Okay, so there are hot couples and then there are hot couples. And Olivia Palermo and her hunky, hunky bf Johannes Huebl definitely fall into the latter.
Yesterday the reality star "It" girl and her model boyfriend were spotted tanning and making out in beautiful St. Barths (talk about paradise on earth). The always fashion forward Palermo was seen wearing a breezy beach cover up and a bandeau bikini. Huebl on the other hand may have started a new denim-on-the-beach trend in a chambray shirt and black trunks.
We admit it -- this is far from Olivia's best ensemble, but who among us wouldn't sell their soul to be on a beach right now with this hottie? Now that's what we would call a happy new year.
PHOTOS:
Photo Credit: Pacific Coast News
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Space spider dies in D.C.: Neffi survived 55 days aboard the International Space Station. But the famous spider died after four days in the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, in Washington, D.C.
By Staff,?Associated Press / December 6, 2012
A jumping red-backed spider spent 55 days on the International Space Station. But his trip to Washington was less successful.
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Nefertiti, a spider that traveled 42 million miles through space before returning to Earth in October, died after being sent to the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.
The experiment was designed to determine if a spider dependent on gravity for catching its meals would be able to adapt and eat in micro gravity.
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According to the Boulder Daily Camera , the spider was able to hunt down fruit flies in her sealed space environment on the International Space Station. The spider managed to survive despite a miscalculation on the amount of food needed for the mission.
The Johnson jumping spider (species Phidippusjohnsoni). arrived at the Smithsonian's Insect Zoo this past Thursday. By, Monday it had expired.
The Boulder Daily Camera reported:
"Neffi, of a species that typically enjoys a lifespan of about one year, was 10 months old. Monday's passing of the so-called "spidernaut," according to the Smithsonian, was due to natural causes. However, the Smithsonian conceded that no necropsy was performed on the deceased arachnid.
The experiment that made Neffi famous was conceived as part of the NASA-sponsored YouTube Space Lab contest in which two student-proposed studies were selected from thousands submitted worldwide by video. Amr Mohamed, 18, of Egypt, suggested examining whether a spider normally dependent on gravity for catching its meals would be able to adapt, and eat, in a micro-gravity environment."
According to NASA, Mohamed's project was designed to look at whether jumping spiders, like the zebra and red-backed species, can adapt their hunting abilities to microgravity. Jumping spiders do not build webs for catching their food. These particular spiders hunt using their excellent vision to track and stalk prey, jumping and striking with a lethal bite -- similar to cats hunting mice. ?
?"I have always been fascinated by science because with a handful of equations, I can explain the world around me," said Mohamed in his Meet the Winner YouTube video. "The idea of sending an experiment to space is the most exciting thing that I have ever heard in my life."
Eventually, Mohamed's experiment was designed by Colorado University. It demonstrated that a spider was able to hunt down fruit flies in her sealed space environment on the International Space Station just fine -- until her food supply ran out, explained Stefanie Countryman, the projects manager for K-12 Educational Projects at CU's BioServe Space Technologies.
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With college tuition costs skyrocketing???an estimated $1 trillion in student loan debt now exceeds credit card debt in the U.S.???many families are rethinking the traditional path to career success. As it turns out, a four-year college degree isn?t the only way to land a good-paying job. A recent?study?by financial literacy website?NerdWallet, based on forecasts by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, reveals that jobs requiring only a two-year associate?s degree will have the highest average growth through 2020.
?The common, accepted advice is to go to school for four years or longer, but there are great opportunities to go for less time and still get a high return on your investment,? says Joseph Audette, VP of financial literacy and education?at NerdWallet. ?It?s not just about going to college. It?s about going with a plan for success.?
The average growth rate of all jobs by 2020 is just 14 percent, while high-growth jobs requiring an associate?s degree will grow by an average of 35 percent. At the same time, associate?s degrees have the shortest payback period. Lower tuition rates coupled with high median earnings on the job means these graduates pay off their tuition in just two years, on average.
Furthermore, many of the jobs that require only an associate?s degree pay more than those requiring a bachelor?s or master?s. ?Why go through additional years of school and have more debt when the job isn?t going to be paying as much?? asks Audette.
According to Nerdwallet?s analysis of the 10 best-paying jobs for associate?s degree holders,?air traffic controllers?come out on top, earning a median salary of $108,000. These students must attend a Federal Aviation Administration certified school and receive long-term on-the-job training. However, while it is very well paid, it?s also stressful and not expected to be a high-growth job.
When comparing the lists of the highest-paying jobs and the fastest-growing jobs that require only an associate?s degree, three jobs emerge as the best.?Registered nurses?earn a median of $65,000 and will grow by 26 percent, with a whopping 3.5 million jobs projected for 2020.?Medical sonographers, who administer ultrasounds, earn $64,000 a year and will grow by 44 percent, and?dental hygienists?earn $68,000 and will grow by 38 percent.
Many of these jobs are health?care and engineering support positions, driven by the aging baby boomer population and the increasing automation of technology and manufacturing machinery. Hiring more support positions versus highly trained professionals is more cost-efficient for employers, says Audette, who expects the trend to continue over the next few decades.
The full list of the 10 best-paying jobs:
No. 1: Air Traffic Controllers Median Salary: $108,040 Job Description: Coordinate the flight paths of planes.
No. 2: Construction Managers ? ? Median Salary: $83,860 Job Description: Plan and supervise construction projects.
No. 3: Radiation Therapists ? ? Median Salary: $74,980 Job Description: Administer radiation treatments to patients suffering from cancer and other diseases.
No. 4: Nuclear Medicine Technologists ? ? Median Salary: $68,560 Job Description: Scan patients, and prepare and administer radioactive drugs.
No. 5: Dental Hygienists ? ? Median Salary: $68,250 Job Description: Clean teeth, examine patients and provide preventative dental care.
No. 6: Nuclear Technicians ? ? Median Salary: $68,090 Job Description: Assist physicists and engineers with nuclear research and nuclear production.
No. 7: Registered Nurses ? ? Median Salary: $64,690 Job Description: Provide and coordinate patient care.
No. 8: Diagnostic Medical Sonographers ? ? Median Salary: $64,380 Job Description: Administer sonograms to diagnose medical conditions.
No. 9: Aerospace Engineering and Operations Technicians ? ? Median Salary: $58,080 Job Description: Operate and maintain equipment used in aircraft and spacecraft production.
No. 10: Electrical and Electronic Engineering Technicians ? ? Median Salary: $56,040 Job Description: Help engineers design and develop electronic equipment.
Venezuela's vice-president arrived in Havana on Saturday in a sudden and unexpected trip to visit Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez as he recovers from cancer surgery.
Communist Party newspaper Granma published online a photo of a smiling Venezuelan Vice-President Nicolas Maduro being greeted at the airport in the Cuban capital by Bruno Rodriguez, the island's foreign minister.
Venezuela's Vice President Nicolas Maduro visited Chavez in Cuba along with the country's Attorney General Cilia Flores. (Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters)
"From there, [Maduro] went directly to the hospital where President Hugo Chavez Frias is receiving treatment to greet his family members and Venezuelan Science and Technology Minister Jorge Arreaza Monserrat, and to discuss with doctors the adequate moment to visit the President the same day," the paper said.
Granma added that Maduro was accompanied by Venezuelan Attorney General Cilia Flores.
The previous night in Caracas, Venezuela, Maduro did not specify how long he would be away but said Energy Minister Hector Navarro would be in charge of government affairs in the meantime. Maduro's announcement came at the end of a long speech at the inauguration of a state governor, and he offered no information on the purpose of his visit beyond seeing Chavez.
In a speech Saturday, Venezuela's National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello said only that Maduro went to Cuba to visit with Chavez and urge him "to follow his treatment." Venezuelan press officials in Caracas said they had no additional information Saturday.
Lack of transparency around Chavez's health angers opposition
Maduro's trip comes amid growing uncertainty about Chavez's health.
The Venezuelan leader has not been seen or heard from since undergoing his fourth cancer-related surgery Dec. 11, and government officials have said he might not return in time for his scheduled Jan. 10 inauguration for a new six-year term. There have been no updates on Chavez's condition since Maduro announced Monday night that he had received a phone call from the president who was up and walking.
'What I still don't understand is who is president. Who is governing the country now?'?Alfonso Marquina, lawmaker
Venezuela's opposition criticized Maduro for what they said was a lack of transparency surrounding Chavez's health.
"What I still don't understand is who is president," Lawmaker Alfonso Marquina said. "Who is governing the country now? As for the purpose of this sudden and improvised trip, only the national government knows."
Maduro is the highest ranking Venezuelan official to visit Chavez since the surgery. Bolivian President Evo Morales travelled to Cuba last weekend in a quick trip that only added to the uncertainty surrounding Chavez's condition. Morales has not commented publicly on his visit or even confirmed that he saw Chavez while he was there.
Before leaving for Cuba, Chavez acknowledged the precariousness of his situation and designated Maduro as his successor, telling supporters they should vote for the vice-president if a new presidential election was necessary. Although Chavez has delegated some administrative powers to Maduro, he did not leave the vice-president officially in charge of the presidency.
Venezuela's Democratic Unity bloc of opposition parties suggested Saturday it was time for the government to declare the president temporarily absent from power.
"They are trying to hide what every day is a fact: The government does not want to recognize that there is a temporary absence of the president from his duties," the bloc said in a statement.
On Friday morning, Maduro read a New Year message from Chavez to Venezuelan troops, though it was unclear when the president composed it.
"I have had to battle again for my health," Chavez said in the message. He expressed "complete faith in the commitment and loyalty that the revolutionary armed forces are showing me in this very complicated and difficult moment."
Confusion over presidency if Chavez misses inauguration
A group of opposition candidates demanded Friday that Maduro provide an official medical report on Chavez's health. Lawmaker Dinorah Figuera said the country needs "a medical report from those who are responsible for the diagnosis, evaluation and treatment of the president."
A supporter of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez holds a portrait of Chavez at a mass to pray for his health in Caracas on Dec. 19.(Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters)
"The Venezuelan people deserve official and institutional information," Figuera told Venezuelan media.
A legal fight is brewing over what should happen if Chavez, who was re-elected in October, cannot return in time for the inauguration before the National Assembly.
National Assembly Diosdado Cabello insisted Monday that Venezuela's constitution allows the president to take the oath before the Supreme Court at any time if he cannot do it before the legislature on Jan. 10.
Opposition leaders argue the constitution requires that new elections be held within 30 days if Chavez cannot take office Jan. 10. They have criticized the confusion over the inauguration as the latest example of the Chavez government's disdain for democratic rule of law and have demanded clarity on whether the president is fit to govern.
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Katt Williams, the comedian who has repeatedly found himself on the wrong side of the law, is out on bail after being arrested in Los Angeles on suspicion of child endangerment and possession of a stolen gun.
Police Officer Norma Eisenman says Williams was taken into custody Friday after the LA County Department of Children and Family Services did a welfare check at his home. Authorities found more than one firearm, one of which had been reported stolen.
Eisenman says the DCFS did not specify how many children lived at the home or whether they were removed.
The 41-year-old was arrested this month on a felony warrant related to a police chase. In November, he was accused of hitting a man on the head with a bottle during a fight.
Don't waste your life this way, says Ron Rosenbaum
Photo by Otmar Winterleitner/iStockPhoto.
?Should You Go To Grad School? My story,? by Ron Rosenbaum. Relinquish the world of the living for ?dusty, drowsy? seminar rooms, where students drift around in suspended animation and professors hubristically trash all of Hamlet?s best lines? Never, never, never, never, never, says Rosenbaum (quoting Lear). Get thee behind me, grad school.???
?The Departed: Three soon-to-be-former congressmen talk about how bad things have gotten,? by David Weigel. Weigel conducts exit interviews with outgoing representatives about what it was like ?to serve in an institution 85 percent of Americans can?t stand.? The politicos dispense life wisdom (?Anytime you?re explaining, you?re losing?), reminisce about colleagues, and try to pinpoint when they first intimated that ?this Congress would be rough.?
?The One-Eyed Man Is King: How did the monocle become a symbol of wealth?? by Bryan Lowder. By being inconvenient, impractical, and expensive enough to assume the connotations of an ornament, rather than a useful device. After holding up a magnifying glass to the posh history of the eyepiece, Lowder informs us we can still buy monocles from retailer Warby Parker for $50.?
?A Christmas Miracle: Packaging Is Less Infuriating. Did you swear as much at clamshells and twist ties this year?? by Farhad Manjoo. The package designer?s lament, according to Manjoo, is that no one ever notices packaging unless it is truly awful. We expect plastic ties to slip off like water and cardboard to unfold itself. But our unreasonable expectations are nearer to being met in 2012, as retailers continue to research how they can improve the unwrapping experience. ?Joy to the world!? concludes Manjoo. ?The clamshell is rare, and soon it will be dead.??
?Georgia?s Hunger Games: Fewer than 4,000 adults in the Southern state receive welfare, even as poverty is soaring. How Georgia declared war on its poorest citizens?leaving them to fight for themselves,? by Neil deMause. Rising poverty rates, plunging welfare rolls, and a state government that sees financial aid as a gladiatorial contest: The dystopian reality in Georgia could have risen from the pages of a Suzanne Collins novel. Combining grim statistics and face-to-face conversations with poor Americans, deMause argues for a policy overhaul.??
?The Worst Cads of 2012: From the dirtbags (Chris Brown) to the doxxed (Violentacrez), our list of the year?s most accomplished sleazeballs,? by Holly Allen and Virginia Choi. What do Rush Limbaugh, Lance Armstrong, and Kristen Stewart have in common? Way too much chutzpah and the ignominious distinction of being included in our yearly roundup of jerks, arses, clownheads, and scumbags. Congratulations?
?25 Years of Prozac, 100 Years of Crosswords: All your 2013 anniversary coverage, previewed in 2012,? by Matthew J.X. Malady. Spoilers abound as Malady scans 2013 for important anniversaries, including the 10th birthday of the Apple iTunes Store and the 50th anniversary of ZIP codes. He speculates about which news outlets will seize on which story, what headlines they?ll deploy, whom they?ll quote, and more. If he?s right, stay tuned to Slate for a blistering takedown of Pride and Prejudice, 200 years after its publication.
?The Top Newfound Species of 2012: Meet the gorgeous, creepy, goofy plants and animals discovered this year,? by Kara Brandeisky. Brandeisky introduces us to the latest footnotes in the book of life, among them a Gollum-faced lesula monkey, the world?s tiniest frog, a skink lizard with a vivid blue tail, a venomous primate, and a real life Swedish Fish. (It?s called a reticulated dragonet.)
?Let Old Complaints Be Forgot: Prudie shares updates from memorable letters as 2012 comes to a close,? by Emily Yoffe. Wondering what ever happened to that dad who wanted to ask his infertile Asian wife to please find a white egg donor? Or to the widower whose stepdaughter developed feelings for him? After following up with some of her most intriguing interlocutors, Slate?s Dear Prudie reports on where they are now.
?The Best Worst Brews: A taste test of cheap beers. (No, Bud Light isn?t cheap enough to be a ?cheap beer?),? by Troy Patterson. Slate readers voted, and Patterson received his marching orders: to sample and rank the cheapest of budget beers and live to tell the tale. Busch or PBR? Natural Light or Porkslap Pale Ale? We sip so you don?t have to.
Reviewed?by?Robert Jasmer, MD; Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco
Cancer treatment plans by multidisciplinary teams, or tumor boards, may not improve care or outcomes, an analysis of Veterans Affairs' data suggested.
Only one out of 27 measures of use, quality, and survival showed any significant advantage to tumor boards after adjustment for multiple comparisons, Nancy L. Keating, MD, MPH, of Harvard and the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, and colleagues found.
Several measures of recommended care actually went in the wrong direction with cancer-specific tumor boards, such as lower use of white blood cell growth factors with cyclophosphamide, adriamycin, vincristine, and prednisone (CHOP) in diffuse large B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma, they reported online in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
While these group meetings are designed to better coordinate care among specialists and ultimately improve its quality, it's possible they just don't help, the group noted.
But "it might also mean that tumor boards are only as good as their structural and functional components and the expertise of the participants, and because tumor boards likely vary in their efficacy depending on these factors, measuring only the presence of a tumor board may not be sufficient to understand their effects," they wrote.
That should come as no surprise to anyone who has ever been part of a team huddle, agreed Douglas Blayney, MD, of the Stanford Cancer Institute in Stanford, Calif., agreed in an accompanying editorial.
"Execution of the plan is how we get to good outcomes regardless of the brilliance of the plan, the talent of the team, or the difficulty of the task," he wrote.
Although the study's results are disappointing, tumor boards have too long a history for them to go away, Blayney noted.
Instead, he suggested giving the boards feedback if their recommendations were followed, and why or why not, as a tool to improve them.
The researchers surveyed VA medical centers on their use of tumor boards and linked the answers to cancer registry and administrative data for patients with colorectal, lung, prostate, hematologic, and breast cancers diagnosed from 2001 to 2004 and followed through 2005.
Three-quarters of the centers (103 of 138) said they had at least one tumor board.
Of the 41% that had multiple tumor boards, all had one for lung cancer specifically, 95% had one for colorectal cancer, and 83% had a prostate cancer-specific tumor board (83%).
These boards almost always included medical oncologists, pathologists, and surgeons. Other participants were radiation oncologists (81%), radiologists (76%), social workers (31%), palliative care specialists (31%), and nutritionists (21%).
In the unadjusted analyses, seven of the 27 measures of care assessed were significantly linked to the presence of any tumor board:
Stage I/II lung cancer not treated with curative surgery was more likely to get radiation if treated at a general tumor board compared with no tumor board or a lung cancer-specific tumor board.
Stage IIIA lung cancer not treated surgically was more likely to get chemotherapy and radiation at centers with a general tumor board or a lung cancer?specific tumor board versus no tumor board.
Limited-stage small-cell lung cancer was more likely to receive chemotherapy and radiation at centers with a general tumor board or a lung cancer-specific tumor board versus none.
Metastatic prostate cancer was more likely to be treated with an oral antiandrogen before gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist therapy if seen at a center with a prostate cancer-specific or general tumor board versus none.
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma was more likely to be treated with the CHOP chemotherapy at centers with no tumor board, or with a hematologic cancer-specific tumor board, versus one with a general tumor board.
CHOP chemotherapy was more likely to be given with white blood cell growth factor support at centers with a general tumor board or no tumor board versus with a hematologic cancer-specific tumor board.
More than one emergency visit in the last 30 days of life was more likely without any tumor board, or with a tumor board that had a palliative care specialist, versus with a tumor board without a palliative specialist.
After multivariate adjustment for patient sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, the only significant association was that limited-stage small-cell lung cancer patients seen at VA centers with a general or a lung cancer-specific tumor board were still more likely to be treated with chemotherapy and radiation than when seen at centers without any tumor board (P<0.00185).
A possible explanation is that information about some types of recommended care are widely enough known without tumor boards, particularly in an integrated delivery system where care may be better coordinated than in other settings, Keating's group suggested.
Study limitations were a lack of data on format or frequency of tumor board meetings and whether the individual patients whose outcomes were analyzed were discussed by the tumor boards.
The analysis was funded by the Department of Veterans Affairs through the Office of Policy and Planning.
The study authors and Blayney provided no information on conflicts of interest.
Primary source: Journal of the National Cancer Institute Source reference: Keating NL, et al "Tumor boards and the quality of cancer care" J Natl Cancer Inst 2013.
Additional source: Journal of the National Cancer Institute Source reference: Blayney DW, et al "Tumor boards (team Huddles) aren't enough to reach the goal" J Natl Cancer Inst 2013.
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Today is Nathan Norman's 5th birthday, a milestone he and his family have been focused on all year ? truly a gift for the Virginia boy, stricken with terminal brain cancer just before his first birthday.
Nathan's tumultuous journey is chronicled on CaringBridge, a site used by families to keep others informed during medical treatment. You can see lots more via his Facebook page, and view a short YouTube video, which is uploaded with this story, about Nathan's journey.
The New Hampshire connection came a few weeks ago, when word of Nathan's one Christmas wish ? for Christmas cards from local police, firefighters and EMTs ? circulated through the police grapevine and reached New Hampshire, where Nashua Police Department Detectives James Stone and Daniel Ostler joined the contingency from New England, traveling on Dec. 19 to Rustburg, Va. with 200 fellow officers to hand-deliver cards, gifts and police emblems to Nathan.
The caravan of more than 90 cruisers departed from Burlington Mass., on Wednesday morning and made the 10 ?-hour trip to Rustburg, VA. [See courtesy photos uploaded here of Detectives Stone and Ostler with the family.]
The officers then met with Nathan and his family at Liberty University on Thursday, December 20, 2012 and presented Nathan with the Christmas cards and other gifts and memorabilia that had been collected by the various law enforcement agencies.
?????????
Nathan was diagnosed on Jan. 20, 2009 with a low grade astrocytoma (brain cancer.)
Nathan underwent surgery to remove the brain tumor, but the tumor?s ?tentacles? had grown into the brain, making it?impossible?to remove it all. Nathan has also endured aggressive chemotherapy.
After a particularly grueling treatment in September, Nathan asked his father to hang the Christmas lights.
?I think the lights will make me feel better,? he said.
Nathan?s parents approved of the idea. They believed that it was appropriate to fill their home with the elements of Christmas ? love, hope, peace, and joy ? because it is those same elements that have sustained them throughout Nathan?s ordeal.
Neighbors followed their lead. They also hung Christmas decorations and sent early greeting cards.
Nathan had only one Christmas wish ? to receive Christmas cards from his heroes: officers and firefighters. Sgt. Robert Carpentieri learned of this request when he received an email from a mutual friend. As a Public Information Officer with the Virginia State Patrol, he helped to spread the word.
?Most of us chose this profession out of a desire to help people,? Carpentieri said.? ?This is simply an opportunity to brighten a child?s day, and to let him know that he has our love and support. He may think of us as heroes, but to us, he is a hero, because he has endured so much, and yet he has such a positive attitude?.
The family has put the future into?perspective. Every day is a leap of faith.
?Nathan will be healed one way or another, Dawn said. ?The ultimate healing is in heaven. Nathan is not a victim. Whether God chooses to heal him on earth or in heaven, Nathan wins.?
You may send cards (Christmas, Birthday or New Year's) to:
Nathan Norman
81 Dunivan Dr
Rustburg, VA 24588.
Some information for this story was gathered from Law Enforcement Today.
Producers of Katie Holmes's Broadway play Dead Accounts, a dark family comedy by Theresa Rebeck, have announced that the show will be closing nearly two months early, wrapping up on January 6 instead of the planned February 24. Obviously the press release about the matter doesn't mention any reasons, but we can assume the show is closing because of poor ticket sales. January is a notoriously difficult frozen tundra for many a Broadway show to traverse, and Dead Accounts just didn't have it. So the cast is being spared the agony of trying. ...
Students of the Academy will know that we promote the idea of story writing as a way to sell your ideas to clients. ?In my role as a tutor, I find that the idea of needing to ?write? scares many people but I also find, that almost everyone has the ability to write a story, if they try.
I am lucky, I enjoy the writing process and studied creative writing at University. ?I say lucky, not because that experience in itself gives me superior writing skills, but because my lecturers drummed into me two very important facts about writing. ?The first is that writing is a craft. ?It is not a super-natural ability you are just born with. ?Ok, some people do find that writing comes more naturally to them than others do, but even great writers must work at their craft. ?As writing is a craft it is something you can learn. So that is the good news. ? The second fact, related to the first, is that writer?s write. ?Writing comes more naturally to you the more you do it. ?Every writer cringes at work they did in their early years (and sometimes work they did yesterday too!) but they keep at it and if you do that too it will help you to develop your skills as a writer.
In this blog post, I explore the idea of writing creatively to sell your ideas to clients and I give you some writing exercises to help you on your way to improving your skills.
Do you have a writing tip or exercise? ?Share it with us here.
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Exclusive: Profits up, but Britain gets less tax from big firms
By Tom BerginPosted 2012/12/27 at 4:09 am EST
LONDON, Dec. 27, 2012 (Reuters) ? Big companies in Britain now pay less tax than they did 12 years ago despite a big jump in profitability, a Reuters analysis of official data shows. Tax campaigners say the trend is the clearest signal yet that tax avoidance has blossomed under a more business-friendly strategy at the UK tax authority Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
A sign is seen outside a Starbucks Coffee shop in central London December 3, 2012. REUTERS/Andrew Winning
Large companies' payments of corporation tax - the UK equivalent of corporate income tax - totaled 21 billion pounds ($34 billion) in 2011/12, HMRC data shows. That was down five billion pounds or 21 percent since 2000/01 when the government, then controlled by the Labour Party, took the first steps towards a more collaborative approach to big business.
At the same time, the gross operating surplus for all companies in the UK - a widely watched measure of companies' profitability compiled by the Office of National Statistics - has risen 65 percent, to 329 billion pounds. The economy has grown by 55 percent over the same period, and receipts of both personal income tax and small companies' income tax are higher.
HMRC and the finance ministry denied the figures showed an increase in tax avoidance - legal tactics used by multinationals such as Google, Amazon and Starbucks. They cited recent economic weakness and lower corporation tax rates. The UK's official corporation tax rate was steady at 30 percent between 2000 and 2007 but has been gradually cut. In the last tax year it was 26 percent.
Reuters calculations show the lower tax rate and the weak economy account for about half the fall, leaving around 2.6 billion pounds of the difference in the amount of corporate tax paid between 2000/01 and 2011/12 unaccounted for.
John Christensen of Tax Justice Network, a tax campaigningoogleg group, said the figures show successive governments' attempts to create a more business-friendly administration - which includes a policy known as "enhanced relationship" based on mutual trust - have encouraged companies to use such tactics.
"These figures tell a more powerful story than any figures I have seen so far," he said, adding that senior HMRC staff had told him in recent years that they were "alarmed" at the drop in payments from large companies. HMRC defines these as firms with annual profit of more than 1.5 million pounds.
The finance ministry declined to comment on the calculations.
"PARADOXICAL"
Prem Sikka, a professor of accounting at Essex University who has written extensively about tax avoidance, said that even allowing for the tax cut, the figures were "paradoxical".
"How are they managing to reconcile higher profits with lower taxes?" he said. "It can't be done ... unless they are booking these profits somewhere else." Companies reporting for tax purposes are increasingly diverting UK profits to lower-tax jurisdictions, he said.
Google, for example, channels $4 billion of UK sales through Ireland each year, most of which ends up in Bermuda. Google said it complies with tax law in every country in which it operates but that it also has an obligation to its shareholders "to run our business efficiently".
When shown the calculations, an HMRC spokesman said the downward trend may also have been emphasized by a shift in the way taxes were paid from 1999 which led to "elements of double counting" in 2000/01 and 2001/02. That could make revenues in those years look artificially high. He declined to quantify the impact of this.
Sikka dismissed the impact of this change.
"That wouldn't make any difference to the total tax liability," he said.
HMRC's own data does not point to a spike in corporation tax payments over the period the changes were initiated.
Total corporation tax payments were just 2 billion pounds higher in 2001-2002 than in 1998-1999, a rise of 7 percent, while GDP rose 16 percent over the period.
The government's tax minister, David Gauke, who has described corporation tax as one of "the most economically damaging taxes", called the tax authority's current approach "very successful" in a September speech. He declined requests for an interview.
Police say they recovered a rambling typewritten note from 62-year-old William Spengler, who lured New York firefighters into a deadly ambush. NBC's Ron Mott reports.
By NBC News staff and wire reports
The terrifying moment when a gunman ambushed volunteer firefighters in upstate New York was captured in a chilling radio transmission made as the tragedy unfolded.
William Spengler, 62, opened fire on the volunteers as they responded to a blaze in Webster just before 6 a.m. ET Monday in a small cluster of homes near Lake Ontario, police said.
Michael Chiapperini, 43, a lieutenant with the Webster police, and Tomasz Kaczowka, 19, were shot dead, and Spengler killed himself as seven houses burned around him.
"We are being shot at," an unidentified voice told a 911 dispatcher in a recording aired Wednesday on NBC's TODAY. "Multiple firemen down. Multiple firemen are shot. I am shot. I think he is using an assault rifle."
Police investigating Monday?s killings said Tuesday that they had found what appeared to be human remains at the gunman's home. Authorities said they believed the remains were those of Spengler?s 67-year-old sister, Cheryl, who lived with him.
Two other firefighters, Joseph Hofstetter and Theodore Scardino, were shot but survived. One was struck by a bullet in the pelvis and the other in the chest and knee, NBCNewYork.com reported. It said the two were described as stable in a hospital and were expected to survive.
Cops said Spengler left a three-page typewritten note saying he wanted to burn down the neighborhood and "do what I like doing best, killing people."
?He was equipped to go to war, kill innocent people," Webster Police Chief Gerald Pickering told reporters Tuesday.
The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle said Wednesday that the funeral for Chiapperini, who was also a 20-year veteran of the Webster Police Department, will be Sunday, while a funeral Mass for Kaczowka, who graduated from high school last year, will be celebrated in Rochester at 10 a.m. ET Monday.
Spengler had lived in the house with his sister and mother, Arline, who died in October at 91. Arline Spengler's obituary asked that memorial donations be made to the West Webster Fireman's Association.
Watch US News crime videos on NBCNews.com
A former neighbor told The Associated Press that Spengler "loved his mama to death" and that he "couldn't stand" his sister. The neighbor said he thought Spengler "went crazy" after his mother died.
Spengler was convicted of manslaughter in 1981 after the death of his grandmother, Rose Spengler, 92, and was paroled in 1998. He remained under parole supervision until 2006, the Democrat and Chronicle reported. Before Monday's shooting, Webster police hadn't had any run-ins with Spengler since he was paroled, they said.
Although Spengler couldn't legally own firearms as a convicted felon, police said he was armed with a Smith & Wesson .38 revolver, a 12-gauge pump shotgun and a Bushmaster .223 caliber rifle.
At least 33 people were displaced by the fire, which engulfed at least seven homes and a motor vehicle.
Ron Mott, Jason White and Andrew Mach of NBC News, NBCNewYork.com and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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The rate of people who seek preventive cancer screenings has fallen over the last ten years in the United States with wide variations between white-collar and blue-collar workers, according to a University of Miami Miller School of Medicine study published on December 27 in the open-access journal Frontiers in Cancer Epidemiology.
While earlier diagnoses and improved treatments have increased the number of survivors, cancer remains one of the most prominent chronic diseases and, last year alone, claimed the lives of more than 570,000 people in the U.S.
"There is a great need for increased cancer prevention efforts in the U.S., especially for screening as it is considered one of the most important preventive behaviors and helps decrease the burden of this disease on society in terms of quality of life, the number of lives lost and insurance costs," said lead author Tainya Clarke, M.P.H., research associate in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health.
"But despite this," Clarke continued, "our research has shown that adherence rates for cancer screenings have generally declined with severe implications for the health outlook of our society."
For their NIH-funded study, Clarke and her team evaluated the cancer screening behaviors of the general public and cancer survivors to see if government-recommended screenings goals were achieved.
The study looked at cancer screening adherence rates for colorectal, breast, cervical and prostate cancers and compared the screening rates among the general public to all cancer survivors and to the subpopulation of employed survivors.
Results showed that the general public did not meet government recommendations for cancer screenings for any cancer types except colorectal cancer. About 54 percent of the general public underwent colorectal screenings, exceeding the 50 percent goal of the government's "Healthy People 2010" national health promotion and disease prevention initiative.
By contrast, cancer survivors, who are at an increased risk of developing the disease, had higher screening rates and underwent the recommended cancer screenings for all types except cervical cancer, which decreased to 78 percent over the last decade. The study also showed a decline among cancers survivors who sought cancer screenings over the last three years.
The researchers used the recommended cancer screening rates set by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and looked at data from the National Health Interview Survey between 1997 and 2010. In total, 174,393 people were included in the study analysis, with 7,528 employed cancer survivors and 119,374 people representing the general population.
In addition, the study showed that among survivors, white collar workers had higher screening rates than blue collar workers a crucial discovery that Clarke hopes will help change current job-related policies and overcome disparities within different professions of working cancer survivors.
The researchers speculated that ongoing disagreements among the United States Preventive Services Task Force, American Cancer Society and others over screening guidelines, as well as the decrease in worker insurance rates over the decade may have influenced the decline in screening rates.
Clarke hopes that more comprehensive research will assess the combined factors affecting screening rates and lead to more effective workplace interventions and increase screening within each occupational sector.
###
Researcher Contact:
Tainya C. Clarke
Dept. of Epidemiology and Public Health
University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine
Miami, Florida 33136
Phone: (305) 243-7842
Email: tclarke2@med.miami.edu
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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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.
US cancer screening rates decline over the last 10 years, finds new studyPublic release date: 27-Dec-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
The rate of people who seek preventive cancer screenings has fallen over the last ten years in the United States with wide variations between white-collar and blue-collar workers, according to a University of Miami Miller School of Medicine study published on December 27 in the open-access journal Frontiers in Cancer Epidemiology.
While earlier diagnoses and improved treatments have increased the number of survivors, cancer remains one of the most prominent chronic diseases and, last year alone, claimed the lives of more than 570,000 people in the U.S.
"There is a great need for increased cancer prevention efforts in the U.S., especially for screening as it is considered one of the most important preventive behaviors and helps decrease the burden of this disease on society in terms of quality of life, the number of lives lost and insurance costs," said lead author Tainya Clarke, M.P.H., research associate in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health.
"But despite this," Clarke continued, "our research has shown that adherence rates for cancer screenings have generally declined with severe implications for the health outlook of our society."
For their NIH-funded study, Clarke and her team evaluated the cancer screening behaviors of the general public and cancer survivors to see if government-recommended screenings goals were achieved.
The study looked at cancer screening adherence rates for colorectal, breast, cervical and prostate cancers and compared the screening rates among the general public to all cancer survivors and to the subpopulation of employed survivors.
Results showed that the general public did not meet government recommendations for cancer screenings for any cancer types except colorectal cancer. About 54 percent of the general public underwent colorectal screenings, exceeding the 50 percent goal of the government's "Healthy People 2010" national health promotion and disease prevention initiative.
By contrast, cancer survivors, who are at an increased risk of developing the disease, had higher screening rates and underwent the recommended cancer screenings for all types except cervical cancer, which decreased to 78 percent over the last decade. The study also showed a decline among cancers survivors who sought cancer screenings over the last three years.
The researchers used the recommended cancer screening rates set by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and looked at data from the National Health Interview Survey between 1997 and 2010. In total, 174,393 people were included in the study analysis, with 7,528 employed cancer survivors and 119,374 people representing the general population.
In addition, the study showed that among survivors, white collar workers had higher screening rates than blue collar workers a crucial discovery that Clarke hopes will help change current job-related policies and overcome disparities within different professions of working cancer survivors.
The researchers speculated that ongoing disagreements among the United States Preventive Services Task Force, American Cancer Society and others over screening guidelines, as well as the decrease in worker insurance rates over the decade may have influenced the decline in screening rates.
Clarke hopes that more comprehensive research will assess the combined factors affecting screening rates and lead to more effective workplace interventions and increase screening within each occupational sector.
###
Researcher Contact:
Tainya C. Clarke
Dept. of Epidemiology and Public Health
University of Miami, Miller School of Medicine
Miami, Florida 33136
Phone: (305) 243-7842
Email: tclarke2@med.miami.edu
[ | 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.
Georgia has become a hotbed for music talent in the past few years, from Macon?s Jason Aldean, Leesburg?s Luke Bryan, to two members of Lady Antebellum, the Zac Brown Band, Sugarland and Billy Currington.
Even this year?s ?American Idol? winner, Phillip Phillips, is from Georgia.
?I don?t think it?s any rhyme or reason to it,? Oconee County native and country rapper Colt Ford said recently while shooting a music video outside Athens. ?It?s just, you know, things are popular right now and a lot of Georgia artists are doing good.
?But the one thing that we have in common is we don?t sound alike, which is really cool. You don?t get me and (Bubba Sparxxx) mixed up together. You?re not going to get Lady Antebellum and Zac Brown Band confused and you?re not going to get Brantley Gilbert and Luke Bryan confused. Jason Aldean sounds like he sounds and Sugarland. Thomas Rhett has his own sound. You?ve got little Lauren Alaina doing good.?
Several Athens area natives have been busy making a name for themselves in the music business this past year as well.
Monroe native Tyler Hubbard may not be a name many recognize at the moment, but country fans might recognize the name of his group: Florida/Georgia Line.
Florida/Georgia Line, which also consists of Ormand Beach, Fla., native Brian Kelley, released their first album, ?Here?s to the Good Times,? this month. The album debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard Country Albums chart and No. 10 on the overall Billboard Top 200 chart.
The album also clinched an award, with the highest album sales of 2012 for a new country artist.
Their first single from the album, ?Cruise,? reached the top of the Billboard Country Singles chart on Dec. 15.
The group took part in CMT on Tour this fall, which included Jake Owen and Love and Theft. They will hit the road with Luke Bryan on his first headlining tour, ?Dirt Road Diaries,? in early 2013, although no shows are planned for the local area.
Colt Ford released his fourth studio album in 2012 and as always had help from a wide variety of music business veterans from Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Dierks Bentley and even Wayna Morris from the legendary R&B vocal group Boyz II Men.
The album debuted at the top of the Billboard Country charts in August, giving Average Joe Entertainment, a label Ford started with longtime friend and Valdosta native Shannon Houchins, its first No. 1 hit. The album came in at No. 5 on the overall Billboard Albums chart and was not the only hit for Ford this year.
?What?s very unique is Georgia and what?s been going on in Atlanta the last 10, 20 years is you?ve got the rural area and you?ve got a lot of country artists doing their thing, and then in Atlanta you?ve got the whole urban scene exploding,? southern rapper Bubba Sparxxx said. ?It?s just a mixing of flavors and you?ve got me and Colt who mix it all up.?
Another local talent that has tasted stardom this year has worked with Ford a lot in the past.
Jefferson native Brantley Gilbert, who has had a huge following for years while playing the club and bar scene, tasted success in 2011, co-writing the Jason Aldean hit with Ford.
But 2012 has been Gilbert?s breakout year.
Gilbert, who at one time was signed to Average Joe?s Records, signed with Big Machine Records? Valory Music Group.
Valory re-released his album from a previous label, ?Halfway to Heaven,? and Gilbert earned two No. 1 hits with ?Country Must be Country Wide? and ?You Don?t Know Her Like I Do.?
This past summer, Gilbert toured with country superstar Toby Keith on his ?Overdrive? tour. In July, he announced his first headlining tour called the ?Hells On Wheels Tour? with shows including Uncle Kracker on some dates.
It was announced that a second leg of the tour will begin at the end of January, with Tifton native Kip Moore opening for him.
?The coolest thing that?s going on with Georgia is that none of us sound alike,? Ford said. ?We?re all very different, but we all grew up pretty much the same. We have that common thread, but at the same time we all sound different and I think that?s most important.?
Gilbert, Moore and Florida/Georgia Line, will be three of the five artist that have been picked to play at the Country Radio Broadcasters (CBR) for the 2013 New Faces showcase on March 1. They will be playing in front of radio programmers, the people who chose which songs are played on the radio. Previous New Faces performers have been Garth Brooks, Faith Hill and Taylor Swift.
? Follow reporter Karah-Leigh Hancock at www.facebook.com/KarahLHancockABH or www.twitter.com/KHancockABH.
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ? It?s been a merry Christmas for one couple who was able to bring their premature babies home for the holidays.
The twins were delivered five weeks premature, in an effort to save their lives after complications arose.
Angela and Todd Clever were overjoyed when they found out they were having not one, but two babies.
?Yes, happy,? Angela Clever said. ?I wasn?t surprised. We have another set of twins.?
But joy turned to fear when there was a problem with the tissue inside the womb and the girls were delivered via an emergency caesarian section.
?I had five or six nurses on me at once, doing different things, trying to get me ready,? she said. ?And I had a nurse trying to find each heartbeat, and they were having problems. It was pretty scary.?
Viera, at 4 pounds 5 ounces, was able to stay at the local hospital where the twins were born.
But her sister Vaila wasn?t breathing.
?I could see them trying to get her to breathe,? Clever said. ?And from where I was laying and she looked gray and right then I feared for the worst.?
She was flown into the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at West Penn Hospital.
In Valia?s three weeks in the NICU, she had to deal with some heart issues, seizures and bleeding around the brain.
?She had all the lines and tubes and monitors hooked up to her, and you couldn?t touch her and you couldn?t hold her,? Todd Clever said. ?It was scary on one hand, but knowing she was where she needed to be was somewhat of a calming factor.?
She?s now up to 6 pounds 8 ounces, thanks to advancements in the Neonatal care.
?We?re really fortunate the medicines we used worked right away,? Dr. Nilima Karamachandani at West Penn Hospital said.
Now, she may be able to go home for the holidays and be with her twin sister and the rest of her family for Christmas.
?That would be a fabulous Christmas present,? Clever said.
Venezuela's Vice President Nicolas Maduro visited Chavez in Cuba along with the country's Attorney General Cilia Flores. (Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters)
A supporter of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez holds a portrait of Chavez at a mass to pray for his health in Caracas on Dec. 19. (Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters)
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Public release date: 27-Dec-2012
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