Acortar las internaciones no significa peor atención: estudio EEUU

NUEVA YORK (Reuters Health) – Los hospitales de Asuntos del

Veterano (AV) de Estados Unidos pudieron reducir la duración de

las internaciones sin aumentar la cantidad de reingresos.

“A medida que los hospitales se volvieron más eficientes,

creció la preocupación porque estuvieran dándole el alta a

pacientes más enfermos y más rápido”, dijo el autor principal de

un nuevo estudio, doctor Peter Kaboli, del Sistema de Salud de

AV de la ciudad de Iowa. “De hecho, encontramos lo opuesto”,

agregó.

En Annals of Internal Medicine, el equipo de Kaboli escribe

que se está presionando a los hospitales para que disminuyan el

tiempo que los pacientes pasan allí. Pero algunos cuestionan si

el alta temprana eleva el riesgo de reinternación. Estas

segundas hospitalizaciones le cuestan Medicare unos 17.000

millones de dólares por año, según reveló un estudio del 2009.

Es más: el 1 de octubre del 2012, los Centros de Servicios

de Medicare y Medicaid comenzaron a utilizar las tasas de

reinternaciones y los resultados en los pacientes como dos

indicadores para determinar cuánto dinero deberían reembolsarles

a los hospitales.

El equipo de Kaboli estudió si la reducción del tiempo de

internación en los 129 hospitales de AV aumentaba la cantidad de

reinternaciones a los 30 días del alta médica. Para eso, analizó

más de 4 millones de historias clínicas electrónicas de AV de

los pacientes atendidos entre 1997 y el 2010.

En ese período, el tiempo promedio de internación se redujo

de 5,5 a 4 días y la cantidad de pacientes reinternados dentro

de los 30 días posteriores al alta médica cayó alrededor de 3

puntos porcentuales (del 16,5 por ciento en 1997 al 13,8 por

ciento en el 2010).

“Parecería que (la duración de la internación) no haría una

diferencia, pero al demostrar que reduce las reinternaciones

notamos que es una medida positiva”, dijo Kaboli.

Aun así, el equipo halló un punto en el que la internación

más breve estaba asociada con un aumento de los reingresos. Los

hospitales con internaciones de por lo menos un día menos que el

tiempo promedio registraban un aumento de las reinternaciones.

Por otro lado, el equipo observó que la cantidad de

pacientes que morían en el hogar dentro de los 90 días

posteriores al alta médica también fue disminuyendo en esos 14

años.

“Pudimos cuidar mejor a los pacientes, con mejor calidad de

la atención y con una reducción de las tasas de mortalidad al

mismo tiempo”, resumió Kaboli.

El doctor Manesh Patel, profesor asistente de cardiología de

la Duke University, en Durham, opinó que el estudio demuestra

que el sistema de AV mejoró en las áreas más sensibles para los

pacientes.

“La buena noticia es que existiría una conexión (…)

Algunas de las medidas que implementamos serían razonables”,

sostuvo Patel, que no participó del estudio, pero investiga el

tema de las reinternaciones.

FUENTE: Annals of Internal Medicine, online 17 de diciembre

del 2012

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Can Nepal’s Republic Be Saved?

If you were a politician in Nepal during the past two years, there’s some chance you may have been slapped. In January 2011—as well as in May and November of this year—three citizens who were fed up with chronic government inaction physically attacked three senior politicians.

Nepal’s citizens survived 10 years of a bloody Maoist insurrection that killed an estimated 16,000 people but also brought about the end of a centuries-old monarchy in 2008. Since then, however, the country has been hampered by chronic political and economic crises that have created a severe legitimacy crisis for the ruling elites. Can this nascent republic be saved?

It seems to be an impossible challenge in the near term. The current political crisis is so dire that there has been no parliament since May. In November, hints surfaced of a presidential coup to oust the Maoist-led caretaker government of Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai. President Ram Baran Yadav heard advice from the military chief and the Indian ambassador about the best way out of the crisis, but he ultimately took no action. Weeks later, the political crisis persists.

On Nov. 29, Prime Minister Bhatterai and various political factions failed to meet the president’s deadline to form a national unity government that would lead to parliamentary elections for April or May. On Dec. 6, the factions failed again to meet the extended deadline. A day later, on Dec. 7, President Yadav offered yet another six-day extension. But the ruling alliance of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) and United Democratic Joint Madhesi Front, as well as the opposition Nepali Congress and Communist Party of Nepal, failed to select a prime ministerial candidate, missing the latest deadline. Amid such political deadlock, there has been no progress on a new constitution—a critical component of the peace deal that ended the Maoist civil war in the first place.

This political crisis has amplified the economic weaknesses of the aid-dependent country, a quarter of whose population lives below the poverty line. Youth unemployment is over 40 percent and job creation is a struggle, especially with growth expected to drop to 3.8 percent in 2012-13, from 4.5 percent the previous year, according to the International Monetary Fund. The approval of the government’s budget on Nov. 21 averted a major financial crisis that would have left half a million civil servants, soldiers, and police without pay. This was a rare spot of good news for the dysfunctional country.

Though India and China already have significant stakes in their neighbor, the political crisis puts further foreign investment in jeopardy. One report suggests that Nepal’s diplomats have secured additional investment abroad, but this is contingent on the establishment of a constitution and the return of political stability. Other potential investors, including many businessmen from Saudi Arabia, have admitted losing interest in Nepal because of the political impasse. The country’s dismal ranking of 141 (out of 176 countries) on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index, the recurring power crisis, and additional structural limitations are not helping matters.

If the political and economic situation continues to stagnate, and no constitution is finalized to unite the people, it is likely that ethnic and religious differences—as well as the frustrations of historically marginalized groups from lower castes—will serve as significant sources of conflict.

It’s clear that the ruling elites are rapidly losing domestic legitimacy. Unfortunately, this has not motivated them to resolve the political crisis with dispatch. Perhaps it’s time for foreign donors to apply overt pressure on Nepal by making future aid conditional on a resolution to the political deadlock.

Even if a political consensus emerges as to how to move forward, it will take time before Nepal’s rulers regain the legitimacy needed to allow the government to ease the economic crisis. If no consensus is reached in 2013, mass street protests—which in the past brought down the monarchy—are likely to resurface. The way things are going, another Nepali politician could get slapped.

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Showrooming little threat to clothiers in ho-hum holidays

Chicago (Reuters) – In retail, showrooming has not hit shirts yet.

Showrooming, the retail term for shoppers who try a product, then buy it cheaper on Amazon.com or other websites, has driven retailers to the point of hiding barcodes, improving their own websites and coming up with methods to get people to complete their purchase in the store.

But brand-name clothing retailers have an advantage over companies that sell items you can buy anywhere, like televisions and home goods.

“Specialty apparel retailers are some of the least affected by showrooming since the more exclusive the product is, the harder it is to showroom,” said Joel Bines, managing director of the retail practice at advisory firm AlixPartners.

That, in turn, has helped retailers like Gap Inc and Lululemon Athletica Inc find favor with investors.

A survey of 2,010 adults conducted by AlixPartners showed consumers who shop for apparel were among the least likely (35 percent) to go to other websites after they liked an item at a store, compared with 42 percent of electronics shoppers and 41 percent of those looking for accessories like watches and jewelry.

“If you look at some of the most successful (clothes) companies in the past few years, they are those that have that moat around them,” said hedge fund manager Shawn Kravetz, who runs Esplanade Capital in Boston.

He cites yogawear maker Lululemon and Gap as good examples of how it can help to have clothes that are not sold elsewhere.

If a shopper wants to buy a Banana Republic or Nordstrom shirt from the latest season, they have to buy it either from their stores or online shop.

Discount retailers like Zappos, Amazon and others stock brand-name products, but the merchandise is often not from the current season or limited in colors and sizes.

“I don’t need to see if a television fits my body shape when I buy a TV,” said Joe Megibow, senior vice president of omni-channel e-commerce at American Eagle Outfitters. The teen clothes retailer has seen better sales than its peers over the past year.

“I can get a sense of the TV and I’m good. Clothing is different. Does it fit me, is it my style, do I like the quality of the material and how it is put together. There’s so much more with apparel that matters,” he said.

That is the part of the reason, analysts say, why online-only clothing companies like Bonobos and Gap’s Piperlime have started opening brick-and-mortar stores or tied up with retailers to sell their products in physical locations.

Choice and easy availability are the two most important aspects of shopping, especially during a holiday season that has lost steam after what looked like strong Thanksgiving sales.

Estelle Tran, an “impulsive” shopper in her twenties, agreed.

“If I want to buy books, tech items, DVDs, I would definitely buy online. For clothes, I would rather (visit stores) as it is also a fun experience to try on clothes,” said the Chicago-based finance auditor.

Tran said she would definitely check prices online if she was spending more than $ 100.

Luxury and high-priced items can be more susceptible to showrooming, because pricing is what drives the behavior, said Marshal Cohen, chief economist at the consultancy NPD Group.

“With electronics and certain consumer goods it is very easy to compare specific brands across multiple websites. But (showrooming is) happening and it will be growing. If a (clothes) retailer isn’t taking it seriously, they are going to fall behind,” said Bolette Andersen, principal in KPMG’s retail industry practice.

ROOM TO GROW

Some investors are betting on apparel stocks because of their relative insulation from the threat of showrooming.

While the S&P Apparel Index has returned a sizzling 27.71 percent year to date, according to Reuters data, far outperforming the S&P 500, which is up 14.80 percent, more gains may be coming.

“We still think there’s plenty of room to grow,” said Brian Peery, co-portfolio manager at Hennessy Funds. Its growth fund, heavily weighted in apparel and consumer discretionary goods shares, is up 30 percent over the year.

“As we look into the sector 12-18 months, we continue to buy the discretionary area. Two of our heaviest investments would be Foot Locker Inc and TJX Companies Inc,” he said.

Discount chains like TJX and Ross Stores, which sell branded clothes at low prices, have benefited from the surge in bargain-seeking shoppers.

Even the stocks of retailers like Gap and American Eagle that have staged or are staging turnarounds have gotten a good boost over the year. Gap has soared 69 percent and American Eagle is up 31 percent.

R. Shawn Neville, president of Avery Dennison retail branding and information solutions, said another reason that apparel and to a broader extent other consumer discretionary stocks do well is because of their sustainability.

“In uncertain times, investors look towards market segments that have strong underlying demand which are more stable, like the apparel industry,” Neville said.

Moreover, in times of economic uncertainty, shoppers can still afford clothes and shoes, as opposed to a new car, home, or expensive vacations, helping apparel stocks do well, he said.

“Though Amazon is clearly stealing some share in various categories, clothes retailers, say Abercrombie & Fitch isn’t going anywhere. They’re not being run out of the shopping mall,” said Esplanade’s Kravetz.

(Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

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Vatican says pope beats Justin Bieber on re-tweets

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Benedict, white-haired, 85, and a neophyte to social media site Twitter, has beaten out 18-year old heartthrob Justin Bieber to set a percentage record for re-tweeting by his followers, the Vatican said on Thursday.

The Vatican newspaper said that as of noon Italian time on Thursday the pope had 2.1 million followers on Twitter, eight days after his first tweet was sent.

While Canadian singer-songwriter Bieber has roughly 15 times as many followers – 31.7 million – the Vatican newspaper said Benedict had beaten Bieber on re-tweets.

It said about 50 percent of the pope’s followers had re-tweeted his first tweet on December 12 while only 0.7 percent of Bieber’s followers had re-tweeted one of the singer’s most popular tweets on September 26, when he commented on the death by cancer of a six-year-old fan.

The Vatican said this was part of a wider trend in which people were looking for more spiritual content.

The pope already tweets in English, German, Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish and Arabic. The newspaper said he will start tweeting in Latin and Chinese soon.

(Reporting By Philip Pullella, editing by Paul Casciato)

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Hundreds pay tribute to legendary Indian sitarist Ravi Shankar

ENCINITAS, California (Reuters) – Ravi Shankar‘s daughters, Norah Jones and Anoushka Shankar, along with the wife of late Beatle George Harrison said their final goodbyes to the Indian sitar virtuoso on Thursday at a public memorial service in Encinitas, California.

The legendary musician and composer, who helped introduce the sitar to the Western world through his collaboration with The Beatles, died on December 11 in Southern California. He was 92.

About 700 people joined Shankar’s wife, Sukanya, and family at the service held at a spiritual center in the coastal town about 25 miles north of San Diego.

Olivia Harrison, the widow of Beatles guitarist George Harrison, told Reuters the three-time Grammy winner who formed a musical and spiritual bond with The Beatle “expressed music at its deepest level.”

“As a person he was just sweet and seemed to know everything,” she added. “He was a true citizen of the world.”

Shankar is credited with popularizing Indian music through his work with violinist Yehudi Menuhin and The Beatles beginning in the mid-1960s, inspiring George Harrison to learn the sitar and the British band to record songs like “Norwegian Wood” (1965) and “Within You, Without You” (1967).

“He completely transformed (George’s) musical sensibilities,” a tearful Harrison told the crowd. “They exchanged ideas and melodies until their hearts and minds were intertwined like a double helix.”

‘LITTLE CRUMB’

His friendship with Harrison led him to appearances at the Monterey and Woodstock pop festivals in the late 1960s and the 1972 Concert for Bangladesh. He became one of the first Indian musicians to become a household name in the West.

His influence in classical music, including on composer Philip Glass, was just as large. His work with Menuhin on their “West Meets East” albums in the 1960s and 1970s earned them a Grammy, and he wrote concertos for sitar and orchestra for both the London Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic.

“I always felt like a little crumb in his presence,” Zubin Mehta, a former music director of the New York Philharmonic and collaborator with Shankar, said at the service.

Jazz pianist Herbie Hancock also attended the service along with “Anna Karenina” director Joe Wright, the husband of Shankar’s daughter Anoushka.

Shankar, who had lived in Encinitas for the past 20 years, had suffered from upper respiratory and heart issues over the past year and underwent heart-valve replacement surgery last week at a hospital in San Diego.

The surgery was successful but he was unable to recover.

Shankar’s final concert was on November 4 in Long Beach, California, with his Grammy-winning sitarist daughter Anoushka, who spoke giving thanks to those who came. Jones, the third Grammy-winner in the family, did not speak at the service.

(Writing by Eric Kelsey; editing by Philip Barbara)

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AffordRx.com Makes Prescription Drugs Affordable

AffordRx.com to donate thousands of discount drug cards to those in need.

Margate, NJ (PRWEB) December 21, 2012

AffordRx, a discount prescription drug card, is currently giving away thousands of free discount cards to those in need.

Countless senior citizens and children living in the United States are not able to afford their prescriptions regularly. Many people are left with no choice but to skip doses or cut pills in half.

AffordRx representative Dylan Marc explained his company’s mission, “We are aware that millions of Americans are losing out on healthcare because prescription prices are too high. That’s why our card offers you a discount of up to 75% on thousands of prescription drugs.”

Too many people are still without prescription insurance coverage. Even those with coverage may not be able to get the medications they need. People stuck in the Medicare “donut hole” in particular can benefit from AffordRx; while the card does not work with covered prescriptions or existing copays, it can be applied to a deductible, or used to cover prescriptions that are not covered by an existing plan. Sometimes the card’s discount for a given prescription may be even cheaper than it would be under insurance.

These cards can be printed at home and used immediately, or they can be mailed directly to customers upon request. The cards do NOT require a medical examination to qualify, and can be presented to any participating pharmacy along with any qualifying prescription.

AffordRx discount prescription cards are accepted at more than 59,000 pharmacies nationwide, including large chains like CVS, Albertsons, Kmart, Walgreens, and Target as well as independent pharmacies. These cards do not expire; and there is no limitation on how many times or how often they may be used.

AffordRx has helped thousands of patients afford their medications and is ready to help thousands more. Visit AffordRx.com to find more information or to download a free prescription discount card.

Dylan Marc
AffordRx.com
(515) 992-0349
Email Information

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US budget negotiations setback drives stocks down

PARIS (AP) — A failed attempt find a compromise in U.S. budget negotiations sent global stock markets plummeting Friday, as investors feared the world’s largest economy could teeter into recession if no deal is found.

Without an agreement, the U.S. economy will fall off the so-called “fiscal cliff” on Jan. 1 when Bush-era tax cuts expire and spending cuts kick in automatically. The measures were designed to have a negative effect on the U.S. economy, in the hopes that the feared outcome would push lawmakers and President Barack Obama to find a deal.

“We’ve seen Europe’s politicians repeatedly flirt lemming-like with cliff-diving in 2012, and now it’s the turn of U.S. ‘leaders,’” said Kit Juckes, an analyst with Societe Generale. “The nagging fear is always there that someone, on one side of the Atlantic or the other, will forget to let rational thought take over at the last second.”

Amid the uncertainty, European shares fell. France’s CAC dropped 0.15 percent to 3,661, while the DAX in Germany dropped 0.6 percent at 7,626. The FTSE index of leading British shares retreated 0.6 percent to 5,929.

The euro also fell sharply, dropping 0.3 percent to $ 1.3182.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index closed 1 percent lower at 9,940.06. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.7 percent to 22,506.29. South Korea’s Kospi shed 1 percent at 1,980.42. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.2 percent to 4,623.60. Mainland Chinese stocks were mixed.

U.S. stock futures tumbled after rank-and-file Republican lawmakers failed to support an alternative tax plan by House Speaker John Boehner late Thursday in Washington. That plan would have allowed tax rates to rise on households earning $ 1 million and up. Obama wants the level to be $ 400,000.

In early trading in New York, the Dow Jones industrial average dropped 1 percent to 13,183, while the broader Standard & Poor’s index fell 1.1 percent at 1,427.

“The fiscal cliff is a real threat not just for U.S. growth next year but for the outlook for global growth,” said Jane Foley, currency analyst with Rabobank.

When growth slows, energy demand does, too, and oil prices fell in anticipation.

Benchmark crude for February delivery fell $ 1.92 to $ 88.19 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

___

Pamela Sampson in Bangkok and Fu Ting in Shanghai contributed to this report.

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Kenya police: 28 people killed in clashes

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — A police official says 28 people have been killed in clashes between farmers and herders in south-eastern Kenya.

Anthony Kamitu, who is leading police operations to prevent the attacks, said Friday that the Pokomo tribe of farmers raided a village of the Orma herding community, called Kipao, at dawn in the Tana River Delta.

The latest deaths in a tit-for-tat cycle of killings may be related to a redrawing of political boundaries and next year’s general elections, according to the U.N.

At least 110 people were killed in clashes between the Pokomo and Orma in September and October.

Animosity between the two communities over land and water resources has existed for decades.

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Investors shed shares of Blackberry maker

NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of Blackberry maker Research in Motion slumped more than 16 percent Friday with future revenue coming into question and a declining number of subscribers.

RIM’s stock jumped initially Thursday when the Canadian company released better-than-expected third-quarter results and a stronger cash position.

Shares reversed course during a conference call later, when executives said that the company won’t generate as much revenue from telecommunications carriers once it releases the new BlackBerry 10.

RIM’s stock had been on a three-month rally in which the stock more than doubled from levels not previously seen since 2003.

“Despite a solid quarter, the stock is trading down due to the introduction of a lower enterprise service tier and fears that RIM will not receive monthly services revenues for consumer BB10 subscribers,” said Jefferies analyst Peter Misek. He thinks RIM has offered carriers a lower-priced option in exchange for a bigger purchase commitment for the new device. He kept his “Hold” rating.

Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu kept maintained a “Neutral” rating on the stock, but lowered his earnings estimates, saying he continued to be concerned about RIM’s ability to compete with Apple and Google.

Shares of Research in Motion Ltd. fell $ 2.29 to $ 11.83 in morning trading.

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Moroccan road film subverts Hollywood stereotypes

DUBAI (Reuters) – When director John Slattery first visited Morocco, the familiarity was jarring – and as removed from the images of an exotic Orient conjured up by Hollywood as possible.

That dichotomy between the representation and the reality of Morocco drives Slattery‘s charming paean to a country he clearly loves and makes “Casablanca, Mon Amour” a thoughtful rejoinder to U.S. popular culture.

Two young Moroccans spend three weeks travelling their native country, filming what they see on a digital camera while passing by studios and locations that have formed the backdrop for many Hollywood blockbusters, an industry Morocco has cultivated.

The film is spliced with shots of endearingly bemused or nervous ordinary people giving their thoughts to the camera about Hollywood and its global stars, as well as clips from classics such as “Casablanca” featuring off-the-cuff anti-Arab slurs like “you can’t trust them” and “they all look alike”.

“We had the idea of going on this trip and to be this stupid American film crew going to make this traditional movie using Morocco, but we wanted to subvert that,” Slattery said after a screening at the Dubai international film festival this week.

“There was not really a script but the trip was their trip and so wherever they went we followed them. So that way they were really directing the film.”

Shot by Hassan, who narrates the road trip in French, the images shift from scenes of daily life caught on camera, to his comically testy relationship with his travelling companion Abdel, to a troupe they stumble upon in Meknes that plays traditional Moroccan “malhoun” music.

Hassan, a real-life film school student at the time, is using the road trip for a class project, while Abdel wants to visit a dying uncle on the other side of the country.

Slattery includes footage from Moroccan television from the Marrakech film festival in which comic actor Bashar Skeirej declares that “a country without its own art will never have a history”.

It’s a subtle suggestion that the government should do more to promote domestic film rather than just rent out landscapes for Hollywood misrepresentation.

Morocco has formed the backdrop for a fictionalized Orient in “Ishtar”, doubled as Abu Dhabi in the “Sex in the City 2″ and been various distant planets in Star Wars films.

“National cinemas in many countries are being destroyed or have been destroyed because of this massive power of marketing that is Hollywood,” said Slattery, a California-based American of Irish origin. “They destroy little films, they destroy the possibility for little stories.”

The film, a labor of love that took Slattery seven years to complete, borrows from the book “Reel Bad Arabs”, author Jack Shaheen’s study of Hollywood’s anti-Arab stereotypes. Its title references Alain Resnais’s 1959 French New Wave classic “Hiroshima, Mon Amour”.

“(When) I would say ‘Morocco’, people would say ‘were you scared’, or a polite ‘what was that like?’,” Slattery said, recounting reactions in the United States when he would talk about his first experiences as a peace corps volunteer.

“There was that whole category of fear in the responses, or ‘Morocco, you must have seen Lawrence of Arabia’, or ‘Blackhawk Down’! – all these film titles. That stuck with me, this fear and movies were the two references for Morocco.”

Yet Slattery‘s first day in the North African country could not have been more mundane, he said.

A colleague whisked him off to a rural home near Rabat where he met farmers who reminded him of Ireland.

“This guy opens (his door) in a tweed jacket that was all torn up. This is how these old farmers dress in Ireland, and his hands were all calloused and dirty. It just felt very familiar to me,” Slattery said.

“His grandmother had a television hooked up to a car battery for electricity. I spent the weekend there, hanging out with these people, cutting hay and stuff, and I just thought ‘this is Ireland’.”

(Editing by Paul Casciato)

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FCA releases two new reports on important role of family caregivers in reducing negative outcomes for patients

Increased training, support and recognition are needed by families as healthcare increasingly moves into home settings

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 20, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ – The National Center on Caregiving at Family Caregiver Alliance has released two new reports that shine a light on the important roles of family caregivers in U.S. healthcare—and how those caregivers are often unrecognized and unsupported within medical and long-term service systems.

Family Caregiving and Transitional Care: A Critical Review is an examination of the often ignored — yet absolutely essential — role of caregiving families as patients transition from one healthcare setting to another, for example discharge from hospital to home or hospital to rehab facility.

The report notes that although family caregivers are usually the individuals who will actually implement care plans following release from the hospital, they are rarely actively included in discharge planning; worse, their training, even for complex medical procedures, is often insufficient. The all-too-common result: preventable negative outcomes for patients.

The report looks at ways family caregivers characterize their experiences when a transition occurs and they are expected to take on challenging care tasks such as direct medical treatments (e.g., monitoring ventilators or home dialysis), managing medications, and coordinating essential medical services. Transition decisions made hurriedly at the point of discharge can change patient outcomes, and can be implicated in costly hospital readmissions, serious medication errors and omissions in follow-up treatment.

The authors state, “As the US continues its pressing search for ways to contain healthcare costs and improve quality, the one group whose role has been largely ignored is the nation’s 41 million family caregivers… Family caregivers are a critical missing link in improving transitional care for frail older adults with disabilities.”

The report also examines the relatively few model transitional care programs that do support family caregivers, and concludes with recommendations on improvements needed for practice, research and public policy.

Authors: Mary Jo Gibson, MA, whose career spans 30 years of work on family caregiving, health and long-term services and supports (LTSS) policy; Kathleen Kelly, MPA, Executive Director of Family Caregiver Alliance, the National Center on Caregiving and the Bay Area Caregiver Resource Center; and Alan K. Kaplan, MSc, JD, who has more than 30 years of experience on patients’ rights, medical peer review and Medicare quality assurance issues. The report is available at: http://caregiver.org/caregiver/jsp/content/pdfs/FamCGing_TransCare_CritRvw_FINAL10.31.2012.pdf

A second report, Selected Caregiver Assessment Measures: A Resource Inventory for Practitioners, was developed for researchers and program developers to accurately assess the knowledge and well-being of family caregivers as they perform the tasks necessary to maintain the health of their ill or elderly relatives. It is the second edition and follow-up for the first Resource Inventory, published by Family Caregiver Alliance’s National Center on Caregiving in 2002.

Many family caregivers have multiple, varied and serious unmet financial, physical, emotional and social needs which require attention. As healthcare continues to move into home settings, it is important not only to assess the skills and capacity of caregivers to provide care, but also to address caregiver well-being and health in order to prevent more serious health problems for families in the long-term. Valid, reliable assessment tools are necessary to gauge families’ abilities to continue providing care.

The Resource Inventory provides a compendium of caregiver assessment measures that are practice-oriented, practical and applicable, and which address the multidimensional aspects of the caregiving experience.

“As the population ages and caregiving needs increase throughout the country, the essential role families play in the healthcare system is undeniable,” said FCA’s Kathleen Kelly. “At the same time, healthcare budgets are severely stressed and resources strained. Whether family caregivers provide transportation, food preparation, help with personal care or complex medical care such as dealing with wound care or feeding tubes, they are involved at every level. Unfortunately, caregivers’ needs are often unassessed, unrecognized, or even worse, ignored.”

The Resource Inventory was developed by Family Caregiver Alliance’s National Center on Caregiving in collaboration with the Margaret Blenkner Research Institute of the Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging. It was compiled by Sarah Schwartz, MSSA and Laura Darlak, BA, under supervision of Carol J. Whitlatch, PhD, with oversight by Kathleen Kelly, MPA. David M. Bass, PhD, was the reviewer. The report is available at: http://caregiver.org/caregiver/jsp/content/pdfs/SelCGAssmtMeas_ResInv_FINAL_12.10.12.pdf

Family Caregiver Alliance and its National Center on Caregiving offer local and national programs to support and sustain the important work of families and friends caring for loved ones with chronic, disabling health conditions. A wealth of caregiving advice, resource listings, newsletters, fact sheets, research reports, policy updates, discussion groups, and the Family Care Navigator are available free on the FCA website. Visit http://www.caregiver.org or call (800) 445-8106 for more information.

SOURCE Family Caregiver Alliance

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Wall Street ticks lower on “fiscal cliff” stalemate

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stocks edged slightly lower on Thursday as investors fretted that a deal on the U.S. budget wouldn’t come as soon as they had hoped after President Barack Obama threatened to veto a controversial Republican plan.

The market barely reacted to a round of strong data, including on gross domestic product growth and housing, suggesting talks to avert the “fiscal cliff,” steep tax hikes and spending cuts due to take effect in 2013, remain the primary focus for markets.

Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner said Wednesday his chamber would pass a proposal that spares many wealthy Americans from tax hikes needed to balance the budget. Obama has threatened to veto the plan if it passes, while some Republicans oppose any deal featuring tax increases.

“The closer we get to the end of the year without a deal, the more optimism is going to evaporate,” said Todd Schoenberger, managing partner at LandColt Capital in New York. “Volatility is going to be extreme until there’s a deal, and the probability of being caught on the downside is much greater than being on the upside.”

While investors have hoped for an agreement soon between policy makers over the fiscal cliff, this seems unlikely as wrangling continues over the details.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was down 18.74 points, or 0.14 percent, at 13,233.23. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index <.spx> was down 0.84 points, or 0.06 percent, at 1,434.97. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was down 4.18 points, or 0.14 percent, at 3,040.18.</.ixic></.spx></.dji>

NYSE Euronext was the S&P 500′s top percentage gainer, surging 35 percent to $ 32.56 after IntercontinentalExchange Inc said it would buy the operator of the New York Stock Exchange for $ 8.2 billion. ICE shares rose 1.3 percent to $ 130.06.

Stocks rallied earlier in the week on signs of progress in the negotiations, led by banking and energy shares, which tend to outperform in times of economic expansion. On signs of complications, however, many have turned to hedging their bets through options and exchange-traded funds.

The U.S. economy grew 3.1 percent in the third quarter, faster than previously estimated, while the number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits rose more than expected in the latest week.

“It is great to see this kind of growth, but investors know it could all disappear if there’s no deal on the cliff,” Schoenberger said. “Macro data may be on the back burner for a while.”

Existing home sales jumped 5.9 percent in November, more than expected, and by the fastest monthly place in three years. And the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s December index of business conditions in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region rose to 8.1 from -10.7 in November. Analysts were looking for a read of -3.

Google Inc agreed to sell set-top TV box maker Motorola Home to Arris Group Inc for $ 2.35 billion in cash and stock. Arris rose 6.6 percent to $ 15.51 while Google was little changed.

(Editing by Bernadette Baum)

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State Department security chief leaves post over Benghazi

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. State Department said on Wednesday its security chief had resigned from his post and three other officials had been relieved of their duties following a scathing official inquiry into the September 11 attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi.

Eric Boswell has resigned effective immediately as assistant secretary of state for diplomatic security, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a terse statement. A second official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Boswell had not left the department entirely and remained a career official.

Nuland said that Boswell, and the three other officials, had all been put on administrative leave “pending further action.”

An official panel that investigated the incident concluded that the Benghazi mission was completely unprepared to deal with the attack, which killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.

The unclassified version of the report, which was released on Tuesday, cited “leadership and management” deficiencies, poor coordination among officials and “real confusion” in Washington and in the field over who had the authority to make decisions on policy and security concerns.

“The ARB identified the performance of four officials, three in the Bureau of the Diplomatic Security and one in the Bureau of (Near Eastern) Affairs,” Nuland said in her statement, referring to the panel known as an Accountability Review Board.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accepted Boswell’s decision to resign effective immediately, the spokeswoman said.

Earlier, a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity said Boswell, one of his deputies, Charlene Lamb, and a third unnamed official has been asked to resign. The Associated Press first reported that three officials had resigned.

PANEL STOPS SHORT OF BLAMING CLINTON

The Benghazi incident appeared likely to tarnish Clinton’s four-year tenure as secretary of state but the report did not fault her specifically and the officials who led the review stopped short of blaming her.

“We did conclude that certain State Department bureau-level senior officials in critical positions of authority and responsibility in Washington demonstrated a lack of leadership and management ability appropriate for senior ranks,” retired Admiral Michael Mullen, one of the leaders of the inquiry, told reporters on Wednesday.

The panel’s chair, retired Ambassador Thomas Pickering, said it had determined that responsibility for security shortcomings in Benghazi belonged at levels lower than Clinton’s office.

“We fixed (responsibility) at the assistant secretary level, which is, in our view, the appropriate place to look for where the decision-making in fact takes place, where – if you like – the rubber hits the road,” Pickering said after closed-door meetings with congressional committees.

The panel’s report and the comments by its two lead authors suggested that Clinton, who accepted responsibility for the incident in a television interview about a month after the Benghazi attack, would not be held personally culpable.

Pickering and Mullen spoke to the media after briefing members of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee and Senate Foreign Relations Committee behind closed doors on classified elements of their report.

Clinton had been expected to appear at an open hearing on Benghazi on Thursday, but is recuperating after suffering a concussion, dehydration and a stomach bug last week. She will instead be represented by her two top deputies.

Clinton, who intends to step down in January, said in a letter accompanying the review that she would adopt all of its recommendations, which include stepping up security staffing and requesting more money to fortify U.S. facilities.

The National Defense Authorization Act for 2013, which is expected to go to Congress for final approval this week, includes a measure directing the Pentagon to increase the Marine Corps presence at diplomatic facilities by up to 1,000 Marines.

Some Capitol Hill Republicans who had criticized the Obama administration’s handling of the Benghazi attacks said they were impressed by the report.

“It was very thorough,” said Senator Johnny Isakson. Senator John Barrasso said: “It was very, very critical of major failures at the State Department at very high levels.” Both spoke after the closed-door briefing.

Others, however, took a harsher line and called for Clinton to testify as soon as she is able.

“The report makes clear the massive failure of the State Department at all levels, including senior leadership, to take action to protect our government employees abroad,” Representative Mike Rogers, the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement.

Senator Bob Corker, who will be the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when the new Congress is seated early next year, said Clinton should testify about Benghazi before her replacement is confirmed by the Senate.

Republicans have focused much of their firepower on U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice, who appeared on TV talk shows after the attack and suggested it was the result of a spontaneous protest rather than a premeditated attack.

The report concluded that there was no such protest.

Rice, widely seen as President Barack Obama’s top pick to succeed Clinton, withdrew her name from consideration last week.

(Additional reporting by Tabassum Zakaria and Susan Cornwell; Editing by Christopher Wilson)

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Facebook predicted to overtake Google in mobile display ad revenue this year

Shares of Facebook (FB) have begun to rebound since the company’s disastrous initial public offering this past May. After opening at $ 38 per share the company’s stock plummeted into the mid-20s over the summer months and eventually fell to a low of $ 17.55 in early September. Since then, however, Facebook shares have begun to bounce back after the company posted better-than-expected results in the third quarter. While Facebook stock is still down more than 25% on the year, it is rising steadily as analysts and investors become increasingly bullish about the company’s future as a leading advertising platform.

[More from BGR: BlackBerry 10 browser smokes iOS 6 and Windows Phone 8 in comparison test [video]]

According to a new report from eMarketer, Facebook is predicted to surpass Google (GOOG) in mobile display advertising in 2012. Google is expected to generate $ 339 million in mobile ad revenue this year, a significant increase from previous estimates of between $ 45 and $ 100 million. The research firm notes that Facebook is expected to capture an 18.4% share of the mobile display ad market in the U.S. this year, compared to Google’s 17% share, which is down from 23% in 2011.

[More from BGR: New iMac early adopters upset that they can’t run Boot Camp]

“Major ad publishers are strengthening their offerings much faster than previously expected,” said Clark Fredricksen, vice president of communications at eMarketer. “I don’t think anybody thought after the second quarter that Google and Facebook would be in position that they are now in the mobile ad marketplace.”

The company’s mobile ad revenue is expected to more than triple by 2014 when it will reach an estimated $ 1.2 billion. The firm predicts that Facebook and Google will continue to battle for the No.1 spot in the mobile ad market over the next few years. Facebook is expected to increase its lead to 25.2% in 2013, compared to Google’s 19.6% share. Google is estimated to bounce back in 2014, however, with a market leading 23.1% share, ahead of Facebook’s 22.7% share.

Despite the impressive numbers, eMarketer notes that mobile still represents a small slice of the total advertising market. In 2012, only 2.4% of total ad spending in the U.S. is expected to go towards mobile ads, but the market is expected to reach an 11% share by 2016 when it surpasses both radio and print spending.

This article was originally published by BGR

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Thousands mourn U.S.-Mexican singer Jenni Rivera

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Thousands of mourners on Wednesday packed a Los Angeles theater to pay their final respects to Mexican-American singer Jenni Rivera more than a week after her death in a plane crash.

Rivera, 43, best known for her work in the Mexican folk Nortena and Banda genres, died after the small jet she was traveling in crashed in northern Mexico on December 9.

Rivera’s family, dressed in white, led the memorial service eulogizing the singer. A bank of white roses was displayed in front of Rivera’s bright red coffin and a brass band performed musical interludes.

More than 6,000 people crowded into the theater about 30 miles north of her childhood home in Long Beach, California. Tickets for the service at the Gibson Amphitheatre sold out within minutes, organizers said.

The daughter of Mexican immigrants, Rivera was called the “Diva de la Banda.” She sold about 15 million albums and earned a slew of Latin Grammy nominations during her 17-year career.

“Jenni made it OK for women to be who they are,” her manager Pete Salgado said at the service. “Jenni also made it OK to be from nothing, with the hopes of being something.”

Rivera had five children, the first at age 15, and was married three times. Her third husband was baseball pitcher Esteban Loaiza. Rivera’s private life influenced her songs, which often referenced living through hardship.

“She’s a fighter and she knows it’s in all of us,” Rivera’s son Michael said between video tributes.

In recent years, Rivera branched out into television, appearing on a reality television show and serving as a judge on the Mexican version of the singing competition “The Voice.” Television broadcaster ABC was reported to be developing a comedy pilot for the singer.

Rivera’s plane crashed in mountains south of Monterrey killing all seven on board.

The singer was to perform in the city of Toluca, 40 miles southwest of Mexico City, in central Mexico after a concert in Monterrey. It is not clear what caused the crash.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Stacey Joyce)

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Canada wins $28.3 billion case on pension fund payments

OTTAWA (Reuters) – The Canadian government won a far-reaching case at the Supreme Court of Canada on Wednesday when judges ruled Ottawa did not have to return more than C$ 28 billion ($ 28.3 billion) to civil servant union pension plans.

The unions said the federal government had improperly taken the money out of their plans, largely through withdrawal of surpluses. Ottawa said it had followed laws governing the pensions and that, in any case, it would meet its obligation to pay union members the defined benefits they were owed.

In a unanimous 9-0 ruling, the Supreme Court said the unions did not have a legal interest in the pension plan‘s surpluses.

“The plan members‘ interests are limited to their interest in the defined benefits to which they are entitled under the plans,” the court said in its judgment.

“The government was not under a fiduciary obligation to the plan members, nor was it unjustly enriched by the amortization and removal of the pension surpluses.”

The judgment was not a surprise, since the unions had lost in two lower courts. A law passed in 2000 gave the government the right to remove surpluses from the pension funds and use the money for whatever purpose it saw fit.

The Canadian Association of Professional Employees said the ruling meant union members would have to pay larger contributions over longer periods of time.

“A portion of the accumulated funds to ensure the continued viability of their pension plans was used for other purposes by their employer,” it said in a statement.

The federal government was not immediately available for comment.

(Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

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UBS in $1.5bn Libor rigging fine

19 December 2012 Last updated at 06:43 ET

Swiss banking giant UBS has agreed to pay $ 1.5bn (£940m) to US, UK and Swiss regulators for attempting to manipulate the Libor inter-bank lending rate.

It becomes the second major bank to be fined over Libor after Barclays was ordered to pay $ 450m to UK and US authorities in the summer.

Regulators worldwide are investigating a number of banks for rigging Libor.

Libor tracks the average rate at which the major international banks based in London lend money to each other.

The bank also admitted to manipulating Euribor and Tibor – the equivalent interest rates set by lenders in the eurozone and in Tokyo.

UBS said it had agreed to pay fines to regulators in three different countries:

It is the second-largest set of fines imposed on a bank to date, after the $ 1.9bn that HSBC agreed to pay US authorities earlier this month to settle allegations of money-laundering.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

The potential costs to [the banks] could be eye-watering if clients can prove they are out of pocket as a result of market rigging”

End Quote

The fine “demonstrates the co-ordinated approach regulators are now taking to serious conduct issues that affect jurisdictions internationally,” said Nick Matthews, a forensic accountant at consultancy Kinetic Partners.

The bank has also agreed to admit to committing wire fraud through its Tokyo office in the case of manipulating Libor rates for loans denominated in Japanese yen, among others.

It said it would seek a non-prosecution agreement with the DoJ covering the rest of the bank’s misbehaviour.

The fine is the latest blow for UBS, following the conviction of rogue trader Kweku Adoboli earlier this year for losing £1.4bn for the bank, a £500m settlement with US authorities for helping US citizens evade taxes.

UBS also suffered the worst losses of any bank from US sub-prime mortgages during the financial crisis, totalling 38bn, and necessitating a bailout from the Swiss authorities.

The bank still faces lawsuits in the US for mis-selling mortgage debt to other investors, including a $ 6.4bn claim by the US government-sponsored mortgage finance agencies Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

Trader collusion

UBS said the fines – along with other payouts for mis-selling mortgage debts in the US – were likely to result in the bank recording a loss of 2bn-2.5bn Swiss francs in its financial accounts for the last three months of the year, although it still expects to make a profit for the year as a whole.

Continue reading the main story

What is Libor?

• Libor is the “London Inter-Bank Offered Rate”


• It tracks the average interest rate at which the big international banks based in London are willing to lend to each other


• The Libor rate is used to calculate payments under hundreds of trillions of dollars-worth of financial contracts, including mortgages and loans


• Libor is set every day by the British Bankers’ Association, based on estimates submitted by a panel of a dozen or so banks of their borrowing costs


• Banks are accused of lying about their real borrowing costs, in order to manipulate Libor for profit, and to make themselves look stronger during the financial crisis

The Swiss lender acknowledged its staff had manipulated the borrowing rates it submitted, which were then used to calculate the Libor rate – a benchmark interest rate that is used to calculate the payments on hundreds of trillions of dollars-worth of financial contracts – in order to make money on their trades.

According to the FSA, UBS had even gone so far as to give its traders formal responsibility for handling the bank’s submissions to the Libor-setting committee at the British Bankers’ Association – creating a direct conflict of interest, as the traders could profit depending on what they submitted.

Significantly, UBS also said its traders had colluded with their counterparts at other banks and brokerages.

The FSA said that UBS’s Tokyo office had made corrupt payments to brokerages – which helped to bring borrowers and lenders together anonymously in the inter-bank lending market – in order to enlist their support in manipulating Libor.

Besides UBS and Barclays, about a dozen other major banks are involved in setting Libor rates each day across a range of currencies, and most of them are understood to be still under investigation.

UBS chairman Axel Weber said: “The authorities have recognized UBS for the thoroughness of our investigation and our exceptional co-operation.”

According to the FSA, it would have fined UBS £200m, but gave the bank a 20% discount because it co-operated. Nonetheless, the £160m fine was still the largest ever imposed by the UK authority.

Barclays – which was the first bank to come clean over the scandal – has previously indicated that its fine of $ 450m would be overshadowed by the fines to be imposed on other culpable banks.

‘Not pretty reading’

Like Barclays, UBS also accepted that management had also told staff to submit inappropriately low estimated borrowing costs for the bank during the financial crisis, in order to give a false impression of the bank’s ability to borrow cheaply and maintain market confidence in the bank.

“We deeply regret this inappropriate and unethical behaviour,” said UBS chief executive Sergio Ermotti.

“No amount of profit is more important than the reputation of this firm, and we are committed to doing business with integrity.”

Former Schroders group managing director Philip Augar told BBC News that disadvantaged customers could take action against banks

The FSA said that the misconduct at UBS was extensive and widespread and involved at least 45 individuals.

“At least 2,000 requests for inappropriate submissions were documented – an unquantifiable number of oral requests, which by their nature would not be documented, were also made,” the FSA said.

“Manipulation was also discussed in internal open chat forums and group emails, and was widely known.”

It was so common that the FSA said every single Libor submission by UBS during the period it examined, from 2005 to 2010, may have been tainted.

“The findings we have set out in our notice today do not make for pretty reading,” said the FSA’s head of enforcement, Tracy McDermott.

Despite this, five separate internal audits by the bank’s compliance department failed to pick up on the misbehaviour.

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Canada serial killer inquiry finds “systemic bias” by police

(Reuters) – Police made critical errors in pursuing Canadian serial killer Robert Pickton partly because of “systemic bias” against his victims, sex trade workers from a rough Vancouver neighborhood, according to the final report from a public inquiry released on Monday.

Commissioner Wally Oppal was asked by the British Columbia government to investigate, in effect, why Pickton was not caught sooner. Women disappeared from the Downtown Eastside neighborhood for more than a decade before the pig farmer’s 2002 arrest.

“The investigations of missing and murdered women were characterized by blatant police failures, and by public indifference,” Oppal said at a press conference in Vancouver that was frequently interrupted by protesters.

Pickton was convicted of six murders, but prosecutors believe he killed many more – 20 other charges were stayed after he received the maximum possible sentence.

Oppal outlined a string of police errors, from failing to take proper reports when women went missing and communicate adequately with families, to ineffective coordination across jurisdictions. He called his more than 1,200-page report, which is based on eight months of hearings, “Forsaken”.

“After reviewing the evidence of the investigations, I have come to the conclusion that there was systemic bias by the police,” he said.

Oppal recommended that the provincial government establish a compensation fund for the children of the victims and consider creating a regional police force for Vancouver, instead of the patchwork of jurisdictions currently in place.

After Oppal’s announcement, B.C. Minister of Justice Shirley Bond wiped away tears as she spoke to victims’ families.

“I want you to know that, however inadequate these words sound, we are sorry for your loss,” she said. “We will work hard to prevent these circumstances from being repeated in our province.”

She announced the appointment of a former lieutenant governor, Steven Point, to serve as the report’s “champion”, guiding implementation. Bond said the government would immediately give new funding to WISH, a drop-in center for women who work in the Downtown Eastside’s sex trade.

POLICE RESPOND

The Vancouver Police Department said in a short statement that it is committed to learning from its mistakes and will study the report.

“We know that nothing can ever truly heal the wounds of grief and loss but if we can, we want to assure the families that the Vancouver Police Department deeply regrets anything we did that may have delayed the eventual solving of these murders,” it said.

Deputy Commissioner Craig Callens, who commands the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in British Columbia, said in a statement that his force will review the report.

Oppal said many individual police officers were diligent, and he commended several by name. But he said that as a system, the authorities failed because of bias against Pickton’s victims, many of whom were poor and addicted to drugs.

“Would the reaction of the police and the public have been any different if the missing women had come from Vancouver’s (more affluent) west side? The answer is obvious,” he said.

Aboriginal women were overrepresented among the victims, and Oppal repeatedly referred to the broader “marginalization” of aboriginal people in Canada.

“There has to be community responsibility for what has taken place,” he said, highlighting poverty and the conditions on the Downtown Eastside. “The social reality is that racism and gender bias are prevalent within Canadian society, and we must do something to eradicate those.”

Victims’ families and activists were on hand for Oppal’s press conference, and he stopped speaking several times as audience members shouted criticism, chanted and played drums.

The provincial government did not offer funding to a number of community organizations that said they needed support to participate in the lengthy and complex inquiry. In protest, other groups boycotted the process.

In November, several organizations, including the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, released their own report, criticizing the inquiry for, among other things, excluding too many aboriginal women, sex trade workers and drug users.

Bond, the justice minister, said she did not regret the decision not to fund those groups, but said she saw them participating in the future. “I think going forward this is room for us to include other voices.” (Reporting by Allison Martell; Editing by Eric Beech)

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Facebook CEO Zuckerberg donating $500M in stock

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he is donating nearly $ 500 million in stock to a Silicon Valley charity with the aim of funding health and education issues.

Zuckerberg donated 18 million Facebook shares, valued at $ 498.8 million based on their Tuesday closing price. The beneficiary is the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, a nonprofit that works with donors to allocate their gifts.

This is Zuckerberg’s largest donation to date. He pledged $ 100 million in Facebook stock to Newark, N.J., public schools in 2010, before his company went public earlier this year. Later in 2010, he joined Giving Pledge, an effort led by Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. CEO Warren Buffett to get the country’s richest people to donate most of their wealth. His wife, Priscilla Chan, joined with him.

In a Facebook post Tuesday, Zuckerberg, 28, said he’s “proud of the work” done by the foundation that his Newark donation launched, called Startup: Education, which has helped open charter schools, high schools and others.

With the latest contribution, he added, “we will look for areas in education and health to focus on next.” He did not give further details on what plans there may be for funds.

“Mark’s generous gift will change lives and inspire others in Silicon Valley and around the globe to give back and make the world a better place,” said Emmett D. Carson, CEO of the foundation.

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“Best Funeral Ever” premiere delayed after Newtown school shootings

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Fans of death-centric reality TV will have to wait a little longer to dig into TLC‘s “Best Funeral Ever.”

TLC has pushed back the premiere of the special to January 6 at 10/9c in light of the school shootings in Newtown, Conn. last week.

“Best Funeral Ever” was initially scheduled to premiere on December 26 at 8/7c.

“Best Funeral Ever” centers around the Golden Gate Funeral Home in Dallas, which specializes in elaborate specialty funerals catering to the deceased’s interest. In the special, a doo-wop singer famous for his rib-sauce jingle receives a barbecue-themed sendoff, while a disabled man who was unable to ride roller coasters in mortal life receives a State Fair-themed funeral.

Since last Friday’s horrific shootings, a number of programs and other entertainment-related events have been moved out of sensitivity. Syfy, for one, decided not to air its scheduled episode of “Haven” on Friday night, because it contained elements of fictionalized school violence.

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House Republicans eye limited fiscal cliff bill

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – With time running short before a Dec. 31 deadline, House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner will begin work on legislation that simply would extend current low income tax rates for all families with incomes below $ 1 million a year, according to an aide.

Negotiations will continue with the White House on a broader tax and spending deal, the Boehner aide said.

Boehner is presenting the plan to rank-and-file Republicans in a closed-door session.

On January 1, income tax increases for most Americans will begin unless Congress acts.

Last July, the Democratic-controlled Senate passed a bill to extend the current low rates for all families with net incomes below $ 250,000 a year. The House Republican proposal, if passed by the House, would require agreement by the Senate or force a round of negotiations on a compromise between the two chambers.

In excerpts of remarks Boehner was delivering to his Republican members Tuesday morning, the speaker complained that “the White House just can’t seem to bring itself to agree to a ‘balanced’ approach” to deficit-reduction in negotiations. At the same time, Boehner said Republicans were “leaving the door wide open for something better” than just the limited extension of current low tax rates for most Americans.

“Current law has tax rates going up on everyone January 1. The question for us is real simple: How do we stop as many of those rate hikes as possible?” Boehner said.

For months, Democrats have been urging House Republicans to pass a bill protecting middle-class taxpayers from a January 1 rate increase.

(Reporting By Richard Cowan; Editing by Doina Chiacu)

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Newtown Fallout: Cerberus Retreats From Guns

While President Barack Obama and other Democratic politicians clear their throats about proposing new gun control laws sometime next year, the marketplace is responding swiftly to the Newtown, Conn., elementary school massacre.

Dick’s Sporting Goods, one of the largest retailers in its industry, said Tuesday it is suspending the sale of certain military-style semiautomatic rifles similar to the one used by the Newtown killer. Fox News reported that Discovery Channel has decided to cancel its popular reality show “American Guns.”

Less visible to consumers, but no less important, Cerberus, a $ 20 billion private-equity firm based in New York, announced overnight that, under pressure from the California teachers’ pension fund, it will sell its controlling stake in the country’s largest guns-and-ammo manufacturer, a conglomerate called Freedom Group. The semiautomatic rifle used to slaughter 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School, 20 of them children, was made by Bushmaster Firearms, one of the companies that operates under the Freedom Group umbrella.

The California State Teachers’ Retirement System, which has $ 751 million invested with Cerberus, said it would review its relationship with the private-equity firm “given the tragic events last Friday in Newtown, Conn.” Cerberus then followed with its announcement, saying that unloading Freedom Group “allows us to meet our obligations to the investors whose interests we are entrusted to protect without being drawn into the national debate” on gun control.

Bloomberg TV’s Tom Keene asked me this morning on his “Surveillance” program whether this the beginning of something akin to the divestment campaign aimed at breaking South Africa’s apartheid system. That’s a provocative question. The answer is probably no, and the reasons shed light on the nature of the American gun market.

Gun ownership in the United States is not apartheid. Millions of Americans relish firearms and use them for lawful hunting, shooting sports, and self-defense. To many people, guns represent individualism and self-reliance. The Supreme Court has interpreted the Second Amendment as protecting an individual right to keep a handgun in the home. Forty-nine states allow their citizens to carry guns concealed in public. A federal appeals court recently said that the sole holdout, Illinois, violated the Second Amendment by prohibiting concealed carry.

The $ 2 billion American gun industry is not the South African economy. The gun market historically has been fragmented and made up of relatively small companies. It consolidated in recent years, driven largely by Cerberus buying companies such as Bushmaster (and Remington, Marlin, and Para USA) in hopes of squeezing redundancies from their operations and selling off the roll-up in an IPO. To Cerberus’ frustration, the initial private offering had stalled for reasons having nothing to do with Newtown. (Finding efficiencies and cross-marketing opportunities turned out to be more difficult than the private-equity gurus anticipated.) Now, Cerberus will use the cover of renewed controversy over gun control–and the suddenly shocked sensibilities of the California teachers pension-fund managers (from whom Freedom Group presumably had not been kept secret)–to dump a guns-and-ammo play that wasn’t working out smoothly.

There are personal elements to the move, as well. Stephen Feinberg, who founded Cerberus in 1992, and is an avid hunter and gun enthusiast. His father, Martin Feinberg, lives in Newtown and told Bloomberg News the shooting was “devastating.”

Cerberus’ move and the prospect that the companies within Freedom Group will get sold off individually or in small clumps will return the fractious gun industry to something closer to what it looked like a half-dozen years ago. Smith & Wesson (SWHC) and Sturm Ruger (RGR), the two publicly traded gun makers in the U.S., will stand a little larger in relative terms. Glock, Beretta, and Taurus will continue to import guns from, respectively, Austria, Italy, and Brazil (as well as assemble weapons in their U.S. plants). And overall, gun makers will likely enjoy increased sales over the next six to 12 months, as consumers buy additional pistols and rifles out of fear that their favorites might be more difficult to obtain if Democrats succeed in pushing through new restrictions.

There will be additional post-Newtown reaction from retailers and from Hollywood. Wal-Mart (WMT) is a major gun seller. It accounts for about 13 percent of Freedom Group’s sales, for example. The world’s biggest retail chain will doubtless come under pressure from anti-gun activists to curb its firearms sales, and the image-conscious company may follow its more specialized rival Dick’s.

In the entertainment world, the cable channel TLC has already delayed airing a show called “Best Funeral Ever.” Violent movie trailers might get postponed or edited. The massacre during a showing of The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora (Colo.) in July prompted Warner Bros. to pull the trailer for the forthcoming Gangster Squad, which showed a theater shooting. Later the studio cut the scene entirely.

Whether marketplace behavior will change over the long haul is a different question. Gangster Squad‘s opening was delayed but not cancelled. The film, pitting organized crime killers against police in Depression-era Los Angeles, is now slated to begin in theaters next month, and it will still include plenty of gunplay.

Businessweek.com — Top News

Title Post: Newtown Fallout: Cerberus Retreats From Guns
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