Robbie Williams aims to seal solo legacy with tour

LONDON (Reuters) – Still famous as the in-again/out-again member of chart-topping boyband Take That, British singer Robbie Williams says it is time to get serious as a solo artist and prove his place at the top of the pop pile.

Williams told reporters on Monday he planned a 15-date European stadium tour kicking off in Manchester on June 19, 2013 and concluding in Tallinn, Estonia on August 20.

“I’m buzzing. I’m ready to go. I haven’t done a tour of this size since 2006,” he said in London.

“I think it’s legacy time, because I’m venturing into getting my handicap down at golf and all that business.

“I’m nearly 40, that’s what I’m trying to say. I want to go and seal my place in pop history and go off and deliver a tour of great magnitude while I still can.”

The 38-year-old in fact enjoyed major success after leaving Take That in 1995, producing a string of hit albums and singles including “Angels” and “Millennium” and signing a contract with EMI in 2002 reportedly worth tens of millions.

But by the time his 2006 album “Rudebox” came out followed by “Reality Killed the Video Star” in 2009, he was seen as a dwindling force in British pop who had failed to break the key U.S. market.

Williams rejoined Take That in 2010 and they recorded the hit album “Progress” before touring together in 2011, and the singer said the experience had helped give him confidence to tour large venues again as a solo artist.

“I just ran out of ideas and ran out of a bit of creativity and ran out of energy and did the textbook ‘burnt out’,” he said of the late 2000s.

“But I’ve been working really hard and I needed to do something else, and fortunately it came in the shape of my old band. A lot of demons were vanquished from the past. A lot of wrongs were put to rights.

“That tour last summer was just absolutely incredible. It kick-started my professional career.”

Earlier this month, Williams returned to the top of the album charts with “Take the Crown”.

Asked whether he would consider rejoining Take That again, he replied: “I haven’t officially left … What I do know is that … if we all remain healthy then I will definitely be a part of Take That at some point. It’s joyful being around them.”

Williams conceded it may be too early to talk about his legacy at 38, but added he wanted to “put my stamp down.

“The fact that 40 is looming plays on my mind more than it does on anybody else’s mind. Pop stars cease to be pop stars at 40 and start being old people singing, don’t they?

“There is a forum for a male solo star to get up there in stadiums and own the place and I want that to be me, so I’ve kind of been lethargic for the last couple of albums.”

Williams recently became a father, and said his daughter would accompany him on tour. Olly Murs, who rose to fame on “The X Factor” reality TV show, will support Williams on his tour.

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

Music News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..

Flu Symptoms Drove Boston Mayor to Hospital

When Boston Mayor Thomas Menino ended his vacation in Italy short this fall and checked into a Boston hospital complaining of a respiratory infection, it led doctors to find and treat a blood clot in his leg, a fracture in his back, an infection around the fracture and type 2 diabetes.

Cold and flu symptoms from respiratory infections can be a hassle, but sometimes that fever and cough can be good for just getting people to the doctor.

“That’s why every patient needs a careful evaluation because every once in a while, what the patient thinks is the flu or reports as the flu is not,” said Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of preventative medicine at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee. “I would say 99 percent of people who present to the emergency room and doctor’s office with symptoms of influenza – that is cough, fever and the like – are certainly going to have influenza.”

Click here to read about cold- and flu-fighters.

Menino, 69, arrived at Brigham and Women’s Hospital on Oct. 25, complaining of fatigue and a cough, and doctors described him as “extremely washed out” with some “malaise.” In addition to the respiratory infection, doctors found a blood clot that traveled from Menino’s leg to his lungs.

Respiratory illnesses, like the one that initially drove Menino to seek medical attention, can often range from mild to severe, Schaffner said.

“He was feeling poorly enough to end what was supposed to be a very pleasant vacation, and when he got here, he was very weak and very washed out,” Dr. Dale Adler, Menino’s doctor, said during a press conference in mid-November.

Doctors can usually tell whether flu-like symptoms are the result of a respiratory infection or something else soon after the patient is admitted. If not, they can perform a series of tests to find out.

Click here to read about flu fact and fiction.

(The flu can lead to other ailments, the most common of which is pneumonia, or an infection of the lungs, Schaffner said.

About 1.1 million pneumonia patients were hospitalized and discharged in 2009, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. On average, they stayed in the hospital 5.2 days.)

Weeks later, Menino was still in the hospital. Although his illness and clot had been resolved, he was complaining of back pain, which doctors discovered was the result of a compression fracture and an infection around the fracture.

Finally, doctors discovered that Menino had underlying type 2 diabetes, which may have contributed to the infection, Menino’s doctor said during a press conference on Monday.

It’s not clear how Menino’s initial flu-like symptoms tied into his other ailments, but doctors said they are positive about his prognosis. The mayor relocated to a rehabilitation center on Monday.

“It is a run of bad luck,” Morris said of Menino. “He will rebound from this.”

Also Read
Diseases/Conditions News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..

China ‘not currency manipulator’

27 November 2012 Last updated at 16:41 ET

The US has decided not to declare China as having manipulated its currency to gain an unfair trade advantage.

But the Treasury did say that China’s currency, the yuan, remains “significantly undervalued” and urged China to make further progress.

In its semi-annual report, it said Beijing did not meet the criteria to be called a currency manipulator, which could have sparked US trade sanctions.

Critics of China say it keeps the yuan low to keep its exports cheap.

“The Chinese authorities have substantially reduced the level of official intervention in exchange markets since the third quarter of 2011, and China has taken a series of steps to liberalise controls on capital movements, as part of a broader plan to move to a more flexible exchange rate regime,” the Treasury said.

But it noted there was more to do and that “further appreciation” against the US dollar and other major currencies was “warranted”.

The issue of whether China manipulates its currency is an important political issue and an ongoing source of tension between the world’s two biggest economies.

Defeated US presidential candidate Mitt Romney had said he would have branded China a currency manipulator on his first day in office.

Twice a year, the Treasury gives a report to Congress on China’s yuan policy. Previous reports have also found China keeps the yuan undervalued, but have fallen short of calling China a currency manipulator.

China has, since 2005, had a managed currency, whereby the yuan is pegged against a basket of foreign currencies. It has been slowing appreciating against the US dollar.

In its report, the Treasury said that the yuan had appreciated by 9.3% against the dollar since June 2010, while China’s trade and current account surpluses have both fallen from their peaks.

BBC News – Business

Read More..

Rugby-England add flyhalf Burns to squad for All Blacks’ test

LONDON, Nov 27 (Reuters) – England called up uncapped Gloucester flyhalf Freddie Burns on Tuesday to their squad for Saturday’s test against New Zealand in place of the injured Toby Flood.

Flood sustained ligament damage to a big toe during the 16-15 loss to South Africa at Twickenham last Saturday.

Owen Farrell, whose last start was in the first test in South Africa this year, is set to replace Flood in the starting XV against the world champions.

Lock Courtney Lawes, who missed England’s first three tests of the November series because of a knee injury, has also been included in the 23-man squad. Two other locks, Mouritz Botha and Tom Palmer, have been omitted.

After beating Fiji in their opening match, England have lost to Australia and the Springboks and now face a daunting match against the All Blacks who are unbeaten in 20 tests since the start of their victorious World Cup campaign last year.

“For those in Saturday’s squad the message is clear – last week we went toe to toe with the second best team in the world and felt we should have won,” England head coach Stuart Lancaster said in a statement.

“Now we have a chance to take on the number one side in front of a passionate Twickenham crowd, who have been fantastic throughout the Internationals, and it is a challenge we will meet head on.” (Reporting by John Mehaffey; Editing by Ken Ferris)

Australia / Antarctica News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..

Privacy groups ask Facebook to withdraw proposed policy changes

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Two privacy advocacy groups urged Facebook Inc on Monday to withdraw proposed changes to its terms of service that would allow the company to share user data with recently acquired photo-application Instagram, eliminate a user voting system and loosen email restrictions within the social network.

The changes, which Facebook unveiled on Wednesday, raise privacy risks for users and violate the company’s previous commitments to its roughly 1 billion members, according to the Electronic Privacy Information Center and the Center for Digital Democracy.

“Facebook’s proposed changes implicate the user privacy and terms of a recent settlement with the Federal Trade Commission,” the groups said in a letter to Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg that was published on their websites on Monday.

By sharing information with Instagram, the letter said, Facebook could combine user profiles, ending its practice of keeping user information on the two services separate.

Facebook declined to comment on the letter.

In April, Facebook settled privacy charges with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission that it had deceived consumers and forced them to share more personal information than they intended. Under the settlement, Facebook is required to get user consent for certain changes to its privacy settings and is subject to 20 years of independent audits.

Facebook, Google and other online companies have faced increasing scrutiny and enforcement from privacy regulators as consumers entrust ever-increasing amounts of information about their personal lives to Web services.

Facebook unveiled a variety of proposed changes to its terms of service and data use polices on Wednesday, including a move to scrap a 4-year old process that can allow the social network’s roughly 1 billion users to vote on changes to its policies.

If proposed changes generate more than 7,000 public comments during a seven-day period, Facebook’s current terms of service automatically trigger a vote by users to approve the changes. But the vote is only binding if at least 30 percent of users take part, and two prior votes never reached that threshold.

The latest proposed changes had garnered more than 17,000 comments by late Monday.

Facebook also said last week that it wanted to eliminate a setting for users to control who can contact them on the social network’s email system. The company said it planned to replace the “Who can send you Facebook messages” setting with new filters for managing incoming messages.

That change is likely to increase the amount of unwanted “spam” messages that users receive, the privacy groups warned on Monday.

Facebook’s potential information sharing with Instagram, a photo-sharing service for smartphone users that it bought in October, flows from proposed changes that would allow the company to share information between its own service and other businesses or affiliates it owns.

The change could open the door for Facebook to build unified profiles of its users that include people’s personal data from its social network and from Instagram, similar to recent moves by Google Inc.

In January, Google said it would combine users’ personal information from its various Web services – such as search, email and the Google+ social network – to provide a more customized experience. The unified data policy raised concerns among some privacy advocates and regulators, who said it was an invasion of people’s privacy.

“As our company grows, we acquire businesses that become a legal part of our organization,” Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes said in an emailed statement on Monday.

“Those companies sometimes operate as affiliates. We wanted to clarify that we will share information with our affiliates and vice versa, both to help improve our services and theirs, and to take advantage of storage efficiencies,” Noyes said.

(Reporting By Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Richard Pullin)

Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..

Man accused of stealing Tim Allen’s Chevy Impala

DENVER (AP) — A man suspected of stealing one of Tim Allen‘s custom cars says the comedian left the keys so he could drive it to Denver.

Denver police spokesman Sonny Jackson said Monday that 34-year-old Faustino Ibarra is being held without bond while awaiting extradition to California after his arrest on Saturday.

In a jailhouse interview with KDVR-TV (http://bit.ly/TpJirK ), Ibarra claimed Allen adopted him years ago. Jackson said there is no evidence of any adoption.

Ibarra said Allen had left the door to his garage open along with the keys.

Police confirmed that the customized 1996 Chevrolet Impala SS belonged to the “Home Improvement” star but said it hadn’t yet been reported stolen when it turned up in Denver.

Allen’s publicist Marleah (mar-LEE-uh) Leslie said she wouldn’t comment because it’s a police matter.

Entertainment News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..

Medications for Treating a Common Infection Are Losing Effectiveness

The misuse and overuse of antibiotics continues to be a vexing problem in the United States, particularly in the southeastern part of the country, according to a new report that tracks antibiotic resistance patterns.

The survey found a decline in the number of MRSA infections—methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus—a potentially dangerous skin infection. However, more antibiotics are becoming resistant to the bacteria that cause urinary tract infections, which is a common infection that had been fairly easy to treat until recently.

The data were released by Extending the Cure, a project of the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy, a nonprofit think tank with offices in Washington, D.C. and New Dehli. The organization’s mission is to gather evidence on antibiotic overuse and resistance.

“People don’t realize we’ve only had antibiotics for about 70 years. That is a very, very short period of time,” Ramanan Laxminarayan, director of Extending the Cure, told Take Part. “We have these wonderful, helpful drugs that are able to do things that we’ve never done before—and now we’re about to lose them again. I don’t think people realize how much we depend on them.”

Unnecessary use makes antibiotics less effective in fighting off infections because, when repeatedly exposed to certain drugs, microbes change and become resistant. Widespread publicity about antibiotic overuse has led to some positive changes in prescribing patterns. Antibiotic prescriptions in the United States fell 17 percent from 1999 to 2012, according to the report. Far fewer pediatricians, for example, prescribe antibiotics for children’s mild respiratory symptoms and earaches.

“That is really good news,” Laxminarayan says. “There is progress at reducing antibiotic use at things where people think they should never have been prescribed in the first place. We’re not denying antibiotics when people really need it. We are denying antibiotics when we don’t need it.”

MORE: The Verdict Is in: Antibiotics in Animal Feed Create Superbugs

Moreover, the ability to treat skin infections has improved since the peak days of MRSA cases in the mid-2000s. MRSA infections have fallen by about half due to efforts to find new therapies and interventions.

However, antibiotic resistance is still a huge problem, Laxminarayan says. The report found that some of the drugs used to treat urinary tract infections are failing because bacterial resistance to those medications has increased by more than 30 percent since 1999.

Urinary tract infections, which are caused by the E. coli bacteria, account for more than 8.6 million visits to healthcare professionals each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If untreated, these infections can turn into life-threatening bloodstream infections.

“Things that were commonly treatable are not as treatable anymore,” Laxminarayan says.

MORE: Study Uncovers Alarming Worldwide Rates of Drug-Resistant TB

Hospitals remain at the center of the antibiotic-resistance problem, he says. Hospital patients are typically older and sicker, and heavy antibiotic use is often necessary. But hospitals can help address antibiotic resistance by taking steps to curb the spread of infections within the hospital, he says. Five to eight percent of people develop an infection while in the hospital.

“We have sharply increased resistance around the country because it is not going down in hospitals, and hospitals are where the worse kinds of resistance are found,” he says. “We’ve advocated for having stronger hospital infection control. If you stop the infection from spreading, you don’t have to worry about resistance. We need pretty much a revolution regarding infection control in hospitals.”

The survey also found eye-opening regional differences regarding antibiotic resistance, such as higher levels of antibiotic overuse in the southeastern United States. It’s not clear why that area of the country has lagged behind, he says.

MORE: Judge to FDA on Antibiotics: Prove They’re Safe

The survey found that residents of Appalachian and Gulf Coast states, where antibiotic use rates are highest, take about twice as many antibiotics per capita as people living in Western states. In 2010, the five states with the highest rates of antibiotic use in the nation were Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Louisiana. The five states with the lowest antibiotic use in the nation were Alaska, Hawaii, California, Oregon, and Washington.

Extending the Cure displays its data online via the ResistanceMap, a tool created to track changes in antibiotic drug use and resistance. People can see how the area they live in compares to other regions.

“We want people to be knowledgeable and therefore empowered about what they can do about the problem,” Laxminarayan says.

Earlier this month, the CDC, Extending the Cure and 25 other national health organizations issued a joint consensus statement on the need to preserve antibiotic effectiveness and fight over-use.

“When so many government agencies and public organizations have signed on it indicates we’re all pointing in the same direction,” Laxminarayan says.

Question: What should be done to reduce the overuse of antibiotics? Tell us what you think in the Comments.

---

Shari Roan is an award-winning health writer based in Southern California. She is the author of three books on health and science subjects.

Medications/Drugs News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..

Asian shares, euro rise on Greek debt deal

TOKYO (Reuters) – The euro hit a one-month high and Asian shares climbed for a seventh consecutive day on Tuesday while commodities rose and the dollar eased after a deal on new debt targets for Greece and a political agreement on disbursing the next installment of aid.

After 12 hours of talks at their third meeting in as many weeks, Greece’s international lenders agreed on a package of measures to cut Greek debt to 124 percent of gross domestic product by 2020, and pledged to take further steps to lower the debt below 110 percent of GDP in 2022.

Eurogroup Chairman Jean-Claude Juncker said ministers would formally approve the release of crucial aid for debt-stricken Greece, removing uncertainty over whether Athens could avoid a near-term bankruptcy.

Investors’ focus is likely to shift now to another major concern hanging over markets, a looming U.S. fiscal crisis.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.MIAPJ0000PUS> gained 0.6 percent to its highest level in nearly three weeks, led by a 1 percent advance in Korean shares <.KS11> and a 0.6 percent rise in Australian shares <.AXJO>.

“The news of the Greek debt deal, plus U.S. fiscal cliff talks resuming this week, has spurred investor appetite,” Kim Young-joon, an analyst at SK Securities, said of Korean stocks.

Republicans in the U.S. Congress on Monday called on President Barack Obama to detail long-term spending cuts to help solve the country’s fiscal crisis, while holding firm against the income tax rate increases for the wealthy that Democrats seek.

“Now people will start focusing on the U.S. fiscal cliff and there could be some nervousness there, particularly if it drags on,” said Burrell & Co dealer Jamie Elgar of Australian shares.

The euro gained as much as about 0.3 percent to $ 1.3010, its highest level since October 31, in reaction to the Greek news, before paring most gains to be up 0.1 percent at $ 1.2982.

Hiroshi Maeba, head of FX trading Japan for UBS in Tokyo, cautioned that the euro still faced downside risks as the latest agreement does not offer a fundamental resolution to the euro zone’s debt crisis.

“The euro gained but the rise is small, and it’s unlikely that it will climb further, with big funds winding down their positions ahead of the year-end. Any rise will be countered by selling to cap the euro’s upside,” Maeba said.

Japan’s Nikkei stock average <.N225> edged up 0.4 percent, nearing Monday’s seven-month closing high. The benchmark has climbed more than 8 percent in two weeks as the yen has weakened on expectations of easier monetary policy with the likely election of a new government. <.T>

WEAK USD, CHINA HELP COMMODITIES

The dollar was down 0.1 percent against the yen at 82 yen.

Traders said some investors unwound long positions in the dollar built up in recent weeks on expectations that a new government for Japan, which is likely to be installed after next month’s election, will pressure the central bank to pursue aggressive monetary easing.

The dollar eased 0.2 percent against a basket of key currencies <.DXY>, helping to underpin dollar-based commodities.

U.S. crude futures rose 0.3 percent to $ 88.03 a barrel and Brent was up 0.2 percent to $ 111.12.

Spot gold was up 0.1 percent to $ 1,749.30 an ounce, just below a six-week high of $ 1,754.10 hit on Friday.

London copper inched up 0.1 percent and hit a near one-month high as the Greek debt deal added to confidence over demand for copper after recent positive data from its top consumer China.

Sentiment may be further underpinned by a report saying China has approved construction of two city subway projects worth 49 billion yuan ($ 7.87 billion), adding to the list of recent railway project approvals aimed at boosting growth in the world’s second biggest economy.

In another possible sign of economic recovery, China’s industrial profits in October were up 20.5 percent from a year earlier, accelerating from 7.8 percent growth in September.

Asian credit markets firmed slightly, narrowing the spreads on the iTraxx Asia ex-Japan investment-grade index by 1 basis point.

(Additional reporting by Ayai Tomisawa in Tokyo, Joyce Lee in Seoul and Victoria Thieberger in Melbourne; Editing by Edwina Gibbs & Kim Coghill)

Business News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..

Dog days in Cuba: from shih tzus to schnauzers

HAVANA (AP) — The Cuban capital has played host to political summits and art festivals, ballet tributes and international baseball competitions. Now dog lovers are getting their chance to take center stage.

Hundreds of people from all over Cuba and several other countries came to a scruffy field near Revolution Plaza this past week to preen and fuss over the shih tzus, beagles, schnauzers and cocker spaniels that are the annual Fall Canine Expo’s star attractions. There were even about a dozen bichon habaneros, a mid-sized dog bred on the island since the 17th century.

As dog lovers talked shop, the merely curious strolled the field, checking out the more than 50 breeds on display while carefully dodging the prodigious output of so many dogs.

The four-day competition, which ended Sunday, included competitions in several breeding categories, and judges were flown in from Nicaragua, Colombia and Mexico.

“This is a small, poor country, but Cubans love dogs,” said Miguel Calvo, the president of Cuba’s dog federation, which organized the show. “We make a great effort to breed purebred animals of quality.”

Winners don’t receive any trophy or prize money, but that doesn’t mean the competition is any less fierce.

Anabel Perez, owner of a cocker spaniel named Lisamineli after the U.S. actress, spent more than half an hour coifing the dog’s hair in preparation for the competition, while the owner of a shih tzu named Tiguer meticulously brushed his coat nearby.

“I’m a hairdresser for humans,” explained Tiguer’s owner, Miguel Lopez. “So it’s easy for me. I like shih tzus because they are a lot of work to keep well groomed.”

Latin America News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..

Nokia imaging chief to quit

HELSINKI (Reuters) – Nokia‘s long-time imaging chief Damian Dinning has decided to leave the loss-making cellphone maker at the end of this month, the company said in a statement.

The strong imaging capabilities of the new Lumia smartphone models are a key sales argument for the former market leader, which has been burning through cash while losing share in both high-end smartphones and cheaper handsets.

Nokia’s Chief Executive Stephen Elop has replaced most of the top management since he joined in late 2010 and Dinnig is the latest of several executives to leave.

Dinning did not want to move to Finland as part of the phonemakers’ effort to concentrate operations and will join Jaguar Land Rover to head innovations in the field of connected cars, he said on Nokia’s imaging fan site PureViewclub.com.

(Reporting By Tarmo Virki, editing by William Hardy)

Tech News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..