Feds to allow use of Medicare data to rate doctors

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Trying to find a top specialist to assess potentially troubling findings on a routine mammogram? That nerve-wracking process may soon get easier.

Federal officials announced Monday that Medicare will finally allow the use of its extensive claims database to rate doctors, hospitals and other medical service providers.

The report cards could be produced by employers, consumer groups or others, and would have to follow valid statistical methods. Individual medical providers would have 60 days to privately challenge a report before its release.

But Medicare acting administrator Marilyn Tavenner calls it "a giant step forward" to making medical decisions less daunting for patients while holding providers accountable for quality.

Consumer groups that have long pushed for the release of the data said they are still poring over the fine print.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/bbd825583c8542898e6fa7d440b9febc/Article_2011-12-05-Medical%20Report%20Cards/id-435847dab94c4808bbd5045213d91811

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AP Interview: Haiti leader says Venezuela aid key

Haiti's President Michel Martelly gestures during at bilateral meeting with Chile's President Sebastian Pinera in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday Dec. 3, 2011. Martelly is in Caracas to attend a summit by the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, CELAC. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Haiti's President Michel Martelly gestures during at bilateral meeting with Chile's President Sebastian Pinera in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday Dec. 3, 2011. Martelly is in Caracas to attend a summit by the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, CELAC. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) ? Haitian President Michel Martelly says aid and fuel shipments from Venezuela are having a big impact in the Caribbean country as it attempts to recover from the devastation of its 2010 earthquake.

President Hugo Chavez's government is providing nearly all the fuel that Haiti consumes under preferential terms, including long-term loans and direct shipping that cuts costs. Martelly said power plants installed by Venezuela after the earthquake supply roughly one-fifth of Haiti's electricity and that Venezuela is also providing key financial support for rice farming and other programs.

"The cooperation with Venezuela is the most important in Haiti right now in terms of impact, direct impact," Martelly told The Associated Press in an interview Saturday night after a summit of Latin American and Caribbean leaders.

"We are grateful to President Chavez for helping us from the bottom of his heart," Martelly said.

Chavez has made helping Haiti a priority since the magnitude-7 earthquake in January 2010 that reduced much of Port-au-Prince to rubble. His government sent thousands of tons of food aid in the aftermath of the quake, and also set up several camps to temporarily house thousands of displaced Haitians.

Well before the quake, Haiti had already been a major beneficiary of Venezuela's Petrocaribe program, which supplies fuel to Caribbean and Central American countries and allows them to pay part of the bill in goods such as rice and beans rather than cash.

Venezuelan Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said last week that the program now covers 43 percent of the fuel needs of member nations in Petrocaribe, shipping an average of 95,000 barrels of fuel a day at substantial savings to 16 countries.

The deal has helped Chavez cement relationships with a growing group of allies across in the Caribbean.

In Haiti's case, Petrocaribe also provides money to support social programs, including government projects that are building housing and providing food to poor families, Martelly said during a speech at the summit on Saturday.

Martelly told the AP that a 30-megawatt power plant and two other 15-megawatt plants installed by Venezuela now "represent a good 20 percent of our total consumption."

"With such rich support, we can ? he can ? bring some very important change to Haiti," Martelly said.

Venezuela pledged $1.3 billion in recovery aid following the earthquake, the largest amount among 58 donors, according to the U.N. Office of the Special Envoy for Haiti. It says Venezuela has disbursed $118 million so far. The U.S. pledged slightly less than Venezuela, $1.2 billion, but has so far spent more ? $172 million.

Chavez's government also said last year that it was forgiving $395 million in debt through Petrocaribe.

Venezuela provides aid without many of the conditions imposed by the U.S. and other donors, Martelly said.

He said he can't complain about Washington's aid, which is also important for Haiti, but that U.S. assistance often takes more time to come through due to required procedures and controls.

"Sometimes for a simple project, it might take too long for the project to happen," he said. "If you're asking me which one flows better, which one is easier, I'll tell you Venezuela."

The former singer, who took office in May, said the previous Haitian government had neglected and mismanaged portions of the Petrocaribe program, and had apparently decreased the aid flow by failing to form a joint committee with Venezuelan officials to oversee spending. Martelly said he plans to change that.

He said that in addition to rebuilding infrastructure destroyed by the quake, his top priorities also include attracting investment and jobs, and he said that Venezuela is playing a role by helping increase rice farming in Haiti's Artibonite Valley.

"In that program there is a deal where you repay the amount owed with the rice, so this is good for us. Because the main thing for us is to create jobs," Martelly said. "This is one aspect of what Petrocaribe brings to Haitians."

Martelly said he also received promises of help from other leaders at the two-day summit, where they launched a new 33-nation bloc including every nation in the hemisphere except the U.S. and Canada.

Chavez said a "troika" including Chile, Venezuela and Cuba will help coordinate the initial efforts of the new Community of Latin American and Caribbean States. Martelly, who also met with Cuban President Raul Castro, said it remains to be seen what role the new group could play in Haiti's reconstruction efforts.

On another issue, Martelly said he is also seeking money needed to rebuild Haiti's army, which was dismantled in 1995 because of its history of abuses.He did not specify where he is looking for those funds.

Martelly said the new army would probably cost about $25 million to $30 million a year, much less than the thousands of U.N. peacekeepers currently in Haiti. The U.S. and Canada have said the country should instead focus on strengthening its police force and that they would not help pay for a new army.

"Now, if nobody wants to help, then we have to think about a way of getting that money" to re-establish the army, Martelly said. He said he sees education and health care programs as higher priorities.

"But at the same time, why do we need a foreign army to help us? A foreign army that's costing much more money?," he said. "Why not hire young Haitians? Why not regain our sovereignty?"

During the meeting, Chavez pledged to strengthen the Petrocaribe program and denied opponents' accusations that it represents a costly giveaway for his government, saying it makes sense for Venezuela to offer low-interest, flexible loans to its Caribbean neighbors.

"For us, it's a responsibility," Chavez said.

Martelly, who met Chavez for the first time, said he felt a personal connection to the Venezuelan leader and thanked him for his support. During his speech, he gushed to Chavez: "The people of Haiti love you with all their hearts."

___

Associated Press writer Trenton Daniel in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, contributed to this report.

___

Ian James on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ianjamesap

(This version CORRECTS that while Petrocaribe has 18 members, the oil shipments cited are going to 16 nations.)

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-12-04-LT-Venezuela-Haiti/id-11a39fd2e44840e39a45d8d7f5dacf93

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Bahrain: Blast on parked bus near British Embassy (AP)

MANAMA, Bahrain ? Bahrain's interior ministry says a blast occurred inside a minibus parked near the British Embassy, but there were no immediate reports of serious damage or injuries.

A brief statement posted by the ministry says the explosion occurred in a public parking area near the British diplomatic compound in the capital Manama. Investigators sealed off the area.

Security has been boosted sharply across Bahrain during annual Shiite religious ceremonies. Bahrain's majority Shiites began an uprising in February seeking greater rights from the Gulf kingdom's Sunni rulers.

An independent commission investigating Bahrain's unrest issued a report last month accusing security forces of abuses such as torture against suspected protesters.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/britain/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111204/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_bahrain

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"Nostalgia for the Light" named top doc at IDA Awards (omg!)

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - "Nostalgia for the Light," Chilean director Patricio Guzman's documentary that mixes celestial exploration with families searching for the remains of victims of the Pinochet regime, has been named Best Feature of 2011 by the International Documentary Association.

The award was handed out on Friday night during the IDA Awards ceremony at the Directors Guild in West Hollywood.

Typically, given a year in which there are no clear front-runners in the documentary awards race, Guzman's film did not make the shortlist in the Oscars doc category.

"Nostalgia for the Light" is, however, one of the nominees for the top prize at the Cinema Eye Honors, another major award for nonfiction films; in fact, it is the only film nominated in the marquee category at both the IDA Awards and Cinema Eye.

"Enormously moving and wondrous to behold, it looks for a peaceful equilibrium in the universe that its creator's home country may never find in itself," Andrew O'Hehir wrote at Salon.

Accepting the award with a translator at his side, Guzman left the audience with a phrase that drew a big round of applause: "A country that does not have documentary filmmaking is like a family with no photo album."

Other films nominated for the top IDA prize were "Better This World," "How to Die in Oregon," "The Redemption of General Butt Naked" and "The Tiniest Place." None made the 15-film Oscar shortlist.

The IDA's winner for Best Short was "Poster Girl," a Sara Nesson film that was nominated in the Documentary Short category at the last Oscars.

Les Blank was presented with a Career Achievement Award by director Werner Herzog, who said Blank's work was "always defining America, in a way." (Blank responded with a story about Herzog's wild-man ways while filming "Fitzcarraldo," which Blank documented in his film "Burden of Dreams.")

"Hell and Back Again" director Danfung Dennis was given the Jacqueline Donnet Emerging Filmmaker Award.

The IDA Awards were hosted by filmmakers Tiffany Schlain, Josh Fox and the IDA's president of the board, Eddie Schmidt. The show was faster-paced and more streamlined than in previous years, but with the same ramshackle, let's-put-on-a-show vibe typical of its informal and untelevised proceedings.

In other awards previously announced by the IDA, "Guanape Sur" won the David L. Wolper Student Documentary Award, "Position Among the Stars" was given the Humanitas Documentary Award, "The Pruitt-Igoe Myth" won the ABC News Videosource Award, and "The Last Mountain" took home the Pare Lorentz Award.

Television awards went to the PBS series "POV" (Best Continuing Series), and to Planet Green's series "Boomtown" (Best Limited Series).

The awards:

BEST FEATURE:

"Nostalgia for the Light," Patricio Guzman

BEST SHORT:

"Poster Girl," Sara Nesson

BEST LIMITED SERIES:

"Boomtown," Rachel Libert

BEST CONTINUING SERIES:

"POV," Simon Kilmurry

CAREER ACHIEVEMENT AWARD:

Les Blank

JACQUELINE DONNET EMERGING FILMMAKER AWARD:

Danfung Dennis

DAVID L WOLPER STUDENT DOCUMENTARY AWARD:

"Guanape Sur," Janos Richter

HUMANITAS DOCUMENTARY AWARD:

"Position Among the Stars" ("Stand Van de Sterren"), Leonard Retel Helmrich

ABC NEWS VIDEOSOURCE AWARD:

"The Pruitt-Igoe Myth," Chad Freidrichs

PARE LORENTZ AWARD:

"The Last Mountain," Bill Haney

CREATIVE RECOGNITION AWARDS:

Best Cinematography: Massimo D'Anolfi, "Il Castello"

Best Editing: Chris King and Gregers Sall, "Senna"

Best Music: Paul Brill, "Better This World"

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/news_nostalgia_light_named_top_doc_ida_awards232603907/43803844/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/news/nostalgia-light-named-top-doc-ida-awards-232603907.html

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UN: World must protect Syrian civilians

BEIRUT/GENEVA?? The United Nations' human rights chief called on the international community Friday to protect Syrian civilians from violence, strongly condemning the Syrian government for "gross and systematic" violations by its forces.

The call came as violence surged across the country, with hours of intense shooting that sent stray bullets whizzing across the border.

Activists reported a grim milestone in the 8-month-old revolt: November was the deadliest month of the uprising, with at least 950 people killed in gunbattles, raids and other violence as protesters demand the ouster of President Bashar Assad.

The U.N. estimates more than 4,000 people have been killed since the uprising began in the middle of March, inspired by the Arab Spring revolutions sweeping the Middle East.

"In light of the manifest failure of the Syrian authorities to protect their citizens, the international community needs to take urgent and effective measures to protect the Syrian people," Navi Pillay, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Pillay on Thursday characterized the conflict in Syria as a civil war.

International intervention, such as the NATO action in Libya that helped topple Moammar Gadhafi, is all but out of the question in Syria. But the European Union, the Arab League, Turkey and others have piled on sanctions aimed at crippling the regime once and for all.

The EU's latest sanctions, which were announced Thursday, target 12 people and 11 companies with travel bans and asset freezes. They add to a long list of regime figures previously sanctioned by the EU, including Assad himself and high-ranking security officials.

The identities of those on the new list were made public Friday in the EU's official journal. They include the ministers of finance and the economy, as well as army officers.

Also on the list are the pro-government Cham Press TV and Al-Watan newspaper, as well as a research center that the EU says provides support to the Syrian military in acquiring equipment for the surveillance of demonstrators.

Three oil companies, which the EU statement said provide financial support to the regime, were also listed. They include the Syria Trading Oil Company, which is responsible for Syria's oil exports.

Royal Dutch Shell PLC also said Friday it will halt its operations in Syria to comply with the penalties.

The economic sanctions will limit the regime's access to cash at a time when Assad is relying more than ever on the support of the business classes.

Assad has spent years shifting the country away from the socialism espoused by his father, which helped boost a new and vibrant merchant class that transformed Syria's economic landscape ? even as the regime's political trappings remained unchanged.

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So far, the monied classes have clung to the sidelines, but if the economic squeeze reaches them, it could be a game-changer for the regime.

Despite Friday's diplomatic squeeze, violence continued.

The most serious violence appears to have occurred in the Syrian town of Talkalakh, where witnesses reported more than six hours of explosions and gunfire starting at 3 a.m.

"We were hearing strong explosions and the crack of heavy machine-gun fire," Ahmad al-Fahel, who lives on the Lebanese side of the border, told The Associated Press by telephone. "It sounded as if they were destroying the city."

The town is within walking distance from Lebanon, and at least two people were struck by bullets on the Lebanese side. They included an 11-year-old girl and a 40-year-old man, Lebanese security officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

There was no immediate word on casualties in Talkalakh. But deadly violence was reported elsewhere in Syria, in Homs and Idlib provinces. At least nine people were killed nationwide, according to the Local Coordination Committees, which is a coalition of Syrian activists groups.

The reports of violence, and the activist groups' death toll for November, could not be independently confirmed. The regime has sealed the country off from foreign journalists and prevented independent reporting.

Assad is depending on the strong support of Russia and China to withstand the sanctions and growing worldwide isolation.

Russia and China have vetoed a Western-backed U.N. Security Council resolution condemning the bloodshed in Syria, arguing that NATO misused a previous U.N. mandate authorizing use of force in Libya.

On Friday, Russia's Ambassador Valery Loshchinin, whose nation has sold arms to Syria, said opposition groups are being armed and organized from abroad.

He echoed the Syrian government's argument that foreign powers looking to destabilize Syria are behind the unrest ? not true protesters seeking more freedom and the end to dictatorship.

"Now, we hear, unfortunately, that the conflict in Syria continues to be fueled by outside forces who are interested in further destabilizing the situation," Loshchinin told the emergency meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Council.

"Armed terrorist and extremist groups are being armed and organized, supplied with weapons and money from abroad," he said. "The situation in Syria must be resolved in strict observance of international law and the provisions of the United Nations Charter."

"We've set the stage in a very substantive way for strong action by the U.N. if other entities choose to take the opportunity," U.S. ambassador Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe told Reuters.

"The evidence we have seen leaves no doubt about the complicity of Syrian authorities and provides a very strong basis for accountability to go forward in other institutions where that is their mandate."

Asked whether this meant the International Criminal Court, she replied: "Absolutely, including the ICC if the Security Council chooses to refer this matter."

"It is clear that the Syrian government is willing to do anything to strangle the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a statement. "The United States strongly supports the Commission's efforts to expose the abuses by the Assad regime and help bring the human rights violators to account."

The 47-nation rights council passed a resolution backed by 37 African, European, Asian, Arab and American members chiding Syria for "gross and systematic violations of human rights."

Russia and China were among four countries to vote against the motion.

The resolution also established the post of a special human rights investigator to investigate abuses in Syria.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this story.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45526061/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/

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RIM writes off value of tablet inventory

NEW YORK (AP) ? Research In Motion Ltd., the struggling maker of the BlackBerry phones, is writing off much of its inventory of PlayBook tablets, since it has to sell them at a deep discount.

The Canadian company on Friday said it's taking a pre-tax charge of $485 million in the just-ended quarter to account for the declining value of the tablets. The model originally priced at $500 now costs $200.

A year ago, co-CEO Jim Balsillie said pent-up interest in the PlayBook was "really overwhelming." Companies are looking for an equivalent of the iPad of corporate use, he said.

In March, Balsillie said "The launch of the PlayBook may well be the most significant development for RIM since the launch of the of the first BlackBerry device back in 1999."

But when the tablet went on sale in April, reviewers puzzled over the lack of email software, saying the device seemed half-baked. RIM now promises updated software in February.

RIM said it shipped 150,000 PlayBooks to stores and distributors in the fiscal third quarter, which ended Nov. 26. "Sell-through," or the number actually bought by users, was slightly higher, reflecting sales of tablets shipped earlier. It shipped 500,000 in the first quarter and 200,000 in the second.

RIM also said it sold 14.1 million BlackBerrys in the quarter, slightly better than analysts expected. Revenue and profit figures were lower than previously projected, but in line with analyst expectations.

RIM shares fell 98 cents, or 5.3 percent, to $17.60 in pre-market trading Friday. The stock hit a seven-year low of $15.98 last month.

The company is also taking a charge of $50 million for an embarrassing October outage of email and Web services that lasted days for millions of overseas BlackBerry users. It briefly spread to the U.S. and Canada before the company was able to contain the damage.

RIM reports fiscal third-quarter earnings on Dec. 15.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2011-12-02-Research%20In%20Motion-Tablet/id-5bdf28ddc5c14962bab8fed054021b92

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What you need to know from this week on ?The Ultimate Fighter?

This is the last regular episode of the season, but also the last regular episode that will air on Spike and the last recap before the show drastically changes format when it jumps to the Fox family of networks. Read Kevin Iole's look back at the best of the Spike era, and leave your favorite TUF memory on Cagewriter's Facebook page. We'll share your memories right here on Cagewriter. For one last recap with spoilers, read on.

The awkwardness of teammates fighting each other is being lived out at Team Miller's practice. Miller is stepping back and not coaching either fighter, and allowing the fighters to choose their own cornermen. Johnny Bedford and John Dodson are squaring off, with Bedford fighting with a chip on his shoulder. He wants to get Dodson back for serving as a mole for Team Bisping, but also wants to make it to the finals of the show.

Bantamweight semifinal: Johnny Bedford (Team Miller) vs. John Dodson (Team Miller)

Round 1: The two chose to stay on their feet for the majority of the first round. Dodson did a good job of avoiding Bedford's strikes until about two minutes in, when Bedford briefly pulled inside for a clinch. Bedford got a takedown at 1:40, but Dodson sprung right back to his feet. In the final seconds of the round, Dodson caught a kick, and used it to knock Bedford down.

Curiously, both corner referred to their fighters as John throughout the bout. With two fighters from the same team with the same name, wouldn't last names make it easier? Miller, on the sidelines, yelled, "Fight to win, guys!" in between rounds.

Round 2: Bedford was more aggressive in the second round, landing more strikes early on. Dodson landed an uppercut that knocked Bedford out cold. He followed him to the ground with hammer fists, but they were unnecessary. Dodson won a spot in the finals with a nasty KO.

"Dodson was so fast that the ref couldn't even get there in time to stop it," Dana White said. The doctors asked Bedford where he was, and he answered, "I'm in Ohio." Yikes.

Next, the focus goes to Diego Brandao and Bryan Caraway. During prep for Caraway's bout, he told Team Miller that he vomits before most of his fights. To make Caraway feel better, Miller confesses that whenever he prepares for a fight, he can always hear a voice saying, "Just quit this and work at McDonald's."

During weigh-ins, Bisping proposed a side bet on his fighter, which Miller accepts. Afterwards, the house erupts into a game of beer pong and fighters riding bikes into the pool, but it winds up fairly tame in comparison to other TUF parties.

Featherweight semifinal: Diego Brandao (Team Bisping) vs. Bryan Caraway (Team Miller)

Round 1: Caraway starts with a clinch and knees, but Brandao breaks away and shows good takedown defense. Caraway returns to the clinch and drives Brandao into the fence, but Brandao gets out. With two minutes left in the round, Brandao rocked Caraway with a hook and then threw a knee that sent him the ground. Caraway recovered and got back to his feet, only to be hit again and thrown down to the ground. Brandao chased him around the cage with strikes, but somehow, Caraway survived. Finally, he fell to the ground, rolled on his back, and Brandao finished the bout with a final punch.

After the bout, Dana White said that Brandao and his finishing power will transition easily to the UFC.

Saturday's finals are T.J. Dillashaw vs. John Dodson and Diego Brandao vs. Denis Bermudez. White says that out of all the seasons of "The Ultimate Fighter," that these are the most talented fighters in the finals.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/What-you-need-to-know-from-this-week-on-The-Ult?urn=mma-wp10043

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Sanity-Saving Gifts for the Stressed-Out Student [Gift Guide]

College. Ugh. Nonstop, privileged toil. Growing up is sooooo hard. Days without sleep, binge-drinking, experimenting with bodies—it's a miracle that anyone learns anything. These gifts won't print a diploma, but they will help your student earn one. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/lH9qIYrdU-s/sanity+saving-gifts-for-the-stressed+out-student

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Lobular Breast Cancer Linked to Paternal Cancer History (HealthDay)

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 30 (HealthDay News) -- Women with lobular breast cancer are nearly twice as likely as those with other forms of breast cancer to have a father who had cancer, especially prostate cancer, a new study finds.

Swedish researchers examined the family history, pathology reports and hospital records of women diagnosed with breast cancer between 1980 and 2008. About 40 percent of the women had invasive ductal breast cancer and 8 percent had lobular cancer, which starts in the lobules, the parts of the breast that produce milk.

When they were diagnosed, 21 percent of the breast cancer patients had a mother who'd been diagnosed with cancer and 15 percent had a father who'd been diagnosed with cancer, the investigators found.

After adjusting for a number of factors, the researchers concluded that women with a father who'd been diagnosed with cancer were nearly two times more likely to have lobular breast cancer than any other type of breast cancer, according to the report published in the Nov. 28 online edition of the journal BMC Cancer.

"We also looked at grandparents and other family members, but the increased risk of lobular cancer was directly linked to having a father with cancer. This does not necessarily mean that the daughter of a man diagnosed with cancer is more likely to get lobular breast cancer -- it means that if she develops breast cancer it is more likely to be lobular," study author Carolina Ellberg, of Lund University, said in a journal news release.

Previous research has shown that the risk of breast cancer is higher in women with certain genetic and lifestyle factors, such as having the BRCA2 gene, having a first child at an older age, or the use of hormone replacement therapy.

More information

The U.S. National Cancer Institute has more about breast cancer.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/cancer/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20111201/hl_hsn/lobularbreastcancerlinkedtopaternalcancerhistory

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Turkey raises Syria military option (Reuters)

BEIRUT (Reuters) ? Rebel forces ambushed an army vehicle in northern Syria on Tuesday, killing three soldiers and capturing two others, Syrian human rights observers said.

Syria's northern neighbor Turkey said it feared there could be an exodus of Syrians if the violence got worse, and that border states might have to create a buffer zone. Russia in contrast warned major powers against interference.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad faces mounting economic sanctions over what a U.N. report said on Monday was systematic murder, torture and rape ordered from the top.

But he shows no sign of buckling under pressure to end his crackdown on protesters or in the face of armed rebellion by military deserters.

"The security forces vehicle was targeted while driving in the city of Saraqeb in Idlib province by a group of suspected army defectors," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in a statement.

Government forces later killed a civilian and wounded three others in raids in Saraqeb, it said. In a district of Homs city, an 8-year-old girl was shot dead at a checkpoint.

Two civilians died of their wounds in the area of Rinkous outside Damascus on Tuesday and a 33-year-old man was killed by sniper fire as he tried to escape arrest, it said.

The Observatory said families in the area had been unable to bury seven people killed there since Sunday.

NOT LIKE LIBYA

The United Nations report on Monday accused Syria of crimes against humanity in the 8-month-old repression of a revolt in which the UN says at least 3,500 have been killed.

The United States, the European Union and the Arab League have stacked up a range of economic sanctions against Damascus while ruling out military intervention.

Syria, diplomats say, is not like Libya, where NATO air power paved the way for a successful revolution against the Gaddafi dictatorship. It is more ethnically diverse and has far more people. Assad still has strategic allies and strong support at home and the rebels hold no territory.

Turkey said it must prepare for "any scenario."

"If tens, hundreds of thousands of people start advancing toward the Iraq, Lebanon, Turkey borders, not only Turkey but the international community may be required to take some steps such as a buffer zone," Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in a television interview.

"We don't want that to happen but we must consider and work on that scenario," he said.

France has raised the idea of a secured humanitarian corridor, a step which would appear to imply some use of armed forces for security and logistics, if camps were set up on Syria's border to accommodate masses of refugees.

"If the oppression continues, Turkey is ready for any scenario. We hope that a military intervention will never be necessary," Davutoglu said. "The Syrian regime has to find a way of making peace with its own people."

MOSCOW OPPOSES EMBARGO

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said other states should "stop issuing ultimatums" to Assad and drop talk of an arms embargo which he said would favor the rebels.

"We know how that worked in Libya when the arms embargo only applied to the Libyan army, the opposition received weapons, and countries like France and Qatar publicly spoke about it without shame," Lavrov said.

"For the most part, armed groups are provoking the authorities. To expect the authorities to close their eyes to this is not right," said Moscow's veteran top diplomat.

Syria is a major weapons client of Moscow as well as a longtime strategic ally dating back to Soviet times. It also has close ties with Iran.

The Arab League imposed financial sanctions on Syria on Sunday and the EU weighed in on Monday, further tightening the financial screws on Damascus for what Brussels said was its "brutality and unwillingness to change course."

Assad's Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem hit back, lambasting the Arab League for "a declaration of economic war" that he said had closed the door to resolving the crisis.

"Sanctions are a two-way street," Moualem told a televised news conference. "I am not warning here, but we will defend the interests of our people."

The sanctions stop short of a full trade embargo.

But Turkey said it was preparing to cut out Syria as a transit route for Middle East trade if the situation deteriorates, and create a detour around the large Arab country.

"We plan to conduct transit shipments through new border gates in Iraq if the conditions in Syria worsen," Transport Minister Binali Yildirim was quoted as saying.

Turkey has an 800-km (500-mile) border with Syria. It has said it will selectively impose sanctions announced by the Arab League to avoid harming the Syrian people.

(Additional reporting by Laila Bassam in Beirut, Khaled Yacoub Oweis in Amman, David Brunnstrom and Justyna Pawlak in Brussels and Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; Writing by Douglas Hamilton; Editing by Andrew Roche)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111129/wl_nm/us_syria

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The Burzynski Cancer Treatment. In the Pipeline:

? A "Things I Won't Work With" Request | Main | Podcast on Avastin ?

November 29, 2011

The Burzynski Cancer Treatment

Posted by Derek

There seems to have been a recent surge in interest in the Burzynski cancer therapy in the UK. A family publicly raised a good deal of money to have their daughter flown over to Texas for the treatment, and this seems to have raised the profile of the clinic quite a bit over there.

But Dr. Burzynski and his therapy have been around for decades, and not everyone has been pleased with their results. Orac over at Respectful Insolence has (as you'd expect!) taken up this topic before, and for background I definitely suggest reading his piece. Quackwatch also has background. Put together, it seems that no one has been able to replicate Burzynski's results, despite many attempts. This does not appear to have slowed down his acceptance of patients, nor his billing of them.

Perhaps the best single reference I can give for Burzynski and his associates, though, is this blog from Wales. Rhys Morgan, a high school student, wrote earlier this year about his misgivings about all the UK publicity and fund-raising to send patients to the clinic, and for his pains he was treated to some good old-fashioned legal scare tactics. I'm glad to see that he's standing up to these, and it appears to me as if he's been giving good legal advice in doing so. From his post, it seems that the same law firm is sending out such letters to other people who've written unfavorably about the Burzynski Clinic, and has this ever been a good sign?

It would appear that Dr. Burzynski has had a good deal of time, and numerous opportunities, to provide convincing data to back up his claims. Instead, he seems to have spent his efforts at expanding the definition of the phrase "clinical trial" in response to a court order - and in sending lawyers after people who point such things out. Personally, in my review of the literature, I have seen no reason to disagree with the American Cancer Society's opinion that the value, if any, of the Burzynski therapy has not been established, and I would add that this is still the state of affairs 35 years after his initial publications.

If anyone has anything that might change my mind about that - and I'd prefer data, not legal threats - I'd be glad to review it. But you'd think that the convincing evidence would already be out there by now. 1976!

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Source: http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2011/11/29/the_burzynski_cancer_treatment.php

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