Petraeus resignation as CIA chief brings sudden halt to career

General David Petraeus is stepping down as CIA Director, citing an extra-marital affair.CNN reports the FBI had a tip that he was involved with his biographer Paula Broadwell and investigated to determine whether it posed a security risk.

CIA Director David Petraeus resigned as head of the leading U.S. spy agency on Friday, saying he had engaged in an extramarital affair and acknowledging he "showed extremely poor judgment."

In a letter to the CIA workforce, Petraeus, 60, said he met with President Barack Obama at the White House on Thursday and asked "to be allowed, for personal reasons, to resign from my position."

"After being married for 37 years, I showed extremely poor judgment by engaging in an extramarital affair," he wrote. "Such behavior is unacceptable, both as a husband and as the leader of an organization such as ours."

Obama, who was re-elected to a second term on Tuesday, said in a statement he had accepted Petraeus' resignation, praising him for his work at the Central Intelligence Agency and for leading U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The woman with whom the former CIA director had the affair is Paula Broadwell, according to a person familiar with the matter. She is an author who wrote a biography of Petraeus titled "All In."

Attempts to reach Broadwell were unsuccessful. There was no answer at the door of her house in the affluent Charlotte, North Carolina, neighborhood of Dilworth.

Much about the sudden and dramatic turn of events remained unknown Friday evening, including how long the affair had gone on and what prompted Petraeus to resign now, just days after the 2012 presidential election.

There were indications, however, that the affair was first uncovered a few months ago during an investigation by the FBI. A U.S. national security source said the FBI had stumbled across evidence of Petraeus' affair during an apparently unrelated investigation of news leaks.

Petraeus' revelation of the affair appeared to end the public career of a widely admired warrior-scholar who played a key role in the Iraq war, led the U.S. Central Command and commanded U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan.

Petraeus' name had circulated speculatively as a possible Republican presidential nominee before Obama tapped him as CIA chief. Before taking the CIA post, he retired as an Army general after nearly four decades of military service.

Petraeus led the CIA for only 14 months. His sudden departure threatened to usher in a period of instability at the spy agency, which is grappling with a leveling off in its budget after a decade of steady increases.

The agency is also fending off questions about its performance before and after the attack that led to the death of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens in Benghazi, Libya.

U.S. officials insisted the CIA's handling of the Benghazi incident had nothing to do with Petraeus' decision to resign.

TESTIFY ON CAPITOL HILL

Petraeus recently traveled to Libya and the Middle East, and had been scheduled to testify about the Benghazi events next week behind closed doors to the House and Senate intelligence committees. Now, he will not give that testimony.

There is no indication Petraeus broke any agency rule in connection with his admitted affair, sources familiar with the matter said. The CIA has no broad rule banning officials from engaging in extramarital affairs though, if discovered, liaisons by CIA personnel with suspected foreign agents would pose security problems for a U.S. agent.

In his statement, Obama said "I am completely confident that the CIA will continue to thrive and carry out its essential mission."

Obama, who accepted Petraeus' resignation in a phone call with him on Friday afternoon, said Michael Morell, the agency's long-time deputy director, would serve as acting CIA chief.

Morell is a leading candidate to be Petraeus' permanent successor, sources said. He earned Obama's trust when he frequently briefed the president during planning for the operation to take down Osama bin Laden, a senior administration official said.

"He's respected, a straight shooter, and has great relationships with the White House and Capitol Hill. Not to mention over 30 years of agency experience," said a former CIA official, who called Morell "the odds-on favorite."

Other possible candidates being discussed on Capitol Hill include John Brennan, Obama's chief counter-terrorism adviser; Obama's national security adviser Thomas Donilon; and former congresswoman Jane Harman, who chaired the House intelligence committee.

Petraeus' resignation also adds a new vacancy on Obama's national security team. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said she will leave after Obama's first term, and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is widely expected to leave as well.

Petraeus' wife, Holly, has been an advocate for U.S. veterans and head of the Office of Servicemember Affairs at the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Last month, Petraeus and his wife appeared together at a reception at the Canadian Embassy in Washington to celebrate the premiere of the Ben Affleck film "Argo," which chronicles a successful operation in which the CIA and Canadian diplomats smuggled a group of U.S. officials out of Tehran during the 1979-81 U.S. Embassy hostage crisis.

At the Pentagon, people who worked closely with Petraeus expressed shock at the revelations and at his resignation.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in a statement: "I wish President Obama had not accepted this resignation, but I understand and respect the decision."

(Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick and Phil Stewart in Washington and Rick Rothhacker in Charlotte; Writing by Warren Strobel; Editing by Jackie Frank, Jim Loney and Todd Eastham)

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“Hunger Games” star Jennifer Lawrence will not diet for role

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – “The Hunger Games” star Jennifer Lawrence will not be dieting for a role any time soon.

Lawrence, 22, who plays the famished Katniss Everdeen in the life-or-death thriller series, told Elle magazine in an interview to be published on November 13 that dropping a few pounds will not be part of her script.

“I’m never going to starve myself for a part,” Lawrence said, a view out of step with many in diet-obsessed Hollywood.

Lawrence’s figure in “The Hunger Games” raised eyebrows of some critics, who believed the actress looked a little too healthy for a character struggling to eat.

“I don’t want little girls to be like, ‘Oh, I want to look like Katniss, so I’m going to skip dinner,” Lawrence said. “That’s something I was really conscious of during training…I was trying to get my body to look fit and strong – not thin and underfed.”

Suffering for a role by rapidly losing or gaining weight is part of Hollywood lore.

Natalie Portman was applauded for dropping some 20 pounds for her Oscar-winning role as a ballerina in 2010′s “Black Swan”. Likewise Robert De Niro nabbed an Oscar after packing on 60 extra pounds in 1980 boxing film “Raging Bull”.

Lawrence’s figure did not hurt the first installment of the “The Hunger Games” series, which was released in March and has grossed some $ 670 million worldwide. The actress has signed on for three sequels.

(Reporting By Jill Serjeant; Editing by David Gregorio)

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The New Old Age Blog: The Emotional Aftermath of Hurricane Sandy

Let’s talk about the emotional aftermath of the storm that left tens of thousands of older people on the East Coast without power, bunkered down in their homes, chilled to the bone and out of touch with the outside world.

Let’s name the feelings they may have experienced. Fear. Despair. Hopelessness. Anxiety. Panic.

Linda Leest and her staff at Services Now for Adult Persons in Queens heard this in the voices of the older people they had been calling every day, people who were homebound and at risk because of medical conditions that compromise their physical functioning.

“They’re afraid of being alone,” she said in a telephone interview a few days after the storm. “They’re worried that if anything happens to them, no one is going to know. They feel that they’ve lost their connection with the world.”

What do we know about how older adults fare, emotionally, in a disaster like that devastating storm, which destroyed homes and businesses and isolated older adults in darkened apartment buildings, walk-ups and houses?

Most do well — emotional resilience is an underappreciated characteristic of older age — but those who are dependent on others, with pre-existing physical and mental disabilities, are especially vulnerable.

Most will recover from the disorienting sense that their world has been turned upside down within a few weeks or months. But some will be thrown into a tailspin and will require professional help. The sooner that help is received, the more likely it is to prevent a significant deterioration in their health.

The best overview comes from a November 2008 position paper from the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry that reviewed the effects of Hurricane Katrina and other disasters. After Katrina, “the elderly had the highest mortality rates, health decline and suicide rates of any subgroup,” that document notes. “High rates of psychosomatic problems were seen, with worsening health problems and increased mortality and disability.”

This is an important point: Emotional trauma in older adults often is hard to detect, and looks different from what occurs in younger people. Instead of acknowledging anxiety or depression, for instance, older people may complain of having a headache, a bad stomachache or some other physical ailment.

“This age group doesn’t generally feel comfortable talking about their feelings; likely, they’ll mask those emotions or minimize what they’re experiencing,” said Dr. Mark Nathanson, a geriatric psychiatrist at Columbia University Medical Center.

Signs that caregivers should watch out for include greater-than-usual confusion in an older relative, a decline in overall functioning and a disregard for “self care such as bathing, eating, dressing properly and taking medication,” Dr. Nathanson said.

As an example, he mentioned an older man who had “been sitting in a cold house for days and decided to stop taking his water pill because he felt it was just too much trouble.” Being distraught or distracted and forgetting or neglecting to take pills for chronic conditions like diabetes or heart disease can have immediate harmful effects.

Especially at risk of emotional disturbances are older adults who are frail and advanced in age, those who have cognitive impairments like Alzheimer’s disease, those with serious mental illnesses like schizophrenia or major depression, and those with chronic medical conditions or otherwise in poor physical health, according to the geriatric psychiatry association’s position paper.

A common thread in all of the above is the depletion of physical and emotional reserves, which impairs an older person’s ability to adapt to adverse circumstances.

“In geriatrics, we have this idea of the ‘geriatric cascade’ that refers to how a seemingly minor thing can set in motion a functional, cognitive and psychological downward spiral” in vulnerable older adults, said Dr. Mark Lachs, chief of the division of geriatrics at Weill Cornell Medical College. “Well, the storm was a major thing — a very large disequilibrating event — and its impact is an enormous concern.”

Of special concern are older people who may be in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease or other types of dementia who are living alone. For this group, the maintenance of ordinary routines and the sense of a dependable structure in their lives is particularly important, and “a situation like Sandy, which causes so much disruption, can be a tipping point,” Dr. Lachs said.

Also of concern are older people who may have experienced trauma in the past, and who may suffer a reignition of post-traumatic stress symptoms because of the disaster.

Most painful of all, for many older adults, is the sense of profound isolation that can descend on those without working phones, electricity or relatives who can come by to help.

“That isolation, I can’t tell you how disorienting that can be,” said Bobbie Sackman, director of public policy for the Council of Senior Centers and Services of New York City. “They’re scared, but they won’t tell you because they’re too proud and ashamed to ask for help.”

The best remedy, in the short run, is the human touch.

“Now is the time for people to reach out to their neighbors in high-rises or in areas where seniors are clustered, to knock on doors and ask people how they are doing,” said Dr. Gary Kennedy, director of the division of geriatric psychiatry at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx.

Don’t make it a one-time thing; let the older person know you’ll call or come by again, and set up a specific time so “there’s something for them to look forward to,” Dr. Kennedy said. So-called naturally occurring retirement communities with large concentrations of older people should be organizing from within to contact residents who may not be connected with social services and find out how they’re doing, he recommended.

In conversations with older adults, offer reassurance and ask open-ended questions like “Are you low on pills?” or “Can I run out and get you something?” rather than trying to get them to open up, experts recommended. Focusing on problem-solving can make people feel that their lives are being put back in order and provide comfort.

Although short-term psychotherapy has positive outcomes for older adults who’ve undergone a disaster, it’s often hard to convince a senior to seek out mental health services because of the perceived stigma associated with psychological conditions. Don’t let that deter you: Keep trying to connect them with services that can be of help.

Be mindful of worrisome signs like unusual listlessness, apathy, unresponsiveness, agitation or confusion. These may signal that an older adult has developed delirium, which can be extremely dangerous if not addressed quickly, Dr. Nathanson said. If you suspect that’s the case, call 911 or make sure you take the person to the nearest hospital emergency room.

This is a safe place to talk about all kinds of issues affecting older adults. Would you be willing to share what kinds of mental health issues you or family members are dealing with since the storm so readers can learn from one another?

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Retailers plan earlier start to Black Friday

Cierra Hobson is a die-hard Black Friday shopper.

Every year she queues in front of one of her favorite stores, where she waits, in her pajamas, in hopes of bagging a good deal.

This year, Hobson and other deal-seekers will find some twists on the post-Thanksgiving Day ritual: coupons delivered via mobile phones and deeper discounts, maneuvers designed to make shopping easier for consumers and to set retailers on a strong start to the biggest shopping period of the year. But perhaps the biggest change will be an earlier start to the holiday rush.

Black Friday historically launched the day after Thanksgiving. But in recent years, stores have opened at 4 a.m., then midnight. Last year, retailers created a stir by opening at 10 p.m. Thursday. This year, Sears and Wal-Mart announced plans to open at 8 p.m.

"The name of the game this holiday season is who can do it best," said National Retail Federation spokeswoman Kathy Grannis.

"When (early openings) started in 2009, things were a little bit worse off in terms of consumer confidence," Grannis added. "At that point it was very necessary for retailers to get out there before anybody else, and that literally meant before midnight."

This year, holiday spending is expected to rise 4.1 percent, according to the retail federation. Last year, more than 24 percent of Black Friday shoppers were out before midnight and nearly 39 percent of shoppers were in the stores before 5 a.m.

Wal-Mart plans to greet shoppers with the likes of $89 Wii consoles and a $38 Blu-ray player. At Sears, there will be perks on sale items for members of its shopper loyalty program.

Both retailers are touting in-store pickup, allowing customers to buy items online and pick them up at the store, avoiding checkout lines.

The Disney Store plans to begin offering Black Friday deals on the Monday before Thanksgiving, though Disney stores will open at midnight in some markets and 5 a.m. in others. Ads leaked to Internet deal sites say Target stores will open at 9 p.m. on Thanksgiving.

Last year, Wal-Mart recorded its most customer traffic at 10 p.m. on Thanksgiving night, said spokesman Steven Restivo, adding that the retailer relied on focus groups, online surveys and other feedback to help it decide to open two hours earlier this year. "Our customers told us they loved our Thanksgiving event last year and wanted it again."

At Sears, staying open 26 consecutive hours through Black Friday gives its customers the flexibility they want and makes good business sense, said spokesman Brian Hanover.

"There's a segment of Sears customers who want that thrill of holiday shopping to start as soon as their Thanksgiving dinner ends," he said. "Traditionalists," he added, can wait for door busters at 4 a.m.

Despite discounts that often go beyond 50 percent, stores still make money on the sales, retail experts say. That's because shoppers in physical stores tend to spend more than they planned, said Sanjay Dhar, professor of marketing at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

In the store, "you end up making purchases that aren't as marked down, in addition to the door-buster deals," he said.

Opening earlier and staggering door-buster deals is not only a good way to make money, but it's also necessary for crowd control, retail watchers say. In 2008, a store employee was trampled to death in a Black Friday door-buster stampede at a Long Island, N.Y., Wal-Mart.

Hobson said she doesn't plan to start shopping Thanksgiving night, but she said she'll be up before dawn to catch sales at Express, a clothing store.

"Just knowing that everybody is doing the same thing I'm doing on the same day feels like the beginning of Christmas," she said.

Others worry that super-early openings could backfire.

Sheri Petras, CEO of CFI Group, a Michigan-based consultancy, said store employees grumpy from having to leave their Thanksgiving festivities will take out their anger on customers.

"Consumers will not spend as much with cranky employees," she said.

Some employees at Wal-Mart, Sears and Target say they'd like the day off.

Change.org, an activist website, said Friday that more than 20 new petitions were submitted by employees and consumers asking retailers to reconsider their Thanksgiving evening openings.

It's the second year the website has administered petitions calling for retailers to stick to traditional Black Friday openings.

In a statement distributed by OUR Walmart, a labor rights group, Wal-Mart employee Mary Pat Tifft, of Wisconsin, said she would be "devastated" if she had to work on Thanksgiving, because she is expecting her son home from Afghanistan for the holiday.

"This early opening is one more example of Walmart's disconnect with the workers who keep its stores running and disregard for all of our families. As the largest employer in the country, Walmart could be setting a standard for businesses to value families, but instead, this is one more Walmart policy that hurts the families of workers at its stores," she said.

crshropshire@tribune.com

Twitter @corilyns

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Cook County OKs budget with $1-a-pack cigarette tax hike

A budget that includes higher or new taxes on cigarettes, gambling and guns is expected to sail through the Cook County Commission Friday.

The cost of buying cigarettes and guns in Cook County will rise next year after commissioners today voted 16-1 to approve County Board President Toni Preckwinkle's $2.95 billion budget.

In addition to the $1-per-pack increase on a pack of smokes and a new $25 per-gun tax on firearm purchases, the board also enacted a 1.25 percent use tax on large out-of-county purchases, with an exemption on the first $3,500 spent. There’s also a $1,000-per-year tax on slot machines and a $200-per-year tax on video gambling terminals.

The cigarette tax increases March 1, while the use tax and gun tax are effective April 1. The gambling machine tax won’t be implemented until June 1, giving the Illinois General Assembly time to offer up an alternative way to share gambling revenue with the county if it so chooses.

All those taxes, and some modest fee increases for permits and morgue documents, is expected to raise $41.7 million.

“I think the revenue increases are small, they’re targeted and largely they’re avoidable, if you so choose, to residents of the county,” said Commissioner Bridget Gainer, D-Chicago, as she voted in favor of the document.

Preckwinkle’s budget also kills off the last quarter-cent of the penny-on-the-dollar sales tax increase enacted under Preckwinkle’s predecessor, Todd Stroger, which will inflict an $86 million hit on the county’s bottom line. The county portion of the sales tax will drop to .75 percent on Jan. 1.

The only “no” vote came from Commissioner William Beavers, D-Chicago, who was Stroger’s floor leader and often has butted heads with Preckwinkle and Finance Committee Chairman John Daley, D-Chicago. All four Republicans on the 17-member board voted in favor of the budget, after lauding Preckwinkle’s bipartisan approach and cuts in spending.

Preckwinkle has defended the new cigarette and gun taxes by saying they will defray the costs to the county’s criminal justice and public health systems — which account for nearly three fourths of annual county spending — caused by smoking and guns by people who resell them to criminals for profit. The higher cigarette tax also could deter young people from starting the harmful habit, she said.

The use tax, which is expected to mostly affect businesses, is designed to encourage in-county purchases, Preckwinkle said.

The biggest chunk of new revenue will come from the cigarette tax, which follows a recent state increase of $1 per pack that went into effect June 24. County officials expect its increase to raise $25.6 million next year, saying they have accounted for folks who will leave the county to buy cigarettes or quit smoking.

Some commissioners, though, have questioned the long-term reliability of the cigarette tax increase, which will boost the overall taxes on a pack of smokes in Chicago to $6.67 — making it just 19 cents shy of New York City’s nation-leading $6.86.

When the county last raised the cigarette tax by $1 per pack in 2006, collections initially shot up by $46.5 million, county records show. But three years later, in 2009, the county collected $20.4 million less than it had in 2005.

The 1.25 percent “buy-local tax” on out-of-county purchases, expected to bring in $13.8 million, is on shaky legal ground, according to a Taxpayers’ Federation of Illinois analysis. Preckwinkle’s aides said they believe the law will withstand any legal challenge.

Preckwinkle’s budget was aided when the federal government recently granted the county Health and Hospitals System a waiver that will allow the early enrollment of 115,000 more patients in Medicaid that otherwise wouldn’t pay for county health care. That is expected to net $99 million for the public health system.

One initiative included in the budget is a $2 million fund to make grants to groups that combat gun violence and set up a gun court.

Another is setting aside $5 million to upgrade roads and sewers in unincorporated areas to make them more attractive for annexation to neighboring suburbs. Preckwinkle aims to eliminate unincorporated areas, which put stress on the county’s budget, within the next decade.

She’s also continuing efforts to reduce the population at the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center, where it costs $600 a day to house and educate young people accused of crimes, by finding alternatives to get them treatment and guidance.

And she’s making more efforts to reduce the jail population, where it costs $143 a day to detain inmates, by taking steps to get more people accused of non-violent crimes released on bond while they await trial.

hdardick@tribune.com
Twitter @ReporterHal

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Andy Summers film documents surviving the Police

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Police guitarist Andy Summers has always been a multifaceted artist – musician, songwriter, photographer and author. Now he can add filmmaker to his extensive resume.

“Can’t Stand Losing You: Surviving the Police,” Summers’ 90-minute documentary film that chronicles his musical career and life with supergroup, has its world premiere at the DOC NYC festival in New York on Friday.

Summers, who narrates the film, describes it as “a musical journey” that uses live footage from the 2007-2008 Police reunion world tour, along with lots of archival material from both the early Police days and the London punk scene.

“But it’s not done as a chronological story,” he told Reuters. “We establish the fact we’re doing the reunion tour early on, and then it dips in and out of live Police concert footage, and then starts going back to the earlier days.”

Based on his 2006 memoir “One Train Later,” the documentary also incorporates rare footage dating back to the 1960s, when Summers, now 69, was involved with the early British rock scene and seminal artists including British vocalist and keyboard player Zoot Money and Eric Burdon. The film also features many still photographs that the rock star took along the way.

“I was always interested in photography, so it was very natural for me to document everything, whether it was backstage at some grungy club or on early tours with the Police,” he said.

“So there’s a lot of intimate moments and interesting shots and archival stuff, especially in the first 25 minutes of the film, with the Sex Pistols appearing and so on.”

BUMPING INTO FAME

Following his book’s lead, the film also documents the serendipitous nature of the formation of the Police, one of the biggest bands in rock history, when Summers “just happened to bump into” drummer Stewart Copeland in a London Underground station one day in 1977.

The two decided to have coffee and discuss forming a new band with a then-unknown singer called Sting, whom they had just met.

“One train later, and it all might never have happened,” recalled Summers, “which is why I titled the book ‘One Train Later.’”

He would have preferred that title for the documentary. “It’s much hipper and doesn’t pander to the obvious Police connection,” he said, “so I’m hoping at some point we’ll change it to that.”

Inevitably, the film also focuses on the breakup of the always-combustible and often acrimonious trio.

“It’s obviously a very painful and poignant moment, when we all realize, ‘Well, that’s it,’” Summers said of the 2008 footage documenting the band’s final dissolution.

“The camera lingers on all our faces, and you can see the raw emotion there. It’s very bittersweet.”

As for rumors that the Police may re-form yet again for another tour, Summers does not think that is likely, even though their 30th reunion tour grossed more than $ 350 million.

“But then I never thought we’d get back together to do the last tour, so I never shut the door on anything,” he said. “I personally think that my book was somewhat of a provoking agent in getting the Police reunited, so maybe this film will do the same thing again.”

(Reporting by Iain Blair, Editing by Jill Serjeant, Patricia Reaney and Lisa Von Ahn)

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Sanofi Halves Price of Drug After Sloan-Kettering Balks at Paying It

In an unusual move, a big drug company said on Thursday that it would effectively cut in half the price of a new cancer drug after a leading cancer center said it would not use the drug because it was too expensive.

The move — announced by Sanofi for the colon cancer drug Zaltrap — could be a sign of resistance to the unfettered increase in the prices of cancer drugs, some of which cost more than $100,000 a year and increase survival by a few months at best.

Zaltrap came to market in August at a price of about $11,000 a month. Soon after, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York decided not to use the drug, saying it was twice as expensive but no more effective than a similar medicine, Avastin from Genentech. Both drugs improved median survival by 1.4 months, doctors there said.

Three doctors at Sloan-Kettering publicized the cancer center’s decision last month in an Op-Ed article in The New York Times.

“Ignoring the cost of care is no longer tenable,” they wrote. ”Soaring spending has presented the medical community with a new obligation. When choosing treatments for patients, we have to consider the financial strains they may cause alongside the benefits they may deliver.”

Sanofi executives argued that the price they had set was very similar to that of Avastin. “The intent was not to charge a premium,” Christopher A. Viehbacher, the chief executive of Sanofi, said in an interview last month.

Sloan-Kettering, he said, was basing its price comparison on a dose of Avastin that was half the dose Sanofi used in its own comparison.

On Thursday, Sanofi backed down. “We believe that Zaltrap is priced competitively as used in real-world situations,” it said in a statement. “However, we recognize that there was some market resistance to the perceived relative price of Zaltrap in the U.S. — especially in light of low awareness of Zaltrap in the U.S. market. As such, we are taking immediate action across the U.S. oncology community to reduce the net cost of Zaltrap.”

The move was first reported on Thursday by The Cancer Letter, a newsletter about cancer issues.

Sanofi said it would not change the official price for Zaltrap but would offer discounts of about 50 percent. Zaltrap, which is given intravenously, is not bought directly by patients but is sold to doctors or hospitals, which administer it. The cost is then reimbursed by Medicare or private insurers. Patients could be liable for a co-payment.

Dr. Leonard B. Saltz, chief of gastrointestinal oncology at Sloan-Kettering and one of the authors of the Op-Ed article, said Sanofi’s offer of discounts “doesn’t really address the problem from our perspective” because Medicare reimbursement and patient co-payments would still be based on the higher list price, at least for several more months.

Also, he said, the discounts could give doctors and hospitals an incentive to use Zaltrap because they could profit from the difference between the discounted price they pay for the drug and the higher price at which they are reimbursed by insurers.

Dr. Saltz said even at the lower price, he did not foresee Sloan-Kettering doctors using Zaltrap because it was no better than Avastin and might be more toxic.

Dr. Saltz is now a consultant to Genentech and has been one to Sanofi.

Zaltrap, developed by Sanofi and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, a biotechnology company in Tarrytown, N.Y., was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in August for use as a second-line treatment for colorectal cancer, meaning after an initial regimen had stopped working. Like Avastin, Zaltrap impedes the formation of blood vessels that nourish cancer cells.

Dr. Peter B. Bach, director of the Center for Health Policy and Outcomes at Sloan-Kettering and one of the authors of the Op-Ed piece, said the price of Zaltrap reflected a bigger problem — that over all there was little relation between drug prices and the value they provided.

“Normal markets wouldn’t behave like this,” he said on Thursday. “You couldn’t introduce something twice as expensive and no better and still sell it.”

Dr. Lee Newcomer, senior vice president for oncology at UnitedHealthcare, said it was the first time he could recall a company cutting the price of a cancer drug so much. “It was the first time physicians have stood up and said, “Enough is enough,’ ” he said. “And I think that was a watershed moment.”

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Sandy to raise U.S. used-car prices

The estimated 250,000 cars flooded by Superstorm Sandy on the East Coast will drive up used-car prices, even as far away as California.

The supply shortage comes on the heels of an already tightened used-car market in the wake of the recession, when new car sales dried up. Some experts say prices could rise $700 to $1,000 on the typical used car in the short term. Although those effects will be felt most acutely near the flood zone, the increasingly digital and national market for used cars will spread the price shocks widely.

The flood of Sandy-damaged cars further poses the risk that many will wind up in the hands of unscrupulous dealers peddling to unwitting consumers. The vehicles pose both financial and health risks.

"Cars that have been submerged in saltwater, and contaminated by bacteria and various toxins, will soon start to appear all over the country, even in states far from the center of the storm," said Rosemary Shahan, president of Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety.

Shahan said there were cases of Nissan vehicles flooded by Hurricane Katrina auctioned as "new" as far away as California after that storm.

She urged shoppers to look for signs of flood damage, including engines that hesitate or run roughly, musty interior smells or signs of silt residue or premature rust.

Buyers should also run the vehicle information number through the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System at vehiclehistory.gov. Insurers, salvage pools, auctions and junkyards in all 50 states are required to report all total-loss vehicles to this federal database within 30 days, Shahan said.

For new vehicles or those still within the factory warranty period, shoppers who suspect flood damage should call the manufacturer to ask if they will honor the warranty, which is typically nullified for flooded cars. If the vehicle was registered as a flood vehicle, the manufacturer won't honor the warranty, and the buyer will know there is a problem.

Although properly restored and titled salvage or flooded vehicles can be an "economical option," consumers should understand what they are getting.

"There is always a chance that there will be problems down the road with corrosion or malfunctions in the electrical systems," said Bob Passmore, senior director at the Property Casualty Insurers Assn. of America.

Rising prices caused by the storm might be one reason why consumers would turn to such cheaper options or fall victim to an attractively priced vehicle with hidden flood damage.

Prices are already comparatively high for late-model used cars, according to industry analysts. That's because of the low number of new cars sold in 2009 and 2010, which also slowed the flow of trade-ins into the used-car market. Leases, a major source of used cars, nearly disappeared.

Now the flood of Sandy-damaged cars is putting more pressure on the tight supply of late-model cars. Prices will go up at least 0.5% to 1.5% in December, said Jonathan Banks, an analyst with the National Automobile Dealers Assn. The dealer group said that amounts to a little more than $50 to $175 for the average used vehicle.

Auto information company Edmunds.com has a much higher estimate, saying that used-car prices will climb $700 to $1,000 "in the short term."

The price hikes will be highest on the East Coast but felt nationally, Banks said.

"We have seen a trend for dealers, regardless of where they are located, buying inventory online, and that means that geography is not as important as in the past," he said. "It used to be that dealers would buy cars from a physical auction near their dealership."

Pulling such a huge number of vehicles out of the U.S. fleet will have an effect at the national level, Banks said.

The problem is compounded by at least tens of thousands of new cars that were destroyed both at dealerships and storage yards in parts of New York and New Jersey hit hardest by the storm.

"Many dealers lost a significant amount of inventory. One Honda dealer told me he lost 600 new units," Banks said.

Fisker Automotive Inc., the Anaheim maker of $100,000 plug-in hybrid sports cars, said it lost 338 vehicles, with a retail value of nearly $34 million, at a port storage facility in New Jersey. Toyota Motor Corp. has said it might have lost as many as 4,500 new Toyota, Scion and Lexus vehicles to flooding and storm damage. American Honda Motor Co. said that more than 3,000 new vehicles at its dealers and storage yards suffered flood damage.

All this is going to create problems for consumers in the storm region who need to replace their rides quickly.

"Prices could really shoot up for consumers buying cars right away, because they will run into a severe inventory shortage," Banks said.

The dealers group believes that some replacement buying will start this month but will pick up in December and run through February. Banks expects that about 30% of buyers will purchase new cars and the remainder will choose used cars.

The buying, however, should provide a boost for the economy, said Edmunds.com Chief Economist Lacey Plache.

"Even if 100,000 damaged vehicles are replaced by the end of the year, it could boost auto sales 3% to 4% for the quarter," Plache said. "That has a positive effect on the economy overall."

jerry.hirsch@latimes.com

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Guilty: Dad who posted photo of daughter bound, gagged

A father who posted a Facebook photo of his 22-month-old daughter bound and gagged with tape was found guilty today of charges of aggravated domestic battery and aggravated battery.

Judge Lawrence Flood had acquitted Andre Curry of unlawful restraint after a trial late last month, but today he found Curry guilty of the two battery counts, saying in a brief ruling that by placing tape over the girl's mouth, he had obstructed her breathing for his own enjoyment.

"To use a child...as a toy or a prop in an odd attempt at humor is conduct of an insulting or provoking nature," Flood said.

Curry, dressed in a sweater and tie, kept his head down and his hands behind his back as the judge spoke. His lawyers have said it was a stupid prank by the 22-year-old father. His photo became an Internet sensation last December.

He faces up to 7 years in prison when he is sentenced Nov. 29, but he has never before been in trouble and could be placed on probation. He remains free on bond pending sentencing.

Curry’s attorney, Sam Adam Jr., said his client was “devastated” by the felony conviction. The domestic battery law was not intended to punish a loving parent who makes a mistake but causes no injuries, Adam said.

“This is for people who beat their wives. This is for people who beat their kids,” Adam said. “That is not this case.”

Adam said prosecutors should have focused less on winning a conviction and more on doing what’s best for the child, who now has a father who will find it difficult to maintain a job and support her financially.

“How is he going to provide for this child as a convicted felon?” Adam said. “Do you know what it’s like to be a black man in America with a felony in your background? Who’s going to hire him? How is he going to make a living?

“Yes, this was stupid. Yes he put it on Facebook. Yes he made some silly remarks. But that’s not felony action,” Adam said. “That’s not what the legislature intended and we’re going to have to take it up (on) appeal.”

Curry told police he was playing with his daughter one night at their South Side home and used blue painter’s tape to bind her ankles and wrists and cover her mouth. He then snapped a photo and uploaded it on his Facebook page.

Across the top of the photo were the words: "This is wut happens wen my baby hits me back," according to prosecutors and police reports. The message was followed with a winking emoticon.
 
Family members have said that Curry is playful and the photograph was meant to be a joke.

But the image went viral on the Internet, prompting a flood of calls to police and state child-welfare authorities from Curry’s friends on Facebook and others who had seen it.

jmeisner@tribune.com

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Exclusive: Google Ventures beefs up fund size to $300 million a year

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google will increase the cash it allocates to its venture-capital arm to up to $300 million a year from $200 million, catapulting Google Ventures into the top echelon of corporate venture-capital funds.

Access to that sizeable checkbook means Google Ventures will be able to invest in more later-stage financing rounds, which tend to be in the tens of millions of dollars or more per investor.

It puts the firm on the same footing as more established corporate venture funds such as Intel's Intel Capital, which typically invests $300-$500 million a year.

"It puts a lot more wood behind the arrow if we need it," said Bill Maris, managing partner of Google Ventures.

Part of the rationale behind the increase is that Google Ventures is a relatively young firm, founded in 2009. Some of the companies it backed two or three years ago are now at later stages, potentially requiring larger cash infusions to grow further.

Google Ventures has taken an eclectic approach, investing in a broad spectrum of companies ranging from medicine to clean power to coupon companies.

Every year, it typically funds 40-50 "seed-stage" deals where it invests $250,000 or less in a company, and perhaps around 15 deals where it invests up to $10 million, Maris said. It aims to complete one or two deals annually in the $20-$50 million range, Maris said.

LACKING SUPERSTARS

Some of its investments include Nest, a smart-thermostat company; Foundation Medicine, which applies genomic analysis to cancer care; Relay Rides, a carsharing service; and smart-grid company Silver Spring Networks. Last year, its portfolio company HomeAway raised $216 million in an initial public offering.

Still, Google Ventures lacks superstar companies such as microblogging service Twitter or online bulletin-board company Pinterest. The firm's recent hiring of high-profile entrepreneur Kevin Rose as a partner could help attract higher-profile deals.

Soon it could have even more cash to play around with. "Larry has repeatedly asked me: 'What do you think you could do with a billion a year?'" said Maris, referring to Google chief executive Larry Page.

(Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

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Well: The Presidential Health Quiz

Whether it’s George Washington’s teeth or Bill Clinton’s former hamburger habit, Americans have always been fascinated by the health of the president and presidential candidates.

With help from the Web site DoctorZebra, which has compiled an exhaustive list of the medical history of American presidents, we’ve created an Election Day quiz to test your knowledge of presidential fitness and health.

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McDonald's sales drop, first time since 2003

McDonald's Corp. reported its first decline in monthly U.S. same store sales in nine years Thursday, as the chain began to suffer problems plaguing the rest of the fast food industry for several years.

Sales at restaurants open more than a year declined 2.2 percent. Same store sales also declined in Europe, 2.2 percent, and the Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa region, 2.4 percent.

The chain cited lower demand and greater competition for the lower sales. While hamburger competitors Burger King and Wendy’s were walloped by the onset of the recession, both  have changed hands in recent years and launched new menu items that better compete with McDonald’s including expanded breakfast offerings, improved coffee options and more innovative salads.

"Though October's sales results reflect the pervasive challenges of today's global marketplace, I am confident that our strategies and the adjustments we are making in response to the current business headwinds will build sales momentum and drive sustained, profitable growth," McDonald's CEO Don Thompson said. 

Although the decline is historic for the world's largest restaurant chain, which has been on a roll since the beginning of its historic turnaround in 2003, it was not unexpected. Analysts have been tempering expectations and downgrading the stock for months.

To rev up sales, McDonald's has been working to emphasize value in markets around the world.

In the U.S., for example, McDonald's is stepping up advertising for its Dollar Menu after its attempt to market an "Extra Value Menu" for slightly higher prices fell flat. But the company said Thursday that the efforts were offset by "modest consumer demand" and competition.

In particular, McDonald's is facing stiffer competition from longtime rivals Burger King and Wendy's, which are both in the midst of reviving their brands with new ad campaigns and improved menus. Taco Bell, owned by Yum Brands Inc., is also enjoying growth with the help of new offerings such as it Doritos Locos Tacos and higher-end Cantina Bell bowls and burritos.

Stock slipped 0.99 percent in pre-market trades, to $86 in early trading. McDonald's hit an all-time high of $101.74 in February.

Baird analyst David Tarantino maintained an outperform rating on McDonald's, saying in a research note that, "We are cautiously optimistic that better trends can emerge as McDonald's gets past a wall of challenging comparisons in upcoming months."

Tarrantino added that though results "could remain soft" through early 2013, "we see opportunity for better performance to emerge in 2013 as a whole," because of emphasis on value offerings, lower ingredient costs, and reduced currency impact.

eyork@tribune.com | Twitter: @emilyyork

- Reuters contributed to this report

MCD Net Income Quarterly data by YCharts

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Obama wins but 'fiscal cliff' looms

President Barack Obama faces a new urgent task now that he has a second term, working with a status-quo Congress to address an impending financial crisis that economists say could send the country back into recession.

"You made your voice heard," Obama said in his acceptance speech, signaling that he believes the bulk of the country is behind his policies. It's a sticking point for House Republicans, sure to balk at that.

The same voters who gave Obama four more years in office also elected a divided Congress, sticking with the dynamic that has made it so hard for the president to advance his agenda. Democrats retained control of the Senate; Republicans kept their House majority.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, spoke of a dual mandate. "If there is a mandate, it is a mandate for both parties to find common ground and take steps together to help our economy grow and create jobs," he said.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky had a more harsh assessment.

"The voters have not endorsed the failures or excesses of the president's first term," McConnell said. "They have simply given him more time to finish the job they asked him to do together" with a balanced Congress.

Obama's more narrow victory was nothing like the jubilant celebration in 2008, when his hope-and-change election as the nation's first black president captivated the world. This time, Obama ground it out with a stay-the-course pitch that essentially boiled down to a plea for more time to make things right and a hope that Congress will be more accommodating than in the past.

Even his victory party was more subdued. His campaign said Wednesday that 20,000 people came to hear his speech in downtown Chicago, compared with 200,000 four years ago.

The most pressing challenges immediately ahead for the 44th president are all too familiar: an economy still baby-stepping its way toward full health; 23 million people out of work or in search of better jobs; civil war in Syria; a menacing standoff over Iran's nuclear program.

Sharp differences with Republicans in Congress on taxes, spending, deficit reduction, immigration and more await. While Republicans control the House, Democrats have at least 53 votes in the Senate and Republicans 45. One newly elected independent isn't saying which party he'll side with, and North Dakota's race was not yet called.

Obama's list of promises to keep includes many holdovers he was unable to deliver on in his first term, such as rolling back tax cuts for upper-income people, overhauling immigration policy and reducing federal deficits. Six in 10 voters said in exit polls that taxes should be increased, and nearly half of voters said taxes should be increased on incomes over $250,000, as Obama has called for.

"It's very clear from the exit polling that a majority of Americans recognize that we need to share responsibility for reducing the deficit," Maryland Rep. Chris Van Hollen, the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, told CNN. "That means asking higher-income earners to contribute more to reducing the deficit."

But Sara Taylor Fagen, who served as political director in President George W. Bush's second term, warned the current White House to pay heed to the closely divided electorate, a lesson her party learned after 2004. With 98 percent of precincts reporting, Obama had 50 percent to 48 percent for Romney.

"It'll be interesting if the Obama team misinterprets the size of their victory," Fagen said. "I think if you look back at history, we pushed Social Security and the Congress wasn't ready for that and wasn't going to do it. And had President Bush gone after immigration, we may be sitting in a very different position as a party."

Obama predicted in the waning days of the campaign that his victory would motivate Republicans to make a deal on immigration policy next year to make up for having "so alienated the fastest-growing demographic group in the country, the Latino community."

Former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour agreed that a lesson of 2012 is for his Republican Party to change the party's approach on immigration.

"Republicans say, 'We don't want to reward people for breaking the law,'" Barbour told CBS. "The way we need to look at it is, how are we going to grow the American economy and where does our immigration policy fit into that?"

Even before Obama gets to his second inaugural on Jan. 20, he must deal with the threatened "fiscal cliff." A combination of automatic tax increases and steep across-the-board spending cuts are set to take effect in January if Washington doesn't quickly reach a budget deal. Experts have warned that the economy could tip back into recession without an agreement.

Newly elected Democrats signaled they want compromise to avoid the fiscal cliff.

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Apple's shares slide 4 percent to five-month low

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A Minute With: Taylor Lautner finding new dawn after “Twilight”

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – As dusk sets on the “Twilight” saga with the final film, actor Taylor Lautner is looking at a new dawn for the next stage in his career.

Lautner, 20, shot to fame after being cast as werewolf Jacob Black in the “Twilight” films, entangled in a torrid love triangle with Kristen Stewart‘s Bella Swan and Robert Pattinson‘s vampire Edward Cullen. He became a household name and pin-up for his clean-cut good looks and shirtless scenes.

In “Breaking Dawn – Part 2,” out in U.S. theaters on November 16, Lautner’s character finds new love, albeit unusual, and indulges his comedic side as the story comes to an end.

Lautner spoke to Reuters about leaving Jacob and his cast mates behind, and why the final film may leave fans in tears.

Q: What’s different about Jacob in “Breaking Dawn – Part 2″?

A: “He’s always been so stressed and emotional and things aren’t going his way and there was a huge weight lifted off his shoulders in this one, huge. It was nice to play that side of Jacob where he could sit back and relax and have a smile on his face and crack a few funny jokes every now and then.”

Q: Jacob finds his soul mate in Bella and Edward’s daughter Renesmee from the moment she is born. Was it challenging to balance his affection for her without coming across creepy?

A: “It was a challenge, and it is so complicated, but really nobody understands it more than Stephenie Meyer who created it. I was picking her brain all day long about it. She basically told me over and over again, ‘Taylor, stop trying to overthink it, stop trying to take it different places … It’s a life-long bond between two people, that’s it.’ In the movie, (Renesmee) is 10 years old, it’s much more of a protector relationship right now, and of course the relationship will grow but we don’t explore that, but it was important for me to keep it simple.”

Q: What are you going to miss most about your character and the franchise?

A: “These characters have never stopped changing throughout the entire franchise, and that’s what I love about Jacob. Jacob himself has grown up so much and gone through so many hurdles and it was a fantastic character to play. For me, it’ll be tough to say goodbye to spending time with people that I love. We’ve grown so close over the past few years. Our relationships will go on past this but to not have that excuse to spend day after day together while filming or promoting will be different.”

Q: “Twilight” fans are not just interested in your characters, they’re also interested in your personal lives. The past summer has seen a lot of attention on Robert and Kristen’s relationship. How do you handle that level of scrutiny?

A: “It’s unlike anything else because when we do talk about the movies, 90 percent of the time people want to know more about ourselves than the characters and what’s going on. I guess that just comes with a fan base like this, it comes with the job and you try and not let it affect you too much, but I have no complaints … The scrutiny, is it unfortunate? Yeah, but you just got to make your way around it and think about things more.”

Q: Do you feel protective of your cast members?

A: “Yes, I definitely do, we’re so close by this point, I think that it’s hard not to.”

Q: What do you hope “Twilight” fans take away from “Breaking Dawn – Part 2″?

A: “I just hope they’re happy and they’re proud because we really do make these movies for them. They’re the reason we are able to make them, their support is unreal and we’re so proud of this last one. This last one specifically wraps it up so nicely, it’s an amazing movie. During the movie, it’ll keep you on the edge of your seat but by the end, I think more than a few of the fans will be in tears.”

Q: Post-Twilight, where do you want to take your career to, what roles would you like to explore? I hear you have a cameo in the comedy “Grown Ups 2″?

A: “It was great to do (comedy), just hop in and show a different side, do something fun and work with somebody like Adam (Sandler). But now I’m looking forward to doing something different from that. There are a few projects that I’m very excited about that are extremely challenging and dramatic and would be tough.”

(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy, editing by Jill Serjeant and Patricia Reaney)

Movies News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Global Update: Polio Eradication Efforts in Pakistan Focus on Pashtuns

Michael Kamber for The New York Times

Polio will never be eradicated in Pakistan until a way is found to persuade poor Pashtuns to embrace the vaccine, according to a study released by the World Health Organization.

A survey of 1,017 parents of young children found that 41 percent had never heard of polio and 11 percent refused to vaccinate their children against it. The survey was done in Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city and the only big city in the world where polio persists; it was published in the agency’s November bulletin.

Parents from poor families “cited lack of permission from family elders,” said Dr. Anita Zaidi, who teaches pediatrics at the Aga Khan University in Karachi. Some rich parents also disdained the vaccine, saying it was “harmful or unnecessary,” she added.

Pashtuns account for 75 percent of Pakistan’s polio cases even though they are only 15 percent of the population. Wealthy children are safer because the virus travels in sewage, and their neighborhoods may have covered sewers and be less flood-prone.

Pashtuns are the largest ethnic group in next-door Afghanistan, where polio has also never been wiped out. Most Taliban fighters are Pashtun, and some Taliban threatened to kill vaccinators earlier this year. Two W.H.O. vaccinators were shot in Karachi in July.

Rumors persist that the vaccine is a plot to sterilize Muslims. But the eradication drive is recruiting Pashtuns as vaccinators and asking prominent religious leaders from various sects to make videos endorsing the vaccine.

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'Fiscal cliff' takes center stage

Now that Wall Street knows President Obama will stay in the White House, investors' attention has returned to looming crises facing the U.S. and European economies.

Major stock indexes were down more than 2 percent midway through the first trading session after election day.

At the top of the agenda is the "fiscal cliff," the automatic spending cuts and tax hikes looming at year's end. If Obama cannot successfully resolve the crisis with a House still controlled by Republicans, economists have warned that the "cliff" could slow growth and push the U.S. back into recession.

"We've gotten certainty on the presidency and now we move into the uncertainty of where we were before -- the fiscal cliff," said Quincy Krosby, a market strategist at Prudential Financial. "The market's not going to have much patience to wait to see when the negotiations begin in earnest and how they evolve."

The Dow Jones industrial average regained some ground but was still down 303 points, or 2.3 percent, to 12,943 in midday trading.

The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index was down 32 points, or 2.2 percent, to 1,396. The Nasdaq was down 71 points, or 2.4 percent, to 2,941.

Corporations reported sluggish revenues in the third quarter, signaling slowing economic growth regardless of the fiscal cliff, Krosby noted. Declining company fortunes could lead to job cuts and further drags on economic growth as consumer demand falls.

Also weighing on investors' minds: Continuing worries out of Europe. Economic data out of Germany indicate that not even the continent's most powerful economy is immune to the Eurozone slowdown, as European Central Bank President Mario Draghi noted in remarks Wednesday.

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Three firefighters hurt fighting Oak Lawn blaze

Three firefighters were injured while battling a house fire this morning in southwest suburban Oak Lawn.

Two of them remain hospitalized this afternoon at Advocate Christ Medical Center, and a third who suffered a "nickle-sized'' burn on his face was treated on the scene, said Oak Lawn Fire Chief George Sheets.

A mayday was called when one of them, a veteran firefighter, briefly became separated from the hose line and fire group, said Sheets.

“His air was getting low and he became disoriented,’’ Sheets said.

The mayday brought to mind the recent passing of Chicago Fire Capt. Herbie Johnson who was killed during a South Side fire Friday night.

“That is all on your mind but in this situation he was quickly found was able to be removed from the house very quickly,'' Sheets said.

“I’ve been a firefighter for 31 years and a chief for over 18 and when you hear a mayday it certainly adds a little anxiety to the situation,’’ said Sheets.

That firefighter remains at the hospital this afternoon but he is expected to be released.

The third firefighter, who also remains hospitalized this afternoon at Christ, was injured when a something fell on his neck, according to the chief, who added that none of the injuries is life-threatening.

Authorities believe the fire started about 8:50 a.m. in the basement of the home in the 4900 block of West 99th Street, said Oak Lawn Police Division Chief Michael Kaufmann.

One occupant was able to escape and was out of the house by the time police arrived, according to Kaufmann.

Village Manager Larry Deetjen said the building was "well engulfed" in flames when firefighters got there and searched the building. When they found no one inside, they extinguished the fire but the firemen were injured in the process.

The resident, who had been smoking prior to the start of the fire, tried to put it out himself.

“This is what we believe,’’ Sheets said. “The fire had a head start on us.’’

The resident was treated on the scene for smoke inhalation, but declined to be taken to a hospital, the chief said.

Careless use of smoking materials is listed in preliminary reports as the cause of the fire, Sheets said. 

The home was rendered unlivable and sustained "extensive" damage, said  Deetjen.

The American Red Cross and the Salvation Army will be assisting, Deetjen said.

The cause of the blaze is under investigation.

Police and fire department investigators remained on the scene and 99^th Street was closed down in both directions from Cicero to 51^st avenues, said Kaufmann.

rsobol@tribune.com

chicagobreaking@tribune.com

Twitter: @ChicagoBreaking

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Exclusive - Amazon to win e-book tussle with Apple

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union regulators are to end an antitrust probe into e-book prices by accepting an offer by Apple and four publishers to ease price restrictions on Amazon, two sources said on Tuesday.

The decision hands online retailer Amazon victory in its attempt to sell e-books cheaper than its rivals in the fast-growing market that publishers hope will boost revenue and increase customer numbers.

Apple and the publishers offered in September to let retailers set their own prices or discounts for a period of two years, and also to suspend "most-favored nation" contracts for five years.

Such clauses bar Simon & Schuster, News Corp. unit HarperCollins, Lagardere SCA's Hachette Livre and Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck, the owner of German company Macmillan, from making deals with rival retailers to sell e-books more cheaply than Apple.

The agreements, which critics say prevent Amazon and other retailers from undercutting Apple's charges, sparked an investigation by the European Commission in December last year.

Pearson Plc's Penguin group, which is also under investigation, did not take part in the offer.

The EU antitrust authority, which in September asked for feedback from rivals and consumers about the proposal, has not asked for more concessions, said one of sources.

"The Commission is likely to accept the offer and announce its decision next month," the source said on Tuesday.

Antoine Colombani, spokesman for competition policy at the European Commission, said: "We have launched a market test in September and our investigation is still ongoing."

Amazon declined to comment, while Apple did not respond to an email for comments.

Companies found guilty of breaching EU rules could be fined up to 10 percent of their global sales, which in Apple's case could reach $15.6 billion, based on its 2012 fiscal year.

FROWNING ON ONLINE TRADE CURBS

Antitrust regulators tend to frown on restrictions on online trade and the case is a good example of this policy, said Mark Tricker, a partner at Brussels-based law firm Norton Rose.

"This case shows the online world continues to be a major focus for the Commission. They are looking at lots of different aspects of e-commerce, as this can have such a significant impact on consumers, development and innovation," he said.

"These markets change very quickly and if you don't stamp down on potential infringements of competition rules, you can have significant consequences."

UBS analysts estimate that e-books account for about 30 percent of the U.S. book market and 20 percent of sales in Britain but are minuscule elsewhere. Amazon created demand for e-books when it launched its e-Kindle reader, charging $9.99 for each book.

Apple's agency model let publishers set prices in return for a 30 percent cut to the maker of iPhone and iPad.

The U.S. Department of Justice is also investigating e-book prices. HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster and Hachette recently settled, but Apple, Penguin Group and Macmillan continue to fight the allegations.

(Editing by Rex Merrifield and David Goodman)

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Sharon Osbourne has double mastectomy: magazine

LONDON (Reuters) – British celebrity Sharon Osbourne has had a double mastectomy after discovering she was carrying a gene that increased the risk of her developing breast cancer, she told Hello! magazine in an interview published on Monday.

Osbourne, 60, told the publication that the decision was a “no-brainer” in the end.

“As soon as I found out I had the breast cancer gene, I thought: ‘The odds are not in my favor’,” she said in remarks that also ran in the Daily Mirror tabloid.

“I’ve had cancer before and I didn’t want to live under that cloud: I decided to just take everything off, and had a double mastectomy.”

Osbourne, who put the eccentric life of her family on view in the reality TV series “The Osbournes”, said she did not want to spend the rest of her life with “that shadow hanging over me.

“I want to be around for a long time and be a grandmother to Pearl,” she added, referring to her son Jack’s first child.

“I didn’t even think of my breasts in a nostalgic way, I just wanted to be able to live my life without that fear all the time. It’s not ‘pity me’, it’s a decision I made that’s got rid of this weight that I was carrying around.”

Osbourne raised her profile by appearing as a judge on successful talent shows “The X Factor” and “America’s Got Talent”. She is married to heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne.

Her London publicist referred Reuters to the interview which ran in Hello! and the Daily Mirror when asked to confirm the news.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)

Celebrity News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Judge Temporarily Blocks Mandate on Birth Control

WASHINGTON — A federal judge has issued an order shielding a Michigan business from a requirement of the new health care law to provide insurance coverage for contraceptives at no charge to female employees.

The judge, Robert H. Cleland of the Federal District Court in Detroit, said last week that the requirement could infringe on “the sincere exercise of religious beliefs” by the owner of the company. He agreed to issue a preliminary injunction to stop the government from enforcing the requirement against two of the plaintiffs, Daniel Weingartz and his family-owned business, Weingartz Supply Co., in Utica, Mich.

Mr. Weingartz, a Roman Catholic, said he had devised a health plan that, in keeping with his religious beliefs, excluded coverage of contraceptives.

His business, a secular for-profit company, sells outdoor power equipment and employs about 170 people.

Judge Cleland is the second judge to issue such an order. In July, a federal district judge in Colorado issued a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of the contraceptive mandate against Hercules Industries, a maker of heating, ventilation and air-conditioning equipment.

In September, a federal district judge in St. Louis rejected a similar challenge. The judge, Carol E. Jackson, said that the plaintiffs, a Missouri company and its owner, “remain free to exercise their religion, by not using contraceptives and by discouraging employees from using contraceptives.”

Individuals, businesses, hospitals, schools and universities have filed more than three dozen lawsuits challenging the requirement for employers and health plans to cover contraceptives.

Many plaintiffs, like Mr. Weingartz and Hercules, have invoked the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993. That law provides that officials may not burden a person’s exercise of religion unless they can show “a compelling governmental interest” and use “the least restrictive means” of advancing that interest.

The Obama administration said it had two compelling reasons for the contraceptive mandate: promoting public health and “gender equality.” It quoted Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, who said in Senate debate on the legislation: “Women have different health needs than men, and these needs often generate additional costs. Women of childbearing age spend 68 percent more in out-of-pocket health care costs than men.”

Moreover, the Obama administration said, providing a religious exemption to companies like Weingartz Supply and Hercules would allow the owners of secular businesses to impose their religious beliefs on their employees, many of whom may not share the owners’ convictions.

Mr. Weingartz should not be allowed to “impose his religious beliefs on the corporation’s group health plan or its 170 employees,” the Justice Department said in court documents.

Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential nominee, has assailed the contraceptive coverage requirement as a threat to religious liberty. If elected, he has said, he will work to abolish it, along with the rest of President Obama’s health care overhaul.

The new health care law generally requires employers to provide women with coverage at no cost for “preventive care and screenings.”

Under this provision, the administration says, employers must cover sterilization and the full range of contraceptive methods approved by the Food and Drug Administration, including emergency contraceptive pills, like those known as ella and Plan B One-Step. Employers who do not provide such coverage will be subject to financial penalties, starting in 2014.

The administration has agreed to exempt “religious employers” if they meet several criteria: their purpose is to inculcate religious values, they primarily employ and serve people who share their religious tenets and they are recognized as nonprofit organizations under federal tax law.

Judge Cleland decided, in effect, to freeze the current situation while he weighs competing claims by the Obama administration and Weingartz Supply.

“Neither plaintiffs nor the government have shown a strong likelihood of success on the merits,” Judge Cleland wrote.

But in issuing a preliminary injunction, he said he was guided by rulings of the Supreme Court, which has held, “The loss of First Amendment freedoms, for even minimal periods of time, unquestionably constitutes irreparable injury.”

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Political futures traders pick Obama

WASHINGTON -- The votes of traders in political futures have been pouring in for months, and they say President Obama lands a second term in Tuesday's election.

The chances that Obama is reelected stood at about 71% on Tuesday morning on Intrade, near a one-month high and up about 3% for the day in early trading. The chances that Republican Mitt Romney wins the presidency were about 29%, close to a low for the past month and down about 4%.

Most people buying political futures on the site also apparently believe that Republicans will retain control of the House and Democrats will hold on to their majority in the Senate.

Intrade's futures have an excellent track record. They accurately predicted the result in every state in the 2004 presidential election, and all but two in the 2008 contest, according to CNNMoney.

This year, Intrade gives Obama a 73% chance of winning the crucial battleground state of Ohio, with Romney at about 27% as of Tuesday morning. And the site predicts that Obama will win 294 electoral votes to Romney's 235.

The market will remain open all day, "until a winner is clearly known," an Intrade spokesman said.

Intrade bettors correctly predicted in January that Romney would win the Republican nomination, but at no point in the 2012 presidential campaign did the political futures traders have Romney beating Obama.

That's somewhat surprising given that Obama's odds of winning plunged in the summer of 2011 to about even money after the contentious battle over raising the nation's debt ceiling and the Standard & Poor's credit downgrade that followed.

But Romney has closed a huge late-September gap on Intrade's presidential election market, when Obama's reelection odds neared 80%.

ALSO:

Romney top bet to win Iowa on political futures trading site

Obama's reelection odds sink on political futures trading site

Wall Street may rally regardless of presidential election winner

Follow Jim Puzzanghera on Twitter and Google+.

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