BRUSSELS (AP) ? The European Union wants to replace a mishmash of national laws on data protection with one bloc-wide reform, updating laws put in place long before Facebook and other social networking sites even existed.
EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding said Monday that social networks must become more open about how they operate. Under her proposals, businesses ? including Internet service providers ? would have additional responsibilities, such as having to inform users of what data about them is being collected, for what purpose, and how it is stored.
EU regulators have been concerned about how commercial online services use customers' personal data to attract advertisers, saying they want to make sure that citizens' Internet privacy rights are respected.
"All social network service providers active in the EU must fully comply with EU data protection laws," Reding said. "Companies have a specific responsibility when personal data is their main economic asset,"
Existing EU laws date to 1995, long before Facebook and other social networking sites existed. EU officials expect the draft legislation to be ready early next year, and after that, it could take up to 18 months for the bill to become law.
The EU has to iron out differences between its members over privacy issues. Countries like France and Germany favor stronger protections for privacy, while Ireland, Britain and others prefer more market-friendly rules.
A Eurobarometer survey this summer found that 75 percent of Europeans are worried about how companies ? including search engines like Google and social networks like Facebook or LinkedIn ? use their private information.
The proposed reform also would help businesses by replacing the current patchwork of 27 national regulations, she said.
"They need ... to have a 'one-stop-shop' when it comes to data protection matters, one law and one single data protection authority," Reding told the American Chamber of Commerce to the EU. "I want to drastically cut red tape."
WASHINGTON ? New Hampshire's largest newspaper on Sunday endorsed former House Speaker Newt Gingrich in the 2012 GOP presidential race, signaling that rival Mitt Romney isn't the universal favorite and potentially resetting the contest before the state's lead-off primary Jan. 10.
"We are in critical need of the innovative, forward-looking strategy and positive leadership that Gingrich has shown he is capable of providing," The New Hampshire Union Leader said in its front-page editorial, which was as much a promotion of Gingrich as a discreet rebuke of Romney.
"We don't back candidates based on popularity polls or big-shot backers. We look for conservatives of courage and conviction who are independent-minded, grounded in their core beliefs about this nation and its people, and best equipped for the job," the editorial said.
Romney enjoys solid leads in New Hampshire polls and remains at the front of the pack nationally. A poll released last week showed him with 42 percent support among likely Republican primary voters in New Hampshire. Gingrich followed with 15 percent in the WMUR-University of New Hampshire Granite State poll.
Rep. Ron Paul of Texas posted 12 percent support and former Utah Gov. John Huntsman found 8 percent support in that survey.
Those numbers could shift based on the backing of The Union Leader, a newspaper with a conservative editorial stance that proudly works to influence elections, from school boards to the White House, in the politically savvy state.
The endorsement, signed by publisher Joseph W. McQuaid, suggested that the only state-wide newspaper in New Hampshire was ready to again assert itself as a player in the GOP primary.
"We don't have to agree with them on every issue," the newspaper wrote in an editorial that ran across the width of the front page. "We would rather back someone with whom we may sometimes disagree than one who tells us what he thinks we want to hear."
While Romney enjoys solid support in national polls, the large pack of Republicans has shifted all year from candidate to candidate in search of an alternative to the former Massachusetts governor. That led to the rise, and fall, of potential challengers such as Huntsman, Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and Texas Gov. Rick Perry.
Yet with six weeks until the primary, The Union Leader's move could shuffle the race and further boost Gingrich. In recent weeks, he has seen a surge in some polls as Republicans focus more closely on deciding which candidate they consider best positioned to take on President Barack Obama.
But a Gingrich rival, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, said the endorsement points to how changeable the New Hampshire contest is.
"A month ago for Newt Gingrich to have been in the running to capture the Manchester Union Leader endorsement would have been unthinkable," Huntsman told Chris Wallace on "Fox News Sunday." "I think it reflects, more than anything else, the fluidity, the unpredictability of the race right now."
As voters started focusing more on the race, Gingrich has turned in solid debate performances and found his stride on a national stage. He has rebuilt his campaign after a disastrous summer that saw many of his top aides resign en masse and fundraising summaries report million in debt.
In New Hampshire, he brought on respected tea party leader Andrew Hemingway to lead his efforts and his team has been contacting almost 1,000 voters each day.
Hemingway's team of eight paid staffers in New Hampshire has been adding more than 100 volunteers each day, campaign officials said. Gingrich's team has lined up leaders in the major cities and has started identifying representatives in each ward in the state.
Gingrich has opened offices in Manchester, New Hampshire's biggest city, along with Dover in the eastern part of the state and in the North Country's Littleton. He plans two more.
Gingrich hasn't begun television advertising and has refused to go negative on his opponents.
Yet The Union Leader's backing could give him a nudge in New Hampshire and provide a steady stream of criticism.
Four years earlier, the newspaper threw its support to Arizona Sen. John McCain's bid and used front page opinion columns and editorials to boost him and criticize chief rival Romney. In the time since, Romney has worked to court Union Leader publisher Joe McQuaid, who often runs columns on the newspaper's front page under his signature.
"The Union Leader's style is we don't just endorse once," McQuaid told The Washington Post in 1999. "We endorse every damn day. We started endorsing Reagan in 1975 and never stopped."
Romney and his wife, Ann, had dinner with the McQuaids at the Bedford Village Inn near Manchester, hoping to reset the relationship earlier this year. Yet it didn't prove enough and McQuaid's newspaper seemed not to appreciate the outreach.
"Newt Gingrich is by no means the perfect candidate," McQuaid wrote. "But Republican primary voters too often make the mistake of preferring an unattainable ideal to the best candidate who is actually running."
If the idea of pinching, zooming and tapping on your iPad is far less appealing than kneading, sprinkling and cutting, then the Domino's Pizza Hero iPad app may just be right up your alley. Putting aspiring pizza makers to the test, the game challenges players to assemble a pie as quickly as possible for points. Once you've passed levels one through five, affectionately nicknamed "Pizza School," other players will get a chance to rate your performance -- ultimately making or breaking your pizza career. If concocting virtual pies was enough to make you hungry, fear not famished souls as the app let's you order the real deal direct from your iPad -- now that's amore. Check out the gallery and video after the break.
Looking for a last-minute holiday gift? How about that Groupon you never used? Daily deal vouchers wouldn't actually make bad presents if there was a way to gift them that didn't involve an email printout tucked into a card. That's where Presentify.me, which turns deal vouchers into attractive gift certificates, can help.
Update at 8:20 a.m. ET: Police arrested a suspect in the shooting after a routine traffic stop?early Friday, University of Illinois at Chicago spokesman Mark Rosati told The Associated Press. The man fled the car and was detained a few blocks away, Rosati added.
Update at 6:35 a.m. ET: A woman was shot dead at a hospital in Chicago late Thursday and a manhunt was launched to find the shooter, authorities told the Chicago Tribune.
An ambulance was not able to reach the wounded woman, who was shot in a parking garage at the University of Illinois at Chicago?Medical Center shortly before midnight, because the area was still dangerous, Chicago Fire Department?spokesman Larry Langford told the paper.?She later died.
Even though the suspect was not located, the hospital resumed normal operations at about 5 a.m. local time (6 a.m. ET), according to The Associated Press.
The Tribune reported a?text message was sent out by the medical center warning staff and students that there was "a man with a gun in the UIC Hospital, last seen on the second floor. Stay in a secure location and lock doors if possible. He is armed and dangerous."
A notice posted later on the UIC website said, "Police conclude multiple searches of hospital, no sign of gunman. Hospital, OCC open for normal operations."
SWAT teams, other police and a helicopter were all involved in the search.
A second victim, who was injured but not shot, was in police custody, an?unidentified?source told the Tribune.
The Tribune reported that the suspect was the 47-year-old former boyfriend of the slain woman.
The alert said the man being sought by police was black and?was wearing?a navy blue jacket with a fur-trimmed hood, navy blue cargo pants and white gym shoes at the time.
CAIRO (Reuters) ? Police backed by the army used batons and teargas on Sunday to charge protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square demanding Eygpt's ruling generals swiftly hand power to civilians, in some of the worst violence since the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak.
With little more than a week to go before a parliamentary election that starts the process of transition, the state news agency reported three dead in a second day of violence on Sunday and 192 wounded. Medical sources said four died on Sunday.
The latest deaths take the overall toll to at least five with more than 1,000 injured.
"The people want the toppling of the regime," thousands of protesters chanted before and after the charge by police backed by military officers who had stayed on the sidelines till then.
The demonstrators accuse the army of seeking to retain power from behind scenes as it oversees the transition, which could see the military remain in control until presidential elections which may not happen until late 2012 or early 2013.
Generals deny any such intention and the cabinet reiterated on Sunday that violence would not delay the staggered parliamentary elections that start on November 28.
The security forces, who moved in as darkness fell, beat some protesters with batons. One group of demonstrators formed a line and bowed in the traditional Muslim prayer, television images showed. Most held their line as the police moved in.
"The army sent soldiers to Tahrir to help state security disperse the protesters. They are beating us hard," said Ragab Shemiekhy, who has been in Tahrir throughout the latest protest.
A Reuters witness saw the dead body of a 28-year-old man on Sunday evening in a makeshift clinic on the edge of Tahrir Square. It was not clear how he had died or if the death was one of those reported by medical sources.
Army police detained dozens of people, a witness said. After initially fleeing, protesters poured back into the square.
"The military council are shutting their ears, they're ignoring us, they don't give a damn about us, and we're going to stay occupying the streets and demanding our rights. Eventually justice will prevail," said Amal El Mohandes, 31.
Egypt's benchmark index tumbled about 2.5 percent on Sunday as investors worried about the outcome of the clashes.
ISLAMISTS DISTANCE THEMSELVES
The protest that began on Friday was led by Islamists. But it has since been largely driven by many of the same youthful activists who ended Mubarak's 30-year rule, putting national pride over religion. Some Islamists, including of the biggest group, the Muslim Brotherhood, have since withdrawn.
"Those in the square to do not belong to any party. This is a new scene," Ahmed Abo Barka of the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party told Al Jazeera. "They want to block the route before the Egyptian people who want their election."
The Brotherhood, banned under Mubarak, had tended to take a softer line toward the military than some other groups, which analysts say is to ensure elections go ahead and prevent any return to the kind of repression is suffered in the past.
A row has erupted between political groups and the army-picked cabinet over ground rules for drafting the constitution that could leave the military free of civilian control. Parliament is to pick the assembly to draw up the constitution.
Many Egyptians are angry that nine months after ousting Mubarak, the army remains in charge and police are still using the same heavy-handed tactics against demonstrators.
"We are on the brink of danger. Those asking for the government to fall are asking for the state to fall," Egyptian army General Mohsen Fangary had told a television channel early on Sunday.
He said the election would go ahead on time and the army and Interior Ministry would maintain security. He also said the army, in line with a timetable previously announced, aimed to return to barracks by the end of 2012. Presidential elections could be held by then.
The army-backed cabinet had outraged many Egyptians by presenting proposals for the new constitution that would have shielded the army's budget from civilian oversight and given it a broad national security remit.
It had amended the proposals to give civilian powers more say but this was not enough to prevent Friday's protest.
After a cabinet meeting on Sunday, Deputy Prime Minister Ali al-Silmi said: "We will not back down from the last proposed amendments to the constitutional document."
'TROUBLEMAKERS'
During streets battles on Saturday night and Sunday morning, police fired round after round of teargas at protesters near the Interior Ministry. Closer to Tahrir the demonstrators laid sheets of metal to block roads into the square.
A security official said police had not used live rounds and had used lawful methods to deal with "troublemakers."
Protests erupted in other cities. About 800 people gathered in front of the security directorate in Alexandria, chanting: "Interior Ministry officials are thugs."
About 1,000 gathered outside a police station in the eastern city of Suez, site of some of the worst violence in the uprising. They threw stones at it and tried to force their way in. Police fired teargas and shot in the air.
Liberal groups are dismayed by the military trials of thousands of civilians and the army's failure to scrap a hated emergency law. Islamists eyeing a strong showing in the next parliament suspect the army wants to curtail their influence.
Analysts say Islamists could win 40 percent of parliamentary seats, with a big portion going to the Muslim Brotherhood.
(Additional reporting by Omar Fahmy, Patrick Werr, Marwa Awad, Abdel Rahman Youssef, Dina Zayed, Tom Pfeiffer and Yousri Mohamed; writing by Edmund Blair and Patrick Werr; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
LONDON ? Phone hacking by the media cost me my job advising Elle Macpherson, a business adviser told a U.K. inquiry Tuesday, describing how the Australian supermodel wrongly blamed her for leaking intimate secrets to the press.
Mary-Ellen Field told an inquiry into British media ethics that the leaks cast a shadow of suspicion over her, with Macpherson becoming convinced that Field was an alcoholic and ordering her to an American rehabilitation clinic. Field said she was shocked by the allegations that she was a drunk who'd been blabbing about her employer, but went along with Macpherson's recommendation because she needed her job.
"I have a severely disabled child who can never look after himself so walking away from a high-paying position is not a good idea," Field said.
The rehab was grueling ? she described it as being "like one of those CIA renditions, except they don't put you in chains" ? but it didn't do her much good.
Even though staff at the clinic said she was not an alcoholic, Macpherson fired her anyway, and Field lost her job at her firm shortly afterward. She told the inquiry there was no doubt the sacking was the result of what happened with Macpherson.
Field said her employer told her that "I'd been indiscreet, that the clients didn't trust me."
Although it has since emerged that the media leaks were the result of phone hacking not indiscretion, Field said she has not heard from fellow Australian Macpherson in years.
Field was one of several victims of press intrusion testifying Tuesday at Britain's Royal Courts of Justice. The inquiry was set up after the scandal over phone hacking and other underhanded tactics used at the News of the World, which was closed in July amid allegations of widespread criminality.
Among those due to testify Tuesday were British comedian Steve Coogan, soccer player Garry Flitcroft, and Margaret Watson, whose daughter Diane was stabbed to death at her Scottish school two decades ago.
The parents of murdered British schoolgirl Milly Dowler and film star Hugh Grant were the first victims to testify on Monday, with Grant being particularly scathing.
He described mysterious break-ins, leaked medical details and hacked voice mails. Grant attacked the Mail on Sunday tabloid, accusing it of spying on his conversations. The paper denies the charge, but lawyers at the inquiry said Tuesday the tabloid's response smacked of an attempt to intimidate witnesses.
David Sherborne and Neil Garnham pointed to an article on the Mail's website describing Grant's allegations as "mendacious smears driven by his hatred of the media."
"(Is) everyone who has the temerity to give evidence critical of the press is going to face this the following morning?" Garnham asked.
Sherborne also invoked the Mail article when he said many witnesses were worried about "the sort of intimidatory tactics that we've seen in the press this morning."
The Mail's lead counsel was not at the hearing but was expected to reply later Tuesday.
Health professionals unite in WHPA Prague Call to ActionPublic release date: 21-Nov-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Janice Blondeau whpa.campaign@wma.net World Health Professions Alliance WHPA
Urge governments to ramp up fight against falsified medicines
In a first for the Central European region, national health professions organisations have discussed and endorsed the WHPA Prague Call to Action www.whpa.org/WHPA_Prague_Call_to_Action_21Nov2011.pdf , to reduce the harmful impact of falsified medical products on patients and the public. With the WHPA Prague Call to Action, health professions leaders are gearing up their response to this serious threat to patient safety and they are calling on governments in the region to do the same.
Under the banner of the "Be Aware, Take Action" campaign against counterfeit medical products, the workshop, held on 21 November in Prague, tackled the grave problem of falsified medical products worldwide. The workshop recognised that falsified medical products are, above all, a threat to patient safety with grave consequences in terms of increased disease burden, mortality and costs for healthcare systems. Health professions are extremely concerned about the current absence of harmonized international legislation, and non-deterrent sanctions on falsification of medical products that are not proportionate to the harm caused to patients.
Participants discussed the following four key strategies for the basis of a comprehensive regional action plan against falsified medical products:
Increasing capacity of our healthcare professionals to educate the public,
Fostering regional cooperation initiatives,
Strengthening collaborative practice when managing patients,
Improving collaboration with health and enforcement authorities plus other key stakeholders.
The WHPA workshop kicked off with a Roundtable on combating falsified medicines in Europe that focused on recent progress and key activities in Europe to better protect European citizens from the serious threats posed by falsified medicines.
John Chave, Secretary-General, Pharmaceutical Group of the European Union (PGEU) moderated this roundtable, stating, "The risk of falsified medicines entering the legal medicines supply chain is rising. Let's take action now, so we never have to get to the point where we lose confidence in the medicines in our local pharmacy." He continued that and for that reason PGEU supports the new European Directive on Falsified Medicines.
WHPA workshop presenters included:
Domenico Di Giorgio, Council of Europe, who spoke on "MEDICRIME: What are the new opportunities for health professional associations to work with Parties of the convention?" Mr Di Giorgio said, "The only way to stop this criminal activity is to have people from different professions around the table to find solutions, as we have done today. Now we have to focus on communicating with patients and the general public about the dangers of falsified medicines, and the dangers of buying medicines from the internet. Health professions are best placed to do this;"
Olexandr Polishchuk, WHO EURO, who presented the WHO strategy on combating counterfeit medicines in Europe, added, "We can't tell by looking at a package as to whether medicines are safe or not. Medicines do not have borders they can arrive at the post office, via illegal channels and across borders. When we all speak using the same language (norms and standards) to combat counterfeiting, we will be making progress."
Jim Thomson, Chair, European Alliance for Access to Safe Medicines EAASM, which campaigns so that the legitimate supply chain is better secured said, "Falsified medical products are completely wrong. They totally undermine the relation between doctors, other health professionals, and their patients. How can a health professional treat a patient if the medicine or the information about it is fake?" One goal of EAASM is to direct people unaware of the high proportion of counterfeit medical products on the internet back to legal sites and high street pharmacies, and then back into the legitimate supply chain.
Robert Bruchet, EFPIA/Pfizer, presented perspectives from the pharmaceutical industry. He indicated, "We are taking responsibility for implementation of the EU Directive, especially to secure all existing entry and exit points in partnership with other stakeholders, including health professionals, involved in the European supply chain."
Xuanhao Chan, representing the World Health Professions Alliance stressed the importance of vigilance when it comes to falsified medical products. "Failure to act to prevent falsification of essential medicines would be a fundamental breach of the trust patients place in public health structures."
###
Co-hosted with WHPA and the Czech Pharmacy Chamber the workshop brought together more than 40 participants from Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovenia, including leaders representing national associations of nurses, pharmacists, physical therapists, dentists and physicians, representatives from WHO regional office in Europe, Council of Europe, Pharmaceutical Group of the European Union, and the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations. The workshop also saw the participation of pharmacy, medical, dentistry, and nursing student representatives and patient groups from the region.
About WHPA www.whpa.org
The World Health Professionals Alliance WHPA is a unique alliance of The International Council of Nurses (ICN) www.icn.ch, the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) www.fip.org,
the World Confederation for Physical Therapy (WCPT) www.wcpt.org, the FDI World Dental Federation (FDI) www.fdiworldental.org and the World Medical Association (WMA) www.wma.net.
WHPA addresses global health issues striving to help deliver cost effective, quality health care worldwide. Together, the partners of the WHPA include more than 600 national member organizations, making WHPA the key point of global access to health care professionals within the five disciplines.
The International Council of Nurses (ICN) is a federation of national nurses associations, representing the more than 13 million nurses working worldwide. www.icn.ch
The International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) is the global federation of national organisations of pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists representing more than two million pharmacists around the world. www.fip.org
The World Confederation for Physical Therapy (WCPT), the global voice for physical therapists / physiotherapists, has 101 national member organisations representing over 350,000 members of
the profession. www.wcpt.org
The FDI World Dental Federation (FDI) is a federation of approximately 200 national dental associations and specialist groups representing more than one million dentists worldwide. www.fdiworldental.org
The World Medical Association (WMA) is the global federation of national medical associations from around the world, directly and indirectly representing the views of more than nine million physicians. www.wma.net
For more information about Be Aware, Take Action, see www.whpa.org/counterfeit_campaign.htm or send an email to whpa.campaign@wma.net
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Health professionals unite in WHPA Prague Call to ActionPublic release date: 21-Nov-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Janice Blondeau whpa.campaign@wma.net World Health Professions Alliance WHPA
Urge governments to ramp up fight against falsified medicines
In a first for the Central European region, national health professions organisations have discussed and endorsed the WHPA Prague Call to Action www.whpa.org/WHPA_Prague_Call_to_Action_21Nov2011.pdf , to reduce the harmful impact of falsified medical products on patients and the public. With the WHPA Prague Call to Action, health professions leaders are gearing up their response to this serious threat to patient safety and they are calling on governments in the region to do the same.
Under the banner of the "Be Aware, Take Action" campaign against counterfeit medical products, the workshop, held on 21 November in Prague, tackled the grave problem of falsified medical products worldwide. The workshop recognised that falsified medical products are, above all, a threat to patient safety with grave consequences in terms of increased disease burden, mortality and costs for healthcare systems. Health professions are extremely concerned about the current absence of harmonized international legislation, and non-deterrent sanctions on falsification of medical products that are not proportionate to the harm caused to patients.
Participants discussed the following four key strategies for the basis of a comprehensive regional action plan against falsified medical products:
Increasing capacity of our healthcare professionals to educate the public,
Fostering regional cooperation initiatives,
Strengthening collaborative practice when managing patients,
Improving collaboration with health and enforcement authorities plus other key stakeholders.
The WHPA workshop kicked off with a Roundtable on combating falsified medicines in Europe that focused on recent progress and key activities in Europe to better protect European citizens from the serious threats posed by falsified medicines.
John Chave, Secretary-General, Pharmaceutical Group of the European Union (PGEU) moderated this roundtable, stating, "The risk of falsified medicines entering the legal medicines supply chain is rising. Let's take action now, so we never have to get to the point where we lose confidence in the medicines in our local pharmacy." He continued that and for that reason PGEU supports the new European Directive on Falsified Medicines.
WHPA workshop presenters included:
Domenico Di Giorgio, Council of Europe, who spoke on "MEDICRIME: What are the new opportunities for health professional associations to work with Parties of the convention?" Mr Di Giorgio said, "The only way to stop this criminal activity is to have people from different professions around the table to find solutions, as we have done today. Now we have to focus on communicating with patients and the general public about the dangers of falsified medicines, and the dangers of buying medicines from the internet. Health professions are best placed to do this;"
Olexandr Polishchuk, WHO EURO, who presented the WHO strategy on combating counterfeit medicines in Europe, added, "We can't tell by looking at a package as to whether medicines are safe or not. Medicines do not have borders they can arrive at the post office, via illegal channels and across borders. When we all speak using the same language (norms and standards) to combat counterfeiting, we will be making progress."
Jim Thomson, Chair, European Alliance for Access to Safe Medicines EAASM, which campaigns so that the legitimate supply chain is better secured said, "Falsified medical products are completely wrong. They totally undermine the relation between doctors, other health professionals, and their patients. How can a health professional treat a patient if the medicine or the information about it is fake?" One goal of EAASM is to direct people unaware of the high proportion of counterfeit medical products on the internet back to legal sites and high street pharmacies, and then back into the legitimate supply chain.
Robert Bruchet, EFPIA/Pfizer, presented perspectives from the pharmaceutical industry. He indicated, "We are taking responsibility for implementation of the EU Directive, especially to secure all existing entry and exit points in partnership with other stakeholders, including health professionals, involved in the European supply chain."
Xuanhao Chan, representing the World Health Professions Alliance stressed the importance of vigilance when it comes to falsified medical products. "Failure to act to prevent falsification of essential medicines would be a fundamental breach of the trust patients place in public health structures."
###
Co-hosted with WHPA and the Czech Pharmacy Chamber the workshop brought together more than 40 participants from Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovenia, including leaders representing national associations of nurses, pharmacists, physical therapists, dentists and physicians, representatives from WHO regional office in Europe, Council of Europe, Pharmaceutical Group of the European Union, and the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations. The workshop also saw the participation of pharmacy, medical, dentistry, and nursing student representatives and patient groups from the region.
About WHPA www.whpa.org
The World Health Professionals Alliance WHPA is a unique alliance of The International Council of Nurses (ICN) www.icn.ch, the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) www.fip.org,
the World Confederation for Physical Therapy (WCPT) www.wcpt.org, the FDI World Dental Federation (FDI) www.fdiworldental.org and the World Medical Association (WMA) www.wma.net.
WHPA addresses global health issues striving to help deliver cost effective, quality health care worldwide. Together, the partners of the WHPA include more than 600 national member organizations, making WHPA the key point of global access to health care professionals within the five disciplines.
The International Council of Nurses (ICN) is a federation of national nurses associations, representing the more than 13 million nurses working worldwide. www.icn.ch
The International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) is the global federation of national organisations of pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists representing more than two million pharmacists around the world. www.fip.org
The World Confederation for Physical Therapy (WCPT), the global voice for physical therapists / physiotherapists, has 101 national member organisations representing over 350,000 members of
the profession. www.wcpt.org
The FDI World Dental Federation (FDI) is a federation of approximately 200 national dental associations and specialist groups representing more than one million dentists worldwide. www.fdiworldental.org
The World Medical Association (WMA) is the global federation of national medical associations from around the world, directly and indirectly representing the views of more than nine million physicians. www.wma.net
For more information about Be Aware, Take Action, see www.whpa.org/counterfeit_campaign.htm or send an email to whpa.campaign@wma.net
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
LOS ANGELES - Matt Kemp and the Los Angeles Dodgers staked their futures together Friday, finalizing a $160 million, eight-year contract that matches the seventh-highest deal in baseball history.
The star center fielder and general manager Ned Colletti each signed the agreement during a news conference at Dodger Stadium, with lame duck owner Frank McCourt looking on.
"This is very special for me," Kemp said. "It's a joy to be known as a Dodger."
It's the richest agreement in club history, topping pitcher Kevin Brown's $105 million, seven-year deal before the 1999 season.
Brown proved to be a bust, while Kemp is coming off a career season.
The 27-year-old, a favorite to win the NL MVP award next week, led the league in homers (39) and RBIs (126), while finishing third in batting average at .324 and stealing 40 bases.
"Another eight years in LA. That sounds good. I love this city and the fans," said Kemp, dressed in a bowtie and three-piece suit, his voice sounding froggy from a cold.
"I definitely want to spend the rest of my career here. I know how unbelievable LA is when you're winning baseball games."
Kemp's agreement trails only the last two contracts of Alex Rodriguez ($275 million and $252 million), and deals for Derek Jeter ($189 million), Joe Mauer ($184 million), Mark Teixeira ($180 million) and CC Sabathia ($161 million) and matches the agreement Manny Ramirez signed with Boston before the 2001 season.
Kemp will receive a $2 million signing bonus payable on April 15, and a $10 million salary next year, of which $2 million is deferred until April 15, 2013.
He will get $20 million in 2013, followed by $21 million in both 2014 and 2015, and $21.5 million in each of the final four years.
"A lot of people tried to put pressure on me this past year and I just rode with it," Kemp said. "Now it's something that I love, the pressure."
Kemp could have become a free agent after the 2012 season, and Colletti said the team wanted to lock up a known commodity with proven numbers.
"He does everything, including playing every day," the GM said. "In this day and age, finding somebody that's got power and speed is one of the toughest things to find."
Kemp's signing came a day after Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw won the NL Cy Young Award.
McCourt said one of his priorities when he bought the team in 2004 was to resuscitate the farm system so it would better feed the big league club.
"One of the things the Dodgers were missing was that homegrown talent," he said.
"What the last couple of days have really demonstrated is that we have a development system that is doing extremely well and producing the types of individuals that can bring consistent winning back for this franchise and sustain that over the long term because that's what our fans deserve."
The Dodgers filed for bankruptcy protection in June, and McCourt has reached agreement with Major League Baseball to sell the franchise by April 30, which would give him the funds to pay his divorce settlement.
"I just want to tell you I'm proud of you," McCourt said, turning toward Kemp. "You really see that opportunity which a lot of young people don't do and you seize that opportunity.
"Now it's time to be that leader that you're capable of being. I'll be watching your progress very, very closely and I wish you a tremendous next eight years. Teams need players that are with one organization for their entire career."
McCourt soon slipped away from the gathering that included Kemp's parents, Carl and Judy, and other relatives.
"At the beginning I didn't think I was going to be a pro baseball player," said Kemp, from Midwest City, Okla. "My dream was to be a pro basketball player in the NBA, but my mom and dad made me stick with it."
The megadeal completes a turnaround for Kemp in his performance and attitude. In April 2010, Colletti publicly criticized Kemp in what was a low point in their relationship.
"I let him know, 'Look, if we get your full effort, that's all we need,'" Colletti recalled. "A few weeks after that it took a huge leap forward, and it continues to leap forward. We decided we were better off being together than apart."
Colletti also is seeking an additional starting pitcher and a veteran infielder for 2012. He said brief trade discussions at the GM meetings went nowhere but could merit more pursuit at next month's winter meetings or later.
Colletti said talks are ongoing with pitcher Hiroki Kuroda, who is a free agent.
"I don't know whether it's going to be possible or not," he said. "Part of it is financial, and part is whether he wants to go back to Japan."
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Phillies make deal, but not done
??CSN: The Phillies add some more depth to their bench by picking up Ty Wiggington on Sunday night, but are still a long way from making an progress with free agent shortstop Jimmy Rollins.
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U.S. President Barack Obama walks as he attends the East Asia Summit at Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia on Saturday Nov. 19, 2011. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
U.S. President Barack Obama walks as he attends the East Asia Summit at Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia on Saturday Nov. 19, 2011. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
U.S. President Barack Obama, left, walks with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton after the plenary session of the East Asia Summit in Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia, Saturday, Nov. 19, 2011. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)
U.S. President Barack Obama looks after attending the East Asia Summit at Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia on Saturday Nov. 19, 2011. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
Indonesians display posters during a protest against U.S. President Barack Obama in Jakarta, Indonesia, Saturday, Nov. 19, 2011. Obama vivited the resort island of Bali to attend East Asia Summit. Posters say, "Refuse Obama's visit in Indonesia." (AP Photo/Irwin Fedriansyah)
BALI, Indonesia (AP) ? An assertive President Barack Obama got much of what he wanted during his Asia-Pacific trip because the results didn't depend on negotiating with the world.
He mostly just announced them.
Obama expanded the U.S. military presence in southeast Asia, sent tough signals to China in its backyard, ordered his top diplomat on a breakthrough mission to Myanmar and presided over the jobs-creating sale of Boeing planes to an Indonesian airline company.
It was a trip on his terms, unlike the dynamic he has with the U.S. Congress.
Obama might as well have borrowed his mantra of "We Can't Wait" ? a slogan from his re-election campaign ? and applied it to his foreign agenda.
Still, Obama returns home without any firm commitments from Russia or China over stiffer penalties against Iran over its disputed nuclear program. Obama insisted that the three countries were unified on preventing a nuclear-armed Iran and he said in general terms that they would figure out the next steps together.
The president has few lasting images to show from the nine-day trip, which was ending Sunday with his return to the White House. One was the scene aboard a docked aircraft carrier in San Diego, where Obama saluted veterans and watched a college basketball game.
But much of his time was spent in summit ballrooms, without defining moments of diplomacy or much engagement with local citizens.
Far from Washington, Obama had few domestic distractions on his nine-day trip. That allowed him to stay on his message of trade, security and human rights.
The region was eager for America's presence and influence, often as a counter to China's might. So Obama held more sway and ran into less visible pushback, except for bristling from the Chinese. The White House was careful not to promise too much from this trip all along, making its goals all that much more possible to achieve.
This was not, for example, the Middle East, where Obama's many attempts to pull the Israelis and Palestinians back together have left him little to show.
It did not hurt that Obama had home-field advantage for about half the time he was away.
The United States hosted the yearly Asia-Pacific economic forum for the first in about 20 years. For the site, Obama chose Hawaii, the American foothold in the Pacific and his birthplace.
When he made time to squeeze in a political fundraiser outside Honolulu, Obama saw longtime friends and acknowledged the bias for "the hometown kid."
In Hawaii and across Australia and Indonesia, the goal was to show a deep U.S. commitment to the fastest growing part of the world. It is a message with major implications. For example, which region may suffer from coming U.S. defense cuts (not Asia) and how the Obama administration sees a way out of economic stagnation (definitely Asia).
Getting the relevance of that message through to voters at home was another matter.
Obama had stretches without much news and competed for media coverage with the Penn State child sex abuse scandal and the politics of the 2012 election.
To the degree Americans saw Obama on the world stage, he looked comfortable and confident. That was surely a picture the White House enjoyed. Compare that with Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry's "oops" debate moment when he forgot that the Energy Department was one of the agencies he wanted to eliminate or Herman Cain's bungling of a basic question about Libya in a videotaped interview.
Right before this trip came Obama's visit to France for a meeting of the world's major economies. There, Europe was the driver and Obama seemed secondary.
Not the next trip.
In Hawaii, Obama announced at least a framework of a deal for a new Pacific trade zone with eight other countries. Then Japan, Canada and Mexico showed interest.
Asked often about China, he offered familiar assurances that the U.S. wants to China to grow without containment, but he did so while admonishing the rising Asian giant.
Obama sent a message to China about its military buildup, following earlier signals from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. When Obama said the United States is a Pacific power, China was listening. That was especially true when Obama ordered Marines to start setting up a hub of operation in Australia.
As the president put it: "We will preserve our unique ability to project power and deter threats to peace."
That declaration came after he had already challenged China to show more maturity in its economic relations with other nations.
"That requires them to take responsibility, to understand that their role is different now than it might have been 20 years ago or 30 years ago, where if they were breaking some rules, it didn't really matter, it did not have a significant impact," Obama said. "Now they've grown up, and so they're going to have to help manage this process in a responsible way."
By the final stretch in Indonesia, where Obama joined East Asian leaders to talk about matters of disaster responses and security on the open sea, he had one more move to make.
He announced that he was sending Clinton to Myanmar to take stock of a fledgling reform movement after years of brutal repression. The U.S. had not made such an overture to Myanmar, also known as Burma, in decades, and Obama didn't need any legislative approval to seize what he called an historic opportunity.
"Millions of people may get the chance to live with a greater measure of freedom, prosperity, and dignity. And that possibility is too important to ignore," he said.
In other words, he won't wait.
____
EDITOR'S NOTE ? AP White House Correspondent Ben Feller has covered the Bush and Obama presidencies.
NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Reuters) ? President Barack Obama said on Friday he saw "flickers of progress" in Myanmar and dispatched Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to visit the isolated country next month to explore new ties.
Obama, in Indonesia for a summit of Asia-Pacific leaders, said he had spoken for the first time with Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi who told him she supported more U.S. engagement with the country also known as Burma.
He said the release of political prisoners, relaxing of media restrictions and signs of legislative change in the past few weeks were "the most important steps toward reform in Burma that we've seen in years."
"We want to seize what could be a historic opportunity for progress and make it clear that if Burma continues to travel down the road of democratic reform, it can forge a new relationship with the United States of America," Obama said, also citing ongoing U.S. concerns about Myanmar's stance with North Korea and human rights issues.
"If Burma fails to move down the path of reform, it will continue to face sanctions and isolation. But if it seizes this moment, then reconciliation can prevail," he said.
Myanmar is now ruled by a civilian government after an election last year that was meant to hand over power after nearly five decades of military rule.
Many Western governments have expressed doubts that the new civilian authority is committed to democratic change and has embarked on a different path from its military predecessors.
Clinton's visit will be the first by a U.S. secretary of state for more than 50 years. She will travel to Yangon and the capital Naypyitaw and "explore whether the United States can empower a positive transition in Burma and begin a new chapter between our countries," Obama said.
HUMAN RIGHTS
With sanctions preventing Western investment in Myanmar, China has long been its biggest ally on the international stage, also investing in Myanmar's infrastructure, hydropower dams and twin oil and gas pipelines to help feed southern China's growing energy needs.
But the relationship has often been strained, with a long history of resentment of China among the Burmese population and fierce public opposition to a Chinese-built dam at Myitsone that prompted Myanmar President Thein Sein to shelve the project last month, a move that stunned Beijing.
When he took office in 2009, Obama made reaching out to American adversaries a signature part of his foreign policy approach. That included an effort early to engage with Iran.
But the administration took a cautious approach on Myanmar because of U.S. concerns about human rights. Obama requested a policy review on Myanmar, which eventually set the stage for the effort to reach out now.
A U.S. official said Obama had spoken to Suu Kyi from Air Force One on his way to Indonesia Thursday evening.
They reviewed progress made in Myanmar since her release from house arrest last November. Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize, had been detained 15 of the previous 21 years.
Obama is not scheduled to have a bilateral meeting with Sein but is expected to see him during the East Asia Summit he is attending in Bali, as the first U.S. president to do so.
Myanmar is seeking to diversify its economy by courting other regional powers and India, which analysts say is aimed at boosting its economy and reducing its long, at times uneasy dependence on Beijing.
Southeast Asian nations endorsed Myanmar on Thursday for the chairmanship of its regional grouping in 2014, gambling that the isolated country can stick to reforms begun this year that could lead it out of half a century of isolation. (Additional reporting by Jason Szep and Martin Petty; Editing by Robert Birsel)
FRIDAY, Nov. 18 (HealthDay News) -- Young chimpanzees play and develop in much the same way as human children do, and researchers say that might help shed light on the role of human play behavior.
Italian researchers found that solitary play in chimpanzees peaks in infancy, while levels of social play remained relatively constant between infants and juveniles. However, there were significant changes in measures of social play such as complexity and playmate choice as the chimps grew up.
A comparison of young chimp and human behavior revealed that both species show significant development in play behavior as they progress from infancy to childhood, and both consistently use playful facial expressions to communicate and build social connections.
The researchers, Elisabetta Palagi and Giada Cordoni of the University of Pisa, also found that both chimps and humans prefer peers for play partners.
The study was published Nov. 16 in the online journal PLoS One.
This is the first research to compare development of play behavior in chimpanzees and humans in a standardized way, the study authors noted in a journal news release.
More information
The Nemours Foundation has more about the importance of play.
TOKYO (Reuters) ? Japanese prosecutors are set to question a former president of disgraced Olympus Corp over an accounting scandal engulfing the firm, as investigators probe for possible involvement of organized crime, media reports said on Friday.
Former Olympus president Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, who quit on October 26, and two others face voluntary questioning as early as this weekend, Kyodo news agency reported.
Olympus, a once-proud maker of cameras and medical equipment, has admitted to hiding losses for decades through improper accounting, but it has yet to disclose the extent of this concealment and what writedowns it will now need to take.
Olympus President Shuichi Takayama has blamed Kikukawa, who quit on October 26, Vice-President Hisashi Mori and internal auditor Hideo Yamada for the cover-up, and said he would consider criminal complaints against them. Mori has been fired and Yamada has offered to resign.
The New York Times reported that Japanese officials are investigating an apparent $4.9 billion hole in the accounts of Olympus as well as possible involvement of organized crime.
"Olympus made payouts amounting to many times the losses it sought to hide, and investigators suspect much of the additional money went to crime groups," the New York Times said, citing a memo prepared by investigators.
The memo says authorities want to find out if Olympus worked with crime syndicates to obscure the losses and paid them huge sums of money for their help, the newspaper said.
The memo had been circulated at a recent meeting of officials from Japan's Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission (SESC), the Tokyo Prosecutors Office and the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, the paper said.
A Tokyo police spokeswoman confirmed that a probe of Olympus was under way but declined to give details. The Tokyo prosecutors office and the SESC declined comment.
Olympus declined comment on the media reports.
Links between companies, "yakuza" gangsters and politicians have a long tradition in Japan and authorities have been trying to crack down for decades, most recently with laws targeting not only crime syndicates but firms that do business with them.
The New York Times quoted the memo as saying Olympus had paid a total of 481 billion yen ($6.25 billion) through questionable acquisition payments, investments and advisory fees stretching from 2000 to 2009, but only 105 billion yen ($1.36 billion) had been booked in its financial statements, leaving 376 billion yen ($4.88 billion) unaccounted for.
FUNDS HARD TO TRACE
So far, Olympus has admitted to improperly accounting for only part of $1.3 billion in payments linked to mergers and acquisitions going back to 2006, though an independent panel commissioned by the firm to investigate the matter was still trying to get to the bottom of the issue.
A large share of these payments went to obscure Cayman Islands firms, making its difficult to trace the money.
Olympus said in a statement on Thursday that former vice president Mori had told the company none of the funds involved in the cover-up scheme had gone to "anti-social forces" -- a Japanese euphemism for gangsters -- but the firm was awaiting results of an independent panel appointed by Olympus to investigate the affair.
The panel report is due out in early December.
Olympus has lost more than 70 percent of its market value since the scandal broke last month, though investors had begun to hope the firm could avoid being delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Olympus shares were down 11 percent after the Kyodo report, extending earlier losses.
Delisting would effectively cut Olympus off from equity capital markets, constraining its funding and making it harder for its lenders to keep supporting the firm in its battle to avoid having to sell off its core businesses.
Proof that organized crime was involved could force the Tokyo exchange to delist the firm. It would also make it hard, if not impossible, for banks to make fresh loans to Olympus.
"If a company is found to have problems, like the involvement of anti-social forces, banks are not able to give support," Katsunori Nagayasu, chairman of the Japanese Bankers Association and president of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, the country's biggest bank, said on Thursday.
Lawyer Shin Ushijima, a former prosecutor, said organized crime involvement at first blush appeared unlikely but could not be ruled out, if gangsters had gotten wind of the loss cover-ups and sought payments to stay silent.
"I don't think it is likely, but we cannot deny it (the possibility)," he said. "If the yakuza got some information, it means that someone spoke about it and that is very unlikely."
Other experts say gangsters often begin by blackmailing an executive or company over one scandal and then push for more money to keep that original payoff a secret.
($1 = 76.985 Japanese Yen)
(Writing by Linda Sieg; Editing by Mark Bendeich and Alex Richardson)
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