Canada wants to balance budget in 2015, may invest to grow economy

TORONTO (Reuters) – Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said on Thursday he is aiming to wipe out the federal budget deficit by 2015, in time for the next election, but cautioned the Conservative government would be flexible with that target if the economy soured.

Canada’s fiscal shortfall of 1.4 percent of gross domestic product is tiny compared to that of the United States and some other major economies. But it is a sore point for policy makers in a country that ran an 11-year string of surpluses prior to the global financial crisis.

“It remains our intention to balance the budget during this session of Parliament,” Flaherty said in the prepared text of a speech he was delivering in Toronto.

“Although we are prepared to be flexible and pragmatic should circumstances warrant — our plan is to stick to our plan: balanced budgets and low taxes,” he said.

The parliamentary session is due to end in October 2015, the same month a federal election is scheduled.

Last week, Flaherty presented a fiscal update that showed a return to balanced budgets in 2016-17, including a C$ 3 billion ($ 3 billion) contingency cushion in case the global economy worsens.

Three days later, amid criticism, both he and Prime Minister Stephen Harper were at pains to say they still intended to end the red ink by 2015.

Flaherty said on Thursday the next budget in early 2013 would continue with what he called “pro-growth initiatives” of the past year, giving as examples previously-announced initiatives to strengthen the venture capital system and to provide skills training for the work force.

He hinted there would be “much more,” without giving details.

The plan will not include tax hikes and the government will continue to look for ways to cut spending, he said.

“From the experience of Greece and beyond, Canadians know that the consequences of unsustainable finances are all too painful,” he said.

($ 1 = $ 1 Canadian)

(Writing by Louise Egan; editing by Andrew Hay)

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Halle Berry’s ex headed to court after Thanksgiving brawl

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The father of Halle Berry‘s daughter is headed to court after he was arrested following a fistfight with her fiancé outside the Oscar winning actress’ Los Angeles home on Thanksgiving, police said.

Canadian model Gabriel Aubry, 37, was later released on $ 20,000 bail after being charged with misdemeanor battery following the punch-up with Berry’s fiancé, French actor Olivier Martinez, 46, in the driveway of her house on Thursday.

The altercation occurred during a custodial hand-off involving Berry’s 4-year-old daughter with Aubry, Nahla, according to Los Angeles police officer Julie Boyer.

Following the scuffle, Aubry and Martinez were both taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center with “non-life-threatening injuries,” Boyer said. Aubry is due to appear in court on December 13.

Berry, 46, who won a best actress Oscar for her role in 2001 film “Monster’s Ball,” has been embroiled in a bitter custody battle with Aubry since they broke up in April 2010. Earlier this month, a judge denied Berry’s request to move to France with Nahla.

Berry and Martinez met while filming the movie “Dark Tide.” They announced their engagement in March.

A judge has since issued an emergency protective order requiring Aubry to stay at least 100 yards (meters) from Berry, their daughter and Martinez, according to celebrity website, TMZ.com.

(Reporting by Tim Gaynor; Editing by Sandra Maler)

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Fired colleague of UBS rogue trader Adoboli opens betting site

LONDON (Reuters) – A former senior trader at UBS, sacked for failing to prevent colleague Kweku Adoboli from perpetrating the biggest fraud in British history, has set up a gambling website.

In a decision likely to be seized upon by critics who say traders have often made casino-style bets, John Hughes started his gambling firm even though his website said his old job had “removed all sense of optimism from his character”.

Adoboli, his former subordinate now serving seven years in jail for running up losses of $ 2.3 billion, argued during his trial that his own behavior was the result of a risky trading culture encouraged by senior colleagues, and his lawyers alleged that Hughes had played a major role in “off-book” trading.

Hughes admitted he had known of Adoboli’s scheme to hide his giant losses and that he had booked several fictitious trades himself, but denied knowledge of some of Adoboli’s biggest multi-billion dollar trades.

Hughes said he had chosen to call his new gambling website ‘BetsofMates’, a play on the expression “Best of Mates”.

That may grate with Adoboli who complained that his colleagues, including Hughes, had “sold me down the river” after a meeting at which he said it was decided he alone would carry the can for the huge losses.

Hughes and the others said they had no memory of such a meeting.

“We’re not a standard bookie,” Hughes said of his new website, which enables users to play against each other in leagues, with each player placing bets of between two and 200 pounds.

“We facilitate competition. The emphasis is a lot more on competition than yield enhancement,” he told Reuters on Thursday.

The former senior trader on the Exchange Traded Funds desk at UBS in London said Adoboli’s conviction was “just incredibly sad”. He declined to comment further.

Despite a large salary and bonus, Adoboli was himself an avid gambler and lost 123,000 pounds ($ 200,000) on spread-betting in the year before his arrest.

One prosecutor accused him of being addicted to gambling to which Adoboli countered that spread-betting was common among City traders “like a taxi driver driving his own taxi home”.

Hughes’ profile on his new firm’s website says that “seven years in the City (had) removed all sense of optimism from his character, and made him absurdly superstitious.”

He told Reuters such feelings had arisen “sitting there watching the markets for seven years and watching different news hit the tapes and obviously the last seven years haven’t been the easiest in the financial markets.”

Britain’s Gambling Commission granted a license to his pool betting company ‘Bets of Mates Limited’, which is registered to an East London address, in September 2012, two months before Adoboli was convicted.

(Editing by Andrew Osborn)

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Factores “irracionales” elevarían acceso a radioterapia al final de la vida

NUEVA YORK (Reuters Health) – Los costos y otros factores no

médicos impulsarían el acceso a la radioterapia para aliviar los

síntomas del cáncer en los últimos días de vida, indicó un

reciente estudio.

Un equipo de Estados Unidos que analizó las prestaciones de

Medicare durante casi una década descubrió que una pequeña

proporción de los pacientes oncológicos había recibido

radioterapia en sus últimos 30 días de vida, pero a uno de cada

cinco de ellos se le administró más dosis que las recomendadas.

“El uso de la radioterapia fue bajo, pero el porcentaje de

pacientes que recibió el tratamiento durante 10 días o más fue

alto”, dijo la autora principal del estudio, doctora Ashleigh

Guadagnolo, del Centro de Oncología MD Anderson de University of

Texas.

Guadagnolo se negó a decir cuántas sesiones de radioterapia

eran adecuadas, pero un oncólogo opinó que el estudio demuestra

que existe un uso excesivo e irracional de la terapia.

El doctor Otis Brawley, jefe médico de la Sociedad

Estadounidense del Cáncer, dijo que aunque es razonable el uso

de radioterapia con fines paliativos, 10 o más sesiones durante

el último mes de vida de un paciente son “recursos

desperdiciados”.

El problema, según dijo Brawley a Reuters Health, era que

los pacientes que accedían a la radioterapia recibían demasiadas

dosis y muchas personas que se podrían haber beneficiado con el

tratamiento no lo recibían.

“El estudio demuestra que existe bastante irracionalidad en

cómo tratamos a los pacientes”, dijo Brawley, que no participó

del estudio.

Los autores aseguran que el estudio, publicado en el Journal

of Clinical Oncology, es el primero que analizó cómo los médicos

utilizan la radioterapia en los pacientes terminales.

Para eso, evaluaron a más de 202.000 prestaciones de

Medicare a pacientes mayores de 65 años que murieron por los

cinco cánceres más comunes de Estados Unidos (pulmonar, mamario,

prostático, colorrectal y pancreático) entre el 2000 y el 2007.

Asumieron que la mayoría de los tratamientos del último mes

de vida eran paliativos.

Unos 15.000 pacientes (más del 7 por ciento) recibieron

radioterapia en el último mes de vida. El 18 por ciento de ellos

dedicó más de 10 de esos 30 días a recibir el tratamiento.

Los factores asociados con la administración de 10 o más

sesiones de radioterapia fueron ser blancos, no recibir atención

cuidados paliativos y ser paciente de un centro de tratamiento

oncológico independiente en lugar de un hospital universitario.

Los costos de la radioterapia acumularon unos 3453 dólares

adicionales por paciente. En los que recibían cuidados

paliativos y radioterapia, el costo combinado fue de 2.675

dólares menos que en los casos que no recibían radioterapia ni

cuidados paliativos.

Medicare cubre los costos de los pacientes que optan por

cuidados paliativos con un valor diario menor que el de la

radioterapia. Y una reducción del uso de la radioterapia entre

el 2000 y el 2007 coincide con un aumento del uso de los

cuidados paliativos.

“El mensaje del estudio es que no vamos a ahorrar dinero si

renunciamos a la radioterapia y, de hecho, es un tratamiento que

probablemente esté subutilizado”, dijo el doctor Stephen Lutz,

radiólogo del Centro Regional de Oncología de Blanchard Valley,

Ohio, y que no participó del estudio.

El doctor Michael Steinberg, oncólogo radiólogo de la

Escuela de Medicina David Geffen de UCLA, consideró que hay que

poner los costos en contexto. Muchos de sus pacientes no quieren

usar narcóticos o esteroides con efectos secundarios

desagradables.

Por otro lado, la radioterapia para aliviar los síntomas del

cáncer tiene límites porque sus efectos analgésicos demoran

días, mientras que los narcóticos actúan en horas, según indicó

el doctor Stephen Gripp, oncólogo radiólogo del Hospital

Universitario de Düsseldorf de la Universidad Heinrich Heine.

Además, está la incomodidad: “La radioterapia (el traslado,

la ubicación en la camilla y la espera) es molesta y hasta

dolorosa para los pacientes terminales”, dijo Gripp por e-mail.

FUENTE: Journal of Clinical Oncology, 2012

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Shopping like a Democrat, or Republican

Black Friday: It’s a day in which most American citizens put aside politics in pursuit of shopping bargains. But in Washington we can sort almost anything in the US in terms of partisan proclivity, and temples of commerce are no exception. Want to know whether the big box store where you’re waiting in line leans Democratic or Republican? The folks at the invaluable Center for Responsive Politics have compiled a handy guide based on campaign contributions.

Toys R Us, for instance, seems a solidly blue store. Self-identified employees of the store gave $39,000 to political candidates in the 2012 election cycle, and $36,000 of that went to Democrats.

Dig into the numbers though, and you’ll see that Toys R Us is not so much Democratic as Klobucharian. All that $36,000 went to one candidate, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D) of Minnesota. (That’s kind of odd, isn’t it? The retailer’s corporate headquarters are in New Jersey.) Other than that, Mitt Romney got $1,750 from Toys R Us workers. President Obama got zilch, according to CRP’s Open Secrets blog.

Are you a smart shopper? Take our quiz to find out.

Macy’s employees, on the other hand, were big Obama fans. They donated $28,870 to the president’s reelection campaign, as opposed to $16,390 to GOP nominee Mr. Romney. This Democratic lean was counterbalanced to a certain extent by the store’s corporate political action committee, however. (Toys R Us doesn’t appear to have a central PAC.) Macy’s PAC gave $12,000 to Republicans, and $4,000 to Democrats.

Best Buy seems more of a red retailer. Both it s employees and the company’s PAC had a slight preference for Republicans, according to CRP. Store employees gave $17,662 to Democrats and $22,419 to the GOP, for instance.

But there’s Senator Klobuchar again – she’s the individual candidate to whom Best Buy-related entities donated the most. Yes, she’s chairperson of a Senate Commerce subcommittee on competitiveness, so that might have something to do with it. Maybe the money comes due to her political affiliation with Minnesota’s Gov. Mark Dayton? Governor Dayton is the scion of the Dayton retail empire, which among other things founded Target.

Hmm, we see that Target leaned GOP as well, so maybe that theory isn’t right. Of the store’s $483,777 in individual and PAC contributions, the majority went to the right side of the aisle, according to Open Secrets. And the top recipient is not Sen. Klobuchar, but Rep. Eric Paulsen – a Twin Cities Republican.

Then there’s Wal-Mart. Sam Walton’s empire has a major presence in politics compared with its big box brethren. Its employees and PAC gave $2.7 million to candidates in the 2012 cycle.

Employee donations skewed Republican – which might not be surprising, since Wal-Mart is a big employer in the exurban/rural areas where Romney ran strongly. The firm’s PAC gave roughly equal amounts to candidates of both parties, however. That might be because Wal-Mart lobbies hard in Washington and needs relationships on both sides of the aisle.

In fact, Wal-Mart has spent more than $12 million on lobbyists in the past two years. It has its own Washington office, with 15 employees, and pays hundreds of thousands of dollars in retainers to such top outside lobby firms as Patton Boggs and the Podesta Group.

The firm’s No. 1 issue is sales taxes – specifically, getting states to slap sales taxes on web retail. Rep. Steven Womack (R) of Arkansas, whose district includes Wal-Mart’s Bentonville headquarters, has long pushed national legislation that would force out-of-state online retailers to collect sales tax. He’s one of the top recipients of Wal-Mart campaign contributions.

“The traditional brick and mortar retailer is not asking for special treatment. They know they have to compete against a number of consumer criterion. What they don’t want – and should not compete against – is a disadvantage based on a tax loophole,” said Congressman Womack earlier this year during a Judiciary Committee hearing on the issue.

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Black Friday Fiscal Cliff Twitter Guide

With the dirty dishes cleared and leftovers safely in the fridge, Americans across the country start looking ahead to the winter holidays the day after Thanksgiving.

But for Congress, there’s a pretty big hurdle to handle before the House and Senate can abscond to presents and plum pudding. It’s called the fiscal cliff, and according to a recent Pew Research Poll , more Americans are paying attention to it than the scandal surrounding Gen. David Petraeus‘ resignation.

While talks and deals on budget cuts and tax increases are currently on hold, once the holiday weekend ends, it’s time to take to Twitter and follow these folks to learn what’s at stake, where each party stands and whether to expect a bipartisan deal for the new year.

Subscribe to the list on @OtusNews here.

Follow Tweeters in the House

These partisan tweeters should give a good idea of where things stand on the House side of Capitol Hill.

@SpeakerBoehner - The official Twitter account for the speaker of the House commends Republican representatives for their work on the fiscal cliff negotiations and retweets relevant articles with a GOP slant. Last Friday, a tweet from the account said, “Survey shows Americans favor GOP approach to averting #fiscalcliff http://j.mp/SsmYJT ” To see more of Boehner’s opinions on the issue and read about his meetings with key players, follow his personal account: @ JohnBoehner .

@NancyPelosi – While the House minority leader has kept her thoughts on the fiscal cliff away from Twitter for now, Pelosi expressed strong sentiments on the need for higher taxation of wealthy Americans in her interview with ABC’s Martha Raddatz Sunday. Pelosi will be a tweeter to watch as options come on and off the table – she’s a good gauge for how the rest of the party will vote.

@RepPaulRyan – The budget hawk has stayed out of the spotlight since losing the vice presidency earlier this month, but as chairman of the House Budget Committee, it’s unlikely Ryan will resist for long when spending cuts are in sight. The former VP nominee’s other Twitter account, @PaulRyanVP , spent a lot of time tweeting about the need for pro-growth policies and the reduction of government debt. Keep an eye on Ryan’s congressional account to see if those positions will factor into the negotiations this time around.

@ChrisVanHollen – As a ranking member on the House Budget Committee, Rep. Van Hollen, D-Md., has tweeted a photo of him discussing the fiscal cliff, a video of his interview on it and vitriolic attacks with the hashtag #DoNothingGOP.

Tweeters in the Senate

Ranking senators on the fiscal cliff aren’t as inclined to tweet as their House counterparts, but here is a couple to keep in your newsfeed.

@ChuckGrassley - The Republican senator from Iowa doesn’t tweet many links or videos, but he is outspoken in his digital opinions. “PresObama meets w Congressional leaders tomorrow. I hope it is a serious attempt by PresO to reach bipartisan agreement not a photo op 4tax,” Grassley tweeted Nov. 15. In addition to 140-character diatribes on the fiscal cliff, use Grassley’s feed to learn about deer hunting, the History Channel and University of Northern Iowa football.

@SenJohnMcCain – The outspoken former presidential candidate will be one to watch throughout these negotiations. In addition to offering news on foreign affairs and the state of the nation’s finances, McCain adds humor, tweeting a little pre-emptively last weekend , “Twinkies maker Hostess closes – what will we do without deep fried Twinkies at the #Iowa State Fair?”

Organizations and Think Tanks

@BudgetHawks – The handle for the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget gives you an idea of what they’re all about. They tweet ideas, articles and commentary on how to balance the federal budget.

@CenterOnBudget – The somewhat-left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities focuses on analyzing national data to predict how possible solutions could affect Americans.

@Heritage – The Heritage Foundation brings a conservative perspective on the financial issues at stake. On Monday it tweeted a chart showing how its plan for lowering the debt stacked up against those of four other think tanks.

@AARP – A number of Democratic senators have pledged to oppose a deal that would hurt seniors, but nevertheless, Medicare and Social Security cuts could be on the table. Follow AARP to see how congressional compromises could affect older Americans.

@CSPAN­_Classroom – This account offers civics lessons for educators, but the guide to the fiscal cliff they tweeted this week has background information and interviews with lawmakers that could be helpful for anyone trying to understand the complex talks on Capitol Hill.

Observers at ABC

ABC’s @JakeTapper, @DevinDwyer and @MaryKBruce will bring the view from the White House. @RickKlein, @AmyEWalter and @ JonKarl will have analysis of the issues (most likely with sports metaphors to boot). Turn to @GStephanopoulos for the big picture. @JParkABC report on the ground from the House of Representatives and @SunlenMiller will cover the Senate.

The Instigators, 2016ers and Others

@JimDemint – U.S. Senator Jim DeMint, R-S.C., draws a hard line and likes to stir up the conversation, though the Romney backer has been unusually quiet since President Obama‘s win. We’re hoping this budget battle will be enough to rile him up again.

@TedCruz - The senator-elect from Texas will undoubtedly raise some eyebrows with his fired-up rhetoric during this showdown. As an example of his spunk, the Republican rising star essentially issued a challenge to President Obama about working together on the fiscal cliff.

@MarcoRubio – With his attendance at the Iowa governor’s birthday bash last week, it seems Sen. Rubio, R-Fla., is already preparing to court a 2016 electorate. He’ll want to command a memorable presence in this historic fiscal fight.

@GovernorOMalley – The Maryland governor is rumored to be a Democratic favorite for 2016. He’s garnered praise for reining in costs to the state.

@djheakin - Douglas Holtz-Eakin, former CBO director and current president of the American Action Forum, offers educational tweets, including an e-book with the need-to-know on the fiscal cliff.

@econjared – Jared Bernstein is a Center on Budget and Policy Priorities fellow and the former chief economist and economic adviser to Vice President Joe Biden who made some of the original predictions about the stimulus package.

For a Laugh

If talk of impending economic doom becomes a little too heavy to take, turn to @PourMeCoffee , @MrFiscalCliff and @TheOnion for tweets from the lighter side of the fiscal cliff.

And of course … @BarackObama – If the fiscal cliff fight is anything like the battle to raise the debt ceiling, President Obama will likely take to Twitter to encourage Americans to get involved and contact their representatives. You’ll know tweets that come directly from the president (and not his communications team) if they have “-BO” at the end.

Did we miss someone? Tweet your suggestions to @WordsOfSarah!

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Fights and lines: Shoppers descend on Black Friday deals

Black Friday got off to its earliest start ever as many shoppers cleared the table of Thanksgiving dinner and headed straight to the malls and big-box retailers across the nation to snag goods at bargain prices.

More than 10,000 people were wrapped around Macy's flagship store in New York City before the doors opened at midnight this morning. Across the country, up to 147 million people are expected to shop at some point this weekend.

Thousands lined up outside a Target in Chicago ahead of a 9 p.m. start time.

"I'm here because my mom is making me, because she said I couldn't eat any of the Thanksgiving food if I didn't hold her place in line," Alex Horton told ABC News station WLS-TV in Chicago Thursday.

Many critics panned the early start this year, saying it cuts into quality time that should be spent with family and friends.

PHOTOS: Black Friday Shoppers Hit Stores

Chicago resident Claudia Fonseca got creative and took Thanksgiving to go.

"We brought a plate, but that's about it, we've been here since 11 a.m. And that's it," Fonseca told WLS Thursday.

Black Friday makes headlines every year, but not always for the right reason as violence has become linked to the day after Thanksgiving tradition.

In Los Angeles, police aren't taking any chances with the LAPD deploying dozens of extra officers around the city to make sure things don't get out of hand.

Ontario Mills shopping mall in Los Angeles opened at midnight last year, but decided to give excited shoppers a two-hour head start to get their hands on the cut-rate deals, especially for electronics.

"This is my first year," Gabriela Mendoza told ABC News station KABC-TV Thursday. "I tried to stay away from this but I've heard it's really exciting so, I'm looking forward to it."

Things have been relatively calmer compared to the incident last year when a woman was accused of unleashing pepper spray on other shoppers in a dash for electronics at Walmart in Los Angeles.

The Black Friday madness kicked off Thursday when a south Sacramento, Calif., Kmart opened its doors at 6 a.m. Thursday. A shopper in a line of people that had formed nearly two hours earlier reportedly threatened to stab the people around him.

At two Kmarts in Indianapolis, police officers were called in after fights broke out among shoppers trying to score vouchers for a 32-inch plasma TV going for less than $200, police told ABC News affiliate RTV6. No injuries or arrest were made.

Stores have taken preventive measures in hopes of shoppers and tempers at ease, where safety is the main concern for everyone involved.

Mall of America has tightened its Black Friday policies and will bar unaccompanied minors from the megamall all day today. After a chair-throwing melee last year after Christmas, which was captured on smartphones and posted online, the mall is taking steps to prevent any repeat.

At the Arden Fair Mall in Sacramento, Calif., security planned to place barricades at the mall entrance to control the crowds and officials planned to double the number of security officers.

ABC News' John Schriffen and Sarah Netter contributed to this report.

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Former Ivory Coast leader’s wife wanted by ICC

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The International Criminal Court unsealed an indictment Thursday against former Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo‘s wife on charges including murder, rape and persecution. It was the first time in the court’s 10-year history it has charged a woman.

The world’s first permanent war crimes tribunal said the arrest warrant was issued on Feb. 29 for former first lady Simone Gbagbo for crimes against humanity.

Her husband, Laurent Gbagbo, is already in custody at the court’s detention unit in The Hague facing similar charges stemming from his fight to retain power after losing a 2010 presidential election. If his wife is extradited, they could face justice together in an unprecedented husband-wife trial.

But a senior member of Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara‘s government, who requested anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to the media, said Ivory Coast has already informed the ICC that the nation will not let her go.

“We informed them of this a long time ago,” he said.

The court’s chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, urged Ivory Coast to extradite Gbagbo.

“The type of crimes committed in the aftermath of the 2010 elections did not happen by chance — they were planned and coordinated at the highest political and military levels and all those bearing the greatest responsibility must be held to account,” Bensouda said in a statement.

She said prosecutors continue to investigate crimes committed by both sides in Ivory Coast’s bloody power struggle and expect to issue further arrest warrants in the future.

“The investigations are objective, impartial and independent, and are conducted in strict accordance with the law,” she said.

Ivory Coast officials are holding the 63 year old under house arrest in the northwest town of Odienne. Last week, Ivorian prosecutor Noel Dje Enrike Yahau said lawyers had questioned Simone Gbagbo there for two days and that the domestic charges against her remained the same: genocide, blood crimes and economic crimes.

Unsealing the ICC arrest warrant issued nearly nine months ago appears to be a tactic by the court to put pressure on Ouattara’s administration to hand over Ms. Gbagbo.

If authorities in Ivory Coast want to prosecute her, they have to convince judges at The Hague tribunal that their case involves the same crimes she is charged with at the ICC. It is a court of last resort, meaning it only takes cases from countries unwilling or unable to prosecute them.

The international court said in the warrant that there is evidence pro-Gbagbo forces deliberately attacked perceived supporters of Ouattara in the aftermath of the election.

Judges who reviewed evidence supporting the charges against Ms. Gbagbo said they found “there are reasonable grounds to believe that Ms. Gbagbo bears individual criminal responsibility for the crimes … as ‘an indirect co-perpetrator.’”

The warrant called Gbagbo an “alter ego for her husband” with the power to make state decisions. It said there is evidence to suggest she “instructed the pro-Gbagbo forces to commit crimes against individuals who posed a threat to her husband’s power.”

Her husband was the first former head of state to be taken into custody by the court when he was extradited to The Hague by the Ivory Coast government last year.

Prosecutors say about 3,000 people died in violence by both sides after Gbagbo refused to concede defeat following the election. Ouattara finally took power in April 2011 with the help of French and U.N. forces.

Ivory Coast is not a member state of the court, but has voluntarily accepted its jurisdiction.

It is very rare for a woman to be charged by an international war crimes court. In the past, the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal convicted former Bosnian Serb President Biljana Plavsic of persecution and sentenced her to 11 years imprisonment.

The announcement of the arrest warrant and Ivory Coast’s refusal to hand over Gbagbo appeared likely to raise tensions between supporters of her husband and those who back Ouattara.

Moussa Toure Zeguen, a leader of the Gbagbo allies in exile in Ghana, said by phone from Accra that the former president’s supporters had no faith in the Ivorian authorities to give Simone Gbagbo a fair trial.

“We don’t trust them. The only thing that Ouattara is doing is revenge,” Zeguen said. “He wants to try us without trying any of the fighters from his side who also committed crimes. It is not fair, and this cannot bring reconciliation.”

____

Associated Press writers Rukmini Callimachi in Dakar, Senegal, and Robbie Corey-Boulet in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, contributed to this report.

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Ex-’Price is Right’ model gets $8.5M in damages

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The producers of “The Price is Right” owe a former model on the show more than $ 7.7 million in punitive damages for discriminating against her after a pregnancy, a jury determined Wednesday.

The judgment came one day after the panel determined the game show’s producers discriminated against Brandi Cochran. They awarded her nearly $ 777,000 in actual damages.

Cochran, 41, said she was rejected when she tried to return to work in early 2010 after taking maternity leave. The jury agreed and determined that FremantleMedia North America and The Price is Right Productions owed her more than $ 8.5 million in all.

“I’m humbled. I’m shocked,” Cochran said after the jury announced its verdict. “I’m happy that justice was served today not only for women in the entertainment industry, but women in the workplace.”

FremantleMedia said it was standing by its previous statement, which said it expected to be “fully vindicated” after an appeal.

“We believe the verdict in this case was the result of a flawed process in which the court, among other things, refused to allow the jury to hear and consider that 40 percent of our models have been pregnant,” and further “important” evidence, FremantleMedia said.

In their defense, producers said they were satisfied with the five models working on the show at the time Cochran sought to return.

Several other former models have sued the series and its longtime host, Bob Barker, who retired in 2007.

Most of the cases involving “Barker’s Beauties” — the nickname given the gown-wearing women who presented prizes to contestants — ended with out-of-court settlements.

Comedian-actor Drew Carey followed Barker as the show’s host.

___

Anthony McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP .

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Do drunks have to go to the ER?

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – With the help of a checklist, ambulance workers may be able to safely reroute drunk patients to detoxification centers instead of emergency rooms, according to a new study.

Researchers in Colorado found no serious medical problems were reported after 138 people were sent to a detox center to sleep it off, instead of to an ER.

In 2004, according to the researchers, it’s estimated that 0.6 percent of all U.S. ER visits were made by people without any problems other than being drunk. Those visits ended up costing about $ 900 million.

“Part of the issue has been – as it is in many busy ER departments – there’s a lot of chronic alcoholics that are brought in by ambulance, police or just come in. Often they are brought in because they have not committed a crime or there is limited space in our detoxification center. So the majority were brought to the ER department,” said Dr. David Ross, the study’s lead author from Penrose-St. Francis Health Services in Colorado Springs.

Ross said the ambulance company where he serves as medical director created the checklist with the help of the local detox center, which provided limited medical care by a nurse, and the local hospitals to reduce the number of drunks without medical needs being sent to the local ERs.

They created a checklist with 29 yes-or-no questions, such as whether the patient is cooperating with the ambulance worker’s examination and if the patient is willing to go to the detox center.

The patient was sent to the ER if the ambulance worker checked “no” on any question.

The researchers then went back to look at the patients they transported between December 2003 and December 2005 to see whether or not any of them ended up having serious medical problems at the detox center.

During that two year period, the ambulance workers transported 718 drunks. The detox center received 138 and the local ERs got 580.

Overall, 11 of the patients who were taken to detox were turned away because there was no room, their blood alcohol level exceeded the limit, their family came to pick them up or they were combative.

Another four patients at the detox center were taken to the ER because of minor complications, including chest and knee pain. However, there were no serious complications reported.

“We really believe that we did not miss anybody with a serious illness and injury that didn’t go to the ER as they should have,” said Ross.

But the researchers write in the Annals of Emergency Medicine that their study did have some limitations.

Specifically, the researchers did not plan in advance to do a study when they were creating the checklist, which means their findings are limited to whatever information was collected at the detox center and ERs.

Also, the number of people who were sent to the detox center in their study is relatively small, so it’s hard to tell how many serious complications they’d see among a larger group of people.

“We tried to estimate how likely we would have been to encounter a serious event… We estimated at most we’d encounter three serious adverse events (in 748 patients),” Ross told Reuters Health.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/QgPCT5 Annals of Emergency Medicine, online November 9, 2012.

Health News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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