Anderson Cooper’s daytime show to end after two seasons

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Anderson Cooper‘s venture into daytime is coming to an end after just two seasons after failing to find an audience in the crowded daytime talk show market.

Warner Bros Television, which syndicates “Anderson”, said on Monday the show will not be renewed after the current season ends in the summer of 2013.

“The series will not be coming back for a third season in a marketplace that has become difficult to break through,” Warner Bros said in a statement.

The CNN anchor launched “Anderson,” subsequently retitled “Anderson Live,” in September 2011. But the show has struggled in the ratings despite retooling in the face of competition from veteran daytime hosts such as Ellen DeGeneres, and newcomers such as Katie Couric and “Survivor” host Jeff Probst.

“Anderson Live,” is attracting an average audience of about 1.4 million viewers, compared with around 4 million for “Dr. Phil” and about 2.3 million for “Katie,” according to TV ratings data.

Cooper issued a statement on Monday saying, “I am very proud of the work that our terrific staff has put into launching and sustaining our show for two seasons,” and added that he looked forward “to doing more great shows this season … I’m sorry that we won’t be continuing.”

TV stations carrying the show were first informed on Friday that the producers were not seeking renewal for another season.

Cooper, 45, and the winner of multiple Emmy award and a Peabody Award, continues as host of the CNN news program “Anderson Cooper 360” and has hosted the network’s New Year’s Eve special from Times Square for several years running.

Warner Bros is owned by Time Warner Inc.

(Reporting by Chris Michaud, editing by Jill Serjeant and Marguerita Choy)

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Slimmer future for heavy kids who get help early

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Weight-loss programs can help even very young children slim down, and it appears that acting early may improve the odds of success, according to a pair of new studies.

“What they are showing is a pretty consistent trend that if we were to intervene early, we could really have an effect on changing the trajectory of weight gain in children,” said Dr. Elsie Taveras, a pediatrician at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital, who co-wrote an editorial on the findings.

In one study, Dutch scientists found that heavy three- to five-year-olds saw continued benefits from a weight-loss intervention at least several months after it ended.

And a report from Sweden shows overweight and obese children under 10 were much more likely to slow their weight gain than were adolescents getting similar behavioral treatments.

The two studies were released Monday in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

Excessive pounds in childhood often stay on into adulthood, where they have been linked to heart disease, diabetes and other health problems.

Taveras said there is mounting evidence that paying attention to young kids may be a promising way to stem the global obesity epidemic. In 2008, more than a third of U.S. youths were either overweight or obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The numbers have also been on the rise in Europe, although they are still lower than in the U.S.

The Dutch researchers, led by Dr. Gianni Bocca of Beatrix Children’s Hospital in Groningen, studied 75 heavy children who had been randomly assigned to get either usual care or an intensive weight-loss program. The program lasted four months and involved 25 sessions with dietary advice, exercise and, for the parents only, behavioral counseling.

A year after the study began, kids in the intervention group had gained 4.2 pounds on average, and those who got usual care had added another 6.8 pounds.

While that difference could have been due to chance, there was a statistically reliable difference in body mass index, or BMI, a measure of height in relation to weight.

Children in the intervention group went one unit down in BMI, while the others saw no change. In adults, a healthy BMI is between 18.5 and 25.

“The magnitude of the effect, especially initially after the intervention, wasn’t very large, but what needs to be taken into account was that these children were growing,” Taveras told Reuters Health.

“What these interventions are showing is that you can have an effect, and hopefully these interventions are changing the trajectory the children were headed towards.”

PARTICULARLY TOUGH CASES?

She also cautioned that the Swedish findings, led by Pernilla Danielsson of Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, were based on observations instead of an experiment.

That means it’s possible that the youngsters between 14 and 16, who saw no or little effect of the behavioral treatment, could have been particularly tough cases.

Still, Taveras said, there is good evidence that heavy kids who start weight-loss programs early have an easier time slimming down.

Weight-loss programs for kids are available from healthcare providers across the country and are often covered by insurance, she said, adding that interested families could ask their pediatrician or check with local public health departments.

The government is also funding research that takes a more comprehensive approach to keeping children’s weight healthy. The Childhood Obesity Research Demonstration, for example, includes sites in three states and attacks the problem at various levels. At the Massachusetts site, Taveras said primary care doctors, child care centers and schools are all involved in the efforts.

“I hope that in a few years there will be more examples of programs that aren’t just clinical that we can send families to,” she said.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/PogxGc Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, online October 29, 2012.

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Five million ‘below living wage’

29 October 2012 Last updated at 11:14 ET

One in five workers in the UK is paid less than required for a basic standard of living, a report has said.

The proportion is much higher among waiters and bar staff, at up to 90% of workers, the research for accountants KPMG suggested.

It said that nearly five million people failed to command the living wage – a pay packet that enabled a basic standard of living.

The rate stands at £8.30 an hour in London and £7.20 in the rest of the UK.

This rate is voluntary, unlike the National Minimum Wage – the amount that employers must pay by law, which is set at £6.19 an hour for those aged 21 and over.

“Times are difficult for many people, but of course those on the lowest pay are suffering the most,” said Marianne Fallon, head of corporate affairs at KPMG, which has itself signed up to pay the living wage.

“Paying a living wage makes a huge difference to the individuals and their families and yet does not actually cost an employer much more.

“Tackling in-work poverty is also vital if we are to enable more people to improve their life prospects and increase social mobility in this country.”

Continue reading the main story

Why I pay the living wage

Mark Constantine, co-founder of cosmetics chain Lush, said he was encouraged to pay the living wage by staff at a Christmas party.

“I basically got cornered,” he said. “Staff explained the situation to me.”

He said that the advantage was that staff did not feel they needed to take on other jobs.

“They are not exhausted, and not worried about paying their rent.”

He said that there were affordability issues for employers. Lush has introduced the living wage for staff in London and is “working towards” paying it in the rest of the UK.

‘Tough choices’

The report suggested that Northern Ireland had the highest proportion of people earning below the living wage, at 24% of workers, followed by Wales at 23%.

The lowest levels were in London and the South East of England, both at 16%, it said. In terms of total numbers, London, the North West of England and the South East of England had the most.

When looking at sectors of employers, some 90% of bar staff and 85% of waiters and waitresses failed to get as much as the living wage.

Some 780,000 sales and retail assistants were not paid to living wage level, the highest total of any group of employees, the report suggested.

Frances O’Grady, the incoming general secretary of the TUC, said: “It is shocking that in this day and age, one in five workers is still earning less than is needed to maintain a decent standard of living.

“The living wage is not a luxury, and means that low-paid workers do not have to make tough choices over whether they can afford the everyday things that most of us take for granted, such as their fuel bill or a winter coat for their children.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

When it comes to the living wage, politicians are really looking for a free lunch: or rather, a free pay rise. They want an increase in wages for people at the lower end of the pay spectrum that doesn’t cost anyone any money”

End Quote

“Many more employers could afford to adopt the living wage, and we hope that many more decide to pay it in the coming months. Now more than ever is the time for employers to put an end to poverty pay.”

But Mike Cherry, policy chairman for the Federation of Small Businesses, said: “Every employer would want to be as reasonable as they possibly can, but in the current economic climate it is not going to be possible for those sectors that have traditionally been unable to pay the national minimum wage.”

He said rent and rates were becoming more expensive, and so were energy costs, so the living wage was an aspiration but not affordable for some employers.

He added that the market would determine what was affordable.

A separate report by the CBI said that employers have needed to take a cautious approach to employment and pay given the economic climate, and this is set to continue.

The group said that there would be pay restraint over the next six months, but this was designed to protect employment.

However, one 23-year-old care worker told the BBC News website that life was tough financially – even when on the living wage.

Report author Mike Kelly: “Businesses should look at wages in a more innovative way”

She said that the cost of petrol, when driving between the homes of the people she cared for, took a big chunk out of her pay which totals £7.21 an hour.

“It would be nice to have enough so I am not worried about paying rent every month and only having £100 left to spend,” she said.

“I would like to live comfortably rather than struggling from pay cheque to pay cheque.”

Regional pay

The government is considering whether to push on with plans to end national pay bargaining and introduce a system of regional or local pay rates.

However, a group of 60 academics have warned, in a letter to The Times newspaper, that any new system could widen inequalities between different parts of the UK.

The group claimed that there was “no convincing evidence” that regional pay would boost local economies, and that it could reduce consumer spending. They argued that would depress pay for public sector workers outside London and the South East of England.

This follows a campaign by unions to stop any introduction of regional pay rates for public sector workers.

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Pole gets 30 years for killing 6 on Channel Island

LONDON (AP) — A Polish builder who killed six people, including his wife and children, on the British Channel Island of Jersey has been sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Damian Rzeszowski, 31, carried out the knife attack in August 2011 at his home. He was said to have become depressed after his wife admitted to an affair.

Rzeszowski was convicted of six counts of manslaughter but cleared of murder. On Monday, Judge Michael Birt sentenced him to 30 years in jail for each victim, but the sentences are to run concurrently.

Rzeszowski’s victims were his wife Izabela Rzeszowska, 30; 5-year-old daughter, Kinga; 2-year-old son, Kacper; father-in-law, Marek Gartska, 56; his wife’s friend Marta De La Haye, 34; and her 5-year-old daughter, Julia.

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Microsoft CEO says Windows 8 sales rate higher than Windows 7

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said on Monday sales of the company’s new Windows 8 operating system, released to the public on Friday, were running at a higher rate than its last release, Windows 7.

“We’re above where we were with Windows 7,” Ballmer told the audience at an event launching new phones running Microsoft‘s phone software called Windows Phone 8.

Windows 7 is the best-selling version of Windows so far, selling more than 670 million licenses in three years since release in 2009.

(Reporting By Malathi Nayak; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick)

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Broadway takes few chances with superstorm coming

NEW YORK (AP) — Broadway took the threat of the mammoth storm seriously, with theater owners canceling all Sunday evening and Monday performances of shows like “The Book of Mormon” ”Once” and “Mama Mia!” long before a drop of rain fell in Times Square.

“The safety and security of theatregoers and employees is everyone’s primary concern,” said Charlotte St. Martin, executive director of The Broadway League, which represents producers.

Forecasts called for rain late Sunday or early Monday, and subway and public transportation service is to be halted Sunday evening, potentially stranding theatergoers. Refunds will be made available from the point of purchase.

Off-Broadway shows including “Stomp,” ”Bad Jews” and “Golden Child” were also canceled Sunday night. Most matinees on and off Broadway stayed open. Mondays are usually very light on Broadway, with most shows having that as their day off.

Some Broadway shows had no evening shows scheduled Sunday, including “Cyrano de Bergerac,” ”Annie,” ”Chaplin,” ”Enemy of the People,” ”Once,” ”Jersey Boys” and “Nice Work If You Can Get It.”

It was the most disruptive storm for the theater community since the threat of Hurricane Irene in late August 2011 prompted producers to cancel matinee and evening performances on Saturday and Sunday. While that hurricane mostly fizzled over New York, every show lost money because they were mostly limited to five or six performances that week.

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Meningitis Outbreak: Pharmacy Staffers May Have Known Dangers Beforehand

Earlier this month, TakePart reported on a lethal meningitis outbreak stemming from pain medication mixed at one pharmacy in New England. With the death toll increasing and the rate of ill patients rapidly rising, this fungal meningitis resurgence has become one of the country’s worst drug-related health crises in recent years. Worse still, are new reports that staffers at the pharmacy knew of the impending danger and did nothing to stop it.

So far, 338 people have been fallen ill from fungal meningitis, while 25 more have died from it, the Associated Press reports. In all cases, patients received an injection of tainted pain medication made in the New England Compounding Center (NECC) in Framingham, Mass.

Earlier this month, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) confirmed that a mysterious black fungus found in the vials of the tainted medication was the same fungus responsible for the outbreak.

This week, the FDA released a preliminary report stating that the pharmacy itself appears contaminated with mold and fungus, which could have played a role in corrupting the medicine.

Among the health and safety violations, the agency found contaminants in and around what should have been sterile rooms.

The report noted abnormalities like “green and yellow discolorations,” standing water from a leaky boiler, and visible dust filtering through the air conditioning system courtesy of a nearby recycling plant.

Machinery used to sterilize vials was also found to contain a mysterious residue, and against guidelines, staffers would routinely turn off the air conditioning at night, rendering the drugs less stable.

The FDA emphasized that the report is based on “initial observations” and that the agency’s investigation is ongoing.

Nonetheless, the NECC also made major documented missteps at the distribution and testing levels of its medication. The AP reports that vials of the pain medicine were shipped out two weeks before the pharmacy had even received its standard confirmation that those vials passed inspection.

And according to The New York Times, the one lot tested by the lab came back normal, but when 50 lots were recently tested by the FDA, all came back as contaminated.

Sarah Sellers, a former FDA officer who left amid frustrations the agency wasn’t doing more to increase regulations of pharmacies like NECC, says she’s not surprised by the outbreak at this particular company. She told the AP, “The entire pharmacy was an incubator of bacteria and fungus. The pharmacy knew this through monitoring results, and chose to do nothing.”

If that’s true, it’s startling to imagine what must have been an institutionalized kind of apathy. An entire group of people working in tandem to deliver drugs to the masses― drugs that are injected into people’s bloodstreams― every day chose to walk past discolored walls, residue-tainted machinery, moldy patches, and did nothing.

Now about 14,000 more people who were exposed to meningitis through the NECC’s apathy are waiting to see if they develop the disease as well. This may just be one horrific living example of what happens “when good men do nothing.”

If you’re concerned that you or someone you know came in contact with any injectable medication made by NECC, visit the FDA’s fungal meningitis page to view its lists of patient names and read the agency’s latest updates. Symtpoms of the disease include fever, headache, stiff neck, nausea and vomiting, photophobia (sensitivity to light) and altered mental status. 

What do you think caused staffers at NECC to so blatantly disregard health and safety rules? Let us know in the Comments.

Related Stories on TakePart:

• Americans Struggling to Pay for Prescription Drugs

• Clip of the Day: How Do Painkillers Work Their Magic? (VIDEO)

• Fewer Young Adults are Abusing Prescription Drugs

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A Bay Area native, Andri Antoniades previously worked as a fashion industry journalist and medical writer.  In addition to reporting the weekend news on TakePart, she volunteers as a web editor for locally-based nonprofits and works as a freelance feature writer for TimeOutLA.com. Email Andri | @andritweets | TakePart.com

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Wall Street plans to open Monday, as Sandy bears down

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stock exchanges and Wall Street banks sent crucial employees into Manhattan to stay in hotels and coworkers’ homes, preparing to open for business on Monday with at least skeletal staff as Hurricane Sandy threatened to halt mass transit.

NYSE Euronext and Nasdaq OMX Group , the two major U.S. stock exchange operators, said on Sunday they still planned to open for trading on Monday. Direct Edge also said it expected to operate its EDGX and EDGA exchanges during normal market hours on Monday.

But NYSE said on Sunday afternoon that it would close its physical trading floor operations for the first time since 1985. It will instead trade NYSE-listed securities on its fully electronic exchange, NYSE Arca.

CME Group Inc said it was suspending floor trade on Monday at NYMEX World Headquarters, the biggest oil and energy futures and options market in the world. But electronic trade at all of CME will open at the regularly scheduled time at Globex and ClearPort, CME’s online electronic platforms.

Major Wall Street banks including Goldman Sachs Group Inc , Citigroup Inc and JPMorgan Chase & Co were also preparing to open for business on Monday.

“The word going around the floor on Friday was people should expect this to happen. In the event the exchange does not open, they will trade electronically though,” Ken Polcari, managing director for ICAP Equities, said on Sunday morning.

“If that happened, it’s probably going to be very muted volume,” he said.

One bond trader at a large Wall Street firm said the New York-based banks would route orders through their Midwest and West Coast offices. He said West Coast employees were planning to get up early, while colleagues in Europe were expecting a long day on Monday.

Volumes were, however, expected to be lower and orders may be harder to fill, the trader added.

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association said it has not made any recommendations to close the fixed-income market on Monday.

Hurricane Sandy is expected to slam into the East Coast on Monday night, bringing torrential rains, high winds, severe flooding and power outages. The rare “super storm”, created by an Arctic jet stream wrapping itself around a tropical storm, could be the biggest to hit the U.S. mainland, forecasters said.

The scramble on Wall Street started early, as New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the subway, bus and rail system in the city would close at 7 p.m. EDT on Sunday (2300 GMT). About 8.5 million commuters use the Metropolitan Transit Authority, meaning most Wall Street employees would be unable to get to work as usual.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg also closed public schools and ordered an evacuation of 375,000 people in coastal areas.

In August 2011, officials feared Hurricane Irene would flood lower Manhattan and cripple business in the world’s financial capital, but the flooding was minor and there were no major disruptions at the exchanges.

WORK FROM HOME

Goldman, whose office in downtown Manhattan is in one of the areas to be evacuated, told employees that it would open for business, with some staff working from offices in Greenwich, Connecticut and in Princeton, New Jersey.

Others will work from home. It also plans to use teams in London and other locations around the world for additional support.

Citigroup, which has three locations in the New York evacuation zone, said there would be no access to those buildings, and “non-critical personnel should invoke their work-from-home strategies”.

JPMorgan said it would be open, but the bank was focused on ensuring its employees’ safety.

Wells Fargo & Co , which has about 1,170 locations in Sandy’s path, had closed some of those by Sunday afternoon.

PLAN TO STAY OPEN

The NYSE has not suffered a weather-related late opening since 1996, having opened on time in extreme circumstances in the past, including Hurricane Irene last year. It last suspended physical trading floor operations on September 27, 1985 due to Hurricane Gloria, during which all markets were closed.

The Big Board is located in Zone C, an area considered low in terms of its likelihood of an evacuation, according to the New York Office of Emergency Management.

The NYSE has arranged accommodations for essential staff near its lower-Manhattan headquarters, while other employees have been encouraged to work from home or alternate locations, said a person familiar with the situation.

“Everybody on Wall Street has hotels booked for essential personnel,” this person said, adding that the stock exchange would need several hundred people, compared to its usual 1,000, on the floor to keep trading going.

The major exchanges and most big trading firms have alternate trading facilities if downtown Manhattan is inaccessible, but the storm’s wide path may affect a number of sites in the New York metropolitan area. Authorities have warned of possible widespread power outages that could last for days.

NYSE’s servers are located in Mahwah, New Jersey, while Nasdaq has servers in Carteret, New Jersey.

SKELETAL CREWS

Following the September 11 attacks in 2001, many hedge funds had drawn up contingency plans for emergency operations. Some funds, especially in Connecticut, were forced to put those plans into effect last year after Hurricane Irene left many suburban towns without power for days. They managed with backup generators to run computers and remote servers.

Large funds with multiple offices can continue to trade even if the main headquarters are uninhabitable due to flooding. But the impending storm has led Citi Prime Brokerage to postpone a Tuesday hedge fund event.

Some trading firms were also making alternate plans for employees. Wayne Kaufman, chief market analyst at John Thomas Financial, said his retail brokerage in lower Manhattan appeared to be taking a wait-and-see approach.

“I haven’t seen anything on our email but I’m pretty sure the office is going to be closed or a skeletal crew at most,” he said around midday on Sunday. “Nobody wants to take the chance of being stuck downtown.”

(Reporting by John McCrank, David Gaffen, Caroline Humer, David Henry, Charles Mikolajczak, Richard Leong, Edward Krudy, Lauren LaCapra and Rick Rothacker; Editing by Paritosh Bansal, Jennifer Merritt, Tiffany Wu, Maureen Bavdek and Dale Hudson)

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Ukraine’s opposition doing well in election

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) —

Ukraine’s opposition parties performed strongly in Sunday’s parliamentary vote, according to an exit poll, but President Viktor Yanukovych‘s party could still retain control of the legislature as its members are likely to sweep individual races across the country.

The West is paying close attention to the conduct of the vote in the strategic ex-Soviet state, which lies between Russia and the European Union, and serves as a key conduit for transit of Russian energy supplies to many EU countries. An election deemed unfair would likely turn Ukraine further away from the West and toward Moscow.

Opposition parties alleged widespread violations on election day, such as vote-buying and a suspiciously high amount of home voting, but a local election monitor said those violations were isolated. Authorities insisted the election was honest and democratic.

The Fatherland party, led by the jailed charismatic former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, the Udar (Punch) of world boxing champion Vitali Klitschko and a nationalist party together received more than 50 percent of the vote on party lists, outnumbering Yanukovych’s Party of Regions and its traditional ally, the Communist Party.

Both Yanukovych’s and Tymoshenko’s parties claimed victory, saying the election showed the voters trust them to lead the country.

However, only half of the parliament’s 450 seats are split proportionately between the winning parties. The other half is filled by the winners of single-mandate races, where Yanukovych loyalists are expected to make a strong showing. In the election, each voter had two ballots, one with party names and one with the name of candidates in specific constituencies. No exit poll numbers were available for the individual races.

With Yanukovych under fire over the jailing of his top rival, Tymoshenko; rampant corruption and slow reforms, the opposition made a strong showing.

Tymoshenko’s Fatherland party is poised to get about 25 percent of the proportional vote, the Udar (Punch) led by world boxing champion Vitali Klitschko is set to get around 15 percent and the nationalist Svoboda (Freedom) party receives some 12 percent. The Party of Regions polled 28 percent and the Communists nearly 12 percent.

If the three opposition groups unite, they could get 127 parliament seats versus 98 seats gained by the Regions and Communists. The distribution of the remaining 225 seats is expected to be clear Monday.

Opposition forces hope to garner enough parliament seats to weaken Yanukovych’s power and undo the damage they say he has done: the jailing of Tymoshenko and her top allies, the concentration of power in the hands of the president, the snubbing of the Ukrainian language in favor of Russian, waning media freedoms, a deteriorating business climate and growing corruption.

The strong showing by the far-right Svoboda (Freedom) party which campaigns for the defense of the Ukrainian language and culture but is also infamous for xenophobic and anti-Semitic rhetoric emerged as a surprise and showed the widespread disappointment and anger with the ruling party.

It remains to be seen whether Tymoshenko’s group, Klitschko’s party and Svoboda can forge a strong alliance and challenge Yanukovych.

The election tainted by Tymoshenko’s jailing on charges of abuse of office has also been compromised by the creation of fake opposition parties, campaigns by politically unskilled celebrities, and the use of state resources and greater access to television by Yanukovych’s party.

___

Yuras Karmanau in Kiev contributed to this report.

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Taxpayer data exposed in cyber attack on South Carolina agency

CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) – As many as 3.6 million Social Security numbers and 387,000 credit and debit card numbers used by state taxpayers could have been exposed to a hacker in recent cyber attacks on the state Department of Revenue‘s computers, officials said on Friday.

The vast majority of the credit card numbers used by South Carolina taxpayers were encrypted, but about 16,000 were not, meaning the data was fully exposed, state police said.

None of the Social Security numbers were encrypted, said State Law Enforcement Division spokesman Thom Berry.

Berry said the hacker used a foreign Internet Protocol (IP) address to gain access to the data.

“This is not a good day for South Carolina,” Governor Nikki Haley said at a news conference in the state capital of Columbia. “I want this person slammed against the wall,” she said of the hacker.

“I want to get this person and make sure he can never do this to anybody or any state again,” Haley said “I want that man just brutalized.”

Officials said no public funds were accessed or put at risk. An investigation into the security breach is ongoing.

Investigators this month discovered two attempts to probe the Department of Revenue’s system in early September, and later learned of an attempt made in late August, state officials said.

Two other intrusions occurred in mid-September, and the department determined the hacker had obtained data for the first time, according to a statement from the state.

Officials said the vulnerability in the system was closed on October 20 and the system is now believed to be secure.

Anyone who filed a South Carolina tax return since 1998 is being urged to find out whether their information was affected. The state will provide those affected with one year of credit monitoring and identity theft protection.

Earlier this year, police arrested a South Carolina state health agency employee they said had made off with almost 230,000 Medicaid recipients’ personal information.

Also, the University of South Carolina said in August that a hacker had breached the personal information of as many as 34,000 people connected to its College of Education.

(Reporting by Harriet McLeod; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Todd Eastham)

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