Italy PM Monti resigns, elections likely in February

ROME (Reuters) – Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti tendered his resignation to the president on Friday after 13 months in office, opening the way to a highly uncertain national election in February.

The former European commissioner, appointed to lead an unelected government to save Italy from financial crisis a year ago, has kept his own political plans a closely guarded secret but he has faced growing pressure to seek a second term.

President Giorgio Napolitano is expected to dissolve parliament in the next few days and has already indicated that the most likely date for the election is February 24.

In an unexpected move, Napolitano said he would hold consultations with political leaders from all the main parties on Saturday to discuss the next steps. In the meantime Monti will continue in a caretaker capacity.

European leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso have called for Monti’s economic reform agenda to continue but Italy’s two main parties have said he should stay out of the race.

Monti, who handed in his resignation during a brief meeting at the presidential palace shortly after parliament approved his government’s 2013 budget, will hold a news conference on Sunday at which he is expected clarify his intentions.

Ordinary Italians are weary of repeated tax hikes and spending cuts and opinion polls offer little evidence that they are ready to give Monti a second term. A survey this week showed 61 percent saying he should not stand.

Whether he runs or not, his legacy will loom over an election which will be fought out over the painful measures he has introduced to try to rein in Italy’s huge public debt and revive its stagnant economy.

His resignation came a couple of months before the end of his term, after his technocrat government lost the support of Silvio Berlusconi‘s centre-right People of Freedom (PDL) party in parliament earlier this month.

Speculation is swirling over Monti’s next moves. These could include outlining policy recommendations, endorsing a centrist alliance committed to his reform agenda or even standing as a candidate in the election himself.

The centre-left Democratic Party (PD) has held a strong lead in the polls for months but a centrist alliance led by Monti could gain enough support in the Senate to force the PD to seek a coalition deal which could help shape the economic agenda.

BERLUSCONI IN WINGS

Senior figures from the alliance, including both the UDC party, which is close to the Roman Catholic Church, and a new group founded by Ferrari sports car chairman Luca di Montezemolo, have been hoping to gain Monti’s backing.

He has not said clearly whether he intends to run, but he has dropped heavy hints he will continue to push a reform agenda that has the backing of both Italy’s business community and its European partners.

The PD has promised to stick to the deficit reduction targets Monti has agreed with the European Union and says it will maintain the broad course he has set while putting more emphasis on reviving growth.

Berlusconi’s return to the political arena has added to the already considerable uncertainty about the centre-right’s intentions and increased the likelihood of a messy and potentially bitter election campaign.

The billionaire media tycoon has fluctuated between attacking the government’s “Germano-centric” austerity policies and promising to stand aside if Monti agrees to lead the centre right, but now appears to have settled on an anti-Monti line.

He has pledged to cut taxes and scrap a hated housing tax which Monti imposed. He has also sounded a stridently anti-German line which has at times echoed the tone of the populist 5-Star Movement headed by maverick comic Beppe Grillo.

The PD and the PDL, both of which supported Monti’s technocrat government in parliament, have made it clear they would not be happy if he ran against them and there have been foretastes of the kind of attacks he can expect.

Former centre-left prime minister Massimo D’Alema said in an interview last week that it would be “morally questionable” for Monti to run against the PD, which backed all of his reforms and which has pledged to maintain his pledges to European partners.

Berlusconi who has mounted an intensive media campaign in the past few days, echoed that criticism this week, saying Monti risked losing the credibility he has won over the past year and becoming a “little political figure”.

(Additional reporting by Gavin Jones, Massimiliano Di Giorgio and Paolo Biondi; Writing by Gavin Jones and James Mackenzie; Editing by Michael Roddy)

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‘So You Think You Can Dance’ Hoofs It Into a 10th Season

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Put on your dancing shoes; “So You Think You Can Dance” has been given a 10th season, Fox said Thursday.

Auditions for the upcoming season will begin January 18 in Austin, Texas, before moving on to Detroit, Boston, Los Angeles and Memphis.

Fox’s president of alternative programming Mike Darnell praised “SYTYCD” creator Nigel Lythgoe in announcing the renewal.

“I couldn’t be more proud of the amazing work that Nigel and the entire ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ team has done over the past nine seasons,” Darnell said. “This show is truly one of the most compelling series on television and I can’t wait to bring it back for Season 10.”

Last season, the series underwent a format shakeup after Fox cut the show from two nights a week to one, eliminating the results shows.

Fox did not say when the new season of “So You Think You Can Dance” will premiere.

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Judge orders end to HIV prison segregation in Alabama

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (Reuters) – A U.S. federal judge ruled on Friday to end the segregation of prisoners with HIV in Alabama, agreeing that it violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

“It is evident that, while the … segregation policy has been an unnecessary tool for preventing the transmission of HIV, it has been an effective one for humiliating and isolating prisoners living with the disease,” U. S. District Judge Myron Thompson wrote in his ruling.

South Carolina now remains the only state segregating HIV inmates from the general population. Mississippi ceased a similar practice in March 2010.

The ruling came in response to a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) over what the group contended was a discriminatory practice that prevented most HIV-positive inmates from participating in rehabilitation and retraining programs, including mental health and substance abuse programs, important for their success after prison.

“We won on all counts. It is a total victory and a glorious day for everyone with HIV,” said Margaret Winter, associate director of the ACLU National Prison Project and lead counsel for the plaintiffs.

Proponents of ending the policy sited an out-dated view of HIV/AIDS, which has become increasingly controllable. In the case of a virus transmitted by behavior, and not environment, preventing its spread is easier through proper medical treatment, rather than radical segregation of HIV positive inmates, according to Nancy Mahon, who chairs the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA).

“We now have ability to suppress the virus and reduce the possibility of transmission to four percent. Alabama and South Carolina have been in the dark ages about this public health sorrow,” said Mahon, who also directs the MAC AIDS Fund, which is financing the ACLU challenges in both states.

“The last thing we want to do is send them back into the community without treatment,” she added.

Two of Alabama’s 29 prisons have dormitories specifically housing prisoners with HIV. A handful of prisoners had been allowed to live and work in non-segregated settings in work-release programs, Winter said.

Currently, the inmates with HIV live, eat and exercise apart from the general population, according to court documents filed by the ACLU. Male inmates in the HIV dormitories were given white armbands that signal their medical status.

“First, we are isolated … like we are contagious animals,” Dana Harley, another prisoner who was a plaintiff in the case, said in a letter included in the court file. “It is like punishment three times over.”

Approximately 270 inmates out of the 26,400 in the state prison system have tested positive for the virus and none have developed AIDS, according to Alabama Department of Corrections spokesman Brian Corbett, who did not respond to inquiries about the ruling.

The judge plans to rule separately on the medical criteria for work release for HIV prisoners, according to his ruling.

(Editing by David Adams and Andrew Hay)

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Scenarios: Seven ways the US ‘fiscal cliff’ crisis could end

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – So what now?

The U.S. House of Representatives‘ rejection of a bill to raise taxes on just 0.18 percent of Americans – those making more than $ 1 million a year – has raised questions about the Republican-led chamber’s ability to approve any plan to avert the looming “fiscal cliff.”

Unless President Barack Obama and the U.S. Congress can forge a deal during the Christmas and New Year’s holiday season, the largest economy in the world could be thrust back into a recession because of the steep tax increases and spending cuts that are due to begin in January.

The threat of across-the-board government spending cuts and tax increases – about $ 600 billion worth – was intended to shock the Democratic-led White House and Senate and the Republican-led House into moving past their many differences to approve a plan that would bring tax relief to most Americans and curb runaway federal spending.

For weeks, Obama and House Speaker John Boehner, the top Republican in Congress, have struggled to find a compromise.

But after a glimmer of hope that a deal was close early this week, Boehner – apparently under pressure from anti-tax House Republicans aligned with the conservative Tea Party movement – pressed the “pause” button on negotiations. He then tried to push a backup plan through the House late on Thursday, only to see his fellow Republicans kill it.

Where do Obama and Congress go from here? Here are some possible scenarios.

* Obama and Boehner go back into their secret negotiations.

Before Boehner started touting his failed “Plan B” to boost taxes on those who make more than $ 1 million, he and Obama were moving closer together on a plan to raise taxes on certain high-income Americans and cut spending. They could pick up where they left off and quickly cut a deal to bridge the gap.

But a compromise with possibly $ 1 trillion in new taxes and $ 1 trillion in new, long-term spending cuts could be a tough sell for both Republicans and Democrats in Congress.

Boehner would have to persuade enough Republicans on the idea of tax increases. Obama, meanwhile, would have to get Democrats in Congress to back cuts to some social safety net programs such as Social Security pensions and Medicare and Medicaid health insurance for the elderly and poor. House Republicans appear to be the tougher sell.

* A huge drop in the stock market sends a loud message to Washington politicians to stop arguing and cut a quick but meaningful deal.

That is what happened in late September 2008, after Congress rejected a massive financial bailout package despite warnings by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson of an economic collapse if the bill failed.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged more than 700 points and Congress quickly reversed course, approving the $ 700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program just days later.

The “fiscal cliff” may not be as dramatic a situation, but the tax increases and cuts in federal spending could deal a stiff blow to the economy.

* No deal happens in the dwindling days of 2012 and the U.S. government jumps off the fiscal cliff – at least temporarily.

On January 1, income taxes would go up on just about everyone. During the first week of January, Congress could scramble and get a quick deal on taxes and the $ 109 billion in automatic spending cuts that most lawmakers want to avoid.

Why could they reach a deal in January if they fail in December?

The reason would be that once taxes go up, it would be easier to allow a few of those increases to remain in place – mostly on the wealthy – and repeal those that would hit middle- and lower-income taxpayers.

Such a scenario would mean that no member of Congress technically would have to vote for a tax increase on anyone – taxes would have risen automatically – and the only votes would be to decrease tax rates for most Americans back to their 2012 levels.

* No deal occurs for another six weeks or so.

If Congress does not raise the nation’s debt limit, by mid-February the Treasury Department likely would exhaust its ability to borrow. That would put the nation at risk of defaulting on its debt.

Republicans have withheld their approval of the debt-limit increase as leverage to try to get the kind of “fiscal cliff” solution they want: Fewer increases in spending and taxes, and more cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

This is the strategy they employed in mid-2011 during the last fight over the debt limit, which is about $ 16.4 trillion.

Republicans wrung spending cuts out of Democrats in return for new borrowing authority, but paid a political price. Global financial markets were rocked by the long uncertainty brought on by the standoff in Congress, one ratings agency downgraded U.S. credit standing and Republicans saw their public approval ratings sink.

* Boehner decides on a gutsy move: Call a House vote on a bill that would raise tax rates for families with net annual incomes above $ 250,000, exactly what Obama has sought.

The plan could pass the House with strong Democratic support and some Republican votes. As soon as it passed, the House likely would leave town for the rest of the year without addressing other Obama priorities such as increasing the government’s debt limit.

* A partial deal is struck at any point.

Congress could pass a plan that would put off most of the income tax increases that are due in January, or extend some other expiring tax breaks – namely one to prevent middle-class taxpayers from being subject to higher tax rates aimed at the wealthy under the alternative minimum tax.

* Stock markets do not tank and Washington politicians conclude that the “fiscal cliff” is not such a bad thing.

Under this scenario, Congress and the White House could continue sniping at each other throughout 2013 and 2014 as they try to revamp tax policy and impose long-term spending cuts.

(Editing by David Lindsey and Will Dunham)

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Wounded presage health crisis for postwar Syria

ATMEH, Syria (AP) — A baby boy joined the ranks of Syria’s tens of thousands of war wounded when a missile fired by Bashar Assad‘s air force slammed into his family home and shrapnel pierced his skull.

Four-month-old Fahed Darwish suffered brain damage and, like thousands of others seriously hurt in the civil war, he will likely need care well after the fighting is over. That’s something doctors say a post-conflict Syria won’t be able to provide.

Making things worse, there has been a sharp spike in serious injuries since the summer, when the regime began bombing rebel-held areas from the air, and doctors say a majority of the wounded they now treat are civilians.

This week, Fahed was recovering from brain surgery in an intensive care unit, his head bandaged and his body under a heavy blanket, watched over by Mariam, his distraught 22-year-old mother.

She said that after her first-born is discharged from the hospital in Atmeh, a village in an area of relative safety near the Turkish border, they will have to return to their village in a war zone in central Syria.

“We have nowhere else to go,” she said.

Even for those who have escaped direct injury, the civil war is posing a mounting health threat. Half the country’s 88 public hospitals and nearly 200 clinics have been damaged or destroyed, the World Health Organization says, leaving many without access to health care. Diabetics can’t find insulin, kidney patients can’t reach dialysis centers. Towns are running out of water-purifying materials. Many of the hundreds of thousands displaced by the fighting are exposed to the cold in tents or unheated public buildings.

“You are talking about a public health crisis on a grand scale,” said Dr. Abdalmajid Katranji, a hand and wrist surgeon from Lansing, Michigan, who regularly volunteers in Syria.

No one knows just how many people have been injured since the uprising against Assad erupted in March 2011, starting out with peaceful protests that turned into an armed insurgency in response to a violent government crackdown.

More than 43,000 have been killed in the past 21 months, said Rami Abdul-Rahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, basing his count on names and details provided by activists in Syria. He said the number of wounded is so large he can only give a rough estimate, of more than 150,000.

Casualties began to rise dramatically at the start of the summer. At the time, the regime, its ground troops stretched thin, began bombing from the air to prevent opposition fighters from gaining more territory.

Seemingly random bombings have razed entire villages and neighborhoods, driving terrified civilians from their homes, with an estimated 3 million Syrians out of the country’s population of 23 million now displaced.

About 10 percent of the wounded suffer serious injuries and many of those will need long-term care and rehabilitation, said Dr. Omar Aswad of the Union of Syrian Medical Relief Organizations, an umbrella for 14 aid groups.

This includes artificial limbs and follow-up surgery. “This is of course not available and will be one of the major (health) problems in the months right after the war,” said Mago Tarzian, emergency director for the Paris-based Doctors Without Borders.

For now, aid groups are struggling to provide even emergency treatment in under-equipped clinics.

The two dozen small hospitals and field clinics in rebel-run areas of Idlib province in the north only have a few Intensive Care Unit beds between them, said Aswad. None has a CT scanner, an important diagnostic tool.

“We need generators, we need medical supplies and the most pressing is medicine,” he said.

The challenge has been compounded by new types of injuries.

The regime has begun dropping incendiary bombs that can cause severe burns, according to the New York-based Human Rights Watch, citing amateur video and witness accounts.

Ole Solvang, a researcher for the group, said he saw remnants of such a bomb on a recent Syria trip. Aswad said doctors in Idlib and nearby Aleppo province reported seeing patients with burns from such weapons.

Doctors and hospitals have also been targeted. Aswad, who fled the city of Idlib in March after regime forces entered it, said five friends in a secret association of anti-regime physicians have been arrested. Hospitals, ambulances and doctors have been attacked, Solvang said, calling it “a worrying trend that makes the medical situation even worse.”

One of the bright spots is a 50-bed emergency care clinic set up six weeks ago in a former elementary school in Atmeh.

Largely funded by a wealthy Syrian expatriate, the Orient clinic, with five ICU beds, handles some of the most serious cases in a radius of some 150 kilometers (90 miles), said its director, orthopedic surgeon Abdel Hamid Dabbak.

In the past, seriously wounded patients had to go to Turkey, risking dangerous delays at the border, he said. Now, once patients are stabilized in Atmeh, they are sent to a sister clinic across the border for follow-up care.

In Orient’s ICU, a 24-year-old rebel fighter was breathing oxygen through a mask. He had been brought in a day earlier, bleeding heavily from stomach wounds and close to death, said Dr. Maen Martini, a volunteer physician from Joliet, Illinois. After surgery, he stabilized and was taken off a respirator. A delayed crossing into Turkey would have killed him, Martini said.

The fighter’s neighbor was little Fahed, whose house had been struck by a missile on Saturday in the village of Kafr Zeita in Hama province. “The roof collapsed on us,” his mother said of the attack. “We ran out … I saw him bleeding from his head, but it was just a small cut.”

The local clinic said the injury was more serious than it seemed and the family rushed to Atmeh, more than 100 kilometers (60 miles) to the north.

Since surgery, Fahed has been nursing and has moved his arms and legs, and the doctor is hoping for a near-complete recovery.

“Clinically, he has improved dramatically,” he said.

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RIM loses BlackBerry subscribers for first time

TORONTO (AP) — Research In Motion‘s stock plunged in after-hours trading Thursday after the BlackBerry maker said it plans to change the way it charges fees.

RIM also announced that it lost subscribers for the first time in the latest quarter, as the global number of BlackBerry users dipped to 79 million.

In a rare positive sign, the Canadian company added to its cash position during the quarter as it prepared to launch new smartphones on Jan. 30. The new devices are deemed critical to the company’s survival.

RIM’s stock initially jumped more than 8 percent in after-hours trading on that news, but then fell $ 1.48, or 10.4 percent, to $ 12.65 after RIM said on a conference call that it won’t generate as much revenue from telecommunications carriers once it releases the new BlackBerry 10 platform.

RIM is changing the way it charges service fees, putting an important source of revenue at risk. RIM CEO Thorsten Heins said only subscribers who want enhanced security will pay fees under the new system.

“Other subscribers who do not utilize such services are expected to generate less or no service revenue,” Heins said. “The mix in level of service fees revenue will change going forward and will be under pressure over the next year during this transition.”

RIM’s stock had been on a three-month rally that has seen the stock more than double from its lowest level since 2003.

But Mike Walkley, an analyst with Canaccord Genuity, said BlackBerry 10 will change RIM’s services revenue model dramatically. He said that instead of getting about $ 6 per device each month from carriers and users RIM could get as little as zero.

“That’s what turned the stock from being up 10 percent to being down 10 percent,” Walkley said. “That’s been part of our worry. How do they come back with a new platform and get carriers to continue to share the higher revenue —which sounds like they are not going to— and then subsidize the phone to make it affordable for consumers and enterprises.”

“People are seeing that the services revenue has a lot of risk to it now with the BlackBerry 10 migration.”

Three months ago, RIM had 80 million subscribers. Analysts said the loss of 1 million subscribers was expected. Once coveted symbols of an always-connected lifestyle, BlackBerry phones have lost their luster to Apple’s iPhone and phones that run on Google’s Android software.

RIM is banking its future on its much-delayed BlackBerry 10 platform, which is meant to offer the multimedia, Internet browsing and apps experience that customers now demand.

“We believe the company has stabilized and will turn the corner in the next year,” Heins said. He noted that the company’s cash holdings grew by $ 600 million in the quarter to $ 2.9 billion, even after the funding of all its restructuring costs. RIM previously announced 5,000 layoffs this year.

Heins said subscribers in North America showed the largest decline, but said there is growth overseas.

Colin Gillis, an analyst with BGC Financial, said before the conference call that the company bought itself more time.

“It doesn’t mean (BlackBerry) 10 will gain traction. A lot of people said 10 would be DOA, but I don’t think that’s going to be the case,” he said.

Jefferies analyst Peter Misek also earlier called the results better than expected, noting that RIM added a significant amount of cash. RIM will need the money to advertise the new BlackBerrys and operating system.

Misek also called it a positive development that RIM said there would not be another delay to BlackBerry 10.

“The success or failure of this company will be on BlackBerry 10,” Misek said.

RIM posted net income of $ 14 million, or 3 cents per share for its fiscal third quarter, which ended Dec. 1. That compares with a profit of $ 265 million, or 51 cents per share, in the same quarter a year ago.

The latest figure includes a favorable tax settlement. Excluding that adjustment, RIM lost 22 cents per share. Analysts polled by FactSet were expecting a wider loss of 27 cents.

RIM reported revenue of $ 2.7 billion, down 47 percent from a year ago.

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Twitter post offers clue to The Civil Wars’ future

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — While there still remain questions about the future of The Civil Wars, there’s new music on the way.

Joy Williams, one half of the Grammy Award-winning duo with John Paul White, said Thursday during a Twitter chat that she was in the studio listening to new Civil Wars songs.

It’s a tantalizing clue to the future of the group, which appeared in doubt when a European tour unraveled last month due to “irreconcilable differences.”

At the time, the duo said it hoped to release an album in 2013. It’s not clear if Williams was referring Thursday to music for a new album or for a documentary score they have composed with T Bone Burnett. They’re also set to release an “Unplugged” session on iTunes on Jan. 15.

Nate Yetton, the group’s manager and Williams’ husband, had no comment — though he has supplied a few hints of his own by posting pictures of recording sessions on his Instagram account recently. The duo announced last summer it would be working with Charlie Peacock, who produced its gold-selling debut “Barton Hollow.” The photos do not show Williams or White, but one includes violin player Odessa Rose.

Rose says in an Instagram post: “Playing on the new Civil Wars record… Beautiful sounds.”

Even with its future in doubt, the duo continues to gather accolades. Williams and White are up for a Golden Globe on Jan. 13, and two Grammy Awards on Feb. 10, for their “The Hunger Games” soundtrack collaboration “Safe & Sound” with Taylor Swift.

Williams’ comments came during an installment of an artist interview series with Alison Sudol of A Fine Frenzy sponsored by The Recording Academy.

___

Online:

http://thecivilwars.com

___

Follow AP Music Writer Chris Talbott: http://twitter.com/Chris_Talbott.

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House GOP puts off vote on ‘Plan B’

WASHINGTON (AP) — Confronted with a revolt among the rank and file, House Republicans abruptly put off a vote Thursday night on legislation allowing tax rates to rise for households earning $ 1 million and up, complicating attempts to avoid a year-end fiscal cliff that threatens to send the economy into recession.

In a brief statement, House Speaker John Boehner said the bill “did not have sufficient support from our members to pass.” At the same time he challenged President Barack Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to work on legislation to avert the fiscal cliff.

“The Senate must now act,” he said.

Emerging from a hurriedly-called evening meeting of House Republicans, Ohio Rep. Steve LaTourette said Boehner had told lawmakers, “He’s going to call the president and he’s going to go down and talk to him and maybe they can hammer something out.”

There was no immediate response from either the White House or Reid’s office.

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Apple is dominating the small and medium business market in Q4

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Leah Remini sued by former managers over “Family Tools” commissions

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Leah Remini‘s new TV gig is already giving her a headache, months before it even starts. Former “King of Queens” star Remini is being sued by her former managers, the Collective Management Group, which claims that it’s owed $ 67,000 in commissions relating to her upcoming ABC comedy “Family Tools,” which debuts May 1.

In a complaint filed with Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday, the Collective says that it entered into an agreement with the actress in November 2011 that guaranteed the company 10 percent of the earnings that emerged from projects that Remini “discussed, negotiated, contemplated, or procured/booked during Plaintiff’s representation of Remini,” regardless of whether the income was earned after she and the Collective parted ways.

According to the lawsuit, that would include the $ 1 million that it says Remini will earn for the first season of “Family Tools.” (The suit allows that it isn’t owed commission on a $ 330,000 talent holding fee that Remini received from ABC prior to officially being booked on the show.)

Remini, pictured above wearing the self-satisfied smirk of someone who just might stiff her former managers out of their commission, terminated her agreement with the Collective “without warning or justification” in October, the suit says.

Alleging breach of oral contract among other charges, the suit is asking for an order stipulating that it’s owed the $ 67,000, plus unspecified damages, interest and court costs.

Remini’s agent has not yet responded to TheWrap’s request for comment.

(Pamela Chelin contributed to this report)

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Family Meals Help Kids Eat More Fruit & Veggies

One or two family meals a week may help kids eat more fruits and vegetables, a new study suggests.

In the U.K. study, children whose families always ate meals together consumed 4.4 ounces (1.5 portions) more fruits and vegetables a day compared with children whose families never ate together.

And kids who had family meals just once or twice a week consumed 3.4 ounces (1.2 portions) more produce a day.

“Modern life often prevents the whole family from sitting round the dinner table, but this research shows that even just Sunday lunch round the table can help improve the diets of our families,” said study researcher Meaghan Christian, of the University of Leeds.

Family meals may provide an opportunity for children to learn healthy eating habits from their parents or siblings, and are also an incentive to plan meals, the researchers said.

Cutting fruits and vegetables into smaller pieces also appeared to increase consumption. Children ate half a portion more of fruits and vegetables (1.4 ounces) if their parents said they always cut up these foods.

The majority of children in the United States, Europe and Australia don’t consume the recommended daily amount of fruits and vegetables (five servings a day), the researchers said. [See 10 Ways to Promote Kids' Healthy Eating Habits].

Previous research has shown that children who dine with their families are less likely to be obese and more likely to eat healthy foods.

The new study’s findings are based on information from 2,000 elementary school children in London, with an average age of 8. Parents answered questions about their child’s food consumption over the last day, as well as how often the family ate meals together. Sixty-three percent of the kids did not eat the recommended five servings of fruits and vegetables a day.

Because the results are based on parents’ reports of their kids’ food intake, they may be subject to bias, the researchers noted. Parents may overreport the amount of fruits and vegetables their child eats because a healthy diet is socially desirable. But the parents of children in the study did watch a DVD to learn how to properly report their child’s food intake, the researchers said.

The study is published today (Dec. 19) in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health.

Pass it on:One or two family meals a week may increase a child’s fruit and vegetable intake.

Follow Rachael Rettner on Twitter @RachaelRettner, or MyHealthNewsDaily @MyHealth_MHND. We’re also on Facebook & Google+.

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U.S. “fiscal cliff” talks turn sour, Obama threatens veto

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Talks to avoid a U.S. fiscal crisis stalled on Wednesday as President Barack Obama accused opponents of holding a personal grudge against him while the top Republican negotiator called the president “irrational.”

As a year-end deadline nears, Obama and House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner are locked in intense bargaining over a possible deal to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff of harsh tax hikes and automatic spending cuts that could badly damage an already weak economy.

Obama said he was puzzled over what was holding up the talks and told Boehner‘s Republicans to stop worrying about scoring “a point against the president” or forcing him into concessions “just for the heck of it.”

“It is very hard for them to say yes to me,” he told a news conference in the White House. “At some point, you know, they’ve got to take me out of it.”

The rise in tensions threatens to unravel significant progress made over the last week.

Boehner and Obama have each offered substantial concessions that have made a deal look within reach. Obama has agreed to cuts in benefits for seniors, while Boehner has conceded to Obama’s demand that taxes rise for the richest Americans.

However, the climate of goodwill has evaporated since Republicans announced plans on Tuesday to put an alternative tax plan to a vote in the House this week that would largely disregard the progress made so far in negotiations.

On Wednesday, Obama threatened to veto the Republican measure, known as “Plan B,” if Congress approved it.

Boehner’s office slammed Obama for opposing their plan, which would raise taxes on households making more than $ 1 million a year and is a concession from longstanding Republican opposition to increasing any tax rates.

“The White House’s opposition to a backup plan … is growing more bizarre and irrational by the day,” Boehner said through his spokesman, Brendan Buck.

Boehner expressed confidence the House would pass the legislation on Thursday. He urged Obama to “get serious” about a balanced deficit reduction plan.

Wall Street is on edge over the fiscal cliff talks although investors still expect a deal. The S&P 500 stock index slipped 0.76 percent on Wednesday.

Business leaders have descended on Washington to lobby for a deal to avoid going over the cliff while putting public finances on a more sustainable path. Without an agreement to narrow deficits over the long run, the United States could eventually lose investors’ trust, triggering a debt crisis.

An acrimonious presidential campaign that culminated in Obama’s re-election on November 6 has added to the bad blood in Washington between Obama and congressional Republicans.

The two sides also clashed bitterly last year over the government’s limit on borrowing – known as the debt ceiling – an episode that nearly led the nation to default on its debt.

On Wednesday, Obama said the fiscal cliff must not get bogged down with negotiations over the debt ceiling, an issue that must be dealt with again early next year.

But Boehner’s offer to raise the debt ceiling enough for another year of borrowing is facing opposition from a large group of Republicans, a House Republican aide said.

LITMUS TEST

Any fiscal cliff agreement by Obama and the Republican leadership would need the support of their parties’ rank and file in Congress, and Thursday’s vote on Plan B will be a test of Boehner’s ability to deliver votes on any eventual deal.

Boehner faces opposition from Republican Tea Party conservatives over his concession to raise tax rates. But in a sign some conservatives are coming around to Boehner’s position, anti-tax activist Grover Norquist gave his blessing to the bill.

Other conservative groups, including the influential Club for Growth, are urging Republicans to vote against Plan B.

Obama and Boehner appear to have bridged their biggest ideological differences but remain hung up on the mix of tax hikes and spending cuts meant to narrow the budget gap.

“What separates us is probably a few hundred billion dollars,” Obama said.

The White House wants taxes to rise on household incomes above $ 400,000 a year, a concession from Obama’s opening proposal for a $ 250,000 income threshold.

If a deal is not reached soon, some $ 600 billion in tax hikes and spending cuts are set to begin next month.

Senior administration officials described negotiations as at a standstill and Obama warned he would ask everyone involved in the talks, “what it is that’s holding it up?”

Still, the top Republican in the Senate said a resolution to the stalemate could come by the end of the week.

“There’s still enough time for us to finish all of our work before this weekend, if we’re all willing to stay late and work hard,” said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell.

Many Democrats dislike the president’s offer to reduce benefits to seniors, although some political allies of Obama have given signs they feel they could swallow this concession.

“I don’t like these particular changes,” said Democratic Representative Chris Van Hollen, a member of the House leadership from Maryland. But he added: “What people are seeing is the president willing to compromise in order to get things done.”

(Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton, Thomas Ferraro and Vicki Allen; Kim Dixon and Richard Cowan; Writing by Jason Lange; Editing by Alistair Bell and Eric Beech)

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NBC’s Engel, TV crew escape abduction in Syria

BEIRUT (AP) — NBC‘s chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel said Tuesday he and members of his network crew escaped unharmed after five days of captivity in Syria, where more than a dozen pro-regime gunmen dragged them from their car, killed one of their rebel escorts and subjected them to mock executions.

Appearing on NBC’s “Today” show, an unshaven Engel said he and his team escaped during a firefight Monday night between their captors and rebels at a checkpoint. They crossed into Turkey on Tuesday.

NBC did not say how many people were kidnapped with Engel, although two other men, producer Ghazi Balkiz and photographer John Kooistra, appeared with him on the “Today” show. It was not confirmed whether everyone was accounted for.

Engel said he believes the kidnappers were a Shiite militia group loyal to the Syrian government, which has lost control over swaths of the country’s north and is increasingly on the defensive in a civil war that has killed 40,000 people since March 2011.

“They kept us blindfolded, bound,” said the 39-year-old Engel, who speaks and reads Arabic. “We weren’t physically beaten or tortured. A lot of psychological torture, threats of being killed. They made us choose which one of us would be shot first and when we refused, there were mock shootings,” he added.

“They were talking openly about their loyalty to the government,” Engel said. He said the captors were trained by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and allied with Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite militant group, but he did not elaborate.

There was no mention of the kidnapping by Syria’s state-run news agency.

Both Iran and Hezbollah are close allies of the embattled Syrian government of President Bashar Assad, who used military force to crush mostly peaceful protests against his regime. The crackdown on protests led many in Syria to take up arms against the government, and the conflict has become a civil war.

Engel said he was told the kidnappers wanted to exchange him and his crew for four Iranian and two Lebanese prisoners being held by the rebels.

“They captured us in order to carry out this exchange,” he said.

Engel and his crew entered Syria on Thursday and were driving through what they thought was rebel-controlled territory when “a group of gunmen just literally jumped out of the trees and bushes on the side of the road.”

“There were probably 15 gunmen. They were wearing ski masks. They were heavily armed. They dragged us out of the car,” he said.

He said the gunmen shot and killed at least one of their rebel escorts on the spot and took the hostages into a waiting truck nearby.

Around 11 p.m. Monday, Engel said he and the others were being moved to another location in northern Idlib province.

“And as we were moving along the road, the kidnappers came across a rebel checkpoint, something they hadn’t expected. We were in the back of what you would think of as a minivan,” he said. “The kidnappers saw this checkpoint and started a gunfight with it. Two of the kidnappers were killed. We climbed out of the vehicle and the rebels took us. We spent the night with them.”

Engel and his crew crossed back into neighboring Turkey on Tuesday.

The network said there was no claim of responsibility, no contact with the captors and no request for ransom during the time the crew was missing.

NBC sought to keep the disappearance of Engel and the crew secret for several days while it investigated what happened to them. Major media organizations, including The Associated Press, adhered to a request from the network to refrain from reporting on the issue out of concern it could make the dangers to the captives worse. News of the disappearance did begin to leak out in Turkish media and on some websites on Monday.

Syria has become a danger zone for reporters since the conflict began.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Syria is by far the deadliest country for the press in 2012, with 28 journalists killed in combat or targeted for murder by government or opposition forces.

Among the journalists killed while covering Syria are award-winning French TV reporter Gilles Jacquier, photographer Remi Ochlik and Britain’s Sunday Times correspondent Marie Colvin. Also, Anthony Shadid, a correspondent for The New York Times, died after an apparent asthma attack while on assignment in Syria.

The Syrian government has barred most foreign media coverage of the civil war in Syria. Those journalists whom the regime has allowed in are tightly controlled in their movements by Information Ministry minders. Many foreign journalists sneak into Syria illegally with the help of smugglers and travel with rebel escorts or drivers.

Engel joined NBC in 2003 and was named chief foreign correspondent in 2008. He previously worked as a freelance journalist for ABC News, including during the U.S. invasion of Iraq. He has lived in the Middle East since graduating from Stanford University in 1996.

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Samsung Galaxy Muse is like an iPod Shuffle that Syncs with Your Phone

In perhaps the most awkwardly titled tech press release ever, Samsung Mobile announced the launch of the new Samsung Galaxy Muse, a device which appears to have nothing to do with “CORRECTING and REPLACING and ADDING MULTIMEDIA” but everything to do with being a music player crossed with a smartphone accessory.

​Say goodbye to iTunes?

While most handheld music players (and smartphone or tablets with music apps) sync with a PC or Mac music app, like iTunes or Banshee, the Samsung Galaxy Muse syncs with your Android phone itself. It uses the Muse Sync app, which Google Play says will install on devices like the Nexus 7 tablet but which Samsung says will only work with the Galaxy S II, Galaxy S III, Galaxy Note and Galaxy Note II smartphones.

​Plug it in, turn it on

The pebble-shaped Muse connects to your Samsung phone via its headset jack. It doesn’t have a screen, so you have to control it iPod Shuffle style, and use the Muse Sync app to see how much of its 4 GB of space are free and decide which playlists to sync. Since it only has those 4 GB, it can only hold a fraction of the music that can be put on the much more powerful smartphones.

​Who is Samsung selling the Galaxy Muse to?

Samsung says “users can sync the songs they want and leave their phone behind,” the usefulness of which may depend on whether or not you feel limited by having to bring your smartphone with you. The press release mentions its “wearable design and small form factor,” and suggests taking it “in place of [your] smartphone … at the gym or on the go.”

​What other gadgets are like the Galaxy Muse?

The most obvious comparison is to the iPod Shuffle, Apple’s similarly tiny and screen-less portable music player. At $ 49, it costs the same as the Galaxy Muse (although a Droid-Life tipster found a $ 25 off coupon code for the Muse), but comes in seven different colors and has an embossed click-wheel controller instead of a flat and featureless surface. It requires you to use iTunes on a desktop PC or Mac, though.

​On the upside

The Galaxy Muse’s six hours of battery life may not be suitable for all-day listening, but may at least take the pressure off of a battery-hungry smartphone (so long as it’s one of Samsung’s flagship models). And as PCMag’s Chloe Albanesius notes, “it’s not very convenient to strap a 5.5-inch Galaxy Note II to your arm when you hit the gym.”

Jared Spurbeck is an open-source software enthusiast, who uses an Android phone and an Ubuntu laptop PC. He has been writing about technology and electronics since 2008.
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Newsman’s disappearance largely kept secret

NEW YORK (AP) — NBC was able to keep the abduction of chief Middle East correspondent Richard Engel in Syria largely a secret until he escaped late Monday because it persuaded some of this country’s most prominent news organizations to hold back on the story.

Otherwise, the disappearance of Engel — probably the most high-profile international television reporter on a U.S. network — would have been big news.

Engel and three colleagues, producers Ghazi Balkiz and Aziz Akyavas and photographer John Kooistra, escaped during a firefight between rebels and their captors, forces sympathetic to the Syrian government. The journalists were dragged from their cars, kept bound and blindfolded and threatened with death.

NBC said it did not know what had happened to the men until after their escape. The first sign of trouble came last Thursday, when Engel did not check back with his office at an agreed-upon time.

The Associated Press learned of Engel’s disappearance independently and was asked to keep the news quiet upon contacting NBC, said John Daniszewski, the AP’s vice president and senior managing editor.

“A general principle of our reporting is that we don’t want to write stories that are going to endanger the lives of the people that we are writing about,” Daniszewski said. The first few days after an abduction are often crucial to securing the captive’s release.

CBS News also said that it had honored NBC’s request, but a spokeswoman declined to discuss it. ABC, Fox News and CNN were also contacted by NBC.

CNN, in an editor’s note affixed to a website story on Engel’s escape, noted NBC’s request. CNN said it complied to allow fact-finding and negotiations to free the captors before it became a worldwide story.

“Hostage negotiators say that once the global spotlight is on the missing, the hostages’ value soars, making it much harder to negotiate their freedom,” CNN said.

For similar reasons, the AP did not report its own news several years ago when a photographer was kidnapped in the Gaza Strip, securing his release within a day. In one celebrated case of secrecy, The New York Times withheld news that reporter David Rohde was kidnapped while trying to make contact with a Taliban commander in Afghanistan. Rohde escaped after seven months in captivity.

It wasn’t clear whether Engel’s abductors knew what they had at the time. That knowledge, CNN argued, could have greatly complicated any negotiations. In this case, the captors did not make any ransom demands during the time he was missing.

This isn’t simply a professional courtesy; the AP has withheld news involving overseas contractors in the past, Daniszewski said. For similar reasons, the organization does not reveal details of military or police actions it learns about beforehand if the news will put people at risk, and doesn’t write about leaders heading into war zones until they are safely there.

Still, it’s not a decision lightly taken by news organizations. “The obligation of journalists is to report information, not withhold it, except in exceptional circumstances,” said Robert Steele, a journalism ethics professor at DePauw University.

The news that Engel was missing was first reported Monday by Turkish journalists who had heard about Akyavas’ involvement, and was picked up by the U.S. website Gawker.com. In explaining why the news was reported, Gawker’s John Cook wrote that no one had told him of a specific or even general threat to Engel’s safety.

“I would not have written a post if someone had told me that there was a reasonable or even remote suspicion that anything specific would happen if I wrote the post,” Cook wrote.

He also noted that China’s Xinhua News Agency and the Breitbart website had also reported on Engel’s disappearance. Breitbart’s John Nolte attached a note to his report saying that he wasn’t even aware of any news embargo until after hearing that Engel had been released.

The news was also tweeted by a small number of journalists, apparently unaware of the embargo request.

Whether a disappearance has become widely known could influence a decision by AP on whether to withhold the news, Daniszewski said. In this case, it wasn’t clear that it had been widely circulated, he said.

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9/11 cancer study won’t settle debate over risks

CHICAGO (AP) — The most comprehensive study of potential World Trade Center-related cancers raises more questions than it answers and won’t end a debate over whether the attacks were really a cause.

The study suggests possible links with prostate, thyroid and a type of blood cancer among rescue and recovery workers exposed to toxic debris from the terrorist attacks. But there were few total cancers and even the study leaders say the results “should be interpreted with caution.”

The study involved nearly 56,000 people enrolled in a registry set up to monitor health effects from those exposed to the aftermath of the trade center attacks. Most participants volunteered for enrollment, which could skew the results if people who already had symptoms were more likely to enroll than healthier people.

Cancers diagnosed through 2008 were included in the study, but that’s just seven years after the 2001 attacks, and cancer often takes longer to develop. People diagnosed with cancer before the attacks were excluded from the study.

Cancer rates were compared with those in the general New York state population. But the researchers had no data on whether people in the study had risk factors for getting cancer, including a strong family history, or if they had existing cancer that wasn’t detected until after the disaster. Participants are being monitored for health issues and may have gotten more cancer screening than other people, which also could skew the results.

The increased risks were seen only in rescue and recovery workers, who likely had more direct, sustained contact with potential cancer-causing substances in the dust, smoke and debris from the attacks. But cancers weren’t more common in workers who had the most exposure — a finding that would seem to contradict the theory that contact was the cause.

The study comes just a few months after the federal government added dozens of types of cancer to a list of illnesses related to the trade center attacks that will be covered by a program to pay for health coverage.

The study results “won’t settle the question because it’s still too early,” said Dr. Thomas Farley, New York City‘s health commissioner. “People are very, very interested in this topic and we thought it was important to get the data out that we have even though it is early.”

Marijo Russell O’Grady, dean of students at Pace University’s New York City campus, was at her office near the trade center during the attacks. She also lives nearby, and said she worries about how exposure to choking dust, ash and an “overwhelming burnt plastic smell” might affect her family, including her then 1 1/2 year-old son. They are all enrolled in the health registry.

Cancer is her greatest concern and it’s “always present in the back of my mind,” she said.

Researchers from the city’s health department led the study, which was partly paid for by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. NIOSH spokesman Fred Blosser said the agency welcomes the results and that longer follow-up is needed to examine risks for cancers with that take a long time to develop.

The study appears in Wednesday’s Journal of the American Medical Association.

Earlier research from the same registry linked the attacks with respiratory problems including asthma and symptoms of post-traumatic stress.

The new study involved a broader array of people, including firefighters and other emergency workers, along with residents and employees of workplaces near ground zero, Farley said.

In the new study, possible links were mainly seen with cancers diagnosed in 2007 and 2008 in rescue and recovery workers. These included 67 cases of prostate cancer, 13 thyroid cancer cases, and seven cases of multiple myeloma — all at rates higher than in the New York state population.

Donald Berry, a biostatistics professor at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, said the study has too many limitations to draw any definitive conclusions.

“There’s no evidence that 9/11 caused any of these cancers,” Berry said.

He pointed out that no increased risks were found for lung cancer — a cancer that might seem plausible after breathing lots of toxic dust and smoke.

___

Online:

JAMA: http://www.jama.com

World Trade Center health effects: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/wtc/

___

AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner can be reached at http://www.twitter.com.LindseyTanner

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Cliff talks hit a lull with Boehner’s ‘Plan B’

WASHINGTON (AP) — Just two weeks from an economy-threatening deadline, fiscal cliff talks hit a lull Tuesday as House Speaker John Boehner announced that Republicans would also march ahead with their own tax plan on a separate track from the one he’s been pursuing with President Barack Obama.

The White House and leading congressional Democrats immediately rejected Boehner‘s “Plan B,” which would extend soon-to-expire Bush-era tax cuts for everyone making less than $ 1 million but would not address huge across-the-board spending cuts that are set to strike the Pentagon and domestic programs next year.

“Everyone should understand Boehner‘s proposal will not pass the Senate,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Boehner’s surprise move came after significant progress over the past several days in talks with Obama — talks that produced movement on tax rate hikes that have proven deeply unsettling to GOP conservatives and on cuts to Social Security benefits that have incensed liberal Democrats.

Just Monday, Obama offered concessions, including a plan to raise top tax rates on households earning more than $ 400,000 instead of the $ 250,000 threshold he had campaigned on. And the two sides had inched closer on the total amount of tax revenue required to seal the agreement. Obama now would settle for $ 1.2 trillion over the coming decade while Boehner is offering $ 1 trillion.

By contrast, protecting income below $ 1 million from a hike in the top tax rate from 35 percent to 39.6 percent would raise only $ 269 billion over the coming decade.

But the outlines of a possible Obama-Boehner agreement appeared to have shaky support at best from Boehner’s leadership team and outright opposition from key Republicans like vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan, R-Wis., a House GOP aide said. That aide spoke only on condition of anonymity because the aide was not authorized to discuss the situation publicly.

Though Obama spokesman Jay Carney had nothing good to say about Boehner‘s new option, he said, “The president is willing to continue to work with Republicans” toward a broader agreement.

The narrower Plan B faced plenty of opposition. Democrats announced they would oppose it, and many conservative Republicans continued to resist any vote that might be interpreted as raising taxes. Republicans were refining the measure Tuesday in hopes of building support among the GOP rank and file, but passing the measure exclusively with GOP votes could prove difficult.

“I think it’s a terrible idea,” said Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho. “For a lot of reasons.”

Republicans noted that top Democrats like Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California and Sen. Charles Schumer of New York have in the recent past supported the million-dollar threshold for rates hikes. “We’ve had an election on the President’s tax plan, the President won, and Republicans can’t turn the clock back,” said Schumer spokesman Brian Fallon.

Boehner’s back-up plan would extend current income tax rates except for income exceeding $ 1 million, set a 20 percent tax rate on capital gains and dividend income for income over $ 1 million instead of 15 percent now, and retain current rules regarding the estate tax instead of tighter parameters sought by Obama.

It would also prevent an expansion of the alternative minimum tax that would otherwise hit 28 million middle- and upper-class Americans with an average $ 3,700 increase on their 2012 tax returns.

Several rank-and-file House Republicans said the message they heard at an evening caucus was that passing plan B would strengthen Boehner’s hand in negotiating steeper spending cuts with Obama.

If the Senate decides not to vote on the House bill or ignores it, “That’s not our problem,” said Rep. Patrick Tiberi, R-Ohio. “The ball’s in Harry Reid’s court.”

Democrats said Boehner’s move made it clear he was abandoning efforts to reach an agreement with Obama — much as he quit talks with Obama 18 months ago.

“Plan B is yet another example of House Republicans walking away from negotiations,” said Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., top Democrat on the Budget Committee.

At the White House, officials remained cautiously optimistic that the talks could get back on track despite Boehner’s maneuvering.

Boehner, however, said Obama is the one proving to be too inflexible, even as he held out hope that talks with Obama might yet bear fruit.

“He talked about a ‘balanced’ approach on the campaign trail,” Boehner said. “What the White House offered yesterday — $ 1.3 trillion in revenue for only $ 850 billion in spending cuts — cannot be considered balanced.”

Boehner also displayed new flexibility on the politically explosive issue of raising the Medicare retirement age from 65 to 67. Boehner said the idea — anathema to Democrats — didn’t need to be dealt with this year but could be kicked over into a broader negotiation next year.

“That issue has been on the table, off the table, back on the table,” Boehner said. “I don’t believe it’s an issue that has to be dealt with between now and the end of the year.”

Just Monday, the Capitol bristled with optimism that Boehner and Obama might strike a bargain.

In a new offer, Obama dropped his long-held insistence that taxes rise on individuals earning more than $ 200,000 and families making more than $ 250,000. He is now offering a new threshold of $ 400,000 and lowering his 10-year tax revenue goals from the $ 1.6 trillion he originally sought.

The new Obama plan seeks $ 1.2 trillion in revenue over 10 years and $ 1.2 trillion in 10-year spending reductions. Boehner aides say the revenue is closer to $ 1.3 trillion if revenue triggered by a new inflation index is counted, and they say the spending reductions are closer to $ 930 billion if one discounts about $ 290 billion in lower estimated debt interest.

The two sides also differ on the estate tax, extending unemployment benefits and how to address the need to raise the government’s borrowing cap to prevent a first-ever U.S. default and a re-run of last year’s debt crisis.

The White House was facing its own backlash, with labor, liberal and elderly advocacy groups mounting an organized campaign against any adjustments in cost-of-living for Social Security beneficiaries.

“President Obama and other Democrats campaigned saying Social Security doesn’t affect the deficit,” said Roger Hickey, co-director of the liberal Campaign for America’s Future. “Social Security recipients are going to notice and they are either going to blame John Boehner or President Obama.”

The change would reduce annual cost-of-living increases for beneficiaries of Social Security and other government programs. It also would push more people into higher tax brackets by making smaller annual adjustments to brackets.

The administration appeared confident that most Democrats would reluctantly vote for the idea in an attractive enough budget package, particularly one that has the backing of Obama.

“I think many of us still have faith that the president will ultimately, if he strikes a deal with the Republicans, give us a plan that we can vote on that provides that fairness and balance,” said Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Calif.

White House spokesman Carney described the inclusion of the inflation adjustment as “a technical change” that was “not directed at one particular program.” He also said that if instituted, the administration would ensure that the most vulnerable beneficiaries would not be affected.

___

Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Jim Kuhnhenn and Donna Cassata contributed to this report.

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N. Korea displays Kim Jong Il a year after death

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — North Korea unveiled the embalmed body of Kim Jong Il, still in his trademark khaki jumpsuit, on the anniversary of his death Monday as mourning mixed with pride over a recent satellite launch that was a long-held goal of the late authoritarian leader.

Kim lies in state a few floors below his father, national founder Kim Il Sung, in the Kumsusan mausoleum, the cavernous former presidential palace. Kim Jong Il is presented lying beneath a red blanket, a spotlight shining on his face in a room suffused in red.

Wails echoed through the chilly hall as a group of North Korean women sobbed into the sashes of their traditional Korean dresses as they bowed before his body. The hall bearing the glass coffin was opened to select visitors — including The Associated Press — for the first time since his death.

North Korea also unveiled Kim’s yacht and his armored train carriage, where he is said to have died. Among the personal belongings featured in the mausoleum are the parka, sunglasses and pointy platform shoes he famously wore in the last decades of his life. A MacBook Pro lay open on his desk.

North Koreans paid homage to Kim and basked in the success of last week’s launch of a long-range rocket that sent a satellite named after him to space.

The launch, condemned in many other capitals as a violation of bans against developing its missile technology, was portrayed not only as a gift to Kim Jong Il but also as proof that his young son, Kim Jong Un, has the strength and vision to lead the country.

The elder Kim died last Dec. 17 from a heart attack while traveling on his train. His death was followed by scenes of North Koreans dramatically wailing in the streets of Pyongyang, and of the 20-something son leading ranks of uniformed and gray-haired officials through funeral and mourning rites.

The mood in the capital was decidedly more upbeat a year later, with some of the euphoria carrying over from last Wednesday’s launch. The satellite bears one of Kim Jong Il’s nicknames, Kwangmyongsong, or “Lode Star,” a moniker given to him at birth according to the official lore.

Cameras were not allowed inside the mausoleum, and state media did not release any images of Kim Jong Il’s body.

With the death anniversary came a hint that Kim Jong Un himself might soon be a father.

His wife, Ri Sol Ju, was seen on state TV with what appeared to be a baby bump as she walked slowly next to her husband at the mausoleum, where they bowed to statues of Kim’s father and grandfather.

There is no official word from Pyongyang about a pregnancy. In addition, Ri is shown wearing a billowing traditional Korean dress in black that makes it difficult to know for sure.

North Koreans are reluctant to discuss details of the Kim family that have not been released by the state. Still there are rumors even in Pyongyang about whether the country’s first couple is expecting.

To honor Kim’s father, North Koreans stopped in their tracks at midday and bowed their heads as the national flag fluttered at half-staff along streets and from buildings.

Pyongyang construction workers took off their yellow hard hats and bowed at the waist as sirens wailed across the city for three minutes.

Tens of thousands of North Koreans gathered in the frigid plaza outside, newly transformed into a public park with lawns and pergolas. Geese flew past snow-tinged firs and swans dallied in the partly frozen moat that rings the vast complex in Pyongyang’s outskirts.

“Just when we were thinking how best to uphold our general, he passed away,” Kim Jong Ran said at the plaza. “But we upheld leader Kim Jong Un. … We regained our strength and we are filled with determination to work harder for our country.”

Speaking outside the mausoleum, renamed the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, the military’s top political officer, Choe Ryong Hae, said North Korea should be proud of the satellite, calling it “a political event with great significance in the history of Korea and humanity.”

Much of the rest of the world, however, was swift in condemning the launch, which was seen by the United States and other nations as a thinly disguised cover for testing missile technology that could someday be used for a nuclear warhead.

The test, which the U.N. Security Council said violated a ban on launches using ballistic missile technology, underlined Kim Jong Un’s determination to continue carrying out his father’s hardline policies even if they draw international condemnation.

Washington said Monday it has no option but to seek to isolate Pyongyang further.

“What’s left to us is to continue to increase pressure on the North Korean regime and we are looking at how to best to do that, both bilaterally and with our partners going forward until they (North Korea) get the message. We are going to further isolate this regime,” U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

Some outside experts worry that Pyongyang’s next move will be to press ahead with a nuclear test in the coming weeks, a step toward building a warhead small enough to be carried by a long-range missile.

Despite inviting further isolation for his impoverished nation and the threat of stiffer sanctions, Kim Jong Un won national prestige and clout by going ahead with the rocket launch.

At a memorial service on Sunday, North Korea’s top leadership not only eulogized Kim Jong Il, but also praised his son. Kim Yong Nam, president of the Presidium of North Korea’s parliament, called the launch a “shining victory” and an emblem of the promise that lies ahead with Kim Jong Un in power.

The rocket’s success also fits neatly into the narrative of Kim Jong Il’s death. Even before he died, the father had laid the groundwork for his son to inherit a government focused on science, technology and improving the economy. And his pursuit of nuclear weapons and the policy of putting the military ahead of all other national concerns have also carried into Kim Jong Un’s reign.

In a sign of the rocket launch’s importance, Kim Jong Un invited the scientists in charge of it to attend the mourning rites in Pyongyang, according to state media.

The reopening of the mausoleum on the anniversary of the leader’s death follows tradition. Kumsusan, the palace where his father, Kim Il Sung, served as president, was reopened as a mausoleum on the anniversary of his death in 1994.

___

Associated Press writers Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul, South Korea, and Matthew Pennington in Washington contributed to this report. Follow Jean Lee, AP’s bureau chief for Pyongyang and Seoul, at www.twitter.com/newsjean.

Asia News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Amazon adds episodes of alt-comedy show “UnCabaret”

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Amazon Instant Video has added four exclusive episodes of “UnCabaret,” an alt-comedy showcase for the likes of Margaret Cho and Andy Dick, to its Prime Instant Video service.

The show was created and hosted by comedian and entertainer Beth Lapides and features performances by such comedy stars as Sandra Bernhard, Garfunkle and Oates, Greg Fitzsimmons and Rob Delaney. Instead of punch-line driven sets, performers are encouraged to show off story-based stream-of-consciousness acts.

Amazon Prime members will get free access to the titles. The episodes will be available for rental or purchase for Amazon Instant Video customers on an a la carte basis.

Amazon Prime costs $ 79 annually and gives members free two-day shipping as well as streaming access to movies and shows from the likes of Paramount and Disney-ABC. The catalog of titles grew a little larger Monday. In addition to “UnCabaret,” Amazon announced an exclusive content licensing agreement with Turner Broadcasting System and Warner Bros. TV to add two TNT shows, “Falling Skies” and “The Closer” to its service.

TV News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Amgen to plead guilty in criminal case: prosecutors

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Biotech company Amgen Inc is scheduled to plead guilty on Tuesday in a criminal case in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, prosecutors said.

A brief statement from the U.S. Attorney‘s office gave no details of the charges Amgen would plead guilty to.

Representatives of Amgen could not immediately be reached to comment on the subject matter of the expected plea.

Amgen in October 2011 said it had taken a $ 780 million charge to settle a probe into allegedly illegal sales and marketing practices. The investigation, relating to sales of its anemia drugs Aranesp and Epogen, had been conducted for several years by federal prosecutors in Brooklyn and Seattle.

Amgen said at the time that if settlement discussions were successful, the $ 780 million would resolve federal probes and related state Medicaid claims as well as other litigation. But the company did not disclose when and if it would plead guilty to criminal charges.

The biotechnology company disclosed in court papers filed in 2010 that it has been under investigation by the Brooklyn federal prosecutor since 2006 in connection with alleged violations of the False Claims Act and other federal statutes.

(Reporting by Ransdell Pierson and Jessica Dye; Editing by M.D. Golan)

Medications/Drugs News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Comet collapse to cost UK £49m

17 December 2012 Last updated at 15:35 ET

The collapse of electrical chain Comet will cost the government £49.4m in redundancy payments and tax revenues, administrators Deloitte have revealed.

The redundancy money owed to thousands of former Comet workers totals £23.2m, and will be paid by the government’s Redundancy Payments Service (RPS).

Meanwhile, £26.2m is owed in taxes to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).

The last 49 Comet stores will close on Tuesday. Comet went into administration last month.

Big losses

Comet’s demise is one of the biggest High Street casualties of recent years.

The 236-store business, which at the time employed about 7,000 people, was bought last year for the nominal sum of £1 by private equity firm OpCapita.

Continue reading the main story

Founded in 1933 as a business charging radio batteries.

Opened its first store in Hull in 1968.

Bought by Woolworths and B&Q owner Kingfisher in 1984, which expanded Comet into one of the UK’s best-known retail brands.

In 2003 Comet became part of Kesa Electricals, after Kesa was demerged from Kingfisher.

It was announced in November 2011 that Comet would be sold to private equity group OpCapita for just £1.

OpCapita was also given £50m by Kesa as part of the deal.

OpCapita bought the Comet from Kesa Electrical, which also gave OpCapita £46.8m of working capital.

However, OpCapita failed to turnaround Comet’s fortunes, as the company continued to suffer from the fall in UK consumer spending during the recession, and the big growth in online rivals.

Comet was founded in Hull in 1933 and began life selling batteries and radios.

The closure of the final Comet’s stores comes after Deloitte failed to find a buyer for the company.

Deloitte also revealed on Monday that Comet’s losses in the year to April totalled £95m, while its revenues slumped by £200m.

In the subsequent five months, Comet lost a further £31m.

Kesa Electricals was renamed Darty in July this year.

Despite having its headquarters in London, it focuses on the continental market – especially France, where it has more than 200 stores under the Darty name.

BBC News – Business

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