Amy Winehouse wedding dress stolen: family foundation

LONDON (Reuters) – Two dresses worn by late British singer Amy Winehouse have been stolen from her house, her family’s charitable foundation told Reuters on Thursday.

The two dresses were due to be auctioned as part of charity events later this year and next in London and New York to raise money for The Amy Winehouse Foundation, which funds a number of concerns including children’s hospices and drug counseling.

One of the Back to Black singer’s stolen frocks was the dress she wore to marry Blake Fielder-Civil in 2007 and the other was a newsprint cocktail dress. Both were taken from a cupboard in her house after they had been catalogued alongside other items.

The foundation said the house had not been broken into and that a formal complaint to police was forthcoming.

The workers who catalogued the dresses after Winehouse’s death had packed them away in a cupboard and discovered two were missing when they later returned to check on the wardrobe.

“It’s got to be someone with access to the house,” a spokesman for the foundation said.

Amy’s father Mitch Winehouse was quoted in London’s Evening Standard newspaper as saying that he was “baffled” why thieves had not gone for her designer dresses.

“It’s sickening that someone would steal something in the knowledge of its sentimental value,” he said.

Amy Winehouse was found dead in her London home on July 23, 2011, at the age of 27 from what officials later determined was accidental alcohol poisoning. There were no illicit drugs in her system.

Fielder-Civil and Winehouse had a turbulent relationship, punctuated by violent fights and reports of heavy use of cocaine, heroin and ecstasy. They were married for about two years until 2009. He also served six months in prison stemming from an 2007 assault on a London pub landlord.

The “Rehab” singer’s ex-husband was put on life support in a British hospital in August after an apparent drink and drug binge.

Winehouse’s family have said that their daughter beat her drug dependency about three years before her death.

(Reporting by Paul Casciato, editing by Jill Serjeant and Patricia Reaney)

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Anthony Scianna’s Storybook Ending

Francesco Nazardo for Bloomberg BusinessweekA typical Friday night at FairyTail Lounge

To enter the FairyTail Lounge, a one-year-old New York nightclub opened by three former commodities traders, guests pass through a sparkle-splattered door into a small room so shimmery it looks like it was painted by Tinker Bell. Above the bar, two male garden gnomes perch on an overhead shelf, frozen in ceramic ecstasy, one’s face pressed against the other’s glazed butt.

Francesco Nazardo for Bloomberg Businessweek

On a dank Saturday night, the only things more dazzling than the bar itself are Roxy Brooks and Lauren Ordair, two drag queens bedecked with enough costume jewelry to sink a pirate ship. “It’s just terrible what happened to those people,” says Ordair, referring to the nearly 1,000 commodities traders who’ve lost their jobs over the last two years. “But it’s happening everywhere. Drag wasn’t my first choice, you know. I studied to be an opera singer. Turns out it’s a small field.” Now the tenor soprano belts out show tunes at FairyTail on Mondays, where one of those laid-off traders, her boss, has just arrived.

“Anthony!” the drag queen suddenly chimes, Cheers-style, as she waves to the bar’s proprietor, Anthony Scianna, a 50-year-old wearing a zip-up cardigan. If Scianna’s job hadn’t been made obsolete, the FairyTail Lounge might be nothing more than fantasy.

Once upon a time, not so very long ago, a pauper could become a prince if he knew the right person. A reliable guy like Scianna, from a working-class family on Staten Island, didn’t need an MBA, or even a college education, to make good money fast as a floor trader. Moving soft commodities such as cotton, coffee, cocoa, sugar, and frozen concentrated orange juice was an old-school apprenticeship: There was no employment office, no interview, just guys who knew guys. All a pauper needed was a loud voice, a sky-high tolerance for stress, and a friend to vouch for him. Scianna got invited to the ball and worked the business for 20 years, from 1990 until last fall, when it became clear that Cinderella’s clock was going to strike midnight any minute.

As recently as early 2011, 90 percent of soft-commodity options were traded on the floor in an open-outcry tradition—a loud, brash system of hand signals, shouts, and frenzied person-to-person deal- making—going back roughly 142 years. But as electronic trading exploded, that percentage has flipped: About 1,000 traders used to work the floor; that number was down to 100 by Oct. 19, when IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) (ICE) closed its floor altogether and completed the transition to computerized trading. It’s an historic shift in the way business gets done and a clear-cut case of humans being replaced by machines. As the system grows more efficient, these jobs are disappearing, and so goes a tribe of Wall Street.

“I had a beautiful life. It was a beautiful experience,” Scianna says in his New York accent, the day after those layoffs left many of his old friends unemployed. “When I would walk into work, it felt like going home. We really were one big beautiful family.” A beautiful family from whom he hid that he was gay for 15 years, but more on that later.

Leaning against a pile of purple velvet pillows, Scianna says he liked the money, the camaraderie, the Cipriani parties, and the great hours: After coffee trading closed at 1:30 p.m., the rest of his day was free. And he thrived on the stress. “It never made me nervous, it made me excited,” he says. “One time, I witnessed a wonderful man, the father of a dear friend, pass away in the ring, trading copper. They just pulled him out and it kept going. The market never stopped.”

Scianna spent two decades trading futures but never thought much about his own. “Then we watched the business go from what it was to nothing. Suddenly the guy next to you was gone,” he says. “In 2010 I was 48, and I said to myself, ‘Who’s going to hire me? I don’t have any other skills.’ So I needed an idea.”

The find-yourself chick flick Eat Pray Love is playing on the TV above the bar, muted, as Scianna explains that he, like Julia Roberts, began his own second act after a bad breakup. A friend told him he had to get back out there, so Scianna hit Manhattan’s gay club scene. “I noticed every single gay bar was always packed,” he says. “All night long.”

This was a growth business with a future: Bartenders, go-go dancers, and drag queens would not be replaced by machines, at least not any time soon. So Anthony pitched his idea for the FairyTail Lounge to two fellow ICE traders, Joe Carman and Dave Dwyer, who looked over the numbers and signed on as investors in the fall of 2010. Scianna immediately quit his job trading coffee for Chicago-based SMW Trading.

When SMW closed down his old division three months later, Scianna was already at work renovating a space at 48th Street and 10th Avenue, with mixed results. Veteran gay club party promoter Joseph Israel, a flashy Puck on the nightlife circuit, says Scianna’s original bar design was too, well, “ugh.” So he persuaded Scianna to allow him to queer up the place. “The bar was plain, plain, plain,” says Israel with a shiver. “The decoration didn’t even have a fairy tale theme!” So Israel conceived a wonderland of unicorns, satyrs, glitter, and a black-light poster that stars Walt Disney’s (DIS) Prince Charming as a foot fetishist and Snow White being pleased by all seven dwarves.

In a way, it’s not surprising that Scianna’s original idea for the bar was more subdued. He’d spent most of his adult life on conservative Wall Street, where almost everyone was straight—or acted like it. No matter how much he loved his job, he spent about the first 15 years of his career afraid that the more powerful old-timers would find out he was gay and fire him.

“You couldn’t take that chance,” he says, as a slender DJ with a flat-top begins spinning house music in a tiny booth. “You have to realize, Wall Street was a private club for very wealthy people. So I never led anybody to believe that I was gay. In those early days, I didn’t want anyone to have a reason to get rid of me.” He finally came out to co-workers after Sept. 11. “I said, ‘This is who I am. I’m not going to change or come in with a dress on.’ And a lot of the old-timers were gone by then, so it was OK.”

Scianna’s still working in a loud, noisy room filled almost entirely with competitive men who aggressively swap digits. Only instead of bulls and bears, it’s centaurs and unicorns. And instead of waking up at 5 a.m. to make the commute from Staten Island to Wall Street, he’s getting home from the bar around 5:30 a.m., dusted with sparkles. He has new responsibilities as a bar owner—employees, vendors, the glitter supply—but it’s working. When his friend Joanne Cassidy lost her job as a clerk in the ICE layoffs after 20 years on the floor, Scianna was able to give her work as a coat-check girl to tide her over. “There’s a family feeling to the place,” says Cassidy. “It’s like Cheers.”

Scianna says he’s definitely happier, but he sometimes misses the respect, the macho glitz, the big bonuses. “Trading, you could be an a– –hole, you could be cocky,” he says. “You didn’t make money one day? F– – – you, you’d make it tomorrow. Here, I have to take care of so many people.”

“I almost wish I didn’t taste it,” he says of Wall Street. “It’s like the pauper who tastes what it’s like to be rich—the instant gratification of knowing exactly how much money you made every day at 2:30. I’m all right now, but there are employees to pay, vendors, staffing issues. I don’t know how much I’ve made till I pay all the bills.” Scianna is figuring it all out as he goes.

It’s getting close to midnight—almost time for free shots!—and as the go-go boy writhes, the dance floor fills up with handsome young men and Julia Roberts shoves pasta into her face on the bar television. Scianna smiles. Maybe he hasn’t found his happily ever after, but, he says, “it’s a totally whole new life. This is my second act.”

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Watch: Cancer Touches Everyone: Dogs and Humans

Home > Video > Health > Health News

Cancer Touches Everyone: Dogs and Humans

Cancer Touches Everyone: Dogs and Humans

Two Million Dogs hopes to eradicate cancer through education and research.

Magic Johnson’s HIV Announcement: Nov. 7, 1991

Magic Johnson’s HIV Announcement: Nov. 7, 1991

Los Angeles Lakers’ star holds press conference to say he will retire immediately.

Anorexic Baker Raises Money for Treatment

Anorexic Baker Raises Money for Treatment

Washington woman with an eating disorder sells cookies online to raise funds for medical attention.

Flood Water Test Results

Flood Water Test Results

Dr. Richard Besser shares findings on the safety of the flood waters brought by Sandy.

Superstorm Sandy: Babies from NYU Hospital Rescued

Superstorm Sandy: Babies from NYU Hospital Rescued

The NYU Medical Center in Manhattan was evacuated after a power outage during the storm.

Cooking Without Power after Superstorm Sandy

Cooking Without Power after Superstorm Sandy

A look at what you can make without modern conveniences and if you will have enough to survive.

What is in the Flood Waters Left by Superstorm Sandy?

What is in the Flood Waters Left by Superstorm Sandy?

Dr. Richard Besser explains what exactly is in flood waters and how to stay safe.

Superstorm Sandy: How to Cope when Cooped Up

Superstorm Sandy: How to Cope when Cooped Up

Dr. Janet Taylor discusses various ways to keep your kids and yourself from going stir crazy.

Superstorm Sandy: NYU Hospital Evacuated in New York

Superstorm Sandy: NYU Hospital Evacuated in New York

David Muir reports on s city hospital where the power has failed.

Superstorm Sandy Storm Surge in New York City

Superstorm Sandy Storm Surge in New York City

Chris Cuomo reports on the aftermath of the storm in the Big Apple.

How to Talk Kids about Hurricane Sandy

How to Talk Kids about Hurricane Sandy

Dr. Janet Taylor discusses tips to make children aware of the severity of the storm.

5 Things You Need to Survive Hurricane Sandy

5 Things You Need to Survive Hurricane Sandy

Dr. Besser outlines the 5 necessities needed to battle serious health hazards from the superstorm.

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‘We’re Apple, And You’re Suckers,’ Says iPad Mini Parody Ad

The new iPad mini was released Friday, and Jimmy Kimmel doesn’t seem very enthusiastic about it.

[More from Mashable: The Top 250 Movies of All Time in Less Than 3 Minutes [VIDEO]]

In a parody iPad mini commercial that aired on Jimmy Kimmel Live Thursday, first came the iPod. Then a thinner iPod. Then an iPod you can touch. Then lots of other iPods — ones that allow you to shuffle your songs, ones you can talk on, a gigantic one you can’t talk on.

[More from Mashable: Long Exposure Photos Illuminate NYC’s Blackout Zone]

And today, Apple released a slightly bigger iPod that you can’t talk on. Which, according to the video, pretty much means we’re all suckers.

The flagship

Buyers started lining up to buy Apple’s long-anticipated iPad Mini at the flagship store the day before it went on sale.

Click here to view this gallery.

This story originally published on Mashable here.

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Syria army quits base on strategic Aleppo road

BEIRUT (Reuters) – The Syrian army abandoned its last base near the northern town of Saraqeb after a fierce assault by rebels, further isolating the strategically important second city Aleppo from the capital.

But in a political setback to forces battling to topple President Bashar al-Assad, the United Nations said the rebels appeared to have committed a war crime after seizing the base.

The opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Friday government troops had retreated from a post northwest of Saraqeb, leaving the town and surrounding areas “completely outside the control of regime forces”.

It was not immediately possible to verify the reported army withdrawal. Authorities restrict journalists’ access in Syria and state media made no reference to Saraqeb.

The pullout followed coordinated rebel attacks on Thursday against three military posts around Saraqeb, 50 km (30 miles) southwest of Aleppo, in which 28 soldiers were killed.

Several were shown in video footage being shot after they had surrendered.

“The allegations are that these were soldiers who were no longer combatants. And therefore, at this point it looks very likely that this is a war crime, another one,” U.N. human rights spokesman Rupert Colville said in Geneva.

“Unfortunately this could be just the latest in a string of documented summary executions by opposition factions as well as by government forces and groups affiliated with them, such as the shabbiha (pro-government militia),” he said.

Video footage of the killings showed rebels berating the captured men, calling them “Assad’s dogs”, before firing round after round into their bodies as they lay on the ground.

Rights groups and the United Nations say rebels and forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have committed war crimes during the 19-month-old conflict. It began with protests against Assad and has spiraled into a civil war which has killed 32,000 people and threatens to drag in regional powers.

The mainly Sunni Muslim rebels are supported by Sunni states including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and neighboring Turkey. Shi’ite Iran remains the strongest regional supporter of Assad, who is from the Alawite faith which is an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam.

STRATEGIC BLOW

Saraqeb lies at the meeting point of Syria’s main north-south highway, linking Aleppo with Damascus, and another road connecting Aleppo to the Mediterranean port of Latakia.

With areas of rural Aleppo and border crossings to Turkey already under rebel control, the loss of Saraqeb would leave Aleppo city further cut off from Assad’s Damascus powerbase.

Any convoys using the highways from Damascus or the Mediterranean city of Latakia would be vulnerable to rebel attack. This would force the army to use smaller rural roads or send supplies on a dangerous route from Al-Raqqa in the east, according to the Observatory’s director, Rami Abdelrahman.

In response to the rebels’ territorial gains, Assad has stepped up air strikes against opposition strongholds, launching some of the heaviest raids so far against working class suburbs east of Damascus over the last week.

The bloodshed has continued unabated despite an attempted ceasefire, proposed by join U.N.-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi to mark last month’s Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.

In the latest in a string of fruitless international initiatives, China called on Thursday for a phased, region-by-region ceasefire and the setting up of a transitional governing body – an idea which opposition leaders hope to flesh out at a meeting in Qatar next week.

Veteran opposition leader Riad Seif has proposed a structure bringing together the rebel Free Syrian Army, regional military councils and other rebel forces alongside local civilian bodies and prominent opposition figures.

His plan, called the Syrian National Initiative, calls for four bodies to be established: the Initiative Body, including political groups, local councils, national figures and rebel forces; a Supreme Military Council; a Judicial Committee and a transitional government made up of technocrats.

The initiative has the support of Washington. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on Wednesday for an overhaul of the opposition, saying it was time to move beyond the troubled Syrian National Council.

The SNC has failed to win recognition as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people and Clinton said it was time to bring in “those on the front lines fighting and dying”.

(Additional reporting by Oliver Holmes in Beirut and Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; Editing by Jon Boyle)

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Blake Shelton pulls off surprise win at CMAs

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Winning the Country Music Association Awards’ entertainer of the year is a top honor and always counted as a career high point. But for Blake Shelton it wasn’t even the most memorable moment of an amazing Thursday night.

“The Voice” star took home three trophies, including his third straight male vocalist victory, but nothing compared to sharing song of the year with wife Miranda Lambert. The pair wrote “Over You,” about the death of Shelton‘s brother Richie in a car wreck 15 years ago. He said that trophy will always have a special place in their Oklahoma home.

“For me as a songwriter that is as personal as I can get,” Shelton said. “So that songwriter award, song of the year award, it will have its own shelf. It will have spotlights on it and an alarm and everything. Trip wires and there will be a land mine if you walk towards it. It is a real big deal to Miranda and I.”

Shelton’s entertainer win was the biggest surprise of a night full of them. Even he couldn’t believe he’d won the award in a field that included Taylor Swift, Jason Aldean, Kenny Chesney and Brad Paisley.

“I didn’t think about that tonight. I was thinking there’s Taylor Swift right there,” he said of the two-time entertainer of the year. “Really, this is pretty dumb that there’s anyone else even nominated.”

The reality, though, is Shelton capped one of the most impressive career reboots in country music history with the win. About three years ago, he was searching for a hit or a gimmick that might return him to the top of the charts, without much luck. He scored a novelty hit with Trace Adkins called “Hillbilly Bone,” began a run of hits and then joined “The Voice” in a move that made him an instant celebrity outside the country world.

He hasn’t sold as many records as Swift, whose “Red” just moved 1.2 million copies in its first week, or as many concert tickets as Chesney or Aldean. But his leading-man looks, wicked sense of humor, Twitter presence and mellow baritone have made him one of country’s top stars.

While Shelton didn’t give himself much of a shot, Lambert — who also won her third straight female vocalist of the year award — thought he fit the definition of entertainer of the year after doing a little research.

“I realized that it just meant not only touring numbers, not only ticket sales or how much production you have, but the way that you represent country music within a year,” Lambert said. “The media that you do and the work that you do and the TV shows that you are on and how you represent yourself and how you speak out about country music. When you think about it that way, Blake Shelton deserved to win that trophy tonight.”

Shelton’s victory was just one of many surprises during the awards. Quartet Little Big Town joined Lambert with two wins apiece, taking home vocal group and single of the year for “Pontoon.” And Thompson Square’s Shawna and Keifer Thompson won vocal duo of the year, ending Sugarland’s five-year run in that category.

“Y’all, this has been a 13-year journey,” Karen Fairchild said as members of the group fist-pumped, jumped up and down and shouted on stage. “We’re living proof that if you work really hard and chase your dream, all the good stuff happens and it follows you. Nashville, you made us your band. Thank you for letting us do this.”

Like fellow outsiders LBT, Eric Church felt the love from the CMA’s voters for the first time. He won the prestigious album of the year for his breakthrough record “Chief,” signaling the North Carolina native’s complete acceptance by the country music community.

“I spent a lot of my career wondering where I fit in — too country, too rock,” Church told the crowd. “I want to thank you guys for giving me somewhere to hang my hat tonight.”

The awards went off-script early, and not just for Little Big Town. Thompson Square won in a category that’s been locked up by either Sugarland or Brooks & Dunn 19 of the last 20 years.

“Ever since I was 5 years old, I used to practice in the kitchen with one of my Meemaw’s Mason jars for this moment here,” Shawna Thompson said.

Hunter Hayes won new artist of the year, while Chesney and Tim McGraw won musical event of the year for “Party Like a Rock Star” and Toby Keith won video of the year for “Red Solo Cup.”

Church helped kick off the show by combining forces with Aldean and Luke Bryan. Playing with a large American flag behind them, the trio of performers teamed up on Aldean’s new single “The Only Way I Know” from his new album “Night Train” and earned a standing ovation. Each returned later to play singles, showing how large a market share they now own in country music.

Most of country’s top stars were on hand at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena for the celebration, with many slated to perform. Swift performed her somber new single “Begin Again” on a set with a picture of the Eiffel Tower and falling leaves in the background. She received an ovation of her own.

Shelton, McGraw and wife Faith Hill, Lady Antebellum and Keith Urban joined together to salute lifetime achievement winner Willie Nelson, ending with a group sing-along of his iconic “On the Road Again.”

Little Big Town performed their winner “Pontoon,” a song that was something of a departure for Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman, Jimi Westbrook and Phillip Sweet. Produced by Jay Joyce, the song has a sharper groove than LBT’s previous efforts.

In a coincidence, Joyce also produced Church’s “Chief.” The hard edge he brought to both paid off all around.

Church said album of the year, arguably the CMA’s second most prestigious award, was a win that fit right in with his and Joyce’s philosophy.

“I still think in this day and time the only way to really get a fan base is you’ve got to give them more than one chapter of a book,” Church said. “They’ve got to read the whole book.”

___

AP writer Kristin M. Hall in Nashville contributed to this report.

___

Online:

http://cmaworld.com

http://abc.go.com/shows/cma-awards

___

For the latest country music news from the Associated Press: http://twitter.com. Follow AP Music Writer Chris Talbott: http://twitter.com/Chris_Talbott.

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Factbox: Key elements of U.S. “fiscal cliff” post-elections

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – After the November 6 elections, Congress and the White House will face tough decisions on tax rates, tax breaks and budget cuts in a convergence of high-stakes deadlines that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke dubbed a ‘massive fiscal cliff.’

The most urgent U.S. economic issue will be finding a way down from the ‘fiscal cliff’ without plunging the U.S. economy over the edge.

Failure to safely negotiate it could trigger another recession, economic studies have forecast. Here are key deadlines and issues facing lawmakers:

TAX MEASURES

*Bush ordinary income tax cuts. On December 31, low individual income tax rates enacted in 2001 under former President George W. Bush are set to expire. President Barack Obama and Republicans extended them at the end of 2010 for two years.

If Congress does nothing, the income tax brackets will change to 15, 28, 31, 36 and 39.6 percent, from the present levels of 10, 15, 25, 28, 33 and 35 percent.

Obama wants to extend the Bush rates for everyone, except for annual income that rises above $ 200,000 per individual, or $ 250,000 per family. For income above that $ 200,000/$ 250,000 threshold, he backs a return to the higher, pre-2001 tax rates.

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney wants to preserve the Bush-era income tax rates on all income levels.

*Bush investment income tax cuts. Bush and Congress in 2003 cut taxes on capital gains and dividends, which mostly affect high-income taxpayers. These cuts are set to expire at year-end.

If no action is taken, the long-term capital gains tax rate will rise to 20 percent from 15 percent for the top four tax brackets. At the bottom, they will rise to 10 percent from zero.

Obama wants to let the capital gains tax rise to 20 percent from 15 percent for income above the $ 200,000/$ 250,000 level. Tax on gains below that would still top out at 15 percent.

Romney wants to keep the 15-percent gains tax cap for high-earners and end the tax entirely for income below $ 200,000.

Without action from Congress, the dividend tax rate will rise to the ordinary income tax rates for each tax bracket, or as high as 39.6 percent for top earners. Dividends are now taxed at 15 percent for the top four brackets and zero at the bottom.

Obama would hold the 15 percent dividend rate cap for most people, but let it rise on income above the $ 200,000/$ 250,000 threshold, to the 36 percent or 39.6 percent rates.

Romney wants to eliminate completely the dividend tax on individual income below $ 200,000, while preserving the Bush top rate of 15 percent on income exceeding that.

*Obama healthcare tax. Regardless of what happens with the fiscal cliff, investment income above $ 200,000/$ 250,000 will be subject to a new 3.8 percent tax under Obama’s health care law.

*Alternative minimum tax. The AMT – which ensures rich people pay some tax – expired at the end of 2011. That has not had an impact yet because 2012 tax returns have not been filed. The tax is not indexed for inflation. So it is routinely “patched” to prevent tens of millions of upper-middle-class taxpayers from having to start paying it. Both Republicans and Democrats agree on the need for another patch soon.

*Tax extenders. Dozens of individual and business tax breaks expired at the end of 2011, including the popular research and development tax credit. There is wide support for extending them again, but businesses will be watching for any faltering.

*Payroll tax. A cut in the payroll tax that funds the Social Security pension program was extended earlier this year, in an effort to boost the economy. The current 4.2 percent rate paid by about 160 million workers, down from the previous 6.2 percent rate, expires on December 31. Bipartisan support for letting the tax cut expire seemed solid on Capitol Hill weeks ago, but may be softening among some Democrats who are talking about extension.

*Estate tax. The estate tax, which applies to assets passed onto heirs, currently stands at 35 percent, after an exemption level of $ 5 million. With no action, the tax will rise to 55 percent, after excluding the first $ 1 million of value.

Obama wants to raise the tax to 45 percent, with a $ 3.5 million exemption; Romney wants to eliminate the tax completely.

BUDGET MEASURES

*Automatic spending cuts. In a deal last year to raise the federal debt ceiling, Obama and Congress agreed to $ 1.2 trillion in across-the-board cuts in federal programs if lawmakers failed to reach a deficit-cutting deal by January 2. They failed.

Now lawmakers fear the cuts, known as a “sequester,” could harm the economy and many are working to prevent them.

*Unemployment benefits. Millions of people have been exhausting their government jobless benefits during the economic downturn. Congress has extended the benefits several times. Another deadline comes at year-end. Many Republicans want the extensions to stop, saying they discourage job-hunting.

*”Doc fix.” Because of an outdated formula in the law, government payments to doctors who treat patients on Medicare, the U.S. health program for the elderly and disabled, are routinely underestimated. If Congress doesn’t fix the situation by the end of the year, these doctors face a double-digit cut to their payments, which could lead them to drop Medicare patients.

DEBT CEILING

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has said the United States will likely hit its $ 16.4 trillion borrowing limit after the presidential elections, but before the end of the year.

Geithner has said the Treasury has tools to push out that deadline some time into early 2013 and analysts expect these measures could last until sometime in February. That could force the Treasury to again use special accounting measures to delay the increase, which could draw further attacks from Republicans. After months of drama that exasperated voters and markets, Congress in August passed a deal to raise the ceiling. (Additional reporting by Richard Cowan; Editing by Stacey Joyce)

Economy News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Nine more cases of meningitis reported in outbreak

(Reuters) – Nine more cases of deadly fungal meningitis were reported from an outbreak tied to steroid medications shipped by a Massachusetts company, bringing the national total to 377 cases, U.S. health officials said on Thursday.

No new deaths were reported on Thursday and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Virginia had revised down the number of deaths there to two from three, reducing the national fatality total to 28. The CDC gave no reason for the revision.

In addition to the 377 cases of meningitis, the CDC said there also were nine reported cases of infections after a potentially contaminated steroid was injected into a joint such as a knee, hip, shoulder or elbow, bringing the total number of infections nationwide to 386.

The steroid was supplied by New England Compounding Center of Massachusetts, which faces multiple investigations. Health authorities have said its facility near Boston failed to make medications in sterile conditions. A fungus was found in some of the vials of steroid produced by the company and bacteria was found in other drugs from the facility.

A sister company of NECC, Ameridose, on Wednesday recalled all of its products in a move to cooperate with authorities. The recall could lead to shortages of some drugs.

(Reporting by Greg McCune; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

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Researchers Predict Twitter Trends With 95% Accuracy [STUDY]

Researchers at MIT say they’ve created an algorithm for Twitter that predicts trending topics better than the site’s existing equation.

[More from Mashable: Explore Obama and Romney’s Most Engaging Tweets With This Map]

Associate Professor Devavrat Shah and student Stanislav Nikolov say their new algorithm predicts trending topics with 95% accuracy an average of 90 minutes faster than Twitter — sometimes, as early as five hours before.

[More from Mashable: Scared Twitless: Our Favorite 140-Character Halloween Stories]

The algorithm combs through a large sample of tweets — some that trended well, and some that didn’t — and compares the data to new information to see if there are any patterns. If new tweets look like older tweets that have trended, then there’s a chance a new trend is being formed. Simple.

The equation could be applied to anything that changes over time, the researchers say, like the stock market, movie ticket prices or the duration of a bus ride. For Twitter, the data could prove beneficial to advertisers looking to market a certain topic or trend.

Check out the video above to learn more. What other trends — on Twitter or otherwise — would you like to see better predicted? Tell us what you think.

Image courtesy of Flickr, shawncampbell.

This story originally published on Mashable here.

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Syrian rebels kill 28 soldiers, several executed

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Anti-government rebels killed 28 soldiers on Thursday in attacks on three army checkpoints around Saraqeb, a town on Syria’s main north-south highway, a monitoring group said.

Some of the dead were shot after they had surrendered, according to video footage. Rebels berated them, calling them “Assad’s Dogs”, before firing round after round into their bodies as they lay on the ground.

The highway linking the capital Damascus to the contested city of Aleppo, Syria’s commercial center, has been the scene of heavy fighting since rebels cut the road last month. Saraqeb lies about 40 km (25 miles) south of Aleppo

In other developments, China put forward a new initiative to resolve the 19-month-old conflict, including a phased, region-by-region ceasefire and the setting up of a transitional governing body.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said Beijing had made the proposal to international peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi – whose own call for a truce over the Muslim holiday of Eid was largely ignored by both sides.

The United States meanwhile has called for an overhaul of Syria’s opposition leadership, signaling a break with the largely foreign-based Syrian National Council to bring in more credible figures.

A meeting in Qatar next week of foreign powers backing the rebels will be an opportunity to broaden the coalition against President Bashar al-Assad, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in Zagreb on Wednesday.

The United States and its allies have struggled for months to craft a credible opposition coalition, while Assad has counted on the support of Russia, Iran and, to a lesser extent, China. International efforts to end the violence have all foundered.

More than 32,000 people have been killed since protests against Assad, an Alawite who succeeded his late father Hafez in ruling the mostly Sunni Muslim country, first broke out on city streets. The revolt has since degenerated into full-scale civil war, with the government forces relying heavily on artillery and air strikes to thwart the rebels.

CHECKPOINT ATTACKS

The army has lost swathes of land in Idlib and Aleppo provinces but is fighting to control towns along supply routes to Aleppo city, where its forces are fighting in many districts.

The head of the pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdelrahman, said two of the attacked checkpoints at Saraqeb were on the Damascus-Aleppo highway. The third was near a road linking Aleppo with Latakia, a port city still mostly controlled Assad’s forces.

“The rebels will not stay at the checkpoints for long as Syrian warplanes normally bomb positions after rebels move in,” Abdelrahman said.

Five rebels died in the fighting and at least 20 soldiers were killed at the third site, including those shot after surrendering, he said.

The video footage showed a group of petrified men, some bleeding, lying on the ground as rebels walked around, kicking and stamping on their captives.

One of the captured men says: “I swear I didn’t shoot anyone” to which a rebel responds: “Shut up you animal … Gather them for me.” Then the men are shot dead.

Reuters could not independently verify the footage.

The Observatory said the al Qaeda-inspired Jabhat al-Nusra rebel group was responsible for the executions.

Islamist rebel units are growing in prominence in the war – a cause for concern for international powers as they weigh up what kind of support to give the opposition.

U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration has said it is not providing arms to internal opponents of Assad and is limiting its aid to non-lethal humanitarian assistance. It concedes, however, that some of its allies are providing lethal assistance.

Russia and China have blocked three U.N. Security Council resolutions aimed at increasing pressure on the Assad government, leading the United States and its allies to say they could move beyond U.N. structures for their next steps.

China has been strongly criticized by some Arab countries for failing to take a stronger stance on the conflict. Beijing has urged the Assad government to talk to the opposition and take steps to meet demands for political change.

“More and more countries have come to realize that a military option offers no way out, and a political settlement has become an increasingly shared aspiration,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said in Beijing.

He said China’s new proposal was aimed at building international consensus and supporting peace envoy Brahimi’s mediation efforts.

(Additional reporting by Ayat Basma, Laila Bassam and Dominic Evans in Beirut and Terril Yue Jones in Beijing; Writing by Oliver Holmes; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

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“The Details” Review: airless all-star comedy is devilishly dull

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – The devil is in “The Details,” but only in that this smug and airless comedy feels like 91 minutes in hell. The first few minutes promise a Rube Goldberg whirligig of bad behavior, unhappy coincidences and plain old rotten luck, but all writer-director Jacob Aaron Estes (“Mean Creek”) can deliver is a group of jerks acting like jerks.

If there were any recognizable human beings on screen, this might have delivered the sort of squirmy, uncomfortable laughs that have sustained “Curb Your Enthusiasm” through multiple seasons, but the perpetrators and victims here are all such smug, dull caricatures that none of the intended satirical barbs have anywhere to land.

Tobey Maguire stars as Jeff, a doctor who’s seemingly got the perfect house and perfect nuclear family with his wife Nealy (Elizabeth Banks) and their young son. Unfortunately, their newly-sodded backyard attracts the attention of (metaphor alert!) raccoons. Things get worse when the couple tries expanding the house to accommodate a new child, since the noise, dust and code violations all stoke the mania of their crazy-cat-lady neighbor Lila (Laura Linney).

Over the course of the film, Jeff commits horrible acts (including cheating on his wife with two different women and accidentally poisoning one of Lila’s cats) and generous ones (donating a kidney to a friend in need), and Estes delights in showing the universe punishing and rewarding Jeff purely at random, with no connection to either his sins or his good deeds.

Estes fails, however, to write any real characters, so we have a cast of talented performers trying to breathe life into people with all the depth of chess pieces. Besides Maguire (whose tendency to recede into himself is in full effect here), Banks and Linney, there’s also Kerry Washington, Dennis Haysbert and Ray Liotta trying valiantly to be more than pegs in this plot (which is less elaborate than we’re led to believe) but ultimately they are given nothing to play, nothing to do, no one to inhabit.

Ultimately, “The Details” feels frenetic when it wants to be fast-paced, and facile when it aims for some grand statement about the randomness of existence and the bitter irony of the good falling short while the evil flourish. Rarely funny, never deep and consistently exasperating, it’ll have you cheering for the raccoons.

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Ahead of the Bell: US consumer confidence

WASHINGTON (AP) — A measure of Americans’ confidence in the economy likely rose for a second straight month on expectations that business conditions will improve and hiring will pick up.

Economists forecast that the Conference Board, a private research group, will report that its monthly consumer confidence index rose to 72 in October from 70.3 in September, according to a survey by FactSet.

The September reading was the highest since February. That’s when employers added 259,000 jobs and the economic recovery was thought to be strengthening.

The confidence index is widely watched because consumer spending drives about 70 percent of the U.S. economy.

A separate survey issued Friday by the University of Michigan showed that U.S. consumer confidence rose in October to the highest level since September 2007. That was three months before the Great Recession began.

The Conference Board is to issue its report at 10 a.m. Eastern time Thursday. The report had been scheduled for release earlier this week but was delayed because of Superstorm Sandy.

A further gain in consumer confidence could be an encouraging sign for President Barack Obama, who faces re-election Tuesday at a time when the economy is the top issue for most voters.

In September, the survey showed that consumers were more optimistic about the availability of jobs and the outlook for hiring over the next six months.

The government’s employment report for September, issued Oct. 5, showed that employers added a modest 114,000 jobs. But it also showed that job growth in July and August was stronger than first thought.

Economists note some key reasons why consumers have grown more confident. They say higher stock prices and the early stages of a recovery in the housing market have helped boost optimism.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index has surged 12 percent this year. Gasoline prices have leveled off after rising for several months.

And a broad increase in home prices is likely giving would-be buyers more confidence. When prices rise, buyers don’t worry so much that a home might lose value after they bought it.

Some economists question whether the higher level of confidence is sustainable. But others note that even a weak economy doesn’t feel so bad to many consumers once it begins to make steady improvement.

Consumers’ confidence might have been rattled by this week’s Superstorm Sandy. Disruptions across U.S. industries will slow the economy temporarily, and some stores and restaurants will draw fewer customers. Some of those losses won’t be made up.

The consumer confidence index has fluctuated sharply this year. It’s fallen five times in the past nine months, hitting a low for the year of 61.3 in August before rising in September.

The index remains well below the reading of 90 that indicates a healthy economy — a level it hasn’t touched since the Great Recession began in December 2007. But it’s far above the all-time low of 25.3 touched in February 2009.

Economy News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Insight: Crunching the numbers to boost odds against cancer

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Software engineers are moving to the fore in the war on cancer, designing programmes that sift genetic sequencing data at lightning speed and minimal cost to identify patterns in tumors that could lead to the next medical breakthrough.

Their analysis aims to pinpoint the mutations in our genetic code that drive cancers as diverse as breast, ovarian and bowel. The more precise their work is, the better the chance of developing an effective new drug.

Ever since James Watson and Francis Crick discovered the structure of DNA in 1953, scientists have been puzzling over how genes make us who we are. The confluence of computing and medicine is accelerating the pace of genetic research.

But making sense of the swathes of data has become a logjam.

That, in turn has created an opportunity for computer geeks and tech firms such as Microsoft, SAP and Amazon.

Oncology is the largest area of therapy in the global drugs market with market researcher IMS predicting it will increase to $ 83-$ 88 billion by 2016 from $ 62 billion in 2011. Computational genomics – using computers to decipher a person’s genetic instructions and the mutations in cancerous cells – is emerging as the driver of this growth.

Life Technologies Corp and Illumina Inc are among firms developing equipment that can extract a person’s entire genetic code – their genome – from a cell sample.

The newest machines are about the size of an office printer and can sequence a genome in a day, compared with six to eight weeks a few years ago. They can read the 3.2 billion chemical “bases” that make up the human genetic code for $ 1,000, compared with $ 100,000 dollars in 2008.

Growing numbers of software engineers are needed to help make sense of all this data.

“Many labs can now generate the data but fewer people or labs have the expertise and infrastructure to analyze it – this is becoming the bottleneck,” said Gad Getz, who heads the Cancer Genome Analysis group at the Broad Institute in Boston, jointly run by MIT and Harvard.

Getz is one of a new generation of computational biologists who develop algorithms to parse data from tens of thousands of cell samples, shared with research institutes around the globe.

He and his team of 30 are trying to establish recurring patterns in the mutations and how they are linked to tumor growth. They are using some 1,200 processing units, each with 4-8 gigabytes of random access memory – about the computing power that comes with most desktop PCs.

HARVESTING KNOWLEDGE

Eli Lilly CEO John Lechleiter sees potential for progress.

“We are starting to harvest the knowledge that we gained through the sequencing of the human genome, our understanding of human genetics, disease pathways. We’ve got new tools that we can use in the laboratory to help us get to an answer much, much faster,” said Lechleiter, whose firm is co-owner of the rights to bowel cancer drug Erbitux.

Approved drugs that take genetic information into account include Amgen’s Vectibix and AstraZeneca’s Iressa. But both these drugs derive from a single mutation. Sequencing has laid bare many more mutant genes – often hundreds in any given tumor – and highlighted the need for a subtler approach to cancer treatment.

Roche, the world’s largest maker of cancer medicines, has spent several million euros on information technology for a pilot scheme examining how cancer cells in petri dishes react to new drugs. The scheme involves crunching hundreds of terabytes of gene sequences.

“It’s the first large-scale in-house sequencing project for Roche and we expect more to follow in the near future,” said Bryn Roberts, Roche’s head of informatics in drug research and early development.

Roberts said the project, which uses processing power equivalent to hundreds of high-end desktop PCs, was self contained but there were plans to draw in external data. This would require advances in cloud computing – using software and computing power from remote data centers – but Roberts said the technology would soon be available.

“The scale of the problem means the solution will be on an international collaborative scale,” he said.

OPPORTUNITIES IN CLOUDS

The trend of using cloud computing networks to allow commercial and public researchers to share cancer data is promising for the likes of IBM and Google which according to GBI Research are already established providers of cloud computing to drug makers’ research efforts.

Amazon, with its cloud computing unit AWS, said it is benefiting as life science researchers rethink how data is stored, analyzed and shared. “We are happy with the growth we are seeing,” a spokesman said, declining to provide figures.

Microsoft said it was dedicating “significant resources” to the expansion of cloud computing in the health and life sciences markets.

“Pharma R&D will be working with other technology companies, like Microsoft, in developing new algorithms, methodologies and indeed even therapies themselves,” said Les Jordan, chief technology strategist at Microsoft’s Life Sciences unit.

The world’s largest business software company SAP has teamed up with German genetic testing specialist Qiagen. They are modifying SAP database software so that certain cancer diagnostic tests, which now keep a network of super computers busy for days, can be run on a desktop PC within hours.

Genetic analysis has revealed that types of cancer, now treated as one because they are in the same organ and look the same under the microscope, are driven by different genetics.

Hans Lehrach at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin says every single tumor should be seen as an “orphan disease”, using a term for rare illnesses that typically prompt drug regulators to make drug approval easier.

He has designed a software he describes as a virtual patient. It suggests a drug or a mix of drugs based on each tumor’s genetic fingerprint. A single case can take several days to be processed.

Lehrach, a geneticist who says he has written software code throughout his scientific career, likens his approach to that of a meteorologist who regards every day’s set of readings as unique.

Taking the analogy further, he says the convention of stratifying cancer patients is equivalent to a weather forecast based on simple rules such as ‘red sky in the morning, sailor take warning’.

At a unit of Berlin’s Charite university hospital, 20 patients left with no other treatment options for their aggressive type of skin cancer are being diagnosed based on Lehrach’s computer model.

The trial is exploratory and there are no results yet on the overall treatment success, but the project, like many others, is driven by the hope that cancer can be wrestled down by sheer computing power.

(Additional reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; editing by Janet McBride)

Medications/Drugs News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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RIM says its new BlackBerry phone in testing

TORONTO (AP) — BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion said Wednesday that its much-delayed new smartphones are now being tested by 50 wireless carriers around the world.

The Canadian company called it a key step as it prepares to launch the new BlackBerry 10 software and phones in the first quarter of next year.

The phones are seen as critical to RIM’s survival. The release will come as the company struggles in North America to hold onto customers who are abandoning BlackBerrys for flashier iPhones and Android phones.

“I’m very pleased to confirm that we have passed a critical milestone in the development of our brand new mobile computing platform,” RIM CEO Thorsten Heins said in a statement. “This process will continue in the coming months as more carriers around the world formally evaluate the devices and our brand new software.”

RIM’s current software is still focused on email and messaging, and is less user-friendly and agile than iPhone or Android. Its attempt at touch screens and a tablet were a flop, and RIM lacks the apps that power other smartphones. RIM’s hopes hang on BlackBerry 10. It’s thoroughly redesigned for the touchscreen, Internet browsing and apps experience that customers now expect. A full touchscreen device will be released first followed shortly after by a physical keyboard version.

Heins, who took over as CEO in January after the company lost tens of billions in market value, had vowed to do everything he could to release BlackBerry 10 this year but said in June that the timetable wasn’t realistic. Heins says he can turn things around with BlackBerry 10.

“I have spent the last several weeks on the road visiting with carrier partners around the world to show them the BlackBerry 10 platform and to share with them our plans for launch. Their response has been tremendous,” Heins said. “The hard work will not stop here as we build toward launch.”

The new BlackBerrys will be released after the holiday shopping season and well after Apple’s launch of the iPhone 5, Apple’s biggest product introduction yet.

RIM’s platform transition is also happening under a new management team and as RIM lays off 5,000 employees as part of a bid to save $ 1 billion.

RIM was once Canada’s most valuable company with a market value of more than $ 80 billion in 2008, but the stock has plummeted since, from over $ 140 share to around $ 7. Its decline evokes memories of Nortel, another former Canadian tech giant, which declared bankruptcy in 2009.

Shares of RIM closed up 4.7 percent, or 36 cents, at $ 7.93.

Wireless News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Mexico’s Day of Dead brings memories of missing

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Maria Elena Salazar refuses to set out plates of her missing son’s favorite foods or orange flowers as offerings for the deceased on Mexico‘s Day of the Dead, even though she hasn’t seen him in three-and-a-half years.

The 50-year-old former teacher is convinced that Hugo Gonzalez Salazar, a university graduate in marketing who worked for a telephone company, is still alive and being forced to work for a drug cartel because of his skills.

“The government, the authorities, they know it, that the gangs took them away to use as forced labor,” said Salazar of her then 24-year-old son, who disappeared in the northern city of Torreon in July 2009.

The Day of the Dead — when Mexicans traditionally visit the graves of dead relatives and leave offerings of flowers, food and candy skulls — is a difficult time for the families of the thousands of Mexicans who have disappeared amid a wave of drug-fueled violence.

With what activists call a mix of denial, hope and desperation, they refuse to dedicate altars on the Nov. 1-2 holiday to people often missing for years. They won’t accept any but the most certain proof of death, and sometimes reject even that.

Numbers vary on just how many people have disappeared in recent years. Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission says 24,000 people have been reported missing between 2000 and mid-2012, and that nearly 16,000 bodies remain unidentified.

But one thing is clear: just as there are households without Day of the Dead altars, there are thousands of graves of the unidentified dead scattered across the country, with no one to remember them.

An investigation conducted by the newspaper Milenio this week, involving hundreds of information requests to state and municipal governments, indicates that 24,102 unidentified bodies were buried in paupers’ or common graves in Mexican cemeteries since 2006. The number is almost certainly incomplete, since some local governments refused to provide figures, Milenio reported.

And while the number of unidentified dead probably includes some indigents, Central American migrants or dead unrelated to the drug war, it is clear that cities worst hit by the drug conflict also usually showed a corresponding bulge in the number of unidentified cadavers. For example, Mexico City, which has been relatively unscathed by drug violence, listed about one-third as many unidentified burials as the city of Veracruz, despite the fact that Mexico City’s population is about 15 times larger.

Consuelo Morales , who works with dozens of families of disappeared in the northern city of Monterrey, said that “holidays like this, that are family affairs and are very close to our culture, stir a lot of things up” for the families. But many refuse to accept the deaths of their loved ones, sometimes even after DNA testing confirms a match with a cadaver.

“They’ll say to you, ‘I’m not going to put up an altar, because they’re not dead,” Martinez noted. “Their thinking is that ‘until they prove to me that my child is dead, he is alive.”

Martinez says one family she works with at the Citizens in Support of Human Rights center had refused to accept their son was dead, even after three rounds of DNA testing and the exhumation of the remains.

“It was their son, he was very young, and he had been burned alive,” Martinez said by way of explanation.

The refusal to accept what appears inevitable may be a matter of desperation. Martinez said some families in Monterrey also believe their missing relatives are being held as virtual slaves for the cartels, even though federal prosecutors say they have never uncovered any kind of drug cartel forced-labor camp, in the six years since Mexico launched an offensive against the cartels.

But many people like Salazar believe it must be true. “Organized crime is a business, but it can’t advertise for employees openly, so it has to take them by force,” Salazar said.

While she refuses to erect an altar-like offering for her son, she does perform other rituals that mirror the Day of the Dead customs, like the one that involves scattering a trail of flower petals to the doorsteps of houses to guide spirits of the departed back home once a year.

Salazar and her family still live in the same home in Torreon, though they’d like to move, in the hopes that Hugo will return there. They pray three times a day for God to guide him home.

“We live in the same place, and we try to do the same things we used to,” said Salazar, “because he is going to come back to his place, his home, and we have to be waiting for him.”

Mistrust of officials has risen to such a point that some families may never get an answer they’ll accept.

The problem is that, with forensics procedures often sadly lacking in Mexican police forces, the dead my never be connected with the living, which is the whole point of the Mexican traditions.

“As long as the authorities don’t prove the opposite, for us they’re still alive,” Salazar said. “Let them prove it, but let us have some certainty, not just the authorities saying ‘here he is.’ We don’t the government to just give us bodies that aren’t theirs, and that has happened.”

Latin America News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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“Neighbors,” “Scandal” get full-season orders

NEW YORK, Oct 30 (TheWrap.com) – ABC has given full season orders to the aliens-next-door drama “The Neighbors” and the political drama “Scandal.”

“Neighbors,” a freshman comedy, has benefitted from a Wednesday time slot between “The Middle” and “Modern Family,” ABC’s biggest hit.

“Scandal,” a Shonda Rhimes series that stars Kerry Washington (pictured) as a crisis management specialist, debuted in midseason last year and returned last month for its second season.

The two series are the first to receive full-season pickups from ABC this fall.

TV News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Heseltine issues growth challenge

31 October 2012 Last updated at 04:55 ET

Lord Heseltine, the former Conservative party deputy prime minister, has challenged the government to take bolder action to stimulate the economy.

In a new report, commissioned by Downing Street, he says that people think the UK “does not have a strategy for growth and wealth creation”.

He wants the funds used to support industry to be distributed locally, rather than through central government.

Labour said his message was “a damning indictment” of the government.

His review makes 89 recommendations to help industry. One of its key aims is to move £49bn from central government to the regions to help local leaders and businesses.

The aim, he said, was to devolve power from Whitehall and re-invigorate the big cities that had fuelled the growth and wealth that the UK had experienced in past decades.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

I have told it as I see it, but I have told it in a way that is very supportive of the government”

End Quote Lord Heseltine

Chancellor George Osborne said he would “study it [the report] very carefully”.

Lord Heseltine, a former head of the Department of Trade and Industry in the 1980s, said the Government should allocate growth funds to new Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) over the next few years.

He said LEPs’ responsibilities should include wealth creation as well as focus on social provision.

The current climate was “the worst economic crisis of modern times”, he said, arguing that local business and political leaders are best placed to invest the money.

The main points of the report, called No Stone Unturned: In pursuit of growth, include:

• a major devolution of funding


• making a smaller and more skilled government machine


• enhancing the standing of Local Economic Partnerships (LEPs) to bring together private and public sectors


• more government leadership for major infrastructure projects


• a role for employers in education

‘Pulsing’

When in office Lord Heseltine was well known for promoting intervention to back business and the regeneration of urban areas.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

This is a war cry from the man whose golden locks and virtuoso performances earned him the nickname Tarzan”

End Quote

The report is presented in a highly individual style, fronted by a cartoon of Lord Heseltine shining a torch under a rock, with the caption “In search of growth”.

He calls it “one man’s vision”, and says “there is opportunity on a grand scale”.

He said that throughout the regions there was excellence in industry, commerce and academia, which should be extended and that cities were “pulsing with energy” that should be unleashed.

He backed the government’s economic strategy, and said it was taking the right path to recovery. But later, in an interview with the BBC, Lord Heseltine said there was “an urgency” about stimulating growth. “Across the world there are emerging economies that want our jobs and our wealth,” he said.

He wanted to “unleash the power of our big cities. London did not make the UK. London has acquired too much power. Cities like Manchester and Birmingham made the UK. We need to mobilise the skills of provincial England,” he told Radio 4′s Today programme. “I want to shove power out of Whitehall, into the provinces.”

Asked whether his conclusions might be at odds with thinking in the Treasury, Mr Heseltine said: “I do not work for the Treasury, I work for George Osborne. And George has been behind this initiative.”

He added: “I have got baggage, they know my views. There are bound to be things where they say, ‘oh my god, here he goes again’. I have told it as I see it, but I have told it in a way that is very supportive of the government.”

‘Challenge received wisdom’

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

He will have his work cut out in convincing ministers of this new approach”

End Quote Brendan Barber TUC

Mr Osborne said the report provided food for thought.

“I wanted Lord Heseltine to do what he does best: challenge received wisdom and give us ideas on how to bring government and industry together. He has done exactly that,” he said.

Business Secretary Vince Cable said he would also be considering the report and would respond in the coming months.

Shadow business secretary, Chuka Umunna, said aspects of Lord Heseltine’s report chimed with Labour’s own industrial policy.

“Labour has led calls for an active government approach to support business and underpin regional growth – it is good to see Lord Heseltine echoing this in his report. We will examine his proposals and consider which ones we can take forward,” he said.

“We hope that ministers will take Lord Heseltine’s proposals seriously.”

Business backing

Lord Heseltine: “It is a shift and in a sense it is a criticism of Whitehall”

The Institute of Directors (IoD) business group reacted positively to the broad thrust of the report’s proposals.

“We welcome the idea of encouraging more devolution to the local level, and ensuring business has the opportunity to make heard its priorities on local issues,” IoD director general Simon Walker said.

“Business leaders and the various business organisations have long experience of co-operating to encourage a positive business environment in the UK, and we are committed to continuing that work.”

Meanwhile the TUC also backed the report but warned that it needs to be embraced across government in order to make a difference.

“The TUC shares Lord Heseltine’s vision of collaboration between the public and private sectors, with unions and employers working together to promote growth,” said general secretary Brendan Barber.

“But he will have his work cut out in convincing ministers of this new approach, who are going to have to change their attitude towards civil servants, public bodies and unions if they want this strategy to succeed.”

Lord Heseltine will formally launch his report later on Wednesday at an event in Birmingham.

BBC News – Business

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British Medical Journal moves to flush out secret trial data

LONDON (Reuters) – The respected British Medical Journal (BMJ) will refuse to publish research papers on drugs unless the clinical trial data behind these studies is made available for independent scrutiny.

The requirement to make anonymised patient-level data available “on reasonable request” will apply to all clinical trials of drugs and medical devices from January 2013, the BMJ said in an editorial.

The move increases the pressure on drug companies to lift the lid on data secrets amid growing criticism that lack of disclosure hampers the ability of doctors and medical researchers to assess the true value of products.

Patient-level data, which sits behind the published results of clinical trials, is a potential treasure trove for scientists wanting to test drug company claims and expose product deficiencies.

Companies have been reluctant to release this information, but GlaxoSmithKline set a precedent this month by announcing that it would make such data available from its trials.

(Reporting by Ben Hirschler; Editing by David Goodman)

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Holiday gadgets: Microsoft phones, Google gadgets

NEW YORK (AP) — Microsoft launched its new Windows phone system and Google unveiled new devices under its Nexus brand. Both part of an effort to grab more of consumers’ holiday-shopping dollars.

Last week, Microsoft started selling its Windows 8 operating system and Surface tablet computer. Apple announced new iPads and Mac computers. Samsung launched a giant smartphone.

Barnes & Noble Inc. will start shipping new Nook devices Thursday, while Apple‘s new iPads, including a smaller one, will be out Friday. A larger version of Amazon.com Inc.‘s Kindle Fire comes out later in the month.

These are some of the gadgets to expect for the holidays:

— APPLE DEVICES

Apple has done well selling its full-sized tablet computer, which has a screen that measures nearly 10 inches diagonally. But companies such as Amazon.com Inc. and Google Inc. have made inroads selling tablets with smaller, 7-inch screens and lower price tags.

To maintain its dominance, Apple will start shipping the iPad Mini on Friday, though new orders through Apple‘s website will take longer because initial supplies had sold out. It will have a 7.9-inch screen, making it slightly larger than those smaller rivals but about two-thirds the size of a regular iPad.

The iPad Mini starts at $ 329, well above the $ 159 starting price for Amazon.com Inc.‘s Kindle Fire and $ 199 for Google Inc.‘s Nexus 7. Both have 7-inch screens. The Mini will be just $ 70 cheaper than the 2011 iPad 2, which is still available.

Apple will make a version of the iPad Mini that can access cellular networks from AT&T, Verizon and Sprint. That version will start at $ 459, compared with $ 629 for the full-sized cellular model.

Apple is also refreshing its full-sized iPad, giving it a faster processor and faster Wi-Fi capabilities.

Meanwhile, Apple has unveiled a 13-inch version of a MacBook Pro with sharper, “Retina” display, complementing the 15-inch version unveiled in June. Apple also updated its iMac line.

Last month, Apple began selling its iPhone 5. The new phone is bigger, but thinner than previous models and works with faster cellular networks known as 4G.

— PHONE RIVAL

Apple‘s leading rival, Samsung Electronics Co., came out with a new version of its flagship phone, the Galaxy S III, months ago. But Samsung is known for releasing products throughout the year, each targeted at a different base of consumers.

For those who like to work with a stylus, the Galaxy Note II smartphone came out last week. T-Mobile, Sprint and U.S. Cellular are selling it now. Verizon and AT&T are taking advance orders for shipments in the coming weeks.

The Note comes on the heels of Samsung’s campaign touting its Galaxy S III phone as its “next big thing.” The Note is even bigger, with a 5.5 inch screen, compared with the S III’s 4.8 inches and the iPhone 5′s 4 inches, all measured diagonally.

The Note runs the latest version of Google‘s Android system, Jelly Bean.

Google, meanwhile, announced a small update to Jelly Bean and said it will be included with its Nexus 4 smartphone out next month.

— TABLET RIVALS

Amazon’s 7-inch Kindle Fire is one of the smaller tablets with decent sales. Last month, it started shipping an updated version with a faster processor, more memory and longer battery life. It also cut the price to $ 159, from $ 199, making it far cheaper than the iPad, which starts at $ 399.

Amazon is also releasing higher-end models under the Kindle Fire HD line. A 7-inch one goes for $ 199 and an 8.9-inch one for $ 299. There’s also a $ 499 model that can use the 4G cellular networks that phone companies have been building. A data plan will cost an extra $ 50 a year. The smaller HD model is already available, while the larger ones will be available Nov. 20.

Barnes and Noble Inc. is also updating its Nook tablets. The new Nook HD will come in two sizes, one at 7 inches (starting at $ 199) and one at 9 inches (starting at $ 269). They will be out Thursday.

In addition to the new HD screen and a lighter body, Barnes & Noble is increasing the services the Nook offers. It’s adding a video purchase and rental service, allowing users to maintain different profiles and making it easier to browse titles in its book and magazine stores.

Google, meanwhile, is introducing a 10-inch Nexus tablet starting at $ 399, $ 100 less than comparable versions of the latest iPads. It is doubling the storage capacity of existing 7-inch models and introducing a version capable of accessing cellular networks. The new Nexus 7 is available now, while the other devices are coming Nov. 13.

— CALLING ON WINDOWS

Microsoft Corp. released a new version of the Windows operating system on Friday, one that’s designed to work on both traditional computers and tablet devices. Desktops, laptops and tablet computers with Windows 8 started going on sale Friday.

Microsoft also released its own tablet computer, the Surface. It’s new territory for Microsoft, which typically leaves it to others to make devices using its software. Now, it will be competing against its partners.

One model will run on the same type of lower-energy chips used in the iPad. It will start at $ 499, also like the newest, full-sized iPads. A keyboard cover will cost another $ 100. Sales started Friday.

A heavier, more expensive version will run on Intel chips and be capable of running standard Windows applications. Microsoft hasn’t announced the date or price for that yet.

A new version of the Windows Phone system is coming out this fall as well. Once-dominant phone maker Nokia Corp. has been struggling in the shadow of Apple and Android, and it’s counting on the new Windows system for a revival. Nokia, Samsung and HTC are launching eight Windows Phone 8 smartphones combined by year’s end, starting this weekend overseas and later in November in the U.S.

— NEW BLACKBERRYS

A year ago, Research In Motion Ltd. disclosed that it was working on a next-generation phone system for the BlackBerry, which now looks ancient next to the iPhone and Android devices. It was supposed to be out in time for this year’s holiday season. That won’t happen.

In June, RIM pushed the release of BlackBerry 10 devices into early next year, saying it wasn’t ready. That means RIM will not only compete with the new iPhone and Android devices out this fall, but it will also have to contend with the new Windows devices.

— PLAYING GAMES

Nintendo’s new Wii U game machine will go on sale in the U.S. on Nov. 18. A basic, white model will cost $ 300. A deluxe black version for another $ 50 comes with an extra game and more accessories. The GamePad touch-screen controller for it will offer new ways to play.

In “New Super Mario Bros. U.,” for example, players holding the old Wii controllers control Mario, Luigi and other characters. The person with the GamePad can help them along by using a stylus to create stepping stones for the characters or stun enemies.

Players can also turn off the TV entirely and play on the GamePad.

Nintendo Co. has been trying to drum up excitement for the Wii U, the first major gaming console to launch since 2006.

The company also announced new entertainment features for the console. Called Nintendo TVii, the service collects all the ways users have to watch movies, TV shows and sports. This includes pay-TV accounts along with services such as Hulu and Netflix. The GamePad works as a fancy remote controller and will let viewers comment on what they are watching.

TVii will be available Nov. 18 as well, at no extra cost.

Wireless News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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