The Parliament on Thursday approved the Socialist government’s 2013 budget proposal, a rigorous and contested plan to drop the deficit to 3 percent of the gross domestic product with $26 billion in increased taxes on individuals and businesses and savings of $13 billion through a freeze in public spending. Members of the opposition called the tax increases unfair, citing, for instance, a 75 percent rate applied to income over $1.3 million and $13 billion in additional taxes on corporations already worried about high labor costs. Some on the left said the spending cuts were out of step with President François Hollande’s promises to promote growth and avoid austerity measures. The budget was based on growth projections of 0.8 percent for 2013, a figure some economists said was too optimistic.
World Briefing | Europe: France’s 2013 Budget Proposal Approved
Label: WorldTamera Mowry-Housley Is 'Adjusting' to Motherhood
Label: Lifestyle
Justin Lubin/NBC
We’ve enjoyed following along as Tamera Mowry-Housley and Tia Mowry-Hardrict have tackled work, weddings, pregnancies and babies on the last two seasons of their hit reality show, Tia & Tamera, airing Tuesdays at 9 p.m. EST on Style.
Now the actresses are bringing their talents to the digital realm with the launch of their new website, TiaAndTameraOfficial.com.
Featuring regularly posted videos and blogs, the online destination will cover everything from tips on living and healthy balanced lifestyle to giveaways to insights on love, marriage, sisterhood, motherhood, style and home décor.
“We are so thrilled about this opportunity to interact directly with our fans,” Mowry-Hardrict tells PEOPLE. “Our audience will be able to find out tips and tricks on balancing it all while still raising a healthy and happy family.”
Add Mowry-Housley, “We’ll also be giving advice on the latest fashion and beauty trends as well as a behind-the-scenes glimpse into our lives as actresses, wives, sisters and most importantly, working moms.”
PEOPLE.com recently had the opportunity to chat with the sisters and new moms — Tamera and husband Adam Housley welcomed 5-week-old son Aden in November, while Tia and husband Cory Hardrict are parents to son Cree, 17 months — about their new venture.
Congratulations on the launch of your website! When you were in the planning stages of putting this together, what items or sections did you just have to include?
Tia: I knew that I really wanted to incorporate something that had to do with fitness and health, mainly because they are both such important components of my life. Three years ago, I decided that fitness and health were things I was going to take the time to devote myself to.
It all started with my endometriosis diagnosis and being fearful that I wasn’t able to have children. I went ahead and started to be very conscious about what goes into my body. I was able to have a baby, and the endometriosis went away. That’s why it was extremely important to me to have the healthy living section on the site.
Tamera: I had to include a section about being a mommy and have a section focusing on sisterhood, because that is what my sister and I love sharing about ourselves. There is so much to be learned. I also wanted our site to be a place where we can post our personal pics — not just glam shots. I believe that’s what makes us relatable.
What is your favorite feature on the site?
Tamera: I love that we get share insights about what we love to do — cooking and crafting. Just being able to speak from our hearts to our fans was important to us.
Tia: My favorite features are the videos my sister and I will have. We really want to allow our fans to come into our personal world and we felt that having intimate videos from us, for them exclusively was very special.
For example, we both made welcome videos for the site and my video was of me on the set of my new pilot, Instant Mom. No cameras were allowed on set, but I was able to give my fans a glimpse of something they won’t be able to see anywhere else but our website.
Now that you both have sons, you have a whole new audience you can appeal to as moms. Both having had the opportunity to write directly to your fans with your blogs (Tamera for PEOPLE, Tia for iVillage), is there anything that you’ve taken away from the experience and hope to incorporate into your new website?
Tia: My whole thing is that motherhood is a learn-and-go process, and motherhood is hard. I personally feel that we as moms have to come together to learn from each other and share experiences, and that’s one thing that I absolutely loved about blogging for iVillage, and now I am going to be able to start blogging for my own website. I love that I will get to share my experiences, and have a place where other moms can share their experiences as well.
Tamera: Yes, whether you’re a first-time mom or veteran, we are always learning from each other and striving to be the best moms we can be to our children. To have that outlet and feel like we aren’t alone in being moms, which is the hardest but most rewarding job on earth, is important. We can all relate to each other.
What can we expect from the last two episodes of this season’s Tia & Tamera?
Tia: You’ll get to see what’s next in our lives, whether it’s from an acting perspective or an entrepreneurial perspective. My sister and I have been working on a product that is supposed to be released in 2013, and you’ll get to see a little of that process.
You will also see me move forward with my endeavors as an actress since I am no longer doing The Game. And there will also be some special, intimate moments about my sister’s birth and then you’ll get to see Aden!
Tamera: You’ll see the journey of my son’s birth and a really cool new business venture my sister and I are proud to be a part of. It’s a product called Milky; a supplement that helps breastfeeding moms produce more milk. And believe me — it works!
Tia, how are you enjoying being an aunt? What does Cree think of his new cousin? Any new milestones for him now that he’s almost 18 months? Can you tell us a little about Instant Mom?
Tia: I am having so much fun being a new aunt! It is just amazing, and now I understand the love that my sister has for Cree; the love is so strong and so deep. It’s so beautiful. Aden is so precious and so sweet, and to see Cree interact with him is just so special.
Cree absolutely loves books! He just loves to read and discover new things, and he loves to dance! He’s also learning new words and he can say ball, nose, eyes and toes.
Instant Mom is a pilot that I am co-producing with Aaron Kaplan. I’m so excited about this project, and to be an executive producer on this series is so rewarding.
It’s about a woman named Stephanie, who has married a cardiologist who is 10 years her senior. Before getting married, her life was very much Sex and the City. She loved to drink and hang out with her girlfriends, and then all of a sudden she gets married and is taking care of her husband’s kids when their mother has to go take care of the grandmother.
It’s so adorable and the cast is so talented. Michael Boatman plays my husband, and these are some of the most talented kids I have seen on television. I shot the pilot and it was a really great experience!
Tamera, how are you adjusting to life as a new mom? Has anything surprised you yet? How is Adam as a dad? Can you share one of your favorite moments with Aden so far?
Tamera: I am … adjusting. Ha! It’s probably the hardest adjustment I’ve experienced. Parenting is hard work. And anyone who doesn’t say that isn’t being honest. I give them the side-eye or they must not be human! Each day is different — some are easier than others, but it’s all rewarding. I never knew how much I’d worry.
Adam is an amazing father. He always steps in when I need it the most. He loves being a dad. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him happier. The love he has for his son is just so beautiful. Additionally, he constantly tells me how beautiful I am when I seriously walk around in the house looking like a hot mess. He’s a good husband!
My favorite moment with Aden so far is when I saw him smile for the first time. He was so milk drunk. It was the cutest thing ever. It made me feel like, “Yeah, Mommy has some good-tasting milk.” Like a boss!
– Sarah Michaud
AP IMPACT: Steroids loom in major-college football
Label: HealthWASHINGTON (AP) — With steroids easy to buy, testing weak and punishments inconsistent, college football players are packing on significant weight — 30 pounds or more in a single year, sometimes — without drawing much attention from their schools or the NCAA in a sport that earns tens of billions of dollars for teams.
Rules vary so widely that, on any given game day, a team with a strict no-steroid policy can face a team whose players have repeatedly tested positive.
An investigation by The Associated Press — based on interviews with players, testers, dealers and experts and an analysis of weight records for more than 61,000 players — revealed that while those running the multibillion-dollar sport say they believe the problem is under control, that control is hardly evident.
The sport's near-zero rate of positive steroids tests isn't an accurate gauge among college athletes. Random tests provide weak deterrence and, by design, fail to catch every player using steroids. Colleges also are reluctant to spend money on expensive steroid testing when cheaper ones for drugs like marijuana allow them to say they're doing everything they can to keep drugs out of football.
"It's nothing like what's going on in reality," said Don Catlin, an anti-doping pioneer who spent years conducting the NCAA's laboratory tests at UCLA. He became so frustrated with the college system that it was part of the reason he left the testing industry to focus on anti-doping research.
___
EDITOR'S NOTE — Whether for athletics or age, Americans from teenagers to baby boomers are trying to get an edge by illegally using anabolic steroids and human growth hormone, despite well-documented risks. This is the first of a two-part series.
___
While other major sports have been beset by revelations of steroid use, college football has operated with barely a whiff of scandal. Between 1996 and 2010 — the era of Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Marion Jones and Lance Armstrong — the failure rate for NCAA steroid tests fell even closer to zero from an already low rate of less than 1 percent.
The AP's investigation, drawing upon more than a decade of official rosters from all 120 Football Bowl Subdivision teams, found thousands of players quickly putting on significant weight, even more than their fellow players. The information compiled by the AP included players who appeared for multiple years on the same teams.
For decades, scientific studies have shown that anabolic steroid use leads to an increase in body weight. Weight gain alone doesn't prove steroid use, but very rapid weight gain is one factor that would be deemed suspicious, said Kathy Turpin, senior director of sport drug testing for the National Center for Drug Free Sport, which conducts tests for the NCAA and more than 300 schools.
Yet the NCAA has never studied weight gain or considered it in regard to its steroid testing policies, said Mary Wilfert, the NCAA's associate director of health and safety.
The NCAA attributes the decline in positive tests to its year-round drug testing program, combined with anti-drug education and testing conducted by schools.
The AP's analysis found that, regardless of school, conference and won-loss record, many players gained weight at exceptional rates compared with their fellow athletes and while accounting for their heights.
Adding more than 20 or 25 pounds of lean muscle in a year is nearly impossible through diet and exercise alone, said Dan Benardot, director of the Laboratory for Elite Athlete Performance at Georgia State University.
In nearly all the rarest cases of weight gain in the AP study, players were offensive or defensive linemen, hulking giants who tower above 6-foot-3 and weigh 300 pounds or more. Four of those players interviewed by the AP said that they never used steroids and gained weight through dramatic increases in eating, up to six meals a day. Two said they were aware of other players using steroids.
"I ate 5-6 times a day," said Clint Oldenburg, who played for Colorado State starting in 2002 and for five years in the NFL. Oldenburg's weight increased over four years from 212 to 290.
Oldenburg told the AP he was surprised at the scope of steroid use in college football, even in Colorado State's locker room. "There were a lot of guys even on my team that were using." He declined to identify any of them.
The AP found more than 4,700 players — or about 7 percent of all players — who gained more than 20 pounds overall in a single year. It was common for the athletes to gain 10, 15 and up to 20 pounds in their first year under a rigorous regimen of weightlifting and diet. Others gained 25, 35 and 40 pounds in a season. In roughly 100 cases, players packed on as much 80 pounds in a single year.
In at least 11 instances, players that AP identified as packing on significant weight in college went on to fail NFL drug tests. But pro football's confidentiality rules make it impossible to know for certain which drugs were used and how many others failed tests that never became public.
Even though testers consider rapid weight gain suspicious, in practice it doesn't result in testing. Ben Lamaak, who arrived at Iowa State in 2006, said he weighed 225 pounds in high school. He graduated as a 320-pound offensive lineman and said he did it all naturally.
"I was just a young kid at that time, and I was still growing into my body," he said. "It really wasn't that hard for me to gain the weight. I love to eat."
In addition to random drug testing, Iowa State is one of many schools that have "reasonable suspicion" testing. That means players can be tested when their behavior or physical symptoms suggest drug use. Despite gaining 81 pounds in a year, Lamaak said he was never singled out for testing.
The associate athletics director for athletic training at Iowa State, Mark Coberley, said coaches and trainers use body composition, strength data and other factors to spot suspected cheaters. Lamaak, he said, was not suspicious because he gained a lot of "non-lean" weight.
But looking solely at the most significant weight gainers also ignores players like Bryan Maneafaiga.
In the summer of 2004, Bryan Maneafaiga was an undersized 180-pound running back trying to make the University of Hawaii football team. Twice — once in pre-season and once in the fall — he failed school drug tests, showing up positive for marijuana use but not steroids.
He'd started injecting stanozolol, a steroid, in the summer to help bulk up to a roster weight of 200 pounds. Once on the team, he'd occasionally inject the milky liquid into his buttocks the day before games.
"Food and good training will only get you so far," he told the AP recently.
Maneafaiga's former coach, June Jones, said it was news to him that one of his players had used steroids. Jones, who now coaches at Southern Methodist University, believes the NCAA does a good job rooting out steroid use.
On paper, college football has a strong drug policy. The NCAA conducts random, unannounced drug testing and the penalties for failure are severe. Players lose an entire year of eligibility after a first positive test. A second offense means permanent ineligibility for sports.
In practice, though, the NCAA's roughly 11,000 annual tests amount to a fraction of all athletes in Division I and II schools. Exactly how many tests are conducted each year on football players is unclear because the NCAA hasn't published its data for two years. And when it did, it periodically changed the formats, making it impossible to compare one year of football to the next.
Even when players are tested by the NCAA, experts like Catlin say it's easy enough to anticipate the test and develop a doping routine that results in a clean test by the time it occurs. NCAA rules say players can be notified up to two days in advance of a test, which Catlin says is plenty of time to beat a test if players have designed the right doping regimen. By comparison, Olympic athletes are given no notice.
Most schools that use Drug Free Sport do not test for anabolic steroids, Turpin said. Some are worried about the cost. Others don't think they have a problem. And others believe that since the NCAA tests for steroids their money is best spent testing for street drugs, she said.
Doping is a bigger deal at some schools than others.
At Notre Dame and Alabama, the teams that will soon compete for the national championship, players don't automatically miss games for testing positive for steroids. At Alabama, coaches have wide discretion. Notre Dame's student-athlete handbook says a player who fails a test can return to the field once the steroids are out of his system.
The University of North Carolina kicks players off the team after a single positive test for steroids. Auburn's student-athlete handbook calls for a half-season suspension for any athlete caught using performance-enhancing drugs.
At UCLA, home of the laboratory that for years set the standard for cutting-edge steroid testing, athletes can fail three drug tests before being suspended. At Bowling Green, testing is voluntary.
At the University of Maryland, students must get counseling after testing positive, but school officials are prohibited from disciplining first-time steroid users.
Only about half the student athletes in a 2009 NCAA survey said they believed school testing deterred drug use. As an association of colleges and universities, the NCAA could not unilaterally force schools to institute uniform testing policies and sanctions, Wilfert said.
"We can't tell them what to do, but if went through a membership process where they determined that this is what should be done, then it could happen," she said.
___
Associated Press writers Ryan Foley in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; David Brandt in Jackson, Miss.; David Skretta in Lawrence, Kan.; Don Thompson in Sacramento, Calif., and Alexa Olesen in Shanghai, China, and researchers Susan James in New York and Monika Mathur in Washington contributed to this report.
___
Contact the Washington investigative team at DCinvestigations (at) ap.org.
Whether for athletics or age, Americans from teenagers to baby boomers are trying to get an edge by illegally using anabolic steroids and human growth hormone, despite well-documented risks. This is the first of a two-part series.
Wall Street bounces back on hope for "cliff' solution
Label: BusinessNEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rebounded from early losses on Thursday after Republican House Speaker John Boehner said he would keep working on a solution to the "fiscal cliff" while also slamming President Barack Obama's approach to budget talks.
NYSE Euronext
ICE shares shot up 1.4 percent to $130.10.
Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives pushed ahead with their own plan to avoid a series of steep tax hikes and spending cuts due in early 2013, complicating negotiations with the White House. Obama has vowed to veto the plan.
Investors have hoped for an agreement soon between policymakers, but progress has been slow. Boehner said he expected to continue to work with Obama, but repeated his charge that the president and Senate Democrats were trying to "slow walk" the country over the fiscal cliff.
"Speaker Boehner went on the air and basically told us he doesn't like what the president's doing or not doing, and the markets rallied on that, which was kind of weird," said Stephen Guilfoyle, a trader at Meridian Equity Partners, in New York.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> gained 59.75 points, or 0.45 percent, to 13,311.72 at the close. The S&P 500 <.spx> rose 7.88 points, or 0.55 percent, to 1,443.69. The Nasdaq Composite <.ixic> climbed 6.02 points, or 0.20 percent, to 3,050.39.
Stocks rallied earlier in the week on signs of progress in the fiscal cliff negotiations. But with the S&P 500 up 14.8 percent so far this year, investors are taking the opportunity to engage in some hedging as 2012 comes to a close.
Herbalife
The S&P Financial Index <.gspf> gained 1.4 percent.
The U.S. economy grew 3.1 percent in the third quarter, faster than previously estimated, while the number of Americans filing new claims for jobless benefits rose more than expected in the latest week.
Existing home sales jumped 5.9 percent in November, more than expected, and by the fastest monthly pace in three years. An index of housing shares <.hgx> gained 0.78 percent.
But KB Home
About 6.4 billion shares changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and NYSE MKT, roughly in line with the daily average so far this year of about 6.46 billion shares.
On the NYSE, advancers outnumbered decliners by a ratio of about 2 to 1. On the Nasdaq, five stocks rose for every three that fell.
(Additional reporting by Ryan Vlastelica and Leah Schnurr; Editing by Jan Paschal)
Iraq’s Stricken President To Be Flown to Germany for Treatment
Label: World
BAGHDAD — Jalal Talabani, the president of Iraq, will be flown to Germany for medical treatment for a stroke suffered this week, officials said on Wednesday. The president, 79, was said to be in “stable” condition, and the decision was announced after medical specialists from abroad were dispatched to the hospital to assess the possibility of sending him out of the country for further treatment.
Andrew Gombert/European Pressphoto Agency
President Jalal Talabani in September 2011.
Mr. Talabani, whose influence in mediating disputes among the country’s many political factions has far outweighed the limited powers of the office he occupies, was rushed to the hospital on Monday after having the stroke.
In a brief update on Wednesday, the Iraqi medical staff at the Baghdad Medical City said that “his health is stable” and that doctors were using the same medical procedures on him that they had used when he was admitted to the facility, where newly arrived medical experts from Iran, Germany and Britain had begun to monitor his condition, the Iraqi staff said.
The head of the president’s media office, Barazan Sheikh Othman, said that the medical teams “have seen that his health is better” and that he can travel to Germany on Thursday to continue treatment.
One of the country’s two vice presidents, Khudayr al-Khuzai, a Shiite, will take on Mr. Talabani’s duties in his absence. Mr. Talabani’s illness, announced in a statement from his office on Tuesday, cast a shadow over the Kurdish lands in the north where he once fought a guerrilla war and where he now lives. It added a new element of uncertainty to the country’s divided politics a year after the American military departed, leaving Iraq’s leaders to steer the country’s shaky democracy on their own.
Mr. Talabani has been treated abroad for medical conditions in recent years. At a news conference on Tuesday at the same hospital, a doctor had also described Mr. Talabani’s condition as “stable” and said he expected it to improve. On Twitter, Mr. Talabani’s son, Qubad Talabani, who represents the Kurdistan Regional Government in Washington, wrote that “we hope can begin his recovery soon.”
But privately other officials have suggested his condition was more serious. A hospital official, as well as a high-level government official — both of whom requested anonymity out of respect for Mr. Talabani’s family — said Tuesday that the president was in a coma.
The Iraqi medical staff did not take questions in their comments on Wednesday.
Changes in law aim to protect kids’ online data
Label: TechnologyWASHINGTON (AP) — Aiming to prevent companies from exploiting online information about children under 13, the Obama administration on Wednesday imposed sweeping changes in regulations designed to protect a young generation with easy access to the Internet.
Two years in the making, the amended rules to the decade-old Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act go into effect in July. Privacy advocates said the changes were long overdue in an era of cellphones, tablets, social networking services and online stores with cellphone apps aimed at kids for as little as 99 cents.
Siphoning details of children’s personal lives — their physical location, contact information, names of friends and more — from their Internet activities can be highly valuable to advertisers, marketers and data brokers.
The Obama administration has largely refrained from issuing regulations that might stifle growth in the technology industry, one of the U.S. economy’s brightest spots. Yet the Federal Trade Commission pressed ahead with the new kids’ privacy guidelines despite loud complaints — particularly from small businesses and software apps developers — that the revisions would be too costly to comply with and cause responsible companies to abandon the children’s marketplace.
As evidence of online risks, the FTC last week said it was investigating an unspecified number of software developers that may have illegally gathered information without the consent of parents.
Under the changes to the law, known as COPPA, information about children that cannot be collected unless a parent first gives permission now includes the location data that a cellphone generates, as well as photos, videos and audio files containing a human image or voice.
The Congressional Bipartisan Privacy Caucus commended the FTC for writing the new rules. “Keeping kids safe on the Internet is as important as ensuring their safety in schools, in homes, in cars,” caucus co-chairman Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., said at a Capitol Hill news conference.
Data known as “persistent identifiers,” which allow a person to be tracked over time and across websites, are also considered personal data and covered by the rules, the agency said. But parental consent is not required when a website operator collects this data solely to support its internal operations, which can include advertising, site analysis and network communications.
The rules offer several new methods for verifying a parent’s consent, including electronically scanned consent forms, video conferencing and email.
The FTC sought to achieve a balance between protecting kids and spurring innovation in the technology industry, said Jon Leibowitz, the agency’s chairman.
The final rules expand the definition of a website or online service directed at children to include plug-ins and advertising networks that collect personal information from kids.
But the rules were also tightened in a way favorable to some Internet heavyweights, Google and Apple. Their online apps stores, which dominate the marketplace for mobile applications, won’t be held liable for violations because they “merely offer the public access to child-directed apps,” the FTC said.
Google and Apple had warned that if the rule were written to include their stores, they would jettison many apps specifically intended for kids. They said that would hurt the nation’s classrooms, where new and interactive apps are used by teachers and students.
A Washington trade group that represents independent apps developers criticized the agency for addressing the concerns of large businesses while doing too little for the startups that make educational apps parents and teachers want. The FTC’s belief that the apps industry will figure out how to thrive under the new rules is akin to jumping off a cliff then building a parachute, said Morgan Reed, executive director of the Association for Competitive Technology.
“While that may work for big companies, small companies lack the silk and line to build that parachute before they hit the ground,” Reed said.
Companies are not excluded from advertising on websites directed at children, allowing business models that rely on advertising to continue, Leibowitz said. But behavioral marketing techniques that target children are prohibited unless a parent agrees. “You may not track children to build massive profiles,” he said.
The agency included in the rules new methods for securing verifiable consent after the software industry and Internet companies raised concerns over how to confirm that the permission actually came from a parent. Electronic scans of signed consent forms are acceptable, as is video-teleconferencing between the website operator or online service and the parent, according to the agency.
The FTC also said it is encouraging technology companies to recommend additional verification methods. Leibowitz said he expects that this will “unleash innovation around consent mechanisms.”
Emailed consent is also acceptable as long as the business confirms it by sending an email back to the parent or calling or sending a letter. In cases of email confirmation, the information collected can only be used for internal use by that company and not shared with third parties, the agency said.
The FTC’s investigation of apps developers came after the agency examined 400 kids’ apps that it purchased from Apple’s iTunes store and Google’s apps store, Google Play. It determined that 60 percent of them transmitted the user’s unique device identification to the software maker or, more frequently, to advertising networks and companies that compile, analyze and sell consumer information for marketing campaigns.
Internet News Headlines – Yahoo! News
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Blake Shelton Says The Voice Winner Cassadee Pope Can Do Anything
Label: Lifestyle
TV Watch
The Voice
Cassadee Pope and Blake Shelton
Trae Patton/NBC
Even as last week, when her rendition of "Stupid Boy" went No. 1 on iTunes, she was nervously telling Shelton her time on the show was over – much to his chagrin.
"That's what makes an artist," Shelton praised her after the results were announced Tuesday night. "We are never satisfied. But I hope she's really happy that she won."
Pope, 23, who beat out finalists Terry McDermott, who came in second, and Nicholas Davis, who was third, said after her victory that she's eyeing a crossover record as her first professional effort.
"I would love to do the pop/rock thing, but I know that I gained some amazing country fans and I know how hard it is to get into that world," the Florida native said. "I'd love to add a country music element to it a bit. I used to cover country music when I was a kid and it's stylistically part of my voice somehow."
Shelton said the versatile Pope can take many directions for her future success in music.
"She's got a lot of options," he said. "She's adored by rock fans, pop fans, country fans. She connects with a lyric the way few people can. The door is wide open."
Season 4 of The Voice premieres March 25, 2013, with Usher and Shakira joining Shelton and Adam Levine as team leaders.
Experts: Kids are resilient in coping with trauma
Label: HealthWASHINGTON (AP) — They might not want to talk about the gunshots or the screams. But their toys might start getting into imaginary shootouts.
Last week's school shooting in Connecticut raises the question: What will be the psychological fallout for the children who survived?
For people of any age, regaining a sense of security after surviving violence can take a long time. They're at risk for lingering anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder.
But after the grief and fear fades, psychiatrists say most of Newtown's young survivors probably will cope without long-term emotional problems.
"Kids do tend to be highly resilient," said Dr. Matthew Biel, chief of child and adolescent psychiatry at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital.
And one way that younger children try to make sense of trauma is through play. Youngsters may pull out action figures or stuffed animals and re-enact what they witnessed, perhaps multiple times.
"That's the way they gain mastery over a situation that's overwhelming," Biel explained, saying it becomes a concern only if the child is clearly distressed while playing.
Nor is it unusual for children to chase each other playing cops-and-robbers, but now parents might see some also pretending they're dead, added Dr. Melissa Brymer of the UCLA-Duke National Center for Child Traumatic Stress.
Among the challenges will be spotting which children are struggling enough that they may need professional help.
Newtown's tragedy is particularly heart-wrenching because of what such young children grappled with — like the six first-graders who apparently had to run past their teacher's body to escape to safety.
There's little scientific research specifically on PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder, in children exposed to a burst of violence, and even less to tell if a younger child will have a harder time healing than an older one.
Overall, scientists say studies of natural disasters and wars suggest most children eventually recover from traumatic experiences while a smaller proportion develop long-term disorders such as PTSD. Brymer says in her studies of school shootings, that fraction can range from 10 percent to a quarter of survivors, depending on what they actually experienced. A broader 2007 study found 13 percent of U.S. children exposed to different types of trauma reported some symptoms of PTSD, although less than 1 percent had enough for an official diagnosis.
Violence isn't all that rare in childhood. In many parts of the world — and in inner-city neighborhoods in the U.S., too — children witness it repeatedly. They don't become inured to it, Biel said, and more exposure means a greater chance of lasting psychological harm.
In Newtown, most at risk for longer-term problems are those who saw someone killed, said Dr. Carol North of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, who has researched survivors of mass shootings.
Friday's shootings were mostly in two classrooms of Sandy Hook Elementary School, which has about 450 students through fourth-grade.
But those who weren't as close to the danger may be at extra risk, too, if this wasn't their first trauma or they already had problems such as anxiety disorders that increase their vulnerability, she said.
Right after a traumatic event, it's normal to have nightmares or trouble sleeping, to stick close to loved ones, and to be nervous or moody, Biel said.
To help, parents will have to follow their child's lead. Grilling a child about a traumatic experience isn't good, he stressed. Some children will ask a lot of questions, seeking reassurance, he said. Others will be quiet, thinking about the experience and maybe drawing or writing about it, or acting it out at playtime. Younger children may regress, becoming clingy or having tantrums.
Before second grade, their brains also are at a developmental stage some refer to as magical thinking, when it's difficult to distinguish reality and fantasy. Parents may have to help them understand that a friend who died isn't in pain or lonely but also isn't coming back, Brymer said.
When problem behaviors or signs of distress continue for several weeks, Brymer says it's time for an evaluation by a counselor or pediatrician.
Besides a supportive family, what helps? North advises getting children back into routines, together with their friends, and easing them back into a school setting. Studies of survivors of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks found "the power of the support of the people who went through it with you is huge," she said.
Children as young as first-graders can benefit from cognitive-behavioral therapy, Georgetown's Biel said. They can calm themselves with breathing techniques. They also can learn to identify and label their feelings — anger, frustration, worry — and how to balance, say, a worried thought with a brave one.
Finally, avoid watching TV coverage of the shooting, as children may think it's happening all over again, Biel added. He found that children who watched the 9/11 clips of planes hitting the World Trade Center thought they were seeing dozens of separate attacks.
___
EDITOR'S NOTE — Lauran Neergaard covers health and medical issues for The Associated Press in Washington.
Wall Street falls as "cliff" talks sour, but hopes remain
Label: BusinessNEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks sold off late in the day to close at session lows on Wednesday as talks to avert a year-end fiscal crisis turned sour, even as investors still expect a deal.
The S&P 500 slipped after a two-day rally that took the benchmark index to its highest close in two months. Defensive-oriented shares led the decliners, including health care and consumer staples.
General Motors
President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans are struggling to come up with a deal to avoid early 2013 tax hikes and spending cuts that many economists say could send the U.S. economy into recession.
House Speaker John Boehner, the top Republican in Congress, said in a one-minute press conference that his chamber will pass a proposal that Obama had already threatened to veto as it spares many wealthy Americans from tax hikes needed to balance the budget. Obama has already agreed to reductions in benefits for senior citizens.
"My guess is they're close to a deal, and right before, it looks like the deal is about to blow up either on manufactured or legitimate reasons," said Uri Landesman, president of hedge fund Platinum Partners in New York.
He said if the market thought a deal was in real danger, the S&P 500 would slide below 1,400. It stands now near 1,435, not far from a two-month high.
The CBOE Volatility Index <.vix> surged 11.5 percent to 17.36, but has remained relatively stable. Its 14- 50- and 200-day averages are all within 1.1 points.
Landesman said the VIX's stability indicates "the bulls have control of this market still."
Banks and energy shares - groups that outperform during periods of economic expansion - have led recent gains, indicating a shift to focusing on a growing economy as Wall Street looks past the budget talks.
Defensive sectors led Wednesday's downturn, with the S&P health care sector index <.gspa> down 1.1 percent.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> dropped 98.99 points, or 0.74 percent, to 13,251.97. The S&P 500 <.spx> lost 10.98 points, or 0.76 percent, to 1,435.81. The Nasdaq Composite <.ixic> fell 10.17 points, or 0.33 percent, to 3,044.36.
Herbalife Ltd
Oracle
Knight Capital Group Inc
Shares of Chinese display advertising provider Focus Media Holding Ltd
Data showed homebuilding permits touched their highest level in nearly 4-1/2 years in November. The PHLX housing index <.hgx> fell 0.8 percent, but has gained 66.4 percent this year as the housing market has turned the corner.
About 6.9 billion shares changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and NYSE MKT, slightly above the daily average so far this year of about 6.45 billion shares.
Advancing and declining issues were almost even on both the NYSE and the Nasdaq.
(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Editing by Jan Paschal)
Attackers in Pakistan Kill Anti-Polio Workers
Label: World
Rizwan Tabassum/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
A Pakistani mother mourned her daughter, who was killed on Tuesday in an attack on health workers participating in a drive to eradicate polio from Pakistan.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Gunmen shot dead five female health workers who were immunizing children against polio on Tuesday, causing the Pakistani government to suspend vaccinations in two cities and dealing a fresh setback to an eradication campaign dogged by Taliban resistance in a country that is one of the disease’s last global strongholds.
“It is a blow, no doubt,” said Shahnaz Wazir Ali, an adviser on polio to Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf. “Never before have female health workers been targeted like this in Pakistan. Clearly there will have to be more and better arrangements for security.”
No group claimed responsibility for the attacks, but most suspicion focused on the Pakistani Taliban, which has previously blocked polio vaccinators and complained that the United States is using the program as a cover for espionage.
The killings were a serious reversal for the multibillion-dollar global polio immunization effort, which over the past quarter century has reduced the number of endemic countries from 120 to just three: Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria.
Nonetheless, United Nations officials insisted that the drive would be revived after a period for investigation and regrouping, as it had been after previous attacks on vaccinators here, in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
Pakistan has made solid gains against polio, with 56 new recorded cases of the diseases in 2012, compared with 192 at the same point last year, according to the government. Worldwide, cases of death and paralysis from polio have been reduced to less than 1,000 last year, from 350,000 worldwide in 1988.
But the campaign here has been deeply shaken by Taliban threats and intimidation, though several officials said Tuesday that they had never seen such a focused and deadly attack before.
Insurgents have long been suspicious of polio vaccinators, seeing them as potential spies. But that greatly intensified after the C.I.A. used a vaccination team headed by a local doctor, Shakil Afridi, to visit Osama bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, reportedly in an attempt to obtain DNA proof that the Bin Laden family was there before an American commando raid attacked it in May 2011.
In North Waziristan, one prominent warlord has banned polio vaccinations until the United States ceases drone strikes in the area.
Most new infections in Pakistan occur in the tribal belt and adjoining Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province — some of the most remote areas of the country, and also those with the strongest militant presence. People fleeing fighting in those areas have also spread the disease to Karachi, the country’s largest city, where the disease has been making a worrisome comeback in recent years.
After Tuesday’s attacks, witnesses described violence that was both disciplined and well coordinated. Five attacks occurred within an hour in different Karachi neighborhoods. In several cases, the killers traveled in pairs on motorcycle, opening fire on female health workers as they administered polio drops or moved between houses in crowded neighborhoods.
Of the five victims, three were teenagers, and some had been shot in the head, a senior government official said. Two male health workers were also wounded by gunfire; early reports incorrectly stated that one of them had died, the official said.
In Peshawar, the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province, gunmen opened fire on two sisters participating in the polio vaccination program, killing one of them. It was unclear whether that shooting was directly linked to the Karachi attacks.
In remote parts of the northwest, the Taliban threat is exacerbated by the government’s crumbling writ. In Bannu, on the edge of the tribal belt, one polio worker, Noor Khan, said he quit work on Tuesday once news of the attacks in Karachi and Peshawar filtered in. “We were told to stop immediately,” he said by phone.
Still, the Pakistani government has engaged considerable political and financial capital in fighting polio. President Asif Ali Zardari and his daughter Aseefa have been at the forefront of immunization drives. With the help of international donors, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, they have mounted a huge vaccination campaign aimed at up to 35 million children younger than 5, usually in three-day bursts that can involve 225,000 health workers.
The plan seeks to have every child in Pakistan immunized at least four times per year, although in the hardest-hit areas one child could be reached as many as 12 times in a year.
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