Protests Erupt After Egypt’s Leader Seizes New Power


Tara Todras-Whitehill for The New York Times


Egyptians in central Cairo ran from tear gas during clashes with the police on Friday. Protesters took to the streets in several cities. More Photos »







CAIRO — Protests erupted across Egypt on Friday, as opponents of President Mohamed Morsi clashed with his supporters over a presidential edict that gave him unchecked authority and polarized an already divided nation while raising a specter, the president’s critics charged, of a return to autocracy.  




In an echo of the uprising 22 months ago, thousands of protesters chanted for the downfall of Mr. Morsi’s government in Cairo, while others ransacked the offices of the president’s former party in Suez, Alexandria and other cities.


Mr. Morsi spoke to his supporters in front of the presidential palace here, imploring the public to trust his intentions as he cast himself as a protector of the revolution and a fledgling democracy.


In a speech that was by turns defensive and conciliatory, he ultimately gave no ground to the critics who now were describing him as a pharaoh, in another echo of the insult once reserved for the deposed president, Hosni Mubarak.


“God’s will and elections made me the captain of this ship,” Mr. Morsi said.


The battles that raged on Friday — over power, legitimacy and the mantle of the revolution — posed a sharp challenge not only to Mr. Morsi but also to his opponents, members of secular, leftist and liberal groups whose crippling divisions have stifled their agenda and left them unable to confront the more popular Islamist movement led by the Muslim Brotherhood.


The crisis over his power grab came just days after the Islamist leader won international praise for his pragmatism, including from the United States, for brokering a cease-fire between Hamas and Israel.


On Friday, the State Department expressed muted concern over Mr. Morsi’s decision. “One of the aspirations of the revolution was to ensure that power would not be overly concentrated in the hands of any one person or institution,” said the State Department spokeswoman, Victoria Nuland.


She said, “The current constitutional vacuum in Egypt can only be resolved by the adoption of a constitution that includes checks and balances, and respects fundamental freedoms, individual rights and the rule of law consistent with Egypt’s international commitments.”


But the White House was notably silent after it had earlier this week extolled the emerging relationship between President Obama and Mr. Morsi and credited a series of telephone calls between the two men with helping to mediate the cease-fire in Gaza.


For Mr. Morsi, who seemed to be saying to the nation that it needed to surrender the last checks on his power in order to save democracy from Mubarak-era judges, the challenge was to convince Egyptians that the ends justified his means.


But even as he tried, thousands of protesters marched to condemn his decision. Clashes broke out between the president’s supporters and his critics, and near Tahrir Square, the riot police fired tear gas and bird shot as protesters hurled stones and set fires.


Since Thursday, when Mr. Morsi issued the decree, the president and his supporters have argued that he acted precisely to gain the power to address the complaints of his critics, including the families of protesters killed during the uprising and its aftermath.


By placing his decisions above judicial review, the decree enabled him to replace a public prosecutor who had failed to win convictions against senior officers implicated in the killings of protesters.


The president and his supporters also argued that the decree insulated the Constituent Assembly, which is drafting the constitution, from meddling by Mubarak-era judges.


Since Mr. Mubarak’s ouster, courts have dissolved Parliament, kept a Mubarak loyalist as top prosecutor and disbanded the first Assembly.


But by ending legal appeals, the decree also removed a safety valve for critics who say the Islamist majority is dominating the drafting of the constitution.


Mayy El Sheikh contributed reporting from Cairo, and Helene Cooper from Washington.



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Katherine Heigl Goes Holiday Shopping on Black Friday















11/24/2012 at 11:45 AM EST



Someone's going to have a happy holiday!

Katherine Heigl was out and about picking up holiday supplies, including wrapping paper and toys, from Party City in Beverly Hills on Black Friday.

The actress, who turns 34 on Saturday, was shopping with husband Josh Kelley.

It will be a special holiday for the couple, who will celebrate for the first time with daughter Adalaide Marie Hope, who arrived in April. They also have a daughter Naleigh, who turned 4 on Thanksgiving Day.

"Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!" Heigl Tweeted. "I'm so thankful for my friends, my girls, and my fantastic family, and all of you of course!"

What's on your holiday list? Send us pics of the items you've been dreaming about, and your photos might appear on PEOPLE.com!

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AP PHOTOS: Simple surgery heals blind Indonesians

PADANG SIDEMPUAN, Indonesia (AP) — They came from the remotest parts of Indonesia, taking crowded overnight ferries and riding for hours in cars or buses — all in the hope that a simple, and free, surgical procedure would restore their eyesight.

Many patients were elderly and needed help to reach two hospitals in Sumatra where mass eye camps were held earlier this month by Nepalese surgeon Dr. Sanduk Ruit. During eight days, more than 1,400 cataracts were removed.

The patients camped out, sleeping side-by-side on military cots, eating donated food while fire trucks supplied water for showers and toilets. Many who had given up hope of seeing again left smiling after their bandages were removed.

"I've been blind for three years, and it's really bad," said Arlita Tobing, 65, whose sight was restored after the surgery. "I worked on someone's farm, but I couldn't work anymore."

Indonesia has one of the highest rates of blindness in the world, making it a target country for Ruit who travels throughout the developing world holding free mass eye camps while training doctors to perform the simple, stitch-free procedure he pioneered. He often visits hard-to-reach remote areas where health care is scarce and patients are poor. He believes that by teaching doctors how to perform his method of cataract removal, the rate of blindness can be reduced worldwide.

Cataracts are the leading cause of blindness globally, affecting about 20 million people who mostly live in poor countries, according to the World Health Organization.

"We get only one life, and that life is very short. I am blessed by God to have this opportunity," said Ruit, who runs the Tilganga Eye Center in Katmandu, Nepal. "The most important of that is training, taking the idea to other people."

During the recent camps, Ruit trained six doctors from Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore.

Here, in images, are scenes from the mobile eye camps:

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Husband cooked wife on kitchen stove, police say



Frederick Joseph Hengl


A 68-year-old Oceanside man is accused of killing and dismembering his 73-year-old wife.


He pleaded not guilty this week.


Deputy Dist. Atty. Katherine Flaherty told Vista Superior Court Judge J. Marshall Hockett that police found hunks of meat cooking on the stove at the family home and a severed head in the freezer.


Hockett ordered Frederick Joseph Hengl kept in jail on $5-million bail.


Police are unclear when Hengl's wife, Anna Faris, was killed. They went to the couple's home after neighbors reported a strange smell and hearing the sound of a power saw.


Neighbors also reported that Hengl sometimes wore a dress and his wife sometimes took her clothes off in the frontyard.


 Flaherty told reporters that, "“There is no evidence of cannibalism at this time."


ALSO:


LAX union protesters arrested; delays anger travelers


Mitt Romney loses election, but still goes to Disneyland


Black family flees O.C. city after tires slashed, racial taunts


 -- Tony Perry in San Diego


Photo: Frederick Joseph Hengl in court. Credit: Fox-5 San Diego



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Husband killed wife, cooked her on stove, police say



Frederick Joseph Hengl


A 68-year-old Oceanside man is accused of killing and dismembering his 73-year-old wife.


He pleaded not guilty this week.


Deputy Dist. Atty. Katherine Flaherty told Vista Superior Court Judge J. Marshall Hockett that police found hunks of meat cooking on the stove at the family home and a severed head in the freezer.


Hockett ordered Frederick Joseph Hengl kept in jail on $5-million bail.


Police are unclear when Hengl's wife, Anna Faris, was killed. They went to the couple's home after neighbors reported a strange smell and hearing the sound of a power saw.


Neighbors also reported that Hengl sometimes wore a dress and his wife sometimes took her clothes off in the frontyard.


 Flaherty told reporters that, "“There is no evidence of cannibalism at this time."


ALSO:


LAX union protesters arrested; delays anger travelers


Mitt Romney loses election, but still goes to Disneyland


Black family flees O.C. city after tires slashed, racial taunts


 -- Tony Perry in San Diego


Photo: Frederick Joseph Hengl in court. Credit: Fox-5 San Diego



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Syrian Airstrike Severely Damages Hospital in Aleppo





BEIRUT, Lebanon — Airstrikes by the Syrian government damaged a hospital in the northern city of Aleppo early on Thursday and flattened a building next to it, killing at least 15 people and leaving as many as 40 missing in an attack that closed one of the city’s few functioning medical facilities, antigovernment activists said.




Video purporting to depict the aftermath showed the facade shorn off the first three stories of the hospital, with its name, Dar el-Shifa, in red letters on its tower. Beside it, another building was reduced to a two-story pile of rubble. People milled in the street, shouting “God is great.”


Among the 15 people confirmed dead were two hospital workers and two children, said Abu Louai al-Halabi, an activist in Aleppo, adding that up to 40 people were still believed to be trapped under the rubble. One man was pulled out alive several hours after the explosion, according to another video posted on the Internet by opponents of President Bashar al-Assad.


Rebels seized a military base in southeastern Syria, giving them control of a swath of oil-producing territory, and as tensions increased between anti-government fighters and Kurdish groups in northeastern Syria. In both areas, near the border with Iraq, activists said that fighters from Al Nusra Front for the People of the Levant, a jihadi group, were taking a prominent role among the opposition fighters.


The developments came a day after a well-known antigovernment activist was arrested during a bold protest that showed that the nonviolent opposition movement is still struggling to survive even as civil war deepens.


In the old market in central Damascus, the activist, Rima Dali raised a banner calling for “the end of all military operations” — an act of extraordinary defiance during a time of tight security and surveillance in the capital.


Ms. Dali and three other women stood in wedding dresses in the middle of the arched Souk al-Hamediya, usually bustling with spice sellers but apparently nearly empty. Photographs were posted on Ms. Dali’s and other activists’ sites.


“Syria is for all of us,” the banners read. “You are tired and we are tired. We want to live. Another solution ...” A video e-mailed by another activist appeared to show the women being led away by security forces.


Ms. Dali had been arrested in March for standing silently in front of Parliament with a sign reading, “Stop the killing” and calling for “Syria for all Syrians.”


Such acts of civil disobedience have been eclipsed as the Syrian protest movement grew into a civil war that has killed more than 30,000 people but beneath the surface tensions still ripple between rebel leaders and government opponents who favor a less violent approach.


Yet fighting raged in eastern Syria, threatening to engulf displaced people who fled there from other cities, and in the northeast, activists reported tensions between jihadist fighting groups and both pro- and anti-government Kurds. 


In Ras al-Ain, near the Turkish border in northeastern Syria, activists said clashes broke out between antigovernment battalions and Kurds from the P.Y.D., or Kurdish Democratic Union Party. That group has ties to a militant Kurdish group long backed by the Syrian government.


But the conflict was not a clear-cut one between government opponents and supporters, an Arab activist who fled to Turkey from Ras al-Ain said in a telephone interview.


The activist, who gave only his first name, Miral, for security reasons, said that the antigovernment battalions in the area did not represent the mainstream of the Syrian uprising, but were jihadist battalions, including from the Nusra Front. He said they enjoyed strong logistical support from similar groups inside Iraq as well as Arab tribes that straddle the border between the two countries.


He said there was little military reason for a heavy rebel presence in the area and suspected that the fighters simply wanted to establish a base in a remote area of Syria. Kurds and Arabs alike are eager to control the area if the government falls.


Christians and Kurds in the area, he said, had agreed to keep extremists out after some fighters burned shops selling alcohol.


“It’s a conspiracy against the Kurds,” said another Arab activist who fled to Turkey, Sobhi Dawood. He said he was concerned that all sides were building up arms supplies, threatening to fuel “a civil war in the town.”


Because some residents disagree with the goals of the jihadi battalions, he said, it has been hard to recruit locals to fight against the government. He said 62 recent recruits had quit, saying “We are not here to fight against our brothers.”


In Eastern Syria, a McClatchy correspondent in the province of Deir al-Zour reported that rebels appeared to control two of the three oil fields there, siphoning light  crude to burn for heat and to sell, and robbing the government of key revenues.


 In a video posted online, a fighter claimed that rebels had “liberated” an artillery base in Mayadeen, outside the province’s main city, capturing a tank and a tank carrier.


“I hope Assad’s booty and weapons and their money and their land will be ours, God willing,” he said, concluding with a reference to the prophet: “Our master is Muhammad, our commander forever.”


Hajj Abu Bakr, a local activist in Deir al-Zour reached through Skype, said that three battalions, including one from the Nusra Front, had taken part in seizing the artillery battalion.


He said that clashes in the area had continued for 22 days. He said government shelling had intensified after the artillery position was captured, and that a family of six had been killed. Many families from other provinces, such as Homs, are sheltering in the area and he said he was worried that more of the displaced would be injured.


Hwaida Saad contributed reporting.



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Fitch cuts Sony, Panasonic debt ratings to “junk” status
















TOKYO (Reuters) – Ratings agency Fitch downgraded the debt ratings of Japan’s Sony Corp and Panasonic Corp to “junk” status citing weakness in their consumer electronics and TV operations, further diminishing the luster of the once-great Japanese brands.


The cut to below investment grade, the first by a ratings firm, comes as the floundering Japanese tech giants face weak demand and fierce competition from Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics.













A strong yen and bumps in China, where growth has slowed and Japanese goods have been targeted in sometimes violent protests recently, have also weighed on their earnings.


The two companies, along with Sharp Corp, racked up combined losses of $ 20 billion last year, leading them to axe jobs, sell assets and close facilities.


“Both Sony and Panasonic are struggling to generate operating profits, but each is restructuring and I don’t envision the current situation continuing,” said Masahi Oda, Chief Investment Officer at Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank.


“A collapse of their core business would be a problem, but we are not at the point yet, and to me Fitch looks too negative,” Oda added.


Fitch downgraded Sony by three notches to BB-minus from BBB- minus, saying meaningful recovery will be slow. The move came after Sony, the maker of PlayStation game consoles and Vaio laptops, last week announced plans to raise 150 billion yen ($ 1.82 billion) through the sale of convertible bonds.


“Fitch believes that continuing weakness in the home entertainment and sound and mobile products and communications segments will offset the relatively stable music and pictures segments and improvement in the devices segment which makes semiconductors and components,” it said in statement.


In a separate statement, Fitch cut Panasonic to BB from BBB-minus, a two-notch downgrade, citing weakened competitiveness in its TVs and display panels as well as weak cash generation from its operations. It has a negative outlook on both the companies.


The downgrade sent Sony’s five-year credit default swaps (CDS), insurance-like contracts against debt default or restructuring, 5 basis points wider to 382.5/402.5 basis points.


Panasonic’s CDS for the same maturity were quoted at 295/315 basis points, 15 basis points wider than in Thursday morning Asian trade.


Standard & Poor’s rates the two consumer electronics makers at BBB, the second lowest of the investment grade, while Moody’s Investors Service has Baa3 on them, the lowest of the high-grade category.


With two of the three major ratings agencies still having the two companies as investment grade, institutional investors won’t face too great a pressure to cut their debt holdings in them, analysts said.


SONY SHARES TUMBLE


Sony shares shed 4.4 percent in Frankfurt on Thursday. The shares ended 1.8 percent higher at 834 yen in Tokyo before the Fitch announcement, trading not too far from their 32-year closing low of 793 yen hit on November 15. Sony stock is down 40 percent so far this year.


Panasonic shares were down 0.6 percent in Frankfurt in low volume. The stock inched up 0.7 percent to close at 407 yen in Tokyo trading, near its 34-year closing low of 385 yen reached on November 13.


Last month, Panasonic cut its forecast and warned it will lose close to $ 10 billion in the year to March, as it writes off billions of yen in tax-deferred assets and goodwill related to its mobile phone, solar panel and small lithium battery businesses.


Ahead of its earnings revision, Panasonic won $ 7.6 billion in loan commitments in October from banks including Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, a funding backstop it says will help it avoid having to seek capital from credit markets.


Sony made a small operating profit in the July-September quarter, helped by the sale of a non-core chemicals business, and kept its forecast for a full-year profit of $ 1.63 billion.


(Additional reporting by Dominic Lau in Tokyo and Umesh Desai in Hong Kong; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)


Tech News Headlines – Yahoo! News



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Study finds mammograms lead to unneeded treatment

Mammograms have done surprisingly little to catch deadly breast cancers before they spread, a big U.S. study finds. At the same time, more than a million women have been treated for cancers that never would have threatened their lives, researchers estimate.

Up to one-third of breast cancers, or 50,000 to 70,000 cases a year, don't need treatment, the study suggests.

It's the most detailed look yet at overtreatment of breast cancer, and it adds fresh evidence that screening is not as helpful as many women believe. Mammograms are still worthwhile, because they do catch some deadly cancers and save lives, doctors stress. And some of them disagree with conclusions the new study reached.

But it spotlights a reality that is tough for many Americans to accept: Some abnormalities that doctors call "cancer" are not a health threat or truly malignant. There is no good way to tell which ones are, so many women wind up getting treatments like surgery and chemotherapy that they don't really need.

Men have heard a similar message about PSA tests to screen for slow-growing prostate cancer, but it's relatively new to the debate over breast cancer screening.

"We're coming to learn that some cancers — many cancers, depending on the organ — weren't destined to cause death," said Dr. Barnett Kramer, a National Cancer Institute screening expert. However, "once a woman is diagnosed, it's hard to say treatment is not necessary."

He had no role in the study, which was led by Dr. H. Gilbert Welch of Dartmouth Medical School and Dr. Archie Bleyer of St. Charles Health System and Oregon Health & Science University. Results are in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.

Breast cancer is the leading type of cancer and cause of cancer deaths in women worldwide. Nearly 1.4 million new cases are diagnosed each year. Other countries screen less aggressively than the U.S. does. In Britain, for example, mammograms are usually offered only every three years and a recent review there found similar signs of overtreatment.

The dogma has been that screening finds cancer early, when it's most curable. But screening is only worthwhile if it finds cancers destined to cause death, and if treating them early improves survival versus treating when or if they cause symptoms.

Mammograms also are an imperfect screening tool — they often give false alarms, spurring biopsies and other tests that ultimately show no cancer was present. The new study looks at a different risk: Overdiagnosis, or finding cancer that is present but does not need treatment.

Researchers used federal surveys on mammography and cancer registry statistics from 1976 through 2008 to track how many cancers were found early, while still confined to the breast, versus later, when they had spread to lymph nodes or more widely.

The scientists assumed that the actual amount of disease — how many true cases exist — did not change or grew only a little during those three decades. Yet they found a big difference in the number and stage of cases discovered over time, as mammograms came into wide use.

Mammograms more than doubled the number of early-stage cancers detected — from 112 to 234 cases per 100,000 women. But late-stage cancers dropped just 8 percent, from 102 to 94 cases per 100,000 women.

The imbalance suggests a lot of overdiagnosis from mammograms, which now account for 60 percent of cases that are found, Bleyer said. If screening were working, there should be one less patient diagnosed with late-stage cancer for every additional patient whose cancer was found at an earlier stage, he explained.

"Instead, we're diagnosing a lot of something else — not cancer" in that early stage, Bleyer said. "And the worst cancer is still going on, just like it always was."

Researchers also looked at death rates for breast cancer, which declined 28 percent during that time in women 40 and older — the group targeted for screening. Mortality dropped even more — 41 percent — in women under 40, who presumably were not getting mammograms.

"We are left to conclude, as others have, that the good news in breast cancer — decreasing mortality — must largely be the result of improved treatment, not screening," the authors write.

The study was paid for by the study authors' universities.

"This study is important because what it really highlights is that the biology of the cancer is what we need to understand" in order to know which ones to treat and how, said Dr. Julia A. Smith, director of breast cancer screening at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York. Doctors already are debating whether DCIS, a type of early tumor confined to a milk duct, should even be called cancer, she said.

Another expert, Dr. Linda Vahdat, director of the breast cancer research program at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, said the study's leaders made many assumptions to reach a conclusion about overdiagnosis that "may or may not be correct."

"I don't think it will change how we view screening mammography," she said.

A government-appointed task force that gives screening advice calls for mammograms every other year starting at age 50 and stopping at 75. The American Cancer Society recommends them every year starting at age 40.

Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, the cancer society's deputy chief medical officer, said the study should not be taken as "a referendum on mammography," and noted that other high-quality studies have affirmed its value. Still, he said overdiagnosis is a problem, and it's not possible to tell an individual woman whether her cancer needs treated.

"Our technology has brought us to the place where we can find a lot of cancer. Our science has to bring us to the point where we can define what treatment people really need," he said.

___

Online:

Study: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1206809

Screening advice: http://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/uspsbrca.htm

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Marilynn Marchione can be followed at http://twitter.com/MMarchioneAP

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Girlfriend helped actor killed 2 college students, police say




Rachel Buffett.The former fiancee of a community theater actor charged in the double slaying of an Orange Coast College student and his tutor has been arrested by Costa Mesa police.



Rachel Buffett, 25, of Long Beach was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of being an accessory to murder after the fact and is being held on $1-million bail, according to police.


Police said Buffett remained a suspect during the two-year investigation. "She was never out of our focus," Costa Mesa Police Lt. Paul Dondero told the Daily Pilot. "She's always been in focus, along with other aspects of the case."


Authorities did not detail her alleged involvement in the killings.


At the time of the crimes, Buffett and Daniel Patrick Wozniak, 28, lived in the Camden Martinique complex in Costa Mesa, as did 26-year-old Samuel Herr, one of the victims.


Police said Wozniak, a noted community actor, killed Herr in the theater of the Joint Forces Training Center in Los Alamitos before dismembering his body and leaving his head and hands in nearby El Dorado Park Nature Center in Long Beach.


In May, a prosecutor from the Orange County district attorney's office presented evidence that Wozniak lured Herr to the military base under the pretenses of needing help to move furniture.



Authorities allege Wozniak then killed Herr's friend and tutor, Juri "Julie" Kibuishi, 23, in Herr's apartment, then staged the crime to make it look like a sexual assault.



Wozniak then used Herr's cellphone to text Kibuishi, asking her to come over and talk, police said.




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India Ink: Image of the Day: Nov. 21

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Paula Abdul Compares Dancing with the Stars to The Wizard of Oz






Dancing With the Stars










11/21/2012 at 11:15 AM EST







Paula Abdul appears on Dancing with the Stars Nov. 20



There are many reasons why Paula Abdul would be a perfect fit to judge Dancing With the Stars.

The pop star and celebrity choreographer, who made her second appearance on the show this season this week, danced around rumors she may join the panel. But her enthusiasm for DWTS was apparent when she spoke with PEOPLE before her performance on Tuesday's results episode, which sent home Apolo Ohno and Emmitt Smith.

"Being a part of this show is truly an amazing experience because you walk on the set and it's like The Wizard of Oz," Abdul, 50, said Monday night. "Everyone is so excited to see what's being created, so much amazing talent here and they love to work hard. I would be honored if they invited me to clean the dressing rooms. In fact I've rented a couch in the back."

Abdul said performing on the show was "a dream come true," as she staged a remix medley of four of her No. 1 hits, which are set to be released as a bundle on iTunes. Her new single of the remix is called "Dream Medley."

"What I've always wanted to do is stage choreographically and concept-wise something innovative that no one has ever attempted on television before," Abdul said of her performance. "There [are] so many intricate details, I'm running all over the stage doing so many different things. Some of the pros are making cameo appearances in some compromising positions and situations, and that's been a lot of fun for me."

As for watching and critiquing performances rather than doing the dancing herself, the former American Idol judge said, "I've been in the intense grind of a weekly show for the past decade. Hard work is no stranger to me."


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OB/GYNs back over-the-counter birth control pills

WASHINGTON (AP) — No prescription or doctor's exam needed: The nation's largest group of obstetricians and gynecologists says birth control pills should be sold over the counter, like condoms.

Tuesday's surprise opinion from these gatekeepers of contraception could boost longtime efforts by women's advocates to make the pill more accessible.

But no one expects the pill to be sold without a prescription any time soon: A company would have to seek government permission first, and it's not clear if any are considering it. Plus there are big questions about what such a move would mean for many women's wallets if it were no longer covered by insurance.

Still, momentum may be building.

Already, anyone 17 or older doesn't need to see a doctor before buying the morning-after pill — a higher-dose version of regular birth control that can prevent pregnancy if taken shortly after unprotected sex. Earlier this year, the Food and Drug Administration held a meeting to gather ideas about how to sell regular oral contraceptives without a prescription, too.

Now the influential American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists is declaring it's safe to sell the pill that way.

Wait, why would doctors who make money from women's yearly visits for a birth-control prescription advocate giving that up?

Half of the nation's pregnancies every year are unintended, a rate that hasn't changed in 20 years — and easier access to birth control pills could help, said Dr. Kavita Nanda, an OB/GYN who co-authored the opinion for the doctors group.

"It's unfortunate that in this country where we have all these contraceptive methods available, unintended pregnancy is still a major public health problem," said Nanda, a scientist with the North Carolina nonprofit FHI 360, formerly known as Family Health International.

Many women have trouble affording a doctor's visit, or getting an appointment in time when their pills are running low — which can lead to skipped doses, Nanda added.

If the pill didn't require a prescription, women could "pick it up in the middle of the night if they run out," she said. "It removes those types of barriers."

Tuesday, the FDA said it was willing to meet with any company interested in making the pill nonprescription, to discuss what if any studies would be needed.

Then there's the price question. The Obama administration's new health care law requires FDA-approved contraceptives to be available without copays for women enrolled in most workplace health plans.

If the pill were sold without a prescription, it wouldn't be covered under that provision, just as condoms aren't, said Health and Human Services spokesman Tait Sye.

ACOG's opinion, published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology, says any move toward making the pill nonprescription should address that cost issue. Not all women are eligible for the free birth control provision, it noted, citing a recent survey that found young women and the uninsured pay an average of $16 per month's supply.

The doctors group made clear that:

—Birth control pills are very safe. Blood clots, the main serious side effect, happen very rarely, and are a bigger threat during pregnancy and right after giving birth.

—Women can easily tell if they have risk factors, such as smoking or having a previous clot, and should avoid the pill.

—Other over-the-counter drugs are sold despite rare but serious side effects, such as stomach bleeding from aspirin and liver damage from acetaminophen.

—And there's no need for a Pap smear or pelvic exam before using birth control pills. But women should be told to continue getting check-ups as needed, or if they'd like to discuss other forms of birth control such as implantable contraceptives that do require a physician's involvement.

The group didn't address teen use of contraception. Despite protests from reproductive health specialists, current U.S. policy requires girls younger than 17 to produce a prescription for the morning-after pill, meaning pharmacists must check customers' ages. Presumably regular birth control pills would be treated the same way.

Prescription-only oral contraceptives have long been the rule in the U.S., Canada, Western Europe, Australia and a few other places, but many countries don't require a prescription.

Switching isn't a new idea. In Washington state a few years ago, a pilot project concluded that pharmacists successfully supplied women with a variety of hormonal contraceptives, including birth control pills, without a doctor's involvement. The question was how to pay for it.

Some pharmacies in parts of London have a similar project under way, and a recent report from that country's health officials concluded the program is working well enough that it should be expanded.

And in El Paso, Texas, researchers studied 500 women who regularly crossed the border into Mexico to buy birth control pills, where some U.S. brands sell over the counter for a few dollars a pack. Over nine months, the women who bought in Mexico stuck with their contraception better than another 500 women who received the pill from public clinics in El Paso, possibly because the clinic users had to wait for appointments, said Dr. Dan Grossman of the University of California, San Francisco, and the nonprofit research group Ibis Reproductive Health.

"Being able to easily get the pill when you need it makes a difference," he said.

___

Online:

OB/GYN group: http://www.acog.org

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Woman who killed husband in his sleep with lover could be freed



A woman who conspired with her lover to kill her husband in 1984 and later escaped from prison has been recommended for parole, over the objections of prosecutors in Orange County. 


Jeanette Lynn Hughes, 58, was convicted of plotting to murder her husband, James Hughes, as he slept in their Huntington Beach home in January 1984.


On Friday, a judge deemed Hughes suitable for parole after serving 26 years in prison, according to prosecutors.


Hughes initially told police that an intruder shot her husband as he slept and stole the family car. Police later stopped Hughes' boyfriend traveling in the car, which he hadn't abandoned as planned because he'd lost the keys to his own car. 


She later confessed that her lover, Adam Ramirez, fired two small-caliber bullets into her husband’s temple because they wanted his $442,000 life insurance policy.


Hughes had signaled to Ramirez when it was safe to enter the home and later concocted a story about a burglar shooting her husband and hitting her.


After three trials, Hughes was convicted of conspiracy and murder in December 1985.




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Clinton Visits in Effort to Defuse Gaza Conflict; Egypt Hints at Truce





JERUSALEM — Diplomatic efforts accelerated Tuesday to end the deadly confrontation between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza, as the United States sent Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to the Middle East and Egypt’s president expressed confidence that a cease-fire was close.




The diplomatic moves to end the nearly week-old crisis came on a day of some of the most intense violence yet. Militants in Gaza fired a long-range rocket toward Jerusalem for the second time in a week. The rocket fell short, but Israeli forces responded with an aerial assault on the suspected launching site near Gaza’s Al Shifa hospital that killed at least nine people. A delegation visiting Gaza from the Arab League postponed a news conference because of the Israeli assault, as wailing ambulances brought victims to the hospital, some of them decapitated.


The announcement of Mrs. Clinton’s active role in efforts to defuse the crisis added a strong new dimension to the multinational push to avert a new Middle East war and raised expectations of a truce. Israel has amassed thousands of soldiers on the border with Gaza and has threatened to invade the crowded Palestinian enclave for the second time in four years to stop the persistent rockets that have been lobbed at Israel.


Mrs. Clinton, who accompanied President Obama on his three-country Asia trip, left Cambodia on her own plane immediately for the Middle East. She was en route to Jerusalem to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, then head to the West Bank to meet with Palestinian leaders and finally to Cairo to consult with Egyptian officials.


In Cairo, President Mohamed Morsi of Egypt added to the atmosphere of guarded optimism. The official Middle East News Agency quoted him as saying Israel’s “aggression” against Gaza would end, and Egyptian-mediated efforts would produce “positive results” in several hours.


The decision to dispatch Mrs. Clinton dramatically deepens the American involvement in the crisis. Mr. Obama made a number of late-night phone calls from his Asian tour to the Middle East on Monday night that contributed to his conclusion that he had to become more engaged and that Mrs. Clinton might be able to accomplish something.


With Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary general, also scheduled to arrive in Israel on Tuesday, a senior official in the prime minister’s office said Israel had decided to give more time to diplomacy before launching a ground invasion into Gaza. But Israel has not withdrawn other options.


“I prefer a diplomatic solution,” Mr. Netanyahu said in a statement at the start of a meeting in Jerusalem with the German foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle. “I hope that we can get one, but if not, we have every right to defend ourselves with other means and we shall use them.


“As you know, we seek a diplomatic unwinding to this, through the discussions of cease-fire,” Mr. Netanyahu added. “But if the firing continues, we will have to take broader action and we won’t hesitate to do so.”


About three hours before Mr. Ban was scheduled to meet Mr. Netanyahu in Jerusalem, sirens sounded across the city in the early afternoon announcing an incoming rocket from Gaza. The military wing of Hamas said it had fired at the city. The rocket fell short, landing harmlessly in the West Bank just south of Jerusalem, and the military said it landed on open ground near a Palestinian village.


The rocket attack on the city, which is holy to Jews, Muslims and Christians, was the second in less than a week. On Friday, a rocket landed in a similar location, the police said.


The Israeli military said its air force had struck Tuesday morning at 11 Palestinian squads involved in planting explosives and firing rockets, as well as underground rocket launchers and a store of weapons and ammunition. The military said it had also used tank shells and artillery fire against unspecified targets in Gaza.


The Health Ministry in Gaza said the Palestinian death toll had climbed by late Tuesday morning to 112, roughly half of the dead civilians, including children. Three Israelis died in a rocket attack last week.


After an Asian summit dinner in Phnom Penh on Monday night, Mr. Obama called President Morsi to discuss the situation, then spoke with Mr. Netanyahu and called Mr. Morsi back. He was up until 2:30 a.m. on the phone, the White House said. He consulted with Mrs. Clinton repeatedly on the sidelines of the Asian summit meetings on Tuesday.


“This morning, Secretary Clinton and the president spoke again about the situation in Gaza, and they agreed that it makes sense for the secretary to travel to the region, so Secretary Clinton will depart today,” said Benjamin Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser to Mr. Obama. “Her visits will build on the engagement that we’ve undertaken in the last several days.”


Isabel Kershner reported from Jerusalem and Peter Baker from Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Reporting was contributed by Jodi Rudoren from Gaza City, David D. Kirkpatrick from Cairo and Rick Gladstone from New York.



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Kopp: Impostor filed motion in NY Facebook case
















BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Lawyers fighting a New York man’s ownership claim against Facebook Inc. say a bizarre motion bearing the name of convicted abortion doctor killer James Charles Kopp earlier this month was apparently filed by an impostor.


In court papers, Facebook lawyers say they received a sworn statement from the imprisoned Kopp Monday denying he’s filed any motion in Paul Ceglia‘s lawsuit. An accompanying letter from Kopp to the federal judge handling the case says someone is impersonating him.













The motion signed with Kopp’s name had sought permission to intervene in Ceglia’s lawsuit while accusing Ceglia of a litany of personal slights, threats and crimes. Kopp’s serving life in prison for the 1998 killing of Dr. Barnett Slepian in suburban Buffalo.


Facebook says the Kopp motion, even if it’s real, should be denied.


Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News



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The Killing's Jamie Anne Allman Expecting Twins




Celebrity Baby Blog





11/20/2012 at 11:00 AM ET



Alyson Hannigan Keeva Denisof City Threads Hat
Tsuni/Gamma


Jamie Anne Allman is good at keeping secrets — but she’s ready to let this one out of the bag.


The Killing star and husband Marshall Allman are expecting their first children — a set of twins! — this spring, the couple tell PEOPLE exclusively.


“We were ecstatic to find out we were pregnant and overjoyed to learn they were fraternal twins,” the couple tell PEOPLE.


“Twins run in both of our families so we were prepared for the possibility, but we know we’re gonna need all the prayers and help we can get.”


Jamie Anne and Marshall, best known for his roles as Tommy on True Blood and L.J. on Prison Break, broke the news to friends and family the best way they knew how.


“Both of us being actors, we made a film,” they tell PEOPLE. “It made it super fun and easy to share the news in a surprising way across the country.”


The Allmans were married in Austin, Texas in June 2006.


– Sarah Michaud


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New push for most in US to get at least 1 HIV test

WASHINGTON (AP) — There's a new push to make testing for the AIDS virus as common as cholesterol checks.

Americans ages 15 to 64 should get an HIV test at least once — not just people considered at high risk for the virus, an independent panel that sets screening guidelines proposed Monday.

The draft guidelines from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force are the latest recommendations that aim to make HIV screening simply a routine part of a check-up, something a doctor can order with as little fuss as a cholesterol test or a mammogram. Since 2006, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also has pushed for widespread, routine HIV screening.

Yet not nearly enough people have heeded that call: Of the more than 1.1 million Americans living with HIV, nearly 1 in 5 — almost 240,000 people — don't know it. Not only is their own health at risk without treatment, they could unwittingly be spreading the virus to others.

The updated guidelines will bring this long-simmering issue before doctors and their patients again — emphasizing that public health experts agree on how important it is to test even people who don't think they're at risk, because they could be.

"It allows you to say, 'This is a recommended test that we believe everybody should have. We're not singling you out in any way,'" said task force member Dr. Douglas Owens of Stanford University and the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System.

And if finalized, the task force guidelines could extend the number of people eligible for an HIV screening without a copay in their doctor's office, as part of free preventive care under the Obama administration's health care law. Under the task force's previous guidelines, only people at increased risk for HIV — which includes gay and bisexual men and injecting drug users — were eligible for that no-copay screening.

There are a number of ways to get tested. If you're having blood drawn for other exams, the doctor can merely add HIV to the list, no extra pokes or swabs needed. Today's rapid tests can cost less than $20 and require just rubbing a swab over the gums, with results ready in as little as 20 minutes. Last summer, the government approved a do-it-yourself at-home version that's selling for about $40.

Free testing is available through various community programs around the country, including a CDC pilot program in drugstores in 24 cities and rural sites.

Monday's proposal also recommends:

—Testing people older and younger than 15-64 if they are at increased risk of HIV infection,

—People at very high risk for HIV infection should be tested at least annually.

—It's not clear how often to retest people at somewhat increased risk, but perhaps every three to five years.

—Women should be tested during each pregnancy, something the task force has long recommended.

The draft guidelines are open for public comment through Dec. 17.

Most of the 50,000 new HIV infections in the U.S. every year are among gay and bisexual men, followed by heterosexual black women.

"We are not doing as well in America with HIV testing as we would like," Dr. Jonathan Mermin, CDC's HIV prevention chief, said Monday.

The CDC recommends at least one routine test for everyone ages 13 to 64, starting two years younger than the task force recommended. That small difference aside, CDC data suggests fewer than half of adults under 65 have been tested.

"It can sometimes be awkward to ask your doctor for an HIV test," Mermin said — the reason that making it routine during any health care encounter could help.

But even though nearly three-fourths of gay and bisexual men with undiagnosed HIV had visited some sort of health provider in the previous year, 48 percent weren't tested for HIV, a recent CDC survey found. Emergency rooms are considered a good spot to catch the undiagnosed, after their illnesses and injuries have been treated, but Mermin said only about 2 percent of ER patients known to be at increased risk were tested while there.

Mermin calls that "a tragedy. It's a missed opportunity."

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Man's elaborate plot to kill girlfriend in dark alley revealed by prosecutors



Maria Isabel Cerrillo and Luis Antonio Garcia Morales.An Orange County man was charged Monday with stabbing his former girlfriend to death in a Santa Ana alleyway, prosecutors said.


Luis Antonio Garcia Morales, 24, faces one felony count of special circumstances murder by lying in wait, according to a statement from the Orange County district attorney's office.


If convicted, Morales could be sentenced to life in state prison without the possibility of parole, prosecutors said.


Morales, a Santa Ana resident, is being held without bail.


Prosecutors allege that Morales arranged to meet his former girlfriend, Maria Isabel Cerrillo, on Nov. 13 in an alleyway and stabbed her repeatedly before fleeing. Cerrillo died as a result of the stab wounds, officials said.


Morales was arrested two days later by Santa Ana police.


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More Californians driving high than drunk on weekends, study says


-- Rick Rojas


Photos: Prosecutors allege that Maria Isabel Cerrillo, left, was fatally stabbed by her former boyfriend, Luis Antonio Garcia Morales. Credit: KTLA-TV Channel 5



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Palestinian Death Toll Rises as Israel Presses Onslaught





GAZA CITY — After a night of sustained Israeli strikes by air and sea and a morning of rocket attacks on Israel, the Health Ministry here said on Monday that the Palestinian death toll in six days of conflict had risen to 91 with 700 wounded, including 200 children, as the assault ground on unrelentingly despite efforts toward a cease-fire.




The casualties — 19 people reported killed since midnight local time — included Palestinians killed in strikes by warplanes and a drone attack on two men on a motorcycle. Another drone attack killed the driver of a taxi hired by journalists and displaying “Press” signs, although it was not clear which journalists hired it, Palestinian officials said.


On Sunday, Israeli forces attacked two buildings housing local broadcasters and production companies used by foreign outlets. Israeli officials denied targeting journalists, but on Monday Israeli forces again blasted the Al Sharouk block used by many local broadcasters as well as Britain’s Sky News and the Al Arabiya channel.


The attack, apparently aimed at a computer shop on the third floor of the building, sparked a blaze that sent plumes of dark smoke creeping up the sides of the building. Video footage showed clouds of gray smoke billowing from the high-rise building as the missiles struck home.


An Israeli bomb pummeled a home deep into the ground here on Sunday, killing 11 people, including nine in three generations of a single family, in the deadliest single strike in six days of cross-border conflict. Members of the family were buried Monday in a rite that turned into a gesture of defiance and became a rally supporting Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers.


A militant leader said Tel Aviv, in the Israeli heartland, would be hit “over and over” and warned Israelis that their leaders were misleading them and would “take them to hell.”


The airstrikes further indicated that Israel was striking a wide range of targets. Three Israelis have been killed and at least 79 wounded by continued rocket fire into southern Israel and as far north as Tel Aviv.


Israel says its onslaught is designed to stop Hamas from launching the rockets, but, after an apparent lull overnight, more missiles hurtled toward targets in Israel, some of them intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome defense system. Of five rockets fired on Monday at the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon, four were intercepted but one smashed through the concrete roof at the entrance to an empty school. There were no reports of casualties. Other rockets rained on areas along the border with Gaza. 


Later a second volley struck Ashkelon. Several rockets were intercepted, but one crashed down onto a house, causing damage but no casualties. News reports said 75 rockets had been fired by midafternoon.


On Sunday, a new blitz of Palestinian rockets totaled nearly 100 by nightfall, including two that soared toward the population center of Tel Aviv but were knocked out of the sky by Israeli defenses.


In a statement on Monday, the Israel Defense Forces said overnight targets included “underground rocket launchers, terror tunnels, training bases, Hamas command posts and weapon storage facilities.” But news reports said the strikes flattened two houses belonging to a single family, killing two children and two adults and injuring 42 people, while a shrapnel burst from another attack killed one child and wounded others living near the rubble of the former national security compound.


The latest exchanges offered a grim backdrop to Egyptian-led cease-fire efforts that have so far proved inconclusive. The United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, was set to join the effort in Cairo on Monday.


Brig. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, the spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces, said there had been a reduction of up to 40 percent in rocket fire from Gaza, while Israeli forces had launched 40 attacks on tunnels between Egypt and Gaza, both at the entrances and along the road leading to them, causing considerable damage.


He said six rocket launching teams and two men on motorcycles were hit, while the Israeli forces continued to intercept Palestinian radio signals to urge Gaza residents to steer clear of activists.


In the Israeli strike on Sunday morning, it took emergency workers and a Caterpillar digger more than an hour to reveal the extent of the devastation under the two-story home of Jamal Dalu, a shop owner. Mr. Dalu was at a neighbor’s when the blast wiped out nearly his entire family: His sister, wife, two daughters, daughter-in-law and four grandchildren ages 2 to 6 all perished under the rubble, along with two neighbors, an 18-year-old and his grandmother.


Fares Akram and Jodi Rudoren reported from Gaza City, and Alan Cowell from London. Reporting was contributed by Isabel Kershner from Ashkelon, Israel; Ethan Bronner, Myra Noveck and Irit Pazner Garshowitz from Jerusalem; Rina Castelnuovo from Ashdod, Israel; Peter Baker from Bangkok; and David D. Kirkpatrick from Cairo.



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Amazon’s larger Kindle Fire HD ships early
















NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon has started shipping the larger version of its Kindle Fire HD tablet computer on Thursday, five days ahead of schedule.


Amazon is short on stock, though, so new orders won’t ship until Dec. 3. Amazon.com Inc. had been taking orders for shipment on Nov. 20.













The Kindle Fire is one of several tablets challenging Apple’s iPad.


The tablet, which has an 8.9-inch screen measured diagonally, is available on Amazon’s website for $ 299. The tablet will be available at Best Buy stores beginning Friday and at more retailers in the coming weeks.


A version with cellular access is available for $ 499 and will start shipping next week as planned, though new orders won’t ship until Dec. 3.


The smaller version, which has a 7-inch screen, has been available since September.


Gadgets News Headlines – Yahoo! News



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Apolo Ohno Blogs About the 'Hardest Week' on Dancing with the Stars






Only on People.com








11/19/2012 at 11:45 AM EST







Apolo Anton Ohno and Karina Smirnoff


Craig Sjodin/ABC


Apolo Ohno is a former Dancing with the Stars champion, winning the coveted mirror-ball trophy in season 4 with Julianne Hough. The ice-skating Olympian is now blogging for PEOPLE.com about competing with Karina Smirnoff in the all-star season.

It felt good not going home on Tuesday, but at the same time, I never want to see anyone else go home either. Everybody's dancing so well and you become friends with everybody on the show during the time you're there. You cheer everybody on and you watch them grow as dancers and as people.

Now that we've made it to week nine, oh, man, I'm dying. Not really, but for me this is by far the absolute hardest week I've ever had on Dancing with the Stars. We have big top jazz, which is a dance that I know zero about. I've never done it before on the show, and I don't think we've ever seen it before on the show.

Our choreography is super intense, different, unique, fun, almost Cirque du Soleil-like a little bit. It's crazy. There's so much content in it. I feel like I need another two weeks just to work on that dance. Then we also have the rumba, which we haven't even started yet.

I can't control the outcome of the show. The fans have carried us this far, which has been an absolute blessing. But I take every week on the show as if it's my last. The only thing I can control is how much time, energy and effort we put into each week. Who cares about the scores? Who cares if somebody dances better? Doing my very best is rewarding internally.

I think voters know that we work extremely hard and we have fun. I hope that, especially over the past couple of weeks, people have been able to see how much in character we get. It's acting, it's fun, it's theatrical, it's emotional, it's physical. It's all in one package.

Looking back on the season thus far, I had no idea the competition was going to be this difficult. I knew there were going to be challenges, but I didn't know they were going to be this big. Every single week has been a true test for me to really dig deep and find what is possible beyond just the dance floor.

Luckily, Karina [Smirnoff] has been there as an absolutely incredible teacher who is so passionate and so into giving her best. That's what it takes. I feel like we've overcome so many challenges so far. I feel like we are champions already, regardless of what happens in the next couple of weeks. I feel like that's going to show when we dance on Monday. We are truly going to push the boundaries this week.

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EU drug regulator OKs Novartis' meningitis B shot

LONDON (AP) — Europe's top drug regulator has recommended approval for the first vaccine against meningitis B, made by Novartis AG.

There are five types of bacterial meningitis. While vaccines exist to protect against the other four, none has previously been licensed for type B meningitis. In Europe, type B is the most common, causing 3,000 to 5,000 cases every year.

Meningitis mainly affects infants and children. It kills about 8 percent of patients and leaves others with lifelong consequences such as brain damage.

In a statement on Friday, Andrin Oswald of Novartis said he is "proud of the major advance" the company has made in developing its vaccine Bexsero. It is aimed at children over two months of age, and Novartis is hoping countries will include the shot among the routine ones for childhood diseases such as measles.

Novartis said the immunization has had side effects such as fever and redness at the injection site.

Recommendations from the European Medicines Agency are usually adopted by the European Commission. Novartis also is seeking to test the vaccine in the U.S.

Read More..

Boy, 14, sexually assaults 65-year-old woman at store, authorities say



A 14-year-old California boy was arrested Thursday night in connection with the attempted murder, kidnapping and sexual assault of a 65-year-old woman.


Officers found the woman bound by duct tape in a ditch near Hiddenbrooke Parkway and Interstate Highway 80 around 6 p.m. Thursday, according to the Bay City News Service.


Police said the victim was kidnapped at gunpoint in front of a retail store and was forced to drive to a location five miles away where she was physically and sexually assaulted.


The suspect then fled in the victim's minivan and called one of her family members, demanding money for her safe return.


Detectives located the suspect after he returned to the area. He was found with a replica handgun and the victim's minivan, police said.


The teen has been booked into Solano County Juvenile Hall.


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-- Wesley Lowery


Follow Wesley Lowery on Twitter and Google+.


Read more


here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/11/16/4991207/teen-arrested-in-vallejo-elderly.html#storylink=cpy



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Israeli Strike in Gaza Kills at Least 11, Including Children


Tyler Hicks/The New York Times


Residents in Gaza dug through the rubble of an apartment building hit by Israeli rockets.







GAZA CITY — Israeli forces killed at least 11 people, including several children, in a single airstrike that destroyed a home here on Sunday, as Israel pressed its bombardment of the Gaza Strip for a fifth day, deploying warplanes and naval vessels to pummel the coastal enclave.




The airstrike, which the Israeli military said was meant to kill a Palestinian militant involved in the recent rocket attacks, was the deadliest operation to date and would no doubt weigh on negotiations for a possible cease-fire. Among the dead were five women and four small children, The Associated Press reported, citing a Palestinian health official.


Two media offices were also hit on Sunday, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel warned of a “significant” expansion in the onslaught, which has already killed over 50 people, many of them civilians.


Speaking on Sunday from Bangkok, President Obama condemned missile attacks by Palestinian fighters in Gaza and defended Israel’s right to protect itself.


“There’s no country on earth that would tolerate missiles raining down on its citizens from outside its borders,” Mr. Obama said in his first public comments since the violence broke out. “We are fully supportive of Israel’s right to defend itself.”


The president also said that efforts were under way to address Israel’s security concerns and end the violence. “We’re going to have to see what kind of progress we can make in the next 24, 36, 48 hours,” Mr. Obama said.


Even as the diplomacy intensified on Sunday, the attacks continued in Gaza and Israel.


Mr. Netanyahu made his warning as militants in Gaza aimed at least one rocket at Tel Aviv, a day after Israeli forces broadened the attack beyond military targets, bombing centers of government infrastructure in Gaza, including the four-story headquarters of the Hamas prime minister.


“We are exacting a heavy price from Hamas and the terrorist organizations, and the Israel Defense Forces are prepared for a significant expansion of the operation,” Mr. Netanyahu told his cabinet at its routine Sunday meeting, referring directly to the of thousands of reservists who have been called up and the massing of armor on the Gaza border that many analysts have interpreted as preparations for a possible invasion.


“I appreciate the rapid and impressive mobilization of the reservists who have come from all over the country and turned out for the mission at hand,” Mr. Netanyahu said. “Reservist and conscript soldiers are ready for any order they might receive.”


His remarks were reported shortly after a battery of Israel’s Iron Dome defense shield, hastily deployed near Tel Aviv on Saturday in response to the threat of longer-range rockets, intercepted at least one aimed at the city on Sunday, Israeli officials said. It was the latest of several salvos that have illustrated Hamas’s ability to extend the reach of its rocket attacks.


Since Wednesday, when the escalation of the conflict began, Iron Dome has knocked 245 rockets out of the sky, the military said Saturday, while 500 have struck Israel.


The American-financed system is designed to intercept only rockets streaking toward towns and cities and to ignore those likely to strike open ground. But on Sunday a rocket fired from Gaza plowed through the roof of an apartment building in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon. There were no immediate reports of casualties there.


In Gaza City, the crash of explosions pierced the quiet several times throughout the early morning.


Before the latest deadly strike involving civilians on Sunday, Hamas health officials had said the Palestinian death toll had risen to 53. One of the latest victims was a 52-year-old woman whose house in the eastern part of Gaza City was bombed around lunchtime.


A few hours earlier, a Hamas militant was killed and seven people were wounded in an attack on the Beach Refugee Camp, where Ismail Haniya, the Hamas prime minister, has a home. Those killed on Sunday included three children ages 1 through 5, the health officials said.


In Israel, 3 civilians have died and 63 have been injured. Four soldiers were wounded on Saturday.


The onslaught continued despite talks in Cairo that President Mohamed Morsi of Egypt said Saturday night could soon result in a cease-fire. Mr. Netanyahu said he would consider a comprehensive cease-fire if the launchings from Gaza stopped.


The attack on Mr. Haniya’s office, one of several on government installations, came a day after he hosted his Egyptian counterpart in the same building, a sign of Hamas’s new legitimacy in a radically redrawn Arab world.


Jodi Rudoren and Fares Akram reported from Gaza City. Reporting was contributed by Isabel Kershner, Carol Sutherland and Iritz Pazner Garshowitz from Jerusalem; Tyler Hicks from Gaza, Peter Baker from Bangkok, Alan Cowell from London, Michael Schwirtz from New York and David D. Kirkpatrick and Mayy El Sheikh from Cairo.



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Which Stars Wore Granny Panties on the Red Carpet?







Style News Now





11/15/2012 at 05:30 PM ET











Krysten Ritter, Emma Roberts, Diane KrugerStartraks (2); Getty


Whether you’re heading to your high school reunion next week or just going out with your hometown crew, here are two hot trends that’ll up your cool-girl style game. But something we don’t encourage wearing anywhere? Granny panties under a sheer skirt. If you think we’re joking, keep reading …



Down: Flashing your granny panties: We thought this trend was over two months ago, but two stars won’t let it die. Kristen Stewart and Krysten Ritter practically mooned us on the red carpet in sheer dresses that showed off some seriously unattractive undergarments. Ladies, the lining in your designer gowns is there for a reason.



Up: Peplum party outfits: Along with sparkle and shine, expect to spot a lot of festive peplum-accented looks during the holidays. Kicking off the trend was Emma Stone, who looked incredible in a navy peplum top paired with a glittery emerald-green skirt (both by Burberry), and Dakota Fanning, who chose a salmon-pink floral above-the-knee design.




Up: The cutout spectrumSkin-baring dresses are still big, only now the styles range from peek-a-boo to look-at-me. Both Alessandra Ambrósio and Allison Williams wore subtle versions this week, while Diane Kruger and Christina Ricci went for way more revealing designs that caused our jaws to hit the floor. Kruger showed off about, oh, 80 percent of her upper body in cutout white gown, while Ricci flaunted her belly in a jewel toned Richard Chai Love mini.


Tell us: Which trend are you most excited to try? Vote below!






Want more Trend Report? Click to hear what we think about turtlenecks, yellow dresses and leather.


–Jennifer Cress


GET ALL THE LATEST RED CARPET NEWS AND PHOTOS HERE!




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EU drug regulator OKs Novartis' meningitis B shot

LONDON (AP) — Europe's top drug regulator has recommended approval for the first vaccine against meningitis B, made by Novartis AG.

There are five types of bacterial meningitis. While vaccines exist to protect against the other four, none has previously been licensed for type B meningitis. In Europe, type B is the most common, causing 3,000 to 5,000 cases every year.

Meningitis mainly affects infants and children. It kills about 8 percent of patients and leaves others with lifelong consequences such as brain damage.

In a statement on Friday, Andrin Oswald of Novartis said he is "proud of the major advance" the company has made in developing its vaccine Bexsero. It is aimed at children over two months of age, and Novartis is hoping countries will include the shot among the routine ones for childhood diseases such as measles.

Novartis said the immunization has had side effects such as fever and redness at the injection site.

Recommendations from the European Medicines Agency are usually adopted by the European Commission. Novartis also is seeking to test the vaccine in the U.S.

Read More..

Boy, 14, sexually assaulted 65-year-old woman at store, police say



A 14-year-old California boy was arrested Thursday night in connection with the attempted murder, kidnapping and sexual assault of a 65-year-old woman.


Officers found the woman bound by duct tape in a ditch near Hiddenbrooke Parkway and Interstate Highway 80 around 6 p.m. Thursday, according to the Bay City News Service.


Police said the victim was kidnapped at gunpoint in front of a retail store and was forced to drive to a location five miles away where she was physically and sexually assaulted.


The suspect then fled in the victim's minivan and called one of her family members, demanding money for her safe return.


Detectives located the suspect after he returned to the area. He was found with a replica handgun and the victim's minivan, police said.


The teen has been booked into Solano County Juvenile Hall.


ALSO:

Only 31% of California students are physically fit


Laguna Beach to punish parents for teen drinking


L.A. deputy charged in slaying, faces 75-year term if convicted


-- Wesley Lowery


Follow Wesley Lowery on Twitter and Google+.


Read more


here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/11/16/4991207/teen-arrested-in-vallejo-elderly.html#storylink=cpy



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