Vine just added two pretty crucial updates today: Sessions, which lets you save up to 10 Vines-in-progress, and Time Travel, which lets you edit or delete clips. [Vine blog]
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Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP
Daniel Radcliffe
LONDON – One Direction tops the latest annual heat magazine list of the richest British celebrities under the age of 30, with combined estimated earnings of $95.70 million (£59.33 million) for the past year.
Ranking just behind the boy band is Daniel Radcliffe, with an estimated $90.64 million (£56.19 million), making him the top-earning individual on the list. The Harry Potter star had topped the list since its inception in 2010.
PHOTOS: The New A-List: 23 Salaries From Angelina Jolie to Robert Downey Jr. Revealed
One Direction are Harry Styles, 19, Niall Horan, 19, Zayn Malik, 20, Liam Payne, 20, and Louis Tomlinson, 21.
Rounding out the top five are Robert Pattinson ($71.23 million, £44.16 million), Keira Knightley ($60.13 million, £37.28 million) and Emma Watson ($45.05 million, £27.93 million).
The top new entrant on the young British celebrity rich list is DJ Calvin Harris, with estimated earnings of $35.80 million (£22.20 million).
Other new additions include singer Jessie J ($9.16 million, £5.68 million), model/actress Rosie Huntington-Whiteley ($9.08 million, £5.63 million), The Amazing Spider-Man star Andrew Garfield ($8.06 million, £5 million) and boy band JLS ($7.85 million, £4.87 million).
The biggest gain goes to The Great Gatsby star Carey Mulligan, who rose 10 spots to come in 19th.
Heat magazine's list is compiled by a panel of experts that analyzes celebrities' earnings for the past year based on their TV and film deals, music sales and product endorsements.
E-mail: Georg.Szalai@THR.com
Twitter: @georgszalai
President Barack Obama gestures while speaking in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Monday, Oct. 21, 2013, on the initial rollout of the health care overhaul. Obama acknowledged that the widespread problems with his health care law's rollout are unacceptable, as the administration scrambles to fix the cascade of computer issues. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
President Barack Obama gestures while speaking in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Monday, Oct. 21, 2013, on the initial rollout of the health care overhaul. Obama acknowledged that the widespread problems with his health care law's rollout are unacceptable, as the administration scrambles to fix the cascade of computer issues. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
President Barack Obama, standing with supporters of his health care law, speaks in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Monday, Oct. 21, 2013, on the initial rollout of the health care overhaul. Obama acknowledged that the widespread problems with his health care law's rollout are unacceptable, as the administration scrambles to fix the cascade of computer issues. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
President Barack Obama gestures while speaking in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Monday, Oct. 21, 2013, on the initial rollout of the health care overhaul. Obama acknowledged that the widespread problems with his health care law's rollout are unacceptable, as the administration scrambles to fix the cascade of computer issues. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)
White House press secretary Jay Carney introduces Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Jason Furman who spoke about the economy post government shutdown at the daily press briefing at the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2013. Furman said the addition of 148,000 jobs in September is a sign of "solid" growth but forecasts worsening in October because of the 16-day partial government shutdown. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Crammed into conference rooms with pizza for dinner, some programmers building the Obama administration's showcase health insurance website were growing increasingly stressed. Some worked past 10 p.m., energy drinks in hand. Others rewrote computer code over and over to meet what they considered last-minute requests for changes from the government or other contractors.
As questions mount over the website's failure, insider interviews and a review of technical specifications by The Associated Press found a mind-numbingly complex system put together by harried programmers who pushed out a final product that congressional investigators said was tested by the government and not private developers with more expertise.
The details about problems with the website's design emerged as the White House revealed that President Barack Obama's longtime adviser Jeffrey Zients is taking on to provide management advice to help fix the system. White House press secretary Jay Carney says Zients will be on a short-term assignment at the Health and Human Services Department before he's due to take over as director of Obama's National Economic Council Jan. 1.
Carney cited Zeints' expertise as a longtime management consultant and his "proven track record" since coming to the White House in 2009, both as interim budget director and as chief performance officer, when he headed an effort to streamline government and cut costs. "We're engaged in an all-out effort to improve the online experience," Carney said.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a post on HealthCare.gov that her agency is also bringing in more experts and specialists from government and industry, including top Silicon Valley companies.
"This new infusion of talent will bring a powerful array of subject matter expertise and skills, including extensive experience scaling major IT systems," she said. "This effort is being marshaled as part of a cross-functional team that is working aggressively to diagnose parts of HealthCare.gov that are experiencing problems, learn from successful states, prioritize issues, and fix them."
Project developers for the health care website who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity — because they feared they would otherwise be fired — said they raised doubts among themselves whether the website could be ready in time. They complained openly to each other about what they considered tight and unrealistic deadlines. One was nearly brought to tears over the stress of finishing on time, one developer said. Website builders saw red flags for months.
A review of internal architectural diagrams obtained by the AP revealed the system's complexity. Insurance applicants have a host of personal information verified, including income and immigration status. The system connects to other federal computer networks, including ones at the Social Security Administration, IRS, Veterans Administration, Office of Personnel Management and the Peace Corps.
Obama on Monday acknowledged technical problems that he described as "kinks in the system." But in remarks at a Rose Garden event, Obama offered no explanation for the failure except to note that high traffic to the website caused some of the slowdowns. He said it had been visited nearly 20 million times — fewer monthly visits so far than many commercial websites, such as PayPal, AOL, Wikipedia or Pinterest.
"The problem has been that the website that's supposed to make it easy to apply for and purchase the insurance is not working the way it should for everybody," Obama said. "There's no sugarcoating it. The website has been too slow. People have been getting stuck during the application process. And I think it's fair to say that nobody is more frustrated by that than I am."
The online system was envisioned as a simple way for people without health insurance to comparison-shop among competing plans offered in their state, pick their preferred level of coverage and cost and sign up. For many, it's not worked out that way so far.
Just weeks before the launch of HealthCare.gov on Oct. 1, one programmer said, colleagues huddled in conference rooms trying to patch "bugs," or deficiencies in computer code. Unresolved problems led to visitors experiencing cryptic error messages or enduring long waits trying to sign up.
Congressional investigators have concluded that the government's Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, not private software developers, tested the exchange's computer systems during the final weeks. That task, known as integration testing, is usually handled by software companies because it ferrets out problems before the public sees the final product.
The government spent at least $394 million in contracts to build the federal health care exchange and the data hub. Those contracts included major awards to Virginia-based CGI Federal Inc., Maryland-based Quality Software Services Inc. and Booz Allen Hamilton Inc.
CGI Federal said in a statement Monday it was working with the government and other contractors "around the clock" to improve the system, which it called "complex, ambitious and unprecedented."
The schematics from late 2012 show how officials designated a "data services hub" — a traffic cop for managing information — in lieu of a design that would have allowed state exchanges to connect directly to government servers when verifying an applicant's information. On Sunday, the Health and Human Services Department said the data hub was working but not meeting public expectations: "We are committed to doing better."
Administration officials so far have refused to say how many people actually have managed to enroll in insurance during the three weeks since the new marketplaces became available. Without enrollment numbers, it's impossible to know whether the program is on track to reach projections from the Congressional Budget Office that 7 million people would gain coverage during the first year the exchanges were available.
Instead, officials have selectively cited figures that put the insurance exchanges in a positive light. They say more than 19 million people have logged on to the federal website and nearly 500,000 have filled out applications for insurance through both the federal and state-run sites.
The flood of computer problems since the website went online has been deeply embarrassing for the White House. The snags have called into question whether the administration is capable of implementing the complex policy and why senior administration officials — including the president — appear to have been unaware of the scope of the problems when the exchange sites opened.
Even as the president spoke at the Rose Garden, more problems were coming to light. The administration acknowledged that a planned upgrade to the website had been postponed indefinitely and that online Spanish-language signups would remain unavailable, despite a promise to Hispanic groups that the capability would start this week. And the government tweaked the website's home page so visitors can now view phone numbers to apply the old-fashioned way or window-shop for insurance rates without registering first.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee was expected to conduct an oversight hearing Thursday, probably without Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius testifying. She could testify on Capitol Hill on the subject as early as next week.
Uninsured Americans have until about mid-February to sign up for coverage if they are to meet the law's requirement that they be insured by the end of March. If they don't, they will face a penalty. The administration says it's working to address the timing issue to provide more flexibility.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., plans to introduce legislation to delay that requirement because: "It's not fair to punish people for not buying something that's not available," Rubio told "CBS This Morning" on Tuesday.
On Monday, the White House advised people frustrated by the online tangle that they can enroll by calling 1-800-318-2596 in a process that should take 25 minutes for an individual or 45 minutes for a family. Assistance is also available in communities from helpers who can be found at LocalHelp.HealthCare.gov.
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Associated Press writer Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar contributed to this report.
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Follow Jack Gillum on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jackgillum or Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC.
Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-10-22-US-Obama-Health-Care/id-5400bca23f1f4bfc9924f14cfb18c3c8TOKYO (AP) — Japan is scaling down the planned main stadium for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, following an uproar from some prominent architects who think it's too big and expensive.
Hakubun Shimomura, the minister in charge of education, sports and science, told Parliament Wednesday the stadium designed by award-winning British-Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid would cost 300 billion yen ($3 billion), and that was "too massive a budget."
The 80,000-seat futuristic-looking stadium has been billed as costing 130 billion yen ($1.3 billion). The minister's updated estimate includes surrounding construction and infrastructure costs.
"We need to rethink this to scale it down," he said in response to a question from a ruling party lawmaker. "Urban planning must meet people's needs."
The plans for the stadium were approved earlier this year by the city and central governments. Shimomura's remarks signal a policy change.
He did not give specifics on how construction will be trimmed, but he stressed that the design concept will be kept.
He also said the new stadium will still have all the basic features needed to host the Olympics. It is replacing the smaller 54,000-seat main stadium that was used for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki, a recipient of the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize, recently criticized the new stadium's size and urged that it be reworked to "a more sustainable stadium."
About 100 experts, including other architects, supported his view, questioning whether the new stadium is ecological and practical.
The site sits in the middle of a downtown Tokyo park within walking distance of shopping malls, high-rise buildings, a Shinto shrine and a famous venue designed by Kenzo Tange for the 1964 Olympics.
Zaha Hadid Architects office has said the venue is flexible and can be used for events beyond the Olympics, such as concerts. But it has expressed willingness to talk about design changes.
Construction is scheduled to begin next year.
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Follow Yuri Kageyama on Twitter at twitter.com/yurikageyama
HONG KONG (AP) — Chinese manufacturing rose to a seven-month high in October, suggesting continued momentum for the rebound in the world's second-biggest economy.
The report released Thursday follows Chinese data earlier this month that showed quarterly economic growth rose to 7.8 percent after hitting a two-decade low in the second quarter, easing pressure for further stimulus and allowing leaders to focus on reforms.
The preliminary version of HSBC's purchasing managers index rose to 50.9 from September's 50.2 on a 100-point scale on which numbers below 50 indicate contraction.
The report, released before a similar official survey, provides an early indication each month of the health in China's mammoth manufacturing sector.
Output, new orders and new export orders all increased at a faster rate, according to the survey, which is based on 85-90 percent of responses from 420 factories.
HSBC's chief China economist Qu Hongbin said the reading improved thanks to "broad-based modest improvements," which imply that the recovery is consolidating.
"This momentum is likely to continue in the coming months, creating favorable conditions for speeding up structural reforms," Qu said.
China's communist leaders are scheduled to meet in November to draw up a blueprint for economic development.
The country's leaders have said their priority is longer-term reforms aimed at guiding the economy to slower, more sustainable growth based on domestic consumption rather than exports and investment. Reform advocates hope the blueprint will include measures to open up its markets and provide more financial support to private entrepreneurs.
The full version of HSBC's survey will be released Nov. 1.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/survey-china-manufacturing-rises-7-month-high-021332687--finance.htmlBOSTON (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden said Wednesday that the country is on the cusp of what he called "remarkable changes" in the treatment of mental illness.
Speaking at a forum on mental health to mark the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's signing of the Community Mental Health Act, Biden said the human brain is the new frontier for exploration in 2013.
He said science is on the verge of "astounding discoveries" that could change how society cares for those with mental illness.
"It's truly amazing what we don't know and it's truly amazing what we might learn," Biden said during a kickoff of the two-day forum at the Kennedy presidential library. "Imagine when we are able to identify the biomarkers for mental illness."
Biden said that ongoing research also holds promise for returning veterans struggling with post-traumatic stress. And as a result of President Barack Obama's health care law, he said, more people have access to care for mental illness because the law bars insurance companies from denying coverage due to preexisting conditions like bipolar disorder.
Still, too many people suffering from mental illness fail to seek help even when there is treatment available, he said.
Biden was joined at the forum by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and former U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island.
Sebelius said work remains to be done to eliminate the stigma surrounding mental illness and its barrier to treatment. She said 60 percent of Americans with mental health challenges and nine out of 10 Americans battling substance abuse aren't receiving care.
"Imagine what it would mean if people felt as comfortable saying they were going for counseling as they were going for a flu shot," she said.
Sebelius also touted the benefits of the health care law, but didn't directly address the problems plaguing the rollout of the health care website — intended to make it easier for the uninsured to sign up for health care plans.
Patrick, the late president's nephew and a longtime mental health advocate, said he also hopes the forum will help remove lingering prejudices surrounding mental illness.
"This is the civil rights movement of our time," Kennedy said. "Together we're going to ensure not only quality treatment but equality of treatment."
Brandon Marshall, who's been treated for a personality disorder, also spoke at the event. Chelsea Clinton, vice chair of the Clinton Foundation, will moderate a conference panel Thursday on public health and community approaches to addressing behavioral health disorders.
The law signed by Kennedy in 1963 aimed to build mental health centers accessible to all Americans so that those with mental illness could be treated while working and living at home, rather than being kept in state institutions that sometimes were neglectful or abusive.
Recent deadly mass shootings, including at the Washington Navy Yard and a Colorado movie theater, have been perpetrated by men who were apparently not being adequately treated for serious mental illnesses.
Those tragedies have renewed public attention to the mental health system and areas where Kennedy's hopes for the treatment and care of those with mental illness were never realized.
The BBC and Twitter deepened their alliance today with the announcement of #BBCTrending, a new initiative to promote original video content through the Twitter Amplify program. A series of short videos produced by BBC Global News and hosted by Anne-Marie Tomchak is set to debut on the social network ...
Apple on Tuesday unveiled new iPads that will ship in November. And with them, Apple tipped T-Mobile's hand by noting that they're available as a 4G iPad/iPad mini carrier. What's more, the basic option of 200MB per month is available for free. Now T-Mobile has outlined more details about their new plan.
T-Mobile will carry the iPad Air and iPad mini with Wi-Fi + Cellular in November (it'll also be available from Apple's web site). Every user will get 200 MB for free each month, working over T-Mobile's burgeoning 4G LTE network - and this isn't a limited offer - it's good for as long as you own your iPad, even if you're not a T-Mobile customer anymore.
4G-equipped iPads already cost a $130 premium over Wi-Fi models, but the prospect of incurring another monthly fee for data - or the trouble of adding the iPad to an existing pooled data plan - has held some iPad users back from even considering a 4G-equipped model. T-Mobile is banking on free, lifetime connectivity to give customers an incentive to upgrade.
T-Mobile will offer additional data plans for tablet users, including "Daily Passes" and "Weekly Passes." 500 MB for a day will cost $5; 1 GB per week costs $10. "Always on" plans start at $10 per month for 500 MB; and 2 GB increments from there in $10 chunks.
Last month T-Mobile announced a new no-extra charge data roaming and texting program for its Simple Choice customers traveling internationally in more than 100 countries. Simple Choice iPad customers will also get unlimited data when traveling internationally, at no extra charge.
Apple will sell the new iPads directly, but if you'd prefer to do it through T-Mobile, they'll offer financing plans. They also have announced a trade-in program that will be available at participating T-Mobile retail stores. T-Mobile will also carry certain Android tablets.
Is the promise of free data enough to make you consider spending the extra $130 to get a 4G equipped iPad? Is T-Mobile's service coverage good enough for you to use them? Sound off in the comments!
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House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio speaks during a new conference following a meeting at the Republican National Committee offices on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio speaks during a new conference following a meeting at the Republican National Committee offices on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif. gestures as she speaks to reporters during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, left, and House Majority Leader Eric Canton of Va., right, walk away from the microphones following a news conference after a meeting at the Republican National Committee offices on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democrats are worried about persistent problems with the rollout of President Barack Obama's health care law — and one says the president needs to "man up" and fire those responsible.
Rep. Richard Nolan, Democrat of Minnesota, emerged from a Wednesday meeting with administration officials on Capitol Hill and told reporters the rollout has "damaged the brand" of the health care law.
Democrats facing re-election in 2014 were hoping to run on the law's new benefits for millions of uninsured Americans. Instead, a litany of computer problems is keeping consumers from signing up and buying insurance on the health care exchanges.
Nolan said, "The president needs to man up, find out who was responsible, and fire them." He did not name anyone.
Obama says he's as frustrated as anyone and has promised a "tech surge" to fix the balky HealthCare.gov website.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, told reporters that "the whole threat of Obamacare" continues "to hang over our economy like a wet blanket."
"More Americans are going to lose their health insurance than are going to sign up at these exchanges," Boehner said.
Obama has turned to longtime adviser Jeffrey Zients to provide management advice to help fix the system. Zients, a former acting director of the Office of Management and Budget and a veteran management consultant, will be on a short-term assignment at HHS before he's due to take over as director of Obama's National Economic Council next year.
Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-10-23-Health%20Overhaul-Problems/id-174b8d4458c040e5b9c948059676fbf9
In this Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013 photo, homeless Danny Hastie, 20, waits for his X-ray, that came negative for tuberculosis, at a van in London. Last year, London had about 3,500 tuberculosis cases - more than the Netherlands, Belgium, Greece and Norway combined. In response, health officials are taking to the streets in an effort to stop the spread of the infectious lung disease, with a high-tech white van equipped with an X-ray machine that drives around London offering free check-ups. London’s 460,000 British pounds (some $743, 329) TB van has an X-ray machine whose scans can be instantly read by a radiographer. The entire process of getting an X-ray and its results takes about 90 seconds. Hastie, despite getting sick numerous times last year, he didn’t bother seeing a doctor said: “I heard about this van and thought I would give it a go,” he said. "It’s (scary) at first because you’re thinking, ‘oh, I might have a chest infection,’ but when they say that you’re clear, it puts your mind at rest." (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
In this Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013 photo, homeless Danny Hastie, 20, waits for his X-ray, that came negative for tuberculosis, at a van in London. Last year, London had about 3,500 tuberculosis cases - more than the Netherlands, Belgium, Greece and Norway combined. In response, health officials are taking to the streets in an effort to stop the spread of the infectious lung disease, with a high-tech white van equipped with an X-ray machine that drives around London offering free check-ups. London’s 460,000 British pounds (some $743, 329) TB van has an X-ray machine whose scans can be instantly read by a radiographer. The entire process of getting an X-ray and its results takes about 90 seconds. Hastie, despite getting sick numerous times last year, he didn’t bother seeing a doctor said: “I heard about this van and thought I would give it a go,” he said. "It’s (scary) at first because you’re thinking, ‘oh, I might have a chest infection,’ but when they say that you’re clear, it puts your mind at rest." (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
In this Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013 photo, homeless Danny Hastie, 20, left, looks at radiographer Diana Taubman read his X-ray, that came negative for tuberculosis, at a van in London. Last year, London had about 3,500 TB cases - more than the Netherlands, Belgium, Greece and Norway combined. In response, health officials are taking to the streets in an effort to stop the spread of the infectious lung disease, with a high-tech white van equipped with an X-ray machine that drives around London offering free check-ups. London’s 460,000 British pounds (some $743,329) TB van has an X-ray machine whose scans can be instantly read by a radiographer. The entire process of getting an X-ray and its results takes about 90 seconds. Hastie, despite getting sick numerous times last year, he didn’t bother seeing a doctor said: “I heard about this van and thought I would give it a go,” he said. "It’s (scary) at first because you’re thinking, ‘oh, I might have a chest infection,’ but when they say that you’re clear, it puts your mind at rest." (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
In this Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013 photo, homeless Clifton Owens, 51, looks on as radiographer Diana Taubman, reads his X-ray, that came negative for tuberculosis, at a van in London. Owens said that he checks himself often after his brother, also homeless, died of TB several years ago. Last year, London had about 3,500 TB cases - more than the Netherlands, Belgium, Greece and Norway combined. In response, health officials are taking to the streets in an effort to stop the spread of the infectious lung disease, with a high-tech white van equipped with an X-ray machine that drives around London offering free check-ups. London’s 460,000 British pounds (some $743,329) TB van has an X-ray machine whose scans can be instantly read by a radiographer. The entire process of getting an X-ray and its results takes about 90 seconds. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
In this Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013 photo, radiographer Diana Taubman reads an X-ray of homeless Danny Hastie, 20, that came negative for tuberculosis, at a van in London. Last year, London had about 3,500 TB cases - more than the Netherlands, Belgium, Greece and Norway combined. In response, health officials are taking to the streets in an effort to stop the spread of the infectious lung disease, with a high-tech white van equipped with an X-ray machine that drives around London offering free check-ups. London’s 460,000 British pounds (some $743,329) TB van has an X-ray machine whose scans can be instantly read by a radiographer. The entire process of getting an X-ray and its results takes about 90 seconds. Hastie, despite getting sick numerous times last year, he didn’t bother seeing a doctor said: “I heard about this van and thought I would give it a go,” he said. "It’s (scary) at first because you’re thinking, ‘oh, I might have a chest infection,’ but when they say that you’re clear, it puts your mind at rest." (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
In this Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013 photo, volunteer Horace Reid, 58, waits in an X-ray van, parked outside a homeless shelter, in London. In 2009, Reid got tested on the van after he and several friends ran to catch a bus. To convince homeless people to get tested, the van now relies on former TB patients including Reid. "I didn’t know anything was wrong until I missed the bus and couldn’t breathe,” he said. “(The doctors) told me I had TB and that I could die," he said. Reid, 58, eventually recovered and now tries to convince skeptics to get an X-ray. Last year, London had about 3,500 TB cases - more than the Netherlands, Belgium, Greece and Norway combined. In response, health officials are taking to the streets in an effort to stop the spread of the infectious lung disease, with a high-tech white van equipped with an X-ray machine that drives around London offering free check-ups. London’s 460,000 British pounds (some $743,329) TB van has an X-ray machine whose scans can be instantly read by a radiographer. The entire process of getting an X-ray and its results takes about 90 seconds. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
LONDON (AP) — London is famed for its historic sites, its double-decker buses and its West End shows, but the city now has a more dubious distinction: Britain's public health agency says it has become the tuberculosis capital of Western Europe.
In response, health officials are taking to the streets in an effort to stop the spread of the infectious lung disease. A high-tech white van equipped with an X-ray machine is driving around London offering free check-ups.
Similar vans were once common in Europe and the U.S. in the 1950s but most disappeared about two decades later when TB rates dropped. But in recent years, the disease has surged in the U.K.
Last year, London had about 3,500 TB cases — more than the Netherlands, Belgium, Greece and Norway combined. It also had more TB than some African countries, including Eritrea and Gambia.
Britain as a whole however still pales against India, China and South Africa, which all have hundreds of thousands of TB cases.
"We kind of took our eye off the ball and now TB has become a big problem again," said Dr. Alistair Story, who runs the mobile TB van for University College London Hospitals.
He said the vast majority of TB in the U.K. is among the homeless, drug users and prisoners because they live in cramped conditions that make them susceptible to infections. Despite the belief that TB is being imported into the U.K. by recent immigrants, Story said their rates of infection are low.
"It's certainly not the case that we could have closed the borders and avoided the problem," he said, pointing out that other European countries with high levels of immigration, including France and Germany, have not had similar spikes of TB.
Tuberculosis is a highly infectious bacterial disease often spread by coughing or sneezing that kills more than 1 million people worldwide every year. It most often attacks the lungs and is highly treatable. More than 95 percent of TB deaths occur in developing countries. Experts are increasingly concerned about the rise of drug-resistant strains of TB, which require more toxic drugs to treat.
According to a global TB report issued Wednesday by the World Health Organization, 3 million people worldwide with TB are currently going undiagnosed. Another 16,000 people with drug-resistant strains are failing to get treatment.
London's 460,000-pound ($743,300) TB van has an X-ray machine whose scans can be instantly read by a radiographer. On average, the van picks up about one new TB case per week and screens about 10,000 people a year. If an X-ray looks worrying, staffers call a hospital to arrange confirmatory tests. The entire process of getting an X-ray and its results takes about 90 seconds.
On a recent morning, a steady trickle of patients streamed into the van after getting a ticket for a free X-ray from a nearby homeless shelter. To convince homeless people to get tested, the van relies on former TB patients including Horace Reid, 58, who got tested in 2009 after running out of breath trying to catch a bus.
"I didn't know anything was wrong until I missed the bus and couldn't breathe," he said. "(The doctors) told me I had TB and that I could die."
Dr. Norman Edelman, senior medical adviser at the American Lung Foundation, said the van is a practical attempt to curb TB.
"The people most likely to get TB are the hardest to find, so it's good to go out looking for them," he said.
Danny Hastie, 20, got sick numerous times last year but didn't bother seeing a doctor. Recently in prison, he has been living on the streets for more than a year.
"I heard about this van and thought I would give it a go," he said. "It's (scary) at first because you're thinking, 'Oh, I might have a chest infection,' but when they say that you're clear, it puts your mind at rest."
British experts said the van was a good way of finding TB cases among the homeless but said wider screening tests were needed.
Dr. Ajit Lalvani, chair of infectious diseases at Imperial College London, said 70 percent of people with latent TB who arrive in Britain are missed. They aren't currently infectious, but Lalvani said the TB bacteria could sicken them in the future and cause them to infect others. Catching these patients would require a more expensive blood or skin test that isn't commonly used.
"There is a vast reservoir of TB that comes into this country silently," he said. "The mobile van is providing a great service, but until we test more widely, we will never get rid of TB in the U.K."
Associated Press
We've recently seen evidence that the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini is U.S.-bound, and now we have official confirmation of that fact. Samsung Mobile U.S. sends word that the miniaturized S4 will be headed to AT&T, Sprint, Verizon and U.S. Cellular starting this November.
The Galaxy S4 Mini sports a familiar design with somewhat cut-down internals compared to the regular GS4. The display is a 4.3-inch SuperAMOLED panel at 960x540 resolution. There's a 1.7GHz dual-core Snapdragon 400 CPU running the show, 1.5GB of RAM and 16GB of storage (up from 8GB in the international model), expandable via microSD. There's also an 8-megapixel rear camera and 1,900mAh battery.
The Galaxy S4 Mini runs Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean and Samsung's latest TouchWiz UI, featuring many of the software capabilities of the full-sized Galaxy S4. The S4's camera app has made it across, as has the WatchOn TV app, and device-to-device sharing through S Beam and Group Share. A software update "soon after launch" will enable Galaxy Gear support on U.S. Galaxy S4 Minis.
While we weren't exactly wowed by the international version of the GS4 Mini, the U.S. version could be a compelling mid-ranger if the price is right. Naturally, we'll need to wait for individual carriers to confirm those details in the weeks ahead.
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An ATM sits next to a rack of marijuana clone plants that are used to grow medical marijuana on Wednesday at The Joint, a medical marijuana cooperative in Seattle. Last week Washington became the second U.S. state to adopt rules for the recreational sale of marijuana.
An ATM sits next to a rack of marijuana clone plants that are used to grow medical marijuana on Wednesday at The Joint, a medical marijuana cooperative in Seattle. Last week Washington became the second U.S. state to adopt rules for the recreational sale of marijuana.
A record number of Americans are in favor of legalizing marijuana, according to a new Gallup poll released Tuesday.
The poll, which was conducted Oct. 3-6, reports that 58 percent of the public supports the legalization of marijuana, while 39 percent opposes it.
The tide of public opinion appears to be rapidly turning in favor of legalization. In November 2012, Gallup found that 48 percent of Americans favored marijuana legalization compared with 50 percent who did not. Just over a decade earlier, in 2001, only 31 percent supported legalization while 64 percent opposed it.
The first time Gallup recorded a majority of Americans in favor of legalization came in 2011, when 50 percent said they supported it and 46 percent said they opposed it.
The issue remains a fairly partisan one: Sixty-five percent of Democrats support legalizing marijuana, compared with 35 percent of Republicans. Meanwhile, 62 percent of independents say they are pro-legalization, up from 50 percent last year.
Every age group Gallup tested was in favor of marijuana legalization except for those 65 and older. Fifty-three percent of respondents in that group said they were against legalization, while 45 percent were in support.
Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 are still the most likely to back legalizing marijuana. Of that age group, two-thirds — 67 percent — favor legalization while 31 percent would like to see the drug remain illegal.
The results follow some major victories for pro-legalization forces. Colorado and Washington became the first states to legalize the recreational use of marijuana last year, and the Justice Department announced in August it would not challenge the laws.
Advocates are also moving forward with efforts to put a marijuana legalization referendum on the ballot in 10 other states over the next four years.
Now that we are past the government shutdown and debt ceiling debacles, all eyes are on Obamacare. For the last three weeks, the rollout of the federal exchange Web site, a centerpiece of the law, has been riddled with problems, leaving millions of Americans frustrated and dismayed.
What went wrong? My diagnosis is that there were three big mistakes.
It wasn't behind protective glass this time, so that's definitely a step in the right direction for the next-generation Mac Pro, which was first trotted out at WWDC back in June. Today it was beautifully sprawled out for all the world to see, in various states of deconstruction. The display ...