into Cherica Adams’ car when she was eight months’ pregnant with their child, you’re wasting your time.

The last interview I read with Carruth, he was still denying he had anything to do with Adams’ death, which resulted from the shots.

What we should be wondering is this:

What have women learned in the 10 years since Adams, bleeding and gasping, called 911 to report that she suspected her “baby’s daddy, Rae Carruth, the football player,” had something to do with the shooting?

I hope we’ve learned:

That if you choose to sleep with a man who’s seeing other women, getting pregnant is no guarantee of anything but trouble.

That a baby does not equal child support any more than a goose equals a golden egg.

That if the father of the baby is insisting on an abortion, chances are unlikely he’ll blossom into a dad who changes diapers and reads marathon rounds of “Goodnight, Moon.”

That if a man’s not that into you, he’s not going to be that into your baby.

That if he’s not that into you, and he finds the pregnancy highly inconvenient, he might just kill you.

In 2005, the U.S. Centers for Disease and Control Prevention reported that homicide is a leading cause of traumatic death among new and expectant mothers, with higher risks for women younger than 20 and black.

Other studies indicate that homicide is the leading cause of death for pregnant women.

Remember Laci Peterson in California, who went missing in 2002 while 7 1/2 months’ pregnant. Her husband, Scott Peterson, is on death row at San Quentin State Prison.

Remember Lori Hacking of Salt Lake City, Utah, five weeks’ pregnant when her husband reported her missing in 2004. He later pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in her death.

Remember our own Tiffany Wright, eight months’ pregnant in September, when she was gunned to death as she waited for a bus to Hawthorne High. Her daughter, Aaliyah, was delivered later that day and died within the week. No one has yet been charged in the deaths.

Statistics are one thing. Dry and brittle.

Bodies are another. Supple, pregnant, bloody.

If we’ve learned anything in the decade since Cherica Adams died, I hope we’ve learned that pregnancy is almost never a solution for a troubled relationship. Sometimes it’s even a death knell.

Dannye: 704-358-5230; dpowell@charlotteobserver.com

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