What could possibly be a hotter date night than attending the Academy Awards? While some nominees showed off their significant others on the red carpet this year, there were a group of actors who chose to take slightly less conventional dates to the Oscars ceremony.
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First-time winner fights her way to the stage to claim her award.
By Brett White
Jennifer Lawrence at the 2013 Oscars
Photo: Christopher Polk/ Getty Images
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1702526/jennifer-lawrence-fall-oscars-stage.jhtml
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Paul McIlhenny, the chairman and chief executive of the Louisiana company that makes Tabasco brand pepper sauce, has died at age 68, the McIlhenny Co said on Sunday.
McIlhenny died on Saturday, the family-owned company said in a news release that described him as "a true bon vivant" whose passions included hunting, fishing, wine-tasting and game cooking.
He was a sixth-generation member of the McIlhenny family to live on Avery Island in the southern Louisiana bayou, and a fourth-generation member to produce pepper sauces sold worldwide under the Tabasco brand.
The McIlhenny company was founded in 1868 on Avery Island. It supplies hot sauce to the U.S. presidential plane Air Force One and to Britain's royal family, the Times-Picayune newspaper said on its website.
Paul McIlhenny joined the company in 1967 and directly oversaw the production of its sauces for 13 years, expanding both its line of spicy sauces and the array of aprons, neckties and other merchandise bearing the familiar red-and-green Tabasco logo.
He spent much of his time in New Orleans and in 2006 he reigned as Rex, the first King of Carnival during Mardi Gras celebrations after the city was devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
"All of McIlhenny Company and the McIlhenny and Avery families are deeply saddened by this news," said Tony Simmons, president of McIlhenny Co and fifth-generation McIlhenny family member. "We will clearly miss Paul's devoted leadership but will more sorely feel the loss of his acumen, his charm and his irrepressible sense of humor."
Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/tabasco-ceo-paul-mcilhenny-dies-age-68-1C8516292
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'On the Road' actress hits red carpet and makes a pass at why she hurt her foot.
By Emilee Lindner, with reporting by Josh Horowitz
Kristen Stewart at the 2013 Oscars
Photo: Christopher Polk/ Getty Images
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1702522/kristen-stewart-crutches-oscar-2013.jhtml
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Located on Walker Road, the building was located on the east side just south of Edna street.
View Larger Map
The plant, owned by National Automotive Fibres Inc. had a sister operation open in Ajax in 1953. It manufactured interior trim parts for Ford, Chrysler, General Motors, American Motors and Studebaker. In 1957 the Windsor plant was closed and all the work was moved to the new operation in Ajax. The plant eventually was purchased and owned by Chrysler, and was closed in 2003 during the Daimler Chrysler era.
Source: http://www.internationalmetropolis.com/2013/02/25/canadian-automotive-trim-1949/
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Here is the latest Tennessee sports news from The Associated Press
February 23, 2013 03:08 EST
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -- Marc Gasol notched a double-double with 19 points and 13 rebounds to help the Memphis Grizzlies pick up their sixth straight victory on Friday night. The Grizzlies defeated the Orlando Magic 88-82. The shorthanded Magic had only seven players available because of injuries and trades.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Safety George Wilson and the Tennessee Titans have agreed to terms on deal, making defense the first area targeted in free agency. The Titans did not release details of the multi-year contract wit the 6-foot, 212-pound safety released by Buffalo Feb. 11.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Tennessee guard Trae Golden says he never lost his confidence even as he endured a midseason benching and an injured hamstring. Now he's back on the upswing just in time to help the Volunteers make a late-season charge. The Volunteers face Texas A&M Saturday and need a win.
Southern Mississippi is having a good season and need a head-turning win that could make their postseason resume more impressive come NCAA tournament time. There's one more chance to get it when Southern Miss travels to face No. 21 Memphis on Saturday. Memphis has won 19 of the past 20 in the series.
Source: http://www.fox17.com/template/inews_wire/wires.regional.tn/26eb0377-www.fox17.com.shtml
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Results of a massive gene analysis, published last month in the journal <em>Nature</em>, shows that there are <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/24/four-breast-cancer-types-genetics-genes_n_1909116.html">four major classes</a> of breast cancer, the Associated Press reported. "With this study, we're one giant step closer to understanding the genetic origins of the <a href="http://www.siteman.wustl.edu/ContentPage.aspx?id=6431">four major subtypes of breast cancer</a>," study researcher Matthew Ellis, M.B., B.Chir., Ph.D., of the Washington University School of Medicine and the Siteman Cancer Center, said in a statement. "Now, we can investigate which drugs work best for patients based on the genetic profiles of their tumors," he added in the statement. "For basal-like breast tumors, it's clear they are genetically more similar to ovarian tumors than to other breast cancers. Whether they can be treated the same way is an intriguing possibility that needs to be explored."
Men are less likely to get breast cancer than women -- but when they do, it's <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/04/breast-cancer-men_n_1479739.html">often deadlier</a>, according to a study presented earlier this year at the American Society of Breast Surgeons meeting. The Associated Press reported that <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/04/breast-cancer-men_n_1479739.html">men diagnosed with breast cancer</a> live, on average, two fewer years than women who are diagnosed with breast cancer, and are also more likely to have the breast cancer spread, have larger tumors when the cancer is discovered, and be diagnosed later.
Cadmium -- a toxic metal that can be present in foods like shellfish, root vegetables, offal and cereals -- may <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/15/cadmium-breast-cancer-intake_n_1347523.html">raise risk of breast cancer</a>, according to a March 2012 study in the journal <em>Cancer Research</em>. The research included 56,000 women. Researchers were able to analyze about how much cadmium each woman was consuming based on the cadmium-rich foods in her diet. They found that those who <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/15/cadmium-breast-cancer-intake_n_1347523.html">consumed the most cadmium</a> had a 21 percent higher breast cancer risk, compared with those who consumed the least cadmium, HuffPost's Catherine Pearson reported.
Getting six or fewer hours of sleep <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/06/sleep-breast-cancer-aggressive-deprivation_n_1854658.html">may raise the risk of recurrent breast cancer</a> among post-menopausal breast cancer patients, according to a study in the journal <em>Breast Cancer Research and Treatment</em>. However, this same link was not observed for pre-menopausal breast cancer patients. The findings suggest "that <a href="http://www.uhhospitals.org/about/media-news-room/current-news/2012/08/lack-of-sleep-found-to-be-a-new-risk-factor-for-aggressive-breast-cancers">lack of sufficient sleep</a> may cause more aggressive tumors, but more research will need to be done to verify this finding and understand the causes of this association," study researcher Cheryl Thompson, Ph.D. said in the statement.
A <a href="http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-10/acos-afo092712.php">smallpox virus</a> seems to be promising against a hard-to-treat form of breast cancer, called triple-negative breast cancer, according to a study in mice presented at the 2012 Annual Clinical Congress of the American College of Surgeons. "Based upon pathology, we could see that at least 60 percent of the <a href="http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-10/acos-afo092712.php">tumors were completely regressed</a> and the other 40 percent had very little areas of tumor cells present with a lot of necrosis, which is a sign that the tumor was responding to therapy," study researcher Dr. Sepideh Gholami, M.D., of Stanford University Medical Center, said in a statement. ABC News pointed out that this <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2012/10/01/smallpox-virus-may-help-treat-deadly-form-of-breast-cancer/">kind of breast cancer is notoriously hard to treat</a> because it doesn't respond to other hormonal or immune treatments.
Working the night shift is linked to an increased risk of breast cancer, according to two different studies that came out this year. One of them, published in the journal <em>Occupational and Environmental Medicine</em>, showed that <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/30/shift-work-breast-cancer-risk_n_1553058.html">breast cancer risk went up </a>among women who worked the night shift more than twice a week, with the risk being the highest among those who said that they are "morning people" instead of "night people." <em>The Toronto Sun</em> reported that the results of this study confirm the findings of the International Agency for Research on Cancer, which has a list of items and <a href="http://www.torontosun.com/2012/05/29/night-shift-work-linked-to-breast-cancer-risk">habits that may cause cancer</a>. The IARC considers shift work "possibly carcinogenic." The other study, published in the <em>International Journal of Cancer</em>, showed that breast cancer risk is 30 percent higher for <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/01/shift-work-breast-cancer-night-sleep_n_1612486.html">women who work the night shift</a>, with the risk being especially clear among those working night-time jobs for four years, or those who worked the night shift for three or fewer nights a week.
The genes that help determine a <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/05/breast-cancer-risk-breast-size-study_n_1652292.html">woman's breast size</a> may also be linked with her breast cancer risk, according to a study published earlier this year in the journal <em>BMC Medical Genetics</em>. Researchers examined the genetic data of 16,000 women to find that seven DNA variations, called single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), seem to be <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/05/breast-cancer-risk-breast-size-study_n_1652292.html">linked with breast size</a> -- and three of those SNPs are known to be associated with a person's risk of breast cancer, HuffPost's Catherine Pearson reported.
Just a little bit of exercise may help to <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/25/exercise-breast-cancer-risk-moderate_n_1619175.html">reduce your risk of breast cancer</a>, though the more you move, the better, according to a study in the journal <em>CANCER</em>. Researchers at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill found that postmenopausal or reproductive-age women in their study who exercised the most -- from 10 to 19 hours each week -- had a 30 percent <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/25/exercise-breast-cancer-risk-moderate_n_1619175.html">lower risk of breast cancer</a>, though exercising less than that was still linked with some protective benefits. "The observation of a reduced risk of breast cancer for women who <a href="http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-06/w-eem062012.php">engaged in exercise after menopause</a> is particularly encouraging given the late age of onset for breast cancer," study researcher Lauren McCullough said in a statement.
For post-menopausal women, <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9541796/Breast-cancer-risk-raised-by-Type-2-diabetes.html">having Type 2 diabetes</a> may raise the risk of breast cancer, according to a review conducted by the International Prevention Research Institute. "On the one hand, it's thought that being overweight, often <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9541796/Breast-cancer-risk-raised-by-Type-2-diabetes.html">associated with Type 2 diabetes</a>, and the effect this has on hormone activity may be partly responsible for the processes that lead to cancer growth," study researcher Peter Boyle, the president of the International Prevention Research Institute, told <em>The Telegraph</em>. "But it's also impossible to rule out that some factors related to diabetes may be involved in the process."
Being overweight could lead to worse outcomes from breast cancer, according to a study published August in the journal <em>Cancer</em>. Specifically, the study showed that overweight women who have been treated for breast cancer have a <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48800019/ns/health-cancer/t/being-overweight-tied-breast-cancer-return-death/#.UGxtN_mfGPI">higher risk of recurrence and death</a>, NBC News reported. "Obesity seemed to carry a <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48800019/ns/health-cancer/t/being-overweight-tied-breast-cancer-return-death/#.UGxtN_mfGPI">higher risk of breast cancer</a> recurrence and death -- even in women who were healthy at the time that they were diagnosed, and despite the fact that they received the best available chemotherapy and hormone therapy," study researcher Dr. Joseph Sparano, associate chairman of medical oncology at the Montefiore Einstein Center for Cancer Care, told NBC News.
Marisa Weiss, MD, of breast cancer.org, explains the different breast cancer stages and what they mean.
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(Reuters) - Federal and state regulators are examining whether some of the largest U.S. banks are helping Internet-based lenders evade state laws that cap interest rates on payday loans, The New York Times said on Sunday.
Citing several people with direct knowledge of the matter, the newspaper said the FDIC and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in Washington, D.C. are examining the role of banks in online payday loans.
It also said Benjamin Lawsky, who heads New York State's Department of Financial Services, is investigating how banks enable online lenders to make high-rate loans to residents of New York, where interest rates are capped at 25 percent.
Payday loans, typically a few hundred dollars in size, enable cash-strapped borrowers to obtain quick funds to tide them over until their next paychecks.
But the loans can carry effective annual interest rates that reach well into three digits. Some consumer advocates consider the loans a means to take advantage of financially desperate Americans, who nonetheless shell out $7.4 billion a year for them according to a February 20 study by the Pew Charitable Trusts.
The newspaper did not identify the banks being examined.
But it said that while large banks such as Bank of America Corp, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Wells Fargo & Co do not make the actual loans, they do let lenders that do to withdraw payments from customers' accounts, even if customers have already begged them to stop.
According to the newspaper, 15 U.S. states ban payday loans, but lenders are setting up online operations in places such as Belize, Malta and the West Indies to more easily evade the caps.
Representatives of JPMorgan, Bank of America, Citigroup Inc and Wells Fargo, the four largest U.S. banks, had no immediate comment or did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The FDIC, the CFPB and Lawsky's office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The newspaper said a Bank of America spokeswoman said that bank has always honored requests to stop automatic withdrawals, a JPMorgan spokeswoman said that bank is working to resolve open cases, and Wells Fargo declined to comment.
"YOU NEVER CATCH UP"
According to the Pew study, Americans on average pay $520 in finance charges for payday loans that average just $375.
Many of these borrowers find the process a never-ending cycle that leaves them in the same financial binds where they started, according to the study.
Fifty-eight percent of borrowers reported persistent problems paying their bills, and 41 percent found they needed help to repay the loans - such as by borrowing from friends or family, selling personal possessions, or taking out other loans.
Moreover, 27 percent of payday loan borrowers said the loans caused them to overdraw their checking accounts - enabling banks to charge fees for those overdrafts.
"It seems like you never catch up, and it, it's just check-to-check, and something breaks down, and the house needs work, kids have school, just never catch up," a storefront borrower in Chicago was quoted in the report as saying.
The borrower was then asked how long this had gone on. The response: "Twenty years."
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/regulators-examine-big-banks-evade-payday-loan-laws-190733173--finance.html
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BAMAKO, Mali (AP) ? Jihadist fighters fired two rockets at military points in Mali's northern city of Gao on Thursday after the military pushed fighters out of the city a day earlier and as a suicide bomber attacked secular rebels near Algeria's border, officials said.
Capt. Daouda Diarra said Thursday there was also shooting on the north side of the city.
He said the rockets were likely launched by the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa, or MUJAO.
"The jihadist have fired two rockets on us that we have recovered," Diarra said. "This is a small group and we will dislodge them and track the rest of the group who have fled 21 kilometers (13 miles) east of Gao on board seven vehicles."
Fighters with the al-Qaida-linked group had attacked a Gao checkpoint on Wednesday and fought with the military around the Town Hall in the city center on Thursday. Diarra said 16 jihadists were killed in the fighting and six soldiers were wounded.
Meanwhile, further north in Kidal, a suicide car bombing killed at least one secular Tuareg rebel, the mayor of Kidal said.
Abda Ag Kazina said that a suicide car bomber targeted a base for the secular National Movement for the Liberation of the Azawad, or NMLA, near the country's border with Algeria.
The Tuaregs and Islamic extremists made rapid advances on Mali's north in the aftermath of a March 2012 coup, seizing the main cities in the north. Poorly armed and demoralized Malian soldiers fled before their advance.
But the secular fighters fell out with the Islamist extremists. As the extremists have fled the French bombing campaign, it appears the NMLA fighters have moved back into some areas.
The jihadist group MUJAO claimed responsibility for another car explosion Thursday at a mechanics garage in Kidal about 800 meters (875 yards) from a French military base.
French and Chadian forces are patrolling the city of Kidal, though it remains unclear if the northern administrative capital is secure.
Radical Islamic fighters spent weeks on the run from Malian cities under a French ground and air assault that began Jan. 11 after the rebels had pushed to southern territories. The French, meanwhile, are tightening a dragnet against the al-Qaida-linked militants in one of their last remaining redoubts, mountain sanctuaries near Algeria's border.
France has said it will eventually pull out of its Mali operation so that African forces can help stabilize the West African country.
U.N. discussions about an African force for Mali have been under way for months, alongside efforts for a European Union training mission to help the Malian military.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/islamic-rebels-fire-rockets-military-mali-112412410.html
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LAS VEGAS (AP) ? Bullets were flying from a black Range Rover at a gray Maserati as the vehicles raced toward a red light on the Las Vegas Strip.
Beneath the neon lights, police say, the Maserati ran a red light at one of the Strip's busiest intersections and smashed into a taxi that exploded into flames early Thursday, killing the two people inside.
Three more cars and a utility truck also collided at a crossroads home to Bellagio, Caesars Palace and Bally's, leaving at least six more people injured as the Range Rover sped off in the predawn darkness.
The Maserati driver was pronounced dead at the hospital.
The dramatic scene that more one tourist compared to something out of a violent action movie set off a frantic search for the occupants of the Range Rover and marked the latest episode on the Strip since the beginning of the year.
Two people were critically wounded in a shooting at a parking garage on Feb. 6, and a tourist was stabbed last Saturday in an elevator at The Hotel at Mandalay Bay.
Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie told reporters several hours later that the shooting was sparked by an argument in the valet area of the nearby Aria hotel-casino, and that the violence at the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and Flamingo Road did not reflect the values of the residents or visitors to Las Vegas.
"What happened will not be tolerated," Gillespie said. He promised the shooters would be "found and prosecuted to the full extent of the law."
On the Strip, the fiery rampage shocked tourists.
"This doesn't happen where we come from, not on this scale," said Mark Thompson, who was visiting from Manchester, England, with his wife. "We get stabbings, and gang violence, but this is like something out of a movie. Like 'Die Hard' or something."
Police said they were contacting authorities in three neighboring states about the Range Rover Sport with dark tinted windows, distinctive black custom rims and paper dealer ads in place of license plates that fled the scene about 4:20 a.m.
In Southern California, the California Highway Patrol alerted officers in at least three counties to be on the lookout for the SUV.
Las Vegas Police Sgt. John Sheahan said the Range Rover was last seen near the Venetian resort as it headed north from the shooting scene on Las Vegas Boulevard.
Witnesses also told police the SUV and Maserati had come from the nearby CityCenter area, the home of Aria just south of the site of the attack. Police said the argument had started in the valet area of the upscale resort.
"We have numerous witnesses to this," Sheahan said. "But what is the genesis of this? We don't know yet."
Predawn jogger Eric Lackey was on his way back to the New York-New York hotel when he snapped a cellphone photo of the blazing scene moments after the crash. Black smoke billowed from the flaming taxi, amid popping sounds from the fire.
Lackey, of Forest Hill, Md., said a security officer in a yellow shirt performed CPR on a person on the sidewalk while police officers canvassed a small crowd of perhaps 15 onlookers gathering at the scene.
"Police were asking if anyone was still in the vehicles and if they heard gunfire," Lackey told The Associated Press. "That's when I realized it wasn't just a regular accident."
Sheahan said police have video from traffic cameras at the intersection and were checking hotel surveillance systems. The video will not be made public, he said.
Police said the driver and passenger in the taxi were killed. The male driver of the Maserati also died, and his passenger was shot. Police did not release their names citing the ongoing investigation.
The crumpled, gray sports car, which had no license plates, came to rest several feet away from the incinerated taxi.
"The people I feel sorry for are the people in the taxi," said Elvina Joyce, a tourist from Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. "Seconds made all the difference in the world for them. Wrong place, wrong time."
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/police-hotel-altercation-sparked-vegas-shooting-182403826.html
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NEW YORK (Reuters) - Now there are 135.
That's how many medical tests, treatments and other procedures - many used for decades - physicians have now identified as almost always unnecessary and often harmful, and which doctors and patients should therefore avoid or at least seriously question.
The lists of procedures, released on Thursday by the professional societies of 17 medical specialties ranging from neurology and ophthalmology to thoracic surgery, are part of a campaign called Choosing Wisely. Organized by the American Board of Internal Medicine's foundation, it aims to get doctors to stop performing useless procedures and spread the word to patients that some don't help and might hurt.
"Americans' view of healthcare is that more is better," said Dr Glenn Stream, a family physician in Spokane, Washington, and board chairman of the American Academy of Family Physicians, which has identified 10 unnecessary procedures. "But there are a lot of things that are done frequently but don't contribute to people's health and may be harmful."
In a particular case, even a procedure that provides no benefit to the vast majority of people might be appropriate. That's why the physicians emphasize that they are only advising against routine use of the usually unnecessary tests and therapies.
For instance, the American Academy of Pediatrics says physicians "should question" CT scans for kids' minor head injuries or abdominal pains, which usually don't improve diagnoses and raise the risk of cancer. But if doctors suspect something unusual, a scan may be in order.
For the most part, the medical specialty groups did not consider cost when they made their lists. If their advice is followed, however, it would save billions of dollars a year in wasteful spending, said Dr John Santa, director of Consumer Reports' Health Ratings Center and a partner in Choosing Wisely.
One large medical group with 300,000 patients, Santa said, calculated that following the Choosing Wisely advice on just two procedures, superfluous EKGs (electrocardiograms) and bone-density scans, would reduce its billings by $1 million a year. Nationally, that translates into some $1 billion in savings.
The medical specialty groups each came up with five procedures to "question," but most of the items begin with an emphatic "don't." The targeted procedures range from the common to the esoteric.
RETHINKING SWIMMER'S EAR, PRE-OP TESTS
Other specialists say no cough and cold medications for kids under 4, no oral antibiotics for acute infections of the ear canal ("swimmer's ear") and no use of drugs to keep blood sugar in older adults with type 2 diabetes within tight limits. There is no evidence that tight "glycemic control" - which is widely practiced - is beneficial, said the American Geriatrics Society. Instead, the diabetes drugs used to achieve tight control increase mortality, and tight control itself can cause low blood sugar.
Some recommendations, if widely adopted, would mean significant changes in patient care. The geriatricians, for example, recommend against feeding tubes in patients with advanced dementia. The tubes hurt and cause problems; carefully feeding the patient is better.
Anyone who has ever had surgery while in generally good health can sympathize with the recommendation against multiple pre-op tests: Ophthalmologists now advise against EKGs and blood glucose measurements before eye surgery, except for patients with heart disease or diabetes.
Physicians recommend against many procedures patients have come to expect, including imaging for low back pain (unless it has lasted more than six weeks) and any cardiac screening, including EKGs, in patients without heart symptoms.
The widely used "DEXA" X-ray screening for osteoporosis landed in rheumatologists' crosshairs. It should not be done more than once every two years, they advise, because changes in bone density over shorter periods are typically less than the machines' measurement error, which can cause women to think they're losing bone mass when they're not.
RETREAT FROM DEFCON
Other "don't's" may be hard sells to patients for whom any abnormality requires medicine's version of Defcon 1.
Take a finding of abnormal cells in the cervix. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) says not to treat women whose Pap test for cervical cancer finds dysplasia unless the abnormalities persist for two years.
"Treatment damages the cervix and raises the risk in subsequent pregnancies," said ACOG Executive Vice President Dr Hal Lawrence. The abnormal cells are almost always the result of a viral infection that the body clears on its own, but women who think they mean impending cervical cancer will need convincing.
If doctors adopt the recommendations of their specialty, doctor visits for some chronic diseases would be very different. Patients with recurrent headaches would not get EEGs (electroencephalography); they don't improve outcomes. And rheumatologists would not use MRIs to monitor joints in patients with rheumatoid arthritis; a clinical assessment is just as good.
Women in particular would get quite different care. Those younger than 21 and those who have had a hysterectomy for anything but cancer should not get Pap smears at all, experts say. Other women should get the tests every three years, not annually, between ages 30 to 65.
"We did a great job training everyone, women as well as doctors, to get an annual Pap smear," said ACOG's Lawrence. "Now we have to untrain them."
That won't be easy. The first Choosing Wisely list of 45 procedures was released last April, too recently for there to be hard data on whether they're changing practice. But some of these battles have been fought for years, with scant success.
ACOG has been trying to reduce the rate of elective cesareans for decades, and its Choosing Wisely list tells obstetricians not to schedule elective cesareans or induce labor before week 39. The rate of cesareans in the United States was 33 percent of deliveries in 2009, up from 21 percent in 1996, federal data show.
WORSE FOR BABIES, BETTER FOR REVENUES
The experience of Intermountain Healthcare, a group of hospitals and clinics in Utah, suggests why. The nonprofit recently cut its rate of inappropriate labor inductions and cesareans from 28 percent of births to 2 percent. That saved Utah $50 million a year in healthcare spending, mostly by reducing use of the neonatal intensive care unit, where many babies delivered in these ways wind up. But Intermountain also lost $9 million in annual billings.
"In our fee-for-service healthcare system," said Consumer Reports' Santa, "poor clinical outcomes for babies improve revenue streams for hospitals," and better care can reduce revenues.
Many business groups have signed on to Choosing Wisely, hoping it will reduce soaring healthcare costs. For instance, the National Business Coalition on Health, with 7,000 employer members, and the National Business Group on Health, representing Fortune 500 companies and other large employers, are distributing to their members educational material developed by Consumer Reports, a partner in Choosing Wisely.
They are careful to emphasize that the advice comes from doctors. "If employers say you shouldn't have all these tests or procedures, it'll inevitably be seen as 'my employer doesn't want to spend the money to cover them,'" said Helen Darling, president of the Business Group.
The pages and pages of lists raise an obvious question: How did so many worthless and even dangerous procedures become so widely used?
For one thing, there is no regulatory requirement that physicians prove a new procedure helps patients, as drug makers must do before selling a new pharmaceutical.
For another, "Americans want the latest, newest thing," said Dr Howard Brody of the University of Texas Medical Branch, whose 2010 challenge to physicians to identify worthless tests and treatments inspired Choosing Wisely. "Technological enthusiasm on the part of physicians and the general public makes them willing to adopt new things without rigorous testing. Only years later, and only if studies are done, do we see that it's no good."
(This version of the story was corrected to say National Business Coalition on Health from National Business Council on Health in the fifth paragraph from the bottom.)
(Reporting by Sharon Begley; Editing by Jilian Mincer and Prudence Crowther; Desking by Vicki Allen)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/just-dont-doctors-routine-tests-treatments-214105910.html
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HONG KONG (AP) ? "Ip Man: The Final Fight," about the latter years of the Wing Chun master Ip Man, will open the Hong Kong International Film Festival next month.
The martial arts master has been portrayed many times on the big screen, most recently by Tony Leung in Wong Kar Wai's "The Grandmaster."
Anthony Wong, the new film's leading man, said comparing the roles was hard because he plays a different time in Ip Man's life. He plays Ip Man from his arrival in Hong Kong in 1949 until his death.
"There are photos of Ip during this time of his life, there is a video of him practicing with wooden sticks for me to portray," Wong said at a news conference Thursday to announce the festival's lineup. "However, how he talked, how he behaved, no one really knows. That left a lot for the imagination, but in comparison, there are references for the Ip Man that I portray."
The festival starts March 17.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ip-man-final-flight-open-hong-kong-fest-032400751.html
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FILE - In this May 8, 2009 file photo, former Bolingbrook, Ill., police sergeant Drew Peterson arrives at the Will County Courthouse in Joliet, Ill., for his arraignment on charges of first-degree murder in the 2004 death of his third wife Kathleen Savio. On Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013, Will County Judge Edward Burmila sentenced Peterson to 38 years in prison for Savio's murder. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File)
FILE - In this May 8, 2009 file photo, former Bolingbrook, Ill., police sergeant Drew Peterson arrives at the Will County Courthouse in Joliet, Ill., for his arraignment on charges of first-degree murder in the 2004 death of his third wife Kathleen Savio. On Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013, Will County Judge Edward Burmila sentenced Peterson to 38 years in prison for Savio's murder. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green, File)
In this courtroom sketch Drew Peterson, right, address the court and Judge Edward Burmila during Peterson's sentencing at the Will County Courthouse for the 2004 murder of his third wife Kathleen Savio Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013, in Joliet, Ill. Burmila sentenced Peterson to 38 years in prison. (AP Photo/Tom Gianni)
In this courtroom sketch, Drew Peterson, left, watches Will County States Attorney James K. Glasgow during Peterson's sentencing for the 2004 murder of his third wife Kathleen Savio before Judge Edward Burmila at the Will County Courthouse Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013, in Joliet, Ill. Later in the day, Burmila sentenced Peterson to 38 years in prison for the crime. (AP Photo/Tom Gianni)
Will County States Attorney James W. Glasgow talks to reporters after Judge Edward Burmila rejected a defense retrial motion for Drew Peterson and then sentenced Peterson to 38 years in prison for the 2004 murder of his third wife Kathleen Savio Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013, in Joliet, Ill. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
Drew Peterson's defense team from left, Joseph Lopez, David Peilet, and Steve Greenberg, talk to reporters after Will County Judge Edward Burmila rejected their retrial motion for Peterson, and then sentencing Peterson to 38 years in prison for the 2004 murder of his third wife Kathleen Savio Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013, in Joliet, Ill. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
JOLIET, Ill. (AP) ? Drew Peterson ? the swaggering Chicago-area policeman who gained notoriety after his fourth wife vanished ? lost his characteristic cool in court Thursday, screaming out his innocence before a judge sentenced him to 38 years in prison for the murder of a previous wife.
"I did not kill Kathleen!" Peterson shouted, leaning into a courtroom microphone and emphasizing each of the five words.
Without missing a beat, his dead wife's sister, Susan Doman, shouted back, "Yes, you did! You liar!" before the judge ordered sheriff's deputies to remove her from the courtroom.
For years, Peterson had casually dismissed and even joked about suggestions he killed his third wife, Kathleen Savio, or that he was behind the disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson.
His sudden explosion of fury Thursday as he stepped up to address the judge who would sentence him for Savio's 2004 death left spectators gasping. Lead state prosecutor James Glasgow said it exposed the real Drew Peterson ? the one more than capable of murder.
"We all got an opportunity to see a psychopath reveal himself in open court," Glasgow told reporters shortly after Thursday's hearing. "That shrill ... screech. ... That's the guy that killed Kathy."
Illinois does not have the death penalty, and the 59-year-old Peterson had faced a maximum 60-year prison term. Judge Edward Burmila gave him four years' credit for time he has served since his 2009 arrest.
After starting his statement with the startling scream, Peterson went on for 30 more minutes, continuing in mostly hushed tones, crying and trying to regain his composure at times. His voice quivered and his hands were shaking as he reached for a glass of water.
"I loved Kathy. She was a good mom," he said, tearing up. "She did not deserve to die. But she died in an accident."
Savio's death was initially ruled an accident, after neighbors found the 40-year-old aspiring nurse's body in a dry bathtub at home. It was Stacy Peterson's 2007 disappearance that prompted authorities to take another look at Savio's death and eventually reclassify it as a homicide. Drew Peterson is also a suspect in the disappearance of Stacy Peterson ? who was 23-years-old when she vanished ? but he hasn't been charged in her case.
Fascination nationwide with Drew Peterson arose from speculation he sought to use his law enforcement expertise to get away with murder. Jurors convicted him of Savio's murder in September.
At times Thursday, Peterson seemed to wallow in self-pity, telling the judge, "I don't deserve this," and that "America should be outraged (by the injustice of his conviction), but nobody cares." Other times, he seethed, blaming prosecutors for what he called "the largest railroad job ever."
He told Glasgow that the prosecutor could now celebrate because he had destroyed Peterson's life. Minutes later, Peterson challenged Glasgow to look him in the eyes. Glasgow, who had been taking notes, laid down his pen, folded his arms and looked straight back at Peterson.
"Never forget what you've done here," Peterson said.
Glasgow later told reporters about that moment, "I was thinking, 'You're a cold-blooded murderer and I'll stare you down until I die.'"
Peterson had divorced Savio a year before her death. His motive for killing her, prosecutors said, was fear that a pending settlement would wipe him out financially.
Before Thursday, Peterson had never publicly showed concern about the serious charges and the possible sentence he faced. The glib, cocky former police officer seemed to taunt authorities before his 2009 arrest, suggesting a "Win a Date With Drew Contest" and then, after his arrest, "Win a Conjugal Visit With Drew Contest." More recently, his story inspired a TV movie starring Rob Lowe.
Savio's family members told the judge they hoped she was somehow watching Thursday's proceedings.
"I hope ... she is watching his descent into hell," said Henry Savio Jr., the victim's brother. And he added about Drew Peterson, "I hope she is haunting him in his dreams."
Sister Anna Doman said she couldn't help thinking about what her sister went through in the moments before she died: "The horror and the betrayal she felt when she realized that someone she had trusted and loved more than anything was killing her."
Prosecutors had no physical evidence tying Peterson to Savio's death and no witnesses placing him at the scene ? something Peterson alluded to in his statement. During last year's trial, they relied on typically barred hearsay ? statements Savio made to others before she died and that Stacy Peterson made before she vanished. Illinois passed a hearsay law in 2008 tailored to Drew Peterson's case, dubbed "Drew's Law," which assisted in making some of the evidence admissible.
The hearsay ? any information reported by a witness not based on the witness' direct knowledge ? included a friend testifying that Savio told her Peterson once put a knife to her throat and warned her, "I could kill you and make it look like an accident."
A turning point at the trial came when the defense called a divorce attorney who said he spoke to Stacy Peterson before she vanished. Rather than blunting her credibility, the witness stressed to jurors that Stacy Peterson seemed to truly believe her husband killed Savio.
Earlier Thursday, the judge denied a defense request to grant Drew Peterson a retrial. Peterson's current attorneys contended his former lead attorney, Joel Brodsky, botched the initial trial and had been the one to decide to call Smith to the stand. Brodsky stepped down from the defense team in November.
Prosecutors suspect Peterson killed his fourth wife because she could finger him for Savio's death. Peterson has maintained his fourth wife ran off with another man and is still alive.
Peterson's attorneys have said they might appeal all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court on grounds Illinois' hearsay law is unconstitutional.
___
Follow Michael Tarm at www.twitter.com/mtarm
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TORRANCE, Calif. -- On Saturday, Liz Carmouche will be one of the first women to fight in the UFC. Along with bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, Carmouche will make history. Her status as a main event fighter has translated to a brighter spotlight on Carmouche, a soft spoken but confident woman.
She thanks her opponent for that increased spotlight, but doesn't think she could follow in Rousey's foot steps. If Carmouche takes the belt on Saturday, she doesn't expect to be nude on ESPN the Magazine's Body Issue, as Rousey was in 2012.
"I'm sure there will be some attention, but if I win, you won't see me doing poses on magazine covers. It's not my personality," Carmouche said.
But she knows the kind of attention Rousey brought with the ESPN cover and her outspoken personality is what helped women get to the UFC. She said what will continue to help women's MMA grow is for other female fighters to be themselves when selling fights. If that means gracing the covers of magazines, go for it.
"It depends on how comfortable they are doing it. I don't think anyone should try to put themselves in a situation or push themselves out of the zone that they don't feel comfortable and safe in. If that's something she can do, great, because I couldn't do it. I'm too insecure to do that. But if they can, absolutely do it. If not, just be yourselves. Our personalities and our stories should be able to win people over."
Carmouche couldn't always be herself. She served in the Marine Corps for five years. Her three tours of duty in Iraq happened while the military was still under the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy. It's since been repealed, but Carmouche had to stay closeted about her sexuality for so long.
As a trailblazer for both women and the LGBT community, Carmouche has fallen into the job of role model. She says it's something she never sought out, but now is happy to be in that role.
"To be closeted for so long was so difficult. I never planned to be in the place I am today, but for it to have fallen into place is an honor. I've heard nothing but positive feedback and support. I want to be somebody they can look up to so that they can come out."
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Melanie Kramer, Vetstreet
Pet Starz shirts are just one of the many quirky (and clever) products on display at the 2013 Global Pet Expo in Orlando, Fla.
By Vetstreet.com staff
Of all the things we love about attending the?Global Pet Expo, the industry's biggest annual trade show, our favorite is coming across products that amuse us by being unusual or surprisingly clever. Some are truly creative solutions to problems we all face, while others fill a need we didn't even know we had. Regardless, each item below is sure to make you smile.
Platinum Pets Pet Starz shirts
These shirts might be ultra soft, but they rock ultra hard in both canine and human sizes, featuring seven funny and cute ?Pet Starz? characters: King of Pup, I Pitty the Pup, Wrath of the Pup, I Kissed a Gurl Kitty, Born This Way Kitty, Doggy Style Pup and Teen Hearthrob Pup. Count us in. (Pet Starz shirts are available in S, M, L and XL online, $9.99 for?dogs?and $19.99 for?humans.)
Allan Halprin, Vetstreet
OmegaPaw Meowtinis
Along with the Cranberry Cabernet, Meowtinis are the perfect snack for your finicky feline. They're companions to OmegaPaw's more masculine Brew Buddies snacks and become available next month. (OmegaPaw Meowtini, $4.99.)
Fairmareproducts.com
Fair Mare Products Neigh Station
From the company that brought us the Equine Scratcher, the Neigh Station activity center is much more than a cute toy. It helps curb unwanted behaviors that stalled horses develop. (Fair Mare Products Neigh Station, $89.99.)
Caroline Golon, Vetstreet
Pride Bites' dog toys
Your dog loves you, and he loves his toys. So why not turn yourself into his new favorite toy? Pride Bites offers customizable dog toys that can feature either a depiction of you or a picture of your pet in three easy steps. (Pride Bites Custom Dog Toys are available online, $29.99.)
Melanie Kramer, Vetstreet
ZooQuariums, modern fish tanks by The Refined Fin
Ever considered a fish tank in the kitchen? With these very stylish tanks, you?ll be thrilled to add your goldfish to any room of the house ? no matter how upscale the d?cor. The tanks come in a variety of colors and animals, including elephant, whale, fish, cat, frog and even a heart shape. They aren?t available yet, but look for them in your local boutique soon. (ZooQuariums Frog and Fish, $24.99.)
Allan Halprin, Vetstreet
Cuddle Chair
Casey, a 4-year-old rescue Maltipoo, lounges on this stylish Cuddle Chair, which is part of a new line of luxury home products from Best Friends by Sheri. The chair will be available online in May. (Best Friends by Sheri Cuddle Chair, $300.)
Prevue Pet Products Inc.
Prevue Pet Pop-Up Park
Pop-Up Park from Prevue Pet is an all-wood playground for small to medium-sized birds that folds up into a convenient carrying case with a cotton rope. Your bird will dig the perches, rope, swing, bell and ladder, and you?ll appreciate the fact that the various angles and surfaces are designed to promote exercise and stimulation. All colors and finishes are 100 percent pet safe. (Pop-Up Park will be available in pet stores nationwide in the coming weeks, $39.99.)
Primadogusa.com
Prima Dog Nano Pet Beds
Prima Dog Nano Pet Beds are as varied as they are clever. Coming in 13 designs including a shark, a puppy, a French snail and a watermelon, you?ll find an unusual design to suit your (or your pet?s) particular style. Assuming that your style is a little whimsical and entertaining, that is! (Nano Pet Beds, $80.)
Courtesy of PoogoStick
PoogoStick
Tired of carrying a pocketful of plastic bags to the park to pick up poop? Or stooping over the litter box every day? Try the hassle-free PoogoStick, a scooper that allows you to easily clean up your pet's mess, whether it's in the litter box or in the backyard. (PoogoStick, $39.99.)
Marshallpet.com
Cruising Critter Raceway
The new Cruising Critter Raceway from Marshall Pet put a smile on our faces, so we can see why it?s designed for both stores to use for demonstrations and for family fun at home. We got to see it in action with two ferrets in a fierce race to the finish during the show, and while the race took only moments, that was long enough to draw a small crowd. (Cruising Critter Raceway will be available within the next two months at retailers, $29-$32.)
Courtesy of Stud Stopper
Stud Stopper
When Tina Moody's female dog went into heat for the first time, it caused "chaos" in her home of six dogs. So she asked her husband, a carpenter, to create a solution. His invention became the Stud Stopper, a male birth control tool made from vinyl with a stretch band that wraps around the waist. The product comes in five sizes, fitting dogs from 5 to 150 pounds. (Stud Stopper, $65-$75.)
More from VetStreet.com:
5 dog breeds that are worrisome
8 of the wackiest products for pets
Zoo hand raises baby kangaroo?
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The canary in the baptistery? Decline in child baptisms raises concern for future of Roman Catholic Church
Peter Smith ("Courier Journal," February 19, 2013)
My story on Sunday on the state of local Catholic schools ? down overall despite strong enrollment in some regions ? noted that there?s a downward sacramental trend as well. The numbers of child baptisms are down in the Archdiocese of Louisville from 3,065 to 2,329 from 1998 to 2011. The trend line looks very similar with the enrollment decline, from 16,732 in 2002-03 to 12,469 in 2011-12.
And the same thing is happening nationally: Catholic school enrollment is down, and so are Catholic baptisms (and marriages and burials, for that matter).
Georgetown University researcher Mark Gray often tries to correct false impressions about the Catholic Church?s health, saying membership and Mass attendance are more robust than some claim. But he says the decline in baptisms is real and serious:
?Polling has a big blind spot. We generally only survey people ages 18 and older. We often don?t notice changes occurring among youth.
The rate of Catholic baptisms to overall live births in the United States has dropped from one-quarter in the late 1990s and early 2000s to one-fifth in recent years, wrote Gray, of Georgetown?s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate. Some parents might be choosing to baptize their kids later, but more than ?nine in ten children entering the Church do so within the first year of their birth,? Gray wrote.
To be sure, Catholics aren?t the only ones worried about such spiritual vital signs. Southern Baptists, while having a different style and criteria for baptism (immersing only those old enough to make a profession of faith), have sounded alarms about their own declining baptismal numbers.
As far as Catholicism goes, Gray writes:
?The type of ground being lost by the Church will not be easy to make up. Without many baptisms of tweens and teens the Catholic population percentage will begin to decline later in the next decade as older Catholics from higher Catholic population percentage cohorts pass on to be replaced in the adult population by these smaller percentage younger cohorts. ?
?But the news may be even worse. Not all those baptized remain Catholic as adults. ? It is true that the Catholic retention rate is among the highest of any of the Christian faiths. But this has also been declining in recent years.
So why is this happening? Gray floats some possibilities ? interfaith marriages, declines in immigration, less interest in baptism among little-committed Catholics than there used to be, particularly among those having kids outside of marriage. But if the reasons aren?t certain, the numbers are, Gray writes:
?Let me emphasize that these are real data?counts of births and baptisms. We?re not dealing with surveys that would have margins of error. This is really happening. We just don?t notice it yet because much of the research on religious affiliation in the United States is derived from polling data of adults and not many of these surveys ask respondents if they are baptizing their children.?
Related Sections | Catholic
Source: http://wwrn.org/articles/39138/
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DEAR ABBY: My boyfriend, "Doug" (24), and I (22) have been in a long-distance relationship for a year, but we were friends for a couple of years before that. I had never had a serious relationship before and lacked experience. Doug has not only been in two other long-term relationships, but has had sex with more than 15 women. One of them is an amateur porn actress.I knew about this, but it didn't bother me until recently. Doug had a party, and while he was drunk he told one of his buddies -- in front of me -- that he should watch a certain porn film starring his ex-girlfriend. ...
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/problems-samsung-chip-galaxy-iv-may-lead-huge-173032692.html
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Firefighters are on the scene of a gas explosion and massive fire Tuesday night, Feb. 19, 2013 at JJ's restaurant at the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, Mo. A car crashed into a gas main in the upscale Kansas City shopping district, sparking a massive blaze that engulfed an entire block and caused multiple injuries, police said. (AP Photo/The Kansas City Star, Tammy Ljungblad)
Firefighters are on the scene of a gas explosion and massive fire Tuesday night, Feb. 19, 2013 at JJ's restaurant at the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, Mo. A car crashed into a gas main in the upscale Kansas City shopping district, sparking a massive blaze that engulfed an entire block and caused multiple injuries, police said. (AP Photo/The Kansas City Star, Tammy Ljungblad)
Firefighters battle a massive fire Tuesday night, Feb. 19, 2013 at the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, Mo. A car crashed into a gas main in an upscale Kansas City shopping district, sparking a massive blaze that engulfed an entire block and caused multiple injuries, police said. (AP Photo/The Kansas City Star, Allison Long)
Firefighters are on the scene of a gas explosion and massive fire Tuesday night, Feb. 19, 2013 at JJ's restaurant at the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, Mo. A car crashed into a gas main in the upscale Kansas City shopping district, sparking a massive blaze that engulfed an entire block and caused multiple injuries, police said. (AP Photo/The Kansas City Star, Tammy Ljungblad)
In this image taken from video from KCTV, firefighters battle a massive fire at Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, Mo. Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013. A car crashed into a gas main Tuesday evening in an upscale Kansas City shopping district, sparking a massive blaze that engulfed an entire block and caused multiple injuries, police said. (AP Photo/KCTV) MANDATORY CREDIT: KCTV
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) ? Cadaver dogs are searching the smoldering remains of a Kansas City restaurant that burned to the ground following a gas explosion and massive blaze, a fire official says.
Kansas City Fire Chief Paul Berardi said late Tuesday that the search for possible victims could take hours and that he expected his crews to be at the scene through the night.
While officials have said they have no reports of fatalities, Berardi noted, "I would always fear there are fatalities in a scene like this."
The gas explosion occurred just after 6 p.m. and the resulting fire completely destroyed JJ's restaurant. Officials say more than a dozen people were injured, with at least two reported in critical condition.
The cause of the blast remains under investigation; however, a city official earlier said it was believed to have been caused accidentally by a utility contractor.
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WASHINGTON (AP) ? As public evidence mounts that the Chinese military is responsible for stealing massive amounts of U.S. government data and corporate trade secrets, the Obama administration is eyeing fines and other trade actions it may take against Beijing or any other country guilty of cyberespionage.
According to officials familiar with the plans, the White House will lay out a new report Wednesday that suggests initial, more-aggressive steps the U.S. would take in response to what top authorities say has been an unrelenting campaign of cyberstealing linked to the Chinese government. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the threatened action.
The White House plans come after a Virginia-based cybersecurity firm released a torrent of details Monday that tied a secret Chinese military unit in Shanghai to years of cyberattacks against U.S. companies. After analyzing breaches that compromised more than 140 companies, Mandiant has concluded that they can be linked to the People's Liberation Army's Unit 61398.
Military experts believe the unit is part of the People's Liberation Army's cyber-command, which is under the direct authority of the General Staff Department, China's version of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. As such, its activities would be likely to be authorized at the highest levels of China's military.
The release of Mandiant's report, complete with details on three of the alleged hackers and photographs of one of the military unit's buildings in Shanghai, makes public what U.S. authorities have said less publicly for years. But it also increases the pressure on the U.S. to take more forceful action against the Chinese for what experts say has been years of systematic espionage.
"If the Chinese government flew planes into our airspace, our planes would escort them away. If it happened two, three or four times, the president would be on the phone and there would be threats of retaliation," said former FBI executive assistant director Shawn Henry. "This is happening thousands of times a day. There needs to be some definition of where the red line is and what the repercussions would be."
Henry, now president of the security firm CrowdStrike, said that rather than tell companies to increase their cybersecurity the government needs to focus more on how to deter the hackers and the nations that are backing them.
James Lewis, a cybersecurity expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that in the past year the White House has been taking a serious look at responding to China, adding that "this will be the year they will put more pressure on, even while realizing it will be hard for the Chinese to change. There's not an on-off switch."
The Chinese government, meanwhile, has denied involvement in the cyber-attacks tracked by Mandiant. Instead, the Foreign Ministry said that China, too, is a victim of hacking, some of it traced to the U.S. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei cited a report by an agency under the Ministry of Information Technology and Industry that said in 2012 alone that foreign hackers used viruses and other malicious software to seize control of 1,400 computers in China and 38,000 websites.
"Among the above attacks, those from the U.S. numbered the most," Hong said at a daily media briefing, lodging the most specific allegations the Chinese government has made about foreign hacking.
Cybersecurity experts say U.S. authorities do not conduct similar attacks or steal data from Chinese companies, but acknowledge that intelligence agencies routinely spy on other countries.
China is clearly a target of interest, said Lewis, noting that the U.S. would be interested in Beijing's military policies, such as any plans for action against Taiwan or Japan.
In its report, Mandiant said it traced the hacking back to a neighborhood in the outskirts of Shanghai that includes a white 12-story office building run by the PLA's Unit 61398.
Mandiant said there are only two viable conclusions about the involvement of the Chinese military in the cyberattacks: Either Unit 61398 is responsible for the persistent attacks or they are being done by a secret organization of Chinese speakers with direct access to the Shanghai telecommunications infrastructure who are engaged in a multi-year espionage campaign being run right outside the military unit's gates.
"In a state that rigorously monitors Internet use, it is highly unlikely that the Chinese government is unaware of an attack group that operates from the Pudong New Area of Shanghai," the Mandiant report said, concluding that the only way the group could function is with the "full knowledge and cooperation" of the Beijing government.
The unit "has systematically stolen hundreds of terabytes of data from at least 141 organizations," Mandiant wrote. A terabyte is 1,000 gigabytes. The most popular version of the new iPhone 5, for example, has 16 gigabytes of space, while the more expensive iPads have as much as 64 gigabytes of space. The U.S. Library of Congress' 2006-2010 Twitter archive of about 170 billion tweets totals 133.2 terabytes.
"At some point we do have to call the Chinese out on this," said Michael Chertoff, Homeland Security secretary under President George W. Bush and now chairman of the Chertoff Group, a global security firm. "Simply rolling over and averting our eyes, I don't think is a long-term strategy."
Richard Bejtlich, the chief security officer at Mandiant, said the company decided to make its report public in part to help send a message to both the Chinese and U.S. governments.
"At the government level, I see this as a tool that they can use to have discussions with the Chinese, with allies, with others who are concerned about this problem and have an open dialogue without having to worry about sensitivities around disclosing classified information," Bejtlich said. "This problem is overclassified."
He said the release of an unclassified report that provides detailed evidence will allow authorities to have an open discussion about what to do.
Mandiant's report is filled with high-tech details and juicy nuggets that led to its conclusion, including the code names of some of the hackers, like Ugly Gorilla, Dota and SuperHard, and that Dota appears to be a fan of Harry Potter because references to the book and movie character appear as answers to his computer security questions.
The White House would not comment on the report expected Wednesday.
"We have repeatedly raised our concerns at the highest levels about cybertheft with senior Chinese officials, including in the military, and we will continue to do so," said Caitlin Hayden, spokeswoman for the National Security Council. "The United States and China are among the world's largest cyber actors, and it is vital that we continue a sustained, meaningful dialogue and work together to develop an understanding of acceptable behavior in cyberspace."
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the report reinforces the need for international agreements that prohibit cybercrimes and have a workable enforcement mechanism.
___
Associated Press writers Christopher Bodeen, Gillian Wong, Charles Hutzler and Joe McDonald contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-ready-strike-back-against-china-cyberattacks-225730552--finance.html
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