Matthew McConaughey will teach a film class at the University of Texas at Austin this fall

 They say there are only two things in life that are certain: death and, eventually, you will come back to Texas. And Matthew McConaughey is doing just that. Well, the returning to Texas part.

 RELATED: Matthew McConaughey, a new star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

 McConaughey is headed back to the University of Texas at Austin, his alma mater, this fall to teach a filmmaking class, the university announced Thursday morning.

 McConaughey will take students "behind the scenes" of his upcoming film Free State of Jones through recorded videos and at least one on-campus visit, Lauren Phillips, public affairs representative for the Moody College of Communications, told MySA.com Thursday.

 He will be joined in the videos by Gary Ross, the director of the Hunger Games, and the duo will admit 30 students into the higher-level class.

 RELATED: UT film school ranks No. 10 in the nation

 McConaughey and Ross, accompanied by Rice, will show students clips from the movie and followed by recorded videos explaining why it was filmed that way, Phillips said.

 This will be the second time McConaughey will co-teach this course with university lecturer Scott Rice. During the spring 2016 semester, students could take the 3-hour class. Phillips said that not too many photos or videos could be taken during the class because Free State of Jones had not yet been released.

 Students had to sign a nondisclosure form as well, Phillips said.

 RELATED: This Reddit user's great-great grandfather looks a heck of a lot like Matthew McConaughey

 The class is an upper-level division course, so freshmen and sophomores will not be able to register, she said. But there are no special prerequisites or fees to take the once-a-week class.

 The Oscar-winning UT alum often visits the university, giving pep talks to the football team and attending games.

 kbradshaw@express-news.net

 Twitter: @kbrad5 ||||| Alright, alright, alright! Matthew McConaughey is returning to his alma mater the University of Texas at Austin to teach a film class this fall, the university announced on Thursday, June 30.

 The Oscar-winning actor, 46, will coteach the class with Hunger Games director Gary Ross and university lecturer Scott Rice. McConaughey and Ross will take 30 lucky students “behind the scenes” of their recently released film Free State of Jones through recorded videos and one on-campus visit, according to the San Antonio Express-News. The movie is about a Confederate Army medic who gets branded as a deserter and is forced to run away, finding refuge with runaway slaves.

 “He’s in the movies. He’s on the field. Now, Matthew McConaughey is in the classroom,” UT Austin wrote in a video on its Facebook page that introduced the school’s new professor.

 The higher level class, which is part of the Moody College of Communications, will be open to juniors and seniors, and there are no prerequisites or fees to take the once-a-week course.

 This is the second time McConaughey is coteaching this course. A similar class that showed students the filmmaking process for Free State of Jones was offered during the spring 2016 semester, but students could not take photos or videos and had to sign nondisclosures since the film had not yet been released.

 The 1993 University of Texas graduate — who got his degree in radio, television and film — frequently returns to the campus for the Longhorns football games. Back in September 2014, he gave a motivational speech to the players and their coach to pump them up before a big game against the University of Kansas.

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Write a summary.

– Can we get an "all right, all right, all right" for the University of Texas at Austin's new film instructor? The college announced Thursday that Matthew McConaughey will team up with Gary Ross, the director of his new film, Free State of Jones, and a university instructor to teach a film class at his alma mater this fall, Us Weekly reports. "He's in the movies. He's on the field. Now, Matthew McConaughey is in the classroom," says a post celebrating "Professor McConaughey" on UT's Facebook page. His instruction, however, will be provided via recorded videos, though with at least one on-campus visit. Thirty juniors and seniors will get a "behind-the-scenes" glimpse at how the movie was made, with McConaughey and Ross, who also directed The Hunger Games, showing clips from the movie and then delving into why certain scenes were shot the way they were, per the San Antonio Express-News. It's McConaughey's second stint at UT for this class, which he also taught in the spring amid lots of nondisclosure forms because the movie hadn't come out yet. (McConaughey does pretty well with higher-learning institutions.)


Summarize this article:

As Americans carefully separate the paper and plastics from their trash, most probably don’t realize that their country doesn’t recycle stuff so much as export it to be recycled elsewhere. Specifically, to China. For more than five years, scrap and trash has consistently been the US’s biggest export (paywall), for which China is the number one customer, and the market has doubled in size since 2006.

 “The public doesn’t realize this, but recycling is made possible by technology and markets—they think it’s just a matter of technology,” an industry insider with expertise in China’s waste management told Quartz. “And we don’t have strong enough markets in the US.”

 But hints are emerging that American cities and the companies that sell trash are in for a rude awakening. A recent sign of this comes from Oregon, where truckloads of plastic are piling up at recycling depots because Chinese buyers cancelled their orders, as Oregon Public Broadcasting reports.

 And it’s not just plastic from Oregon. American waste recycling companies are starting to panic. “What I’m hearing from folks in the industry, it’s that just that nothing is going,” the industry insider says. “[China’s] not taking anything anymore. It’s a greenwall.”

 What’s going on is this: the Chinese government just launched Operation Green Fence, forbidding the import of certain types of solid waste, including unwashed plastics and other illegal waste mixed in with the good stuff. This is a problem for the US because China is the primary source of demand for its to-be-recycled plastic exports (pdf):

 Resource Recycling, Portland OR China’s share of US exports of plastics for recycling. PE—polyethylene; PS—polystyrene; PVC—polyvinyl chloride; PET—polyethylene terephthalate

 Of course, you can’t always tell how serious a Chinese government ban will be, and it’s not even clear why China would come down so aggressively. Despite its “trash mountain” woes, it actually needs the plastic resin for manufacturing.

 Regardless, Green Fence looks like the real deal. Chinese ports have turned away “foreign garbage” by the hundreds upon thousands of tons (links in Chinese). “If China customs found a syringe, even if it’s just one, in a bale of plastic, it’s considered medical waste and the whole shipment would get rejected,” Peter Wang, CEO of recycling exporter America Chung Nam said at a conference recently.

 The US’s reliance on China to buy up its plastic trash has meant that it’s neglected to keep developing its own plastic recycling capacity, as you can see:

 Resource Recycling, Portland OR New PE recycling plants opened by region.

 The drop-off in Chinese demand, and the lack of immediately accessible alternatives, could hit American cities hard, says Quartz’s contact in the industry. “Cities are going to have a huge problem on their hands because they don’t know what to do with this stuff,” she says. “They have made commitments saying it’s recycled—but they didn’t say how or where.”

 Not that the US couldn’t open new plants. But sorting trash to be recycled is labor-intensive, and therefore expensive. (The US’s failure to sort it properly is why China is turning US trash away.) And while optical sorters exist, those are expensive too. And either will raise costs for US cities. ||||| Oregon recyclers have stopped accepting certain kinds of plastic because China has stopped buying them.

 Chinese recyclers are no longer buying plastic items with the numbers 3, 6 or 7 on them, and inspectors are checking for and rejecting shipments of mixed plastics from overseas. The list of plastics China no longer wants includes disposable coffee cup lids, PVC pipes, certain kinds of clamshell containers, and garden planters with flexible walls, to name a few.

 The restrictions have left recycling companies across U.S. without buyers for many of the plastics they have traditionally accepted. They don’t affect curbside recycling items like milk jugs and yogurt tubs, but they are limiting which miscellaneous plastics recycling depots will accept.

 Far West Fibers president Keith Ristau said 50 trucks worth of mixed plastic from his company’s recycling depots has piled up after orders from China were canceled. It will need to be re-sorted into individual types of plastic before it can be sold, as will the plastics are now being collected at recycling depots.

 “We used to have just one big bin at our depots, and you threw all the plastics in there, and we just baled it and shipped it to China,” he said. “Now we have to sort it by the specific resin, so we have four or five bins instead of one.”

 Far West Fibers and other Portland-area recyclers are meeting with officials at Metro next week to find new buyers for the recyclable plastics China won’t take.

 Metro recycling manager Andy Sloop said there are still good markets for the kinds of plastics accepted in curbside recycling programs.

 “What’s mostly at issue is low-grade, mixed, rigid plastics that aren’t supposed to go into curbside bins,” he said. “It’s things like lids and toys and swimming pools. It’s not plastic soda bottles or milk jugs.”

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– If your local recycler starts turning away your cans and bottles in the near future, blame China. Beijing has stopped accepting certain shipments of recycled plastic from the US, reports Quartz. (It reportedly will no longer welcome unwashed plastics and improperly sorted shipments; other reports say items like coffee cup lids and PVC pipes are on the no-no list.) This, it turns out, is a huge deal because trash has for years been one of the top American exports to China, explains the Washington Post. If China won't buy it anymore, US cities and recycling companies will be scrambling for alternatives. In fact, that's already happening, reports Oregon Public Broadcasting, which talks to one company that has 50 trucks' worth of plastic sitting around thanks to canceled China orders. One sliver of hope is that China genuinely needs this stuff for its manufacturing industry, so it's possible that business interests will pressure the government into relaxing the new "Operation Green Fence" initiative. Failing that, the US will either need to start recycling more of its own trash or find new buyers. Might we suggest Oslo?


Here is a news article: Global food giant Nestle said it has found that its Thailand seafood suppliers are engaged in abusive labor practices -- a risk many companies face when sourcing from the country's fishing industry.

 Poor migrants seeking work in Thailand, the world's largest shrimp exporter, are being exposed to hazardous, inhumane living, and working conditions. Some are charged excessive fees, leaving them stuck in debt, in order to get jobs where they catch and process fish that ends up in Nestle's (NSRGF) supply chain, according to a report the company commissioned from Verite, a U.S.-based fair labor advocacy group.

 Nestle is one of the biggest food companies in the world, and owns brands such as Perrier, Purina pet food, Haagen-Dazs and Nescafe.

 These labor issues, however, "are not unique or limited to the Nestle supply chain," the report said. "Virtually all companies sourcing seafood in the Thai seafood sector are exposed to the same risks."

 The report found that workers were lured to work under false pretenses and often had their pay withheld and personal identification documents confiscated. Some laborers also said they were subjected to verbal and physical abuse, and were sold to boat captains needing crews for their ships.

 Related: CNN's Freedom Project: Seafood from slavery

 In August, a federal lawsuit was filed in California against grocery retailer Costco (COST), demanding that it label much of the shrimp it sells as the product of human slavery. The lawsuit also wanted Costco to stop buying shrimp from its Thailand suppliers.

 Thai shrimp commonly sold in the U.S. comes from farms, and the feed for the shrimp is often sourced from slave-staffed fishing boats known as "ghost ships," according to the suit. Workers on those boats are kept in cages to prevent them from escaping, the suit claimed.

 Related: Lawsuit against Costco: Label shrimp as product of slavery

 Just one week after the Costco suit was filed, a class action suit was filed against Nestle alleging the company's Fancy Feast cat food -- imported from its partner, Thai Union Frozen Products -- was the product of slave labor.

 The workers are often trafficked from poorer neighboring countries in Southeast Asia, according to the complaint.

 Nestle said Monday it would work to improve the situation by finding a way to track the source of seafood ingredients, training boat captains on proper practices, and conducting audits. The company has also promised public updates periodically.

 "Nestle is committed to eliminating forced labor in our seafood supply chain in Thailand, working alongside other stakeholders to tackle this serious and complex issue," said Nestle's Magdi Batato, executive vice president of operations, in a statement. ||||| Migrant workers toiling in Thailand’s seafood industry to supply global companies such as Nestle SA are subjected to hazardous, exploitative and degrading conditions in which some fishermen are even sold to other boat captains, a report commissioned by the company found.

 The report conducted by Verite on behalf of Geneva-based Nestle and released Monday found “indicators of forced labor, trafficking, and child labor to be present among sea-based and land-based workers.” The findings, which are consistent with the non-government group’s previous research on Thailand’s fishing industry, “present an urgent challenge to any company sourcing seafood.”

 Thailand’s seafood industry has come under global scrutiny in recent years following reports from media outlets such as the Associated Press, the Guardian and Global Post that showed widespread abuse of workers, mainly migrants from neighboring Cambodia and Myanmar. The mistreatment was cited by the U.S. in its annual report on human trafficking, in which Thailand fell to the lowest level, as well as in civil lawsuits filed by consumers in the U.S. accusing companies such as Nestle and Costco Wholesale Corp. of selling seafood caught using slave labor.

 The European Union threatened earlier this year to ban Thai seafood imports if the country fails to improve the regulation of its fishing industry. Thailand’s military government has said it is working to address the concerns.

 In addition to the commissioned report, Nestle also released its own action plan that it said is designed to stamp out abuses in its supply chain. The plan includes setting up channels through which workers can air grievances, training for boat captains and owners, and establishing better methods of tracing raw materials and verifying labor standards.

 ‘Complex Issue’

 “Nestle is committed to eliminating forced labor in our seafood supply chain in Thailand, working alongside other stakeholders to tackle this serious and complex issue," Magdi Batato, executive vice president of operations at the company, said in a statement. “This will be neither a quick nor an easy endeavor, but we look forward to making significant progress in the months ahead.”

 Nestle is adopting a strategy it has applied to its chocolate business after receiving criticism about labor issues. In 2001, Nestle and other leading chocolate makers agreed to a plan to try to prevent child labor on farms in West Africa after U.S. legislators Tom Harkin and Eliot Engel highlighted the problem. Nestle agreed to monitoring by the Fair Labor Association in 2012, and the non-profit organization makes random visits to farms that supply Nestle with cocoa.

 Thailand’s military leader Prayuth Chan-Ocha has said that it is only a few people within the industry giving the country a bad name.

 “Those that cheat, violate the law or conduct human trafficking, these people have no place in Thai society, let alone any society,” he said in his weekly television address Nov. 6, according to a transcript. “We will continue to prosecute these individuals and sustain progress on this matter.”

 He said his government will show “no leniency” and is sending teams to inspect fishing vessels and docks and conduct random checks of seafood-processing plants. ||||| Fish and seafood are precious resources for our planet and all who live on it. This is particularly so for people in some of the poorest countries, who rely on healthy fisheries for their source of protein.

 Our fish and seafood come from a wide variety of sources, including wild fisheries in oceans around the world and from fish farms that breed their own fish. Like meat and poultry, the seafood we procure is used in ready-made and frozen meals, healthcare nutrition products such as sports drinks, and especially pet food. We purchased around 130 000 tonnes of fish and seafood in 2016, most of which is for Nestlé Purina.

 How we source fish and seafood

 We understand the importance of having sustainable fisheries and healthy fish farms, as well as the immense challenges we all must overcome to source fish and seafood responsibly. Therefore, we work closely with our suppliers to identify, as far as possible, the sources of our fish and seafood ingredients. Our ambition is to confirm that the fish and seafood we source come from healthy fisheries or farms engaged in improvement projects. By communicating our expectations to our suppliers and following up on their progress, we will increasingly be able to assess our supply chain against our category-specific requirements for fish and seafood – for example, that there is no known sourcing from illegal, unreported and unregulated fisheries and vessels, and that there is no known sourcing from operations that are not legally licensed for production and sales. We will also be able to evaluate the sustainability of seafood sources (wild and farmed) and identify projects to enhance the environmental performance of our suppliers.

 To best identify the origins of fish by-products, our fish and seafood buyers work closely with their vendors to collect data on the species, country of origin and fishery from where the fish originated. We provide all this seafood purchasing information to our independent, not-for-profit NGO partner – the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership ( SFP ) – to identify and assess the wild and farmed fisheries from which our seafood supply comes.

 Sourcing fish and seafood for pet food Identifying the precise sources for fish and seafood is difficult. For pet foods, which primarily use fish by-products, traceability is even more challenging as the typical traceability mechanisms for human edible fish do not exist. So why do we use fish by-products in our pet food? All of Nestlé Purina’s pet food products follow complete and balanced recipes that meet the nutritional needs of dogs and cats at each life stage and for many health conditions. Over 500 Nestlé Purina pet experts are behind the creation of our recipes to provide perfectly balanced pet nutrition. Some of these recipes include the use of fish by-products, which are nutrient-dense. Fish by-products are parts of a fish that remain after the fish fillets are removed for the human food supply chain. In addition to being nutritionally beneficial, the utilisation of fish by-products represents an environmentally and socially responsible practice, by using all the protein sources of a fish while not competing with the human food supply.

 We are able to track about 91.7%* of our purchases of whole fish to the vessels that caught them. From there, the SFP provides assessments on the source fisheries. A large percentage of the seafood purchased for nutritious pet food products is a by-product of the process of producing fish for human consumption. Currently, we have identified 223* source fisheries, up from 153* in the previous year. Of those fisheries, 54%* were considered responsibly sourced, meaning they were low or medium risk based on Fishsource.org scores, were certified by a recognised agency such as the Marine Stewardship Council ( MSC ).

 Our Responsible Sourcing Guideline (pdf, 1.58Mb) ( RSG ) establishes a framework for continuous improvement in our wild caught and farmed seafood supply chain, building towards Responsible Sourcing.

 We also recognise seafood certified by independent NGOs such as the MSC , the world’s leading certification and eco-labelling programme for sustainable seafood.

 Fish and seafood supply chain challenges and solutions

 Overfishing is a global issue within the supply chain. We are working with partners to address this and ensure sustainable practices are used. Labour conditions have also been acknowledged as an issue, in particular in the Thai seafood supply chain, and we are implementing a detailed action plan to tackle this. Fish feed has been identified by the SFP as a large challenge across the aquaculture industry, and feed manufacturers are taking steps to address this.

 Labour conditions

 Poor labour conditions has been identified as one of the issues within the fish and seafood supply chain, particular in Thailand’s fishing industry. We commissioned Verité, an independent NGO that works with companies to help understand and tackle labour issues, to investigate allegations of abuses in the Thai fishing industry. They collected information from fishing vessels, ports, mills and farms in Thailand on a range of issues, including trafficking, forced and underage labour, lack of grievance procedures, workplace conditions, and wages and benefits. Following this, we developed an action plan, based on their recommendations, to address these issues. The plan contains initiatives to protect workers from abuses. We continue to work with the Thai Government and other key stakeholders to improve labour conditions in the fish and seafood industry.

 Overfishing

 Overfishing is a key issue facing all of us. Nestlé Purina reviews all the species caught to ensure that no critically endangered, or endangered species of fish according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature ( IUCN ) Red List are included in our seafood purchases.

 Our annual objectives

 Fish and seafood supply chain traceability results (for whole fish; by-product is traced only by the number of fisheries)

 Data table Total volume in scope 130 000 tonnes Percentage of volume* of whole fish that is traceable to the boat 91.7% (2016 target: 99%) Percentage of volume* Responsibly Sourced from one of the 223 fisheries identified by the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership (SFP) 54% (2016 target: 40%) * The figure for total volume is Nestlé-wide and is the same as for 2015 as global volumes for 2016 have not been received. All other figures are for fish and seafood purchased by Nestlé Purina, which receives about 92% of the total volume.

 Our progress to date

 We continue to refine our data collection methods to include more data, such as the Latin names of species, to ensure consistency across global zones. We are working with SFP to better understand aquaculture risks in different world areas and the importance of zonal management systems for fish farms.

 Tackling human rights abuses in the Thai seafood supply chain Following an investigation and report (pdf, 832Kb) by our independent NGO partner Verité, we launched an action plan (pdf, 656Kb) on seafood sourced from Thailand. Focused on 10 key activities, the plan contains a series of actions designed to protect workers from abuses, improve working conditions and tackle unacceptable practices, including juvenile and teenage working. Those actions involve establishing a migrant workforce emergency response team, setting up a grievance mechanism, providing training for captains and boat owners operating in the industry, raising awareness about minimum required labour standards, establishing better traceability of raw materials and enabling verification of labour standards in fishing vessels. The action plan was rolled out throughout 2016, with a dedicated manager based in Thailand to oversee its implementation. Alongside the Thai Government, local seafood suppliers and international buyers, we also continue to participate in the multi-stakeholder ILO Working Group, which is seeking collaborative solutions to improve labour conditions in Thailand’s complex seafood export industry.

 Looking ahead

 Human rights abuses have no place in our seafood supply chain. Nestlé was among the first companies to issue a comprehensive plan to work with NGO partners to address this complex issue. As part of this effort to fight human rights abuses in the seafood supply chain, Nestlé bans all fish and seafood caught from IUU (Illegal, Unregulated, Unreported) fishing. To demonstrate further our commitment to fighting human rights abuses, Nestlé Purina committed to a ban on all trans-shipments at sea (where items are transferred from one ship to another) at the end of 2016, and we are updating our RSG to include this prohibition. Trans-shipments at sea enable rogue fishing vessels to engage in IUU fishing and other illegal activities by not returning to port for extended periods of time, up to several years in some cases. We believe the worst forms of human rights abuses may occur aboard such vessels because of the lack of regulation, enforcement and transparency offshore. Due to the opaque nature of offshore fishing practices and worker treatment on vessels, Nestlé Purina supports banning all trans-shipments as a step towards eliminating IUU fishing and preventing human rights abuses at sea. |||||
A summary of this is?

– Something to ponder about the origins of your seafood: A new report commissioned by food giant Nestle finds that most seafood workers in Thailand—the world's biggest exporter of shrimp—are migrants from Cambodia or Myanmar brought into the country illegally by traffickers and sold to boat captains, who force them to work 16-hour days, seven days a week, reports the New York Times. As expected with such a schedule, they suffer chronic sleep deprivation. They also work in hazardous conditions and face physical and verbal abuse from captains, who withhold their personal documents, the report notes, per CNNMoney. "Sometimes, the net is too heavy, and workers get pulled into the water and just disappear," a Burmese worker says in the report. "When someone dies, he gets thrown into the water." The revelations don't stop there. The report also finds workers—including child workers—have an inadequate supply of water and limited access to medical care. Some toil for over a year before getting paid, while others are charged fees that leave them in debt. Nestle—which is facing a lawsuit claiming its Fancy Feast cat food comes from slave labor—acknowledges that seafood caught under these conditions ends up in its supply chain. But "virtually all companies sourcing seafood in the Thai seafood sector are exposed to the same risks," it says. The company, which encountered similar labor complaints regarding its chocolate business in 2001, has issued an action plan to cut down on abuse, which includes a way for workers to make complaints and training for boat captains, per Bloomberg.


Write a summary based on this article:

A 24-year-old woman is under house arrest in Plano after trying to transport three high-tech night vision scopes to Russia without a license.

 Anna Fermanova Anna Fermanova

 Acting on a tip, federal officials searched the luggage of Anna Fermanova at New York’s JFK International Airport on March 1 and found a Raptor night vision weapons sight and two advanced rifle sights stuffed in a pair of UGG boots.

 Officials confiscated the scopes and allowed Fermanova to continue on a flight to Moscow, where she lives with her husband. The scopes are among items on the U.S. Munitions List that require a license from the Department of State before they can be exported.

 Fermanova was arrested earlier this month when she returned to the United States to visit family.

 She is under house arrest at her parents’ home in Plano until her case can be heard in New York.

 National media have dubbed Fermanova “America’s newest sexy Russian spy,” playing off the news of the arrest last month of Anna Chapman and nine others on suspicion of working for a Russian spy ring.

 “She is quite sexy, you could say, but she is not a spy,” said Fermanova’s Addison-based attorney, Scott Palmer.

 And though she was born in Latvia, Fermanova is a U.S. citizen, Palmer said.

 Palmer said she bought the scopes legally online. He said they were for her husband, who wanted them for a friend who is a hunter. ||||| The 24 year-old, who lives near Dallas, was apprehended after attempting to take state-of-the-art night-vision scopes and other restricted items to Russia .

 The items were confiscated when she attempted to board a flight to Moscow earlier this year. She was arrested when returning to America this month.

 The case is being compared to that of Anna Chapman , a suspected Russian spy who was arrested in New York and then returned to Russia under a "spy swap exchange" earlier this month. There is no evidence that the two women knew one another.

 It has been reported that Miss Fermanova was arrested on July 15th for "knowingly and intentionally" attempting to export "defense articles on the United States Munitions list." The night-vision goggles and scopes cannot be exported without approval from the US State Department, as they are considered to be sophisticated military weapons.

 Among the items she was caught with were a Raptor 4X Night Vision Weapons Sight, which she had bought online. A customs agent claimed that the sight's ID numbers "had been covered with black marker pens".

 Miss Fermanova is under house arrest and has had her passport confiscated. She is expected to attend court in New York later this month where she faces up to 10 years in prison.

 Scott Palmer, the woman's lawyer, said that the charges were "false allegations" and "too sensitive to be discussed." It was reported that Ms Fermanova's husband intended to resell the night-vision scopes to hunters.

 Miss Fermanova is thought to split her time between Moscow and Dallas, Texas. She teaches English in the Russian capital.

 According to her Facebook page, she is a 2005 graduate of the Ogle School of Hair Skin and Nails. She holds a cosmetologist licence in Texas.

 She came to America as a child with her parents from Latvia.

 There is growing concern in America over the actions of apparently "cold-war style" spies, several of whom were caught last month living apparently ordinary lives in suburban America.

 Earlier this month, 10 suspected spies including Chapman, pleaded guilty to federal charges and were deported as part of Cold War-style spy exchange. Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, signed a decree pardoning four Russians convicted of spying for the US. |||||

– A beautician who splits her time between Russia and Texas has emerged as America's latest sexy spy since she was busted for trying to smuggle high-tech night vision scopes to Moscow, according to the FBI. Federal officials acting on a tip confiscated the scopes from Anna Fermanova, 24, at New York's JFK Airport earlier this year. She was arrested this month when trying to return to the US, and is being held under house arrest, the Telegraph reports. Fermanova, a Latvian-born US citizen, has been charged with "knowingly and intentionally" trying to export the items without the necessary State Department approval, and faces up to 10 years in jail if convicted. Her lawyer calls the charges "silly," and says the scopes were for her husband, who planned to sell them to hunters. "She is quite sexy, you could say, but she is not a spy," he tells the Dallas Morning News. Fermanova was arrested just two weeks after femme fatale Anna Chapman was sent back to Russia after the feds busted up her spy ring.


Article:
Why The Mali Coup Threatens All Of West Africa

 Following the March 22 coup that ousted President Amadou Toumani Touré, the north of Mali is in the hands of a Tuareg rebellion. It is a rolling series of events that has leaders across the region worrying about similar threats.

 by: admin Tuaregs, like this man in Algeria, live in several different countries in North and West Africa (Garrondo)

 LE MONDE/Worldcrunch

 The very existence of the West African country of Mali is currently under threat. The whole of the north of the country is in the hands of a Tuareg rebellion, which nothing seems able to stop.

 President Amadou Toumani Touré was ousted on March 22 by a junta of captains calling themselves the National Council for the Recovery of Democracy and the Restoration of the State (CNRDRE). Taking advantage of the ensuing power vacuum in the capital Bamako, the rebels have gained possession of northern Mali at lightning speed.

 The rebels, the majority of whom are members of the nomadic Tuareg people, refuse to be called Malian, and they want to establish an independent Tuareg state called Azawad.

 Currently the rebels only hold the northern part of Mali, but with potential reinforcements arriving from other areas of the Sahel, a transition zone between the Sahara in the north and the savannahs to the south, and in particular from neighboring Niger, that could all change. In the meantime, the Malian army is falling apart.

 The captains who overthrew the president justified their actions by claiming to be working to end the decline of Mali. However, the coup has had precisely the opposite outcome. Despite the fall of city after city in the north over the past few days, the CNRDRE has not sent any troops north to defend the country from the rebels.

 Quick response, deep concerns

 West African leaders are responding quickly to try and avoid an outright collapse of the Malian state, and they have reacted with commendable promptness. At the impetus of, in particular, Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara, a diplomatic emergency committee has been formed that is threatening the junta with heavy sanctions if it does not relinquish power.

 However, none of the heads of states involved is entirely blameless. Some, like Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaoré, have faced mutinies in their own countries. The desire of the presidents of the region to return constitutional order to Bamako is therefore influenced by a certain degree of self-preservation. Who can blame them? Only recently emerging from the Ivorian crisis, with Guinea still fragile and Senegal only just managing to avoid serious upheaval following its electoral turmoil, West Africa could do without the collapse of Mali.

 In Bamako, regional pressures run counter to public opinion; Mali has developed a strong dislike for its neighbors’ interference. But at this stage the only options left are likely to be hard to implement, not least the junta stepping down as Sanago, president of CNRDRE, holds tight to power.

 The West African heads of state will need plenty more energy to achieve their joint objectives: firstly, getting the Malian military back to their barracks; and secondly, helping them to launch a counter-attack. If this doesn’t happen, the North will quickly be lost and the division of the country becomes an ever-growing threat.

 Until now, West Africa’s efforts have met with relative indifference from the international community. It is imperative that the outside world offers its support and realizes that the situation in Mali will have significant consequences for the whole of the Sahel region.

 Read more from Le Monde in French.

 Photo – Garrondo

 All rights reserved ©Worldcrunch - in partnership with Le Monde ||||| Image copyright AFP Image caption Timbuktu's mud and wood architecture is unique

 The fighting in northern Mali could damage the World Heritage Site of Timbuktu, the UN's cultural agency Unesco has warned.

 Timbuktu's "outstanding architectural wonders" must be safeguarded, it said.

 Separatist Tuareg rebels joined forces with Islamist fighters to take the town on Sunday, and residents have told the BBC that Islamic law is being imposed.

 The African Union has joined West African nations in imposing sanctions on Mali after a recent coup.

 Meanwhile, representatives from the new military leadership are in Nigeria for talks with the authorities.

 The military junta overthrew Mali's government nearly two weeks ago, saying the campaign against the recent Tuareg rebellion had been poorly run.

 Junta head Capt Amadou Sanogo has said the army is not leaving power, but has promised to consult local political forces to set up a transition body "with the aim of organising peaceful, free, open and democratic elections in which we will not take part".

 'Bars ransacked'

 Correspondents say long lines have formed at petrol stations in the capital, Bamako, in response to sanctions.

 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Timbuktu mayor Halle Cisse: "We don't know who's in charge"

 A farmer, who was filling up 15 jerry cans with diesel, told the BBC that he was worried about not being able to irrigate his crops with a generator once fuel reserves run out.

 Landlocked Mali has to import all its fuel - and reporters say the country will struggle to survive an economic blockade.

 But the Tuareg rebels have taken advantage of the political situation and made rapid advances in the past few days - and now control of a third of the West African country, including the key northern towns of Gao, Kidal and Timbuktu.

 Timbuktu's literary patrimony... reveals a continent with an immensely rich literary and scientific heritage Writer Lydia Syson Why do we know Timbuktu?

 The rebels are divided into two groups - the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), which wants independence for the northern Tuareg homelands, while Ansar Dine, which is linked to the North African branch of al-Qaeda, wants to remain part of Mali but impose Sharia.

 Residents in Gao and Kidal told the BBC that Islamist fighters have ransacked bars serving alcohol and banned Western music on local airwaves.

 In Timbuktu, people told the BBC that Ansar Dine members are going from door-to-door telling occupants that they now have to live by the principles of Islamic law.

 The BBC's Alou Diawara in the capital, Bamako, says some civilians are fleeing the central town of Mopti, fearing a rebel advance further south.

 According to the UN refugee agency, since January the violence has uprooted more than 200,000 people, including around 100,000 who have fled the country.

 Tourist attraction

 Timbuktu - on the edge of the Sahara desert - is littered with impressive architecture, using mud and wood in a unique style.

 Structures include the great mosques of Djingareyber, Sankore and Sidi Yahia and 16 cemeteries.

 "They are essential to the preservation of the identity of the people of Mali and of our universal heritage," Unesco head Irina Bokova said, calling on all parties to fulfil international obligations to safeguard heritage in times of war.

 Once an important centre of Islamic study, Timbuktu is home to about 700,000 ancient manuscripts, held in approximately 60 private libraries.

 "At its zenith in the middle of the 15th Century Timbuktu was known all over the world as a repository for all sorts of knowledge, including Arabic Islamic writing, science, maths and history," Lydia Syson, an expert on Mali, told the BBC.

 Today, Timbuktu is poor and parts of it are sinking under the encroaching desert sands.

 Nevertheless, in recent years a lot of money has been invested in trying to preserve Timbuktu's manuscripts, some of which have already been destroyed.

 Many collections have been digitised and local scholars trained in how to interpret the literary treasures, most of which are family collections that have been handed down from generation to generation.

 Image copyright AFP Image caption Ancient family manuscripts have been handed down from generation to generation

 The rebel takeover could disrupt these efforts and prevent access to the manuscripts.

 "What is so important about Timbuktu's literary patrimony is that it is a challenge to Western ideas that Africa is a land of song and dance and oral tradition," Ms Syson said.

 "It reveals a continent with an immensely rich literary and scientific heritage," she said.

 The UN Security Council is due to hold an emergency meeting on the crisis in Mali later on Tuesday.

 The coup and Tuareg rebellion have exacerbated a humanitarian crisis in Mali and some neighbouring countries, with aid agencies warning that 13 million people need food aid following a drought in the region. ||||| Malians lined up outside gas stations holding jerrycans, water bottles and plastic jugs, as the landlocked West African nation braced itself Tuesday for sanctions imposed overnight as a consequence of a coup last month.

 In an effort to force out the soldiers that seized control of the country on March 21, Mali's neighbors decided at an emergency summit Monday to impose an embargo, shutting their borders and freezing its account at the regional central bank. The nation roughly twice the size of France imports all its fuel, which is trucked in overland from neighboring Ivory Coast and Senegal, both located on Africa's Atlantic Coast.

 The country's electricity grid is also expected to falter in coming weeks. April is one of the hottest months of the year in the country located on the southern edge of the Sahara desert, and the nation's hydropower system is unable to carry the load because of low water levels. Fuel is used in the hot months to run diesel generators.

 Mali's president was sent into hiding when a group of disgruntled soldiers started a mutiny at a military base located around 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the presidential palace. From the base, they decided to march on the palace. In a matter of hours, they succeeded in reversing more than two decades of democracy.

 The Economic Community of West African States, representing 15 nations in the region, has been uncharacteristically harsh in their condemnation of the coup. They gave the putschists a 72-hour deadline to restore civilian rule, which expired Monday. When the junta failed to do so, they announced that sanctions would go into effect immediately.

 Bathily Seye, the owner of a local chain of gas stations called Afrique Oil, said that if no new shipments are allowed in, his 15 pumps will run dry in days.

 "We don't have our own gas. It's all imported," he said. "There is absolutely nothing here. We don't have any refining capacity. ... I don't have the stock. In two days, my pumps will run out of gas."

 At a Shell pump in downtown Bamako, the line of cars was so long Tuesday that the vehicles were idling on the highway leading to the station. At the front of the queue, farm employee Baba Kounta had climbed into the back of his minibus, where he was filling 12 20-liter jerrycans. He said he needs the gas to power the generators that run the irrigation system at the orange farm outside Bamako where he works.

 "We don't have a choice. We're obliged to make provisions," said Kounta, as he watched the gauge on the pump race past 73,700 francs (around $147). "In the hot season, the generator eats 40 liters (more than 10 gallons) per day."

 Waiting his turn behind the minibus was 50-year-old computer tech Nouhoum Kamate, who was sitting in the suffocating heat of his unventilated old-model Mercedes. A government employee, he had come to the gas station with his March paycheck. It's unclear if the junta will be able to pay civil servants in April because the country's bank account is now frozen.

 "I got my salary this past month, but next month? I don't think we will get to that point," said Kamate. "I think we will find a solution. They can't do this embargo forever."

 The soldiers who grabbed power said they did so because of the former president's mishandling of an insurgency in the north by Tuareg rebels. Since the coup, however, the rebels have effectively seized control of the entire northern half of the nation, taking the three major towns of Kidal, Gao and Timbuktu over the weekend.

 A former minister, Mohamed Ag Erlaf, identified himself as the chief negotiator for Mali's junta and said the main rebel group that seized the north is willing to hold talks on the future of the country. Reached by telephone, Erlaf said Tuesday that the rebel National Movement for the Liberation of the Azawad is open to discussions.

 However, an NMLA spokesman in Paris told France 24 TV late Monday that the rebels have had no direct contact with the junta which toppled Mali's government. Moussa Ag Attaher said they do not recognize coup leader Capt. Amadou Haya Sanogo.

 He said: "Neither the international community nor the population of Mali recognize him. If we are to negotiate, it needs to be with someone that is recognized."

 ___

 Associated Press Writer Michelle Faul contributed to this report from Niamey, Niger. |||||Summary:

– Since we last checked in, the situation in Mali following a soldiers' coup has spiraled, with rising concerns over food and gas shortages, violence, and indeed the country's "very existence," according to Le Monde. An update: The coup has driven more than 200,000 people from their homes to other parts of the region, the AP reports. The UN worries that major food shortages could be imminent, and "mayhem in these towns and cities is increasing," says a rep. Neighboring countries have established an embargo against the rebels who ousted the president; they've closed off their borders and frozen the country's regional bank account. That has prompted residents of Mali, which imports all its fuel, to rush to gas stations to collect fuel. The country's electricity grid may also be headed for failure. UNESCO is citing a threat to Timbuktu, a World Heritage Site full of "architectural wonders," notes the BBC. Mosques there are "essential to the preservation of the identity of the people of Mali," says the group. Yet "nothing seems to be able to stop" the Tuareg coup, Le Monde reports. West African leaders need to help Mali's military fight back before the instability spreads beyond the country's borders.


Article:
Photo

 A press representative for the director Michael Bay said on Thursday morning that the filmmaker was “fine” and “not hurt” after he was attacked in Hong Kong, where he is making “Transformers 4.”

 The press representative said later on Thursday that it was “erroneous” to say that Mr. Bay was injured in the attack, as some reports said, and that in fact the director had fended off a man “who was wielding an air-conditioning unit as a weapon.”

 Reuters reported that two Hong Kong men were arrested Thursday after approaching Mr. Bay at the “Transformers 4” set and demanding money. The men, who were said to be brothers and demanding about $13,000, attacked Mr. Bay; the older brother also was said to have attacked three police officers who tried to intervene. Both men were charged with suspicion of assault; the younger one was also charged with suspicion of blackmail.

 Reuters said that Mr. Bay had been injured on the right side of his face but that the injuries were not serious, and that filming had resumed after the episode. BBC News, citing local Hong Kong reports, said that the men may have been seeking “disturbance fees” paid to shops and businesses whose commerce was affected by the “Transformers 4” production.

 In a statement on Thursday, Gabriela Gutentag, a press representative for Mr. Bay, provided a somewhat different account. Her statement said:

 Director Michael Bay and the cast and crew of “Transformers: Age of Extinction” completed their first day of production in Hong Kong today, Oct. 17, 2013, after four and a half months of filming in Arizona, Utah, Texas, Michigan, Illinois and Washington State since late May. Contrary to several erroneous news reports made today, Bay did not get hurt in a fight on set. The production company did have a bizarre encounter with a man (allegedly under the influence of a narcotic substance) who was wielding an air-conditioning unit as a weapon. The man, who had earlier accosted several other crew members, rushed onto the set in Quarry Bay and swung the air-conditioning unit directly at Bay’s head. The director ducked and wrested the air-conditioner from his attacker, preventing what could have been a serious accident. The company’s security team quickly stepped in and subdued the assault. The police, who also scuffled with the assailant and two of his companions, ultimately arrested the three men. No one on the cast or crew was injured and the production immediately resumed filming without further incident.

 Describing the episode in a post on his Web site, michaelbay.com, Mr. Bay wrote that his assailant “was like a Zombie in Brad Pitt’s movie ‘World War Z’ — he lifted seven guys up and tried to bite them.”

 “He actually bit into one of the guard’s Nike shoe, insane,” Mr. Bay continued. “Thank God it was an Air Max, the bubble popped, but the toe was saved.”

 “After that,” Mr. Bay wrote, “we had a great day shooting here in Hong Kong.”

 In an interview with The New York Times in April, Mr. Bay said he was a recognizable figure when he travels the world.

 “I was just in the Forbidden City, and people were taking pictures of me,” he said. “People know who you are.” ||||| Hong Kong Incident

 Posted on Oct 17, 2013

 Hi, it’s Michael.

 Yes, the story is being passed around is not all true! Yes, some drugged up guys were being belligerent asses to my crew for hours in the morning of our first shoot day in Hong Kong. One guy rolled metal carts into some of my actors trying to shake us down for thousands of dollars to not play his loud music or hit us with bricks.

 Every vendor where we shot got paid a fair price for our inconvenience, but he wanted four times that amount. I personally told this man and his friends to forget it we were not going to let him extort us. He didn’t like that answer. So an hour later he came by my crew as we were shooting, carrying a long air conditioner unit. He walked right up to me and tried to smack my face, but I ducked threw the air unit on the floor and pushed him away. That’s when the security jumped on him. But it took seven big guys to subdue him. It was like a Zombie in Brad Pitt’s movie World War Z—he lifted seven guys up and tried to bite them. He actually bit into one of the guards Nike shoe, insane. Thank god it was an Air Max, the bubble popped, but the toe was saved.

 Then it took fifteen Hong Kong cops in riot gear to deal with these punks. In all, four guys were arrested for assaulting the officers.

 After that, we had a great day shooting here in Hong Kong. The place couldn’t be better. |||||Summary:

– Michael Bay's own rep calls it "bizarre": While filming the latest Transformers flick in China today, the director had what the rep describes as "a bizarre encounter with a man (allegedly under the influence of a narcotic substance) who was wielding an air conditioning unit as a weapon." After accosting a few crew members, he swung the AC unit at Bay's head, the New York Times reports. In true action hero style, Bay ducked and then "wrested the air conditioner from his attacker," the rep's statement continues. The suspect and two companions were arrested. Some reports said Bay was injured, but his rep says no one was hurt. On his website, Bay describes the suspects as "drugged up guys" and "belligerent asses." He says the crew paid local vendors for their inconvenience during filming, but the suspect "wanted four times that amount." After Bay fought him off, security stepped in: "But it took seven big guys to subdue him. It was like a Zombie in Brad Pitt’s movie World War Z—he lifted seven guys up and tried to bite them. He actually bit into one of the guards Nike shoe, insane," Bay writes. "Then it took 15 Hong Kong cops in riot gear to deal with these punks. In all, four guys were arrested for assaulting the officers."


Stock Chart for Orexigen Therapeutics Inc (OREX)

 Orexigen Therapeutics Inc.’s success in winning the first U.S. panel recommendation for a long-sought prescription diet pill led its shares to almost double and shows the company benefited from its rivals’ earlier difficulties.

 Outside advisers to the Food and Drug Administration said weight-loss benefits of Orexigen’s product, Contrave, exceed the dangers of elevated pulse and blood pressure and that a large study on cardiovascular risk can wait until after the drug is approved. The FDA delayed competing treatments from Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Vivus Inc. in October after they failed to win panel backing on safety.

 “The fact that they were able to convince the panel not only that the cardiovascular study can wait, but that the drug can be approved, is exciting, particularly after we saw the other obesity drugs voted down,” Joshua Schimmer, a Leerink Swann analyst, said yesterday in a telephone interview. “It’s hard to know to what extent their strategy was altered by the first two, but it sure as heck didn’t hurt.”

 While the FDA isn’t obliged to follow recommendations of advisers, their support eases concern that had caused Orexigen shares to drop more than a third this year. The La Jolla, California-based company gained from watching the FDA’s safety focus and saw that a commitment to minimize risks and conduct more studies would be needed for approval, Schimmer said.

 Stocks Surge

 Orexigen rose $4.01, or 84 percent, to $8.77 at 4 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading, the most in a single day since the shares began trading in April 2007. Options traders placed record bets on Orexigen last week, saying a positive panel vote would double the company’s value. Vivus shares gained $1.20, or 15 percent, to $9 as analysts said the Orexigen recommendation suggests the long-term heart risks with Vivus’s drug, Qnexa, won’t need to be studied before approval. Arena jumped 16 cents, or 11 percent, to $1.57.

 About 68 percent of American adults are overweight, raising their risk of diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and cancer, according to the 2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Almost 34 percent are obese, measured as a ratio between height and weight.

 The three companies and their partners have been in a race to introduce the first prescription weight-loss pill in more than a decade. Basel, Switzerland-based Roche Holding AG’s Xenical, approved in 1999, is the only long-term medicine for weight loss since Abbott Park, Illinois-based Abbott Laboratories’ Meridia was pulled off the market in October because of heart risks.

 January Deadline

 Orexigen and partner Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., of Osaka, Japan, are scheduled to receive a decision from the FDA by Jan. 31. Schimmer said approval may be delayed while the company and the agency work out details of the prescribing information and the new study. He expects Contrave and Qnexa ultimately to win approval with potential sales of each reaching $1 billion or more in the U.S.

 “We learned about the complex issues surrounding obesity therapeutics that are important to the FDA and the medical community, and we did our best to address those issues,” Orexigen Chief Executive Officer Michael Narachi said yesterday after the vote.

 Vivus, based in Mountain View, California, said Oct. 29 that it plans to respond within six weeks to the FDA’s request for more information about heart risks and birth defects linked to Qnexa. This would trigger a new two- to six-month review.

 “Vivus is encouraged by Tuesday’s advisory committee meeting because it provides hope for patients that new medical treatments for obesity are seriously being considered by the FDA,” the company said today in an e-mail.

 Arena’s Lorcaserin

 San Diego-based Arena said Oct. 25 that the FDA had questions about tumors seen in studies of rats taking the diet drug lorcaserin, which Arena is developing with Eisai Co. of Tokyo. The companies will meet with the agency later this month.

 “Arena is pleased to see the recognition of the need for obesity medications,” the company said in an e-mail today. “At this time, the company is focused on obtaining FDA approval of lorcaserin as quickly as possible.”

 Contrave, Orexigen’s first product, is a combination of two approved drugs that target different parts of the brain that influence appetite and cravings. The pill contains bupropion, an antidepressant also used to quit smoking, and naltrexone, a treatment for alcohol and painkiller addiction.

 Study Results

 Two tablets of Contrave twice a day helped twice as many patients in studies lose at least 5 percent of their weight compared with a placebo after 56 weeks. The drug missed the FDA’s second standard of effectiveness in failing to show at least a 5 percent benefit over placebo. Patients on the drug also had higher pulse and blood pressure than patients on placebo, even after losing weight.

 Dissident members of the advisory panel said Contrave shouldn’t be approved without a large study of heart risks because it counteracts some of the expected benefits of weight loss, a signal that it may have long-term complications.

 “This drug resembles sibutramine,” said panel member Sanjay Kaul, using the chemical name for Meridia. “There is an opportunity for us to learn from history or else we’re going to repeat it. We need to make sure we get it right this time.”

 Kaul is the director of fellowship training in cardiovascular diseases at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

 To contact the reporter on this story: Catherine Larkin in Washington at clarkin4@bloomberg.net.

 To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reg Gale at rgale5@bloomberg.net. ||||| SILVER SPRING, Md. -- An FDA advisory committee has voted 13-7 that the modest weight-loss benefits of an investigational combination of naltrexone and bupropion (Contrave) outweigh the drug's blood pressure risk.

 The bupropion naltrexone combo is the last in a trio of new weight-loss drugs that went before FDA panels this year, striving to be the latest treatment in the dwindling field of medications to fight obesity. The previous two drugs, phentermine/topiramate (Qnexa) and lorcaserin hydrochloride (Lorqess) were both rejected by the FDA after they fared poorly at advisory committee meetings.

 But Tuesday's advisory committee ended very differently than the previous two.

 Bupropion/naltrexone appeared to offer fewer side effects than the previous two drugs, although it also doesn't appear to work as well at helping obese patients lose weight.

 The FDA will make an approval decision by Jan. 31. The agency does not have to follow the advice of its advisory committees, but it often does.

 Orexigen, the company that makes naltrexone/bupropion in partnership with Takeda, is seeking approval for treatment of obesity and weight management in patients with a body mass index of 30 or above, or 27 or above and with one or more risk factors (e.g., diabetes, dyslipidemia, or hypertension).

 Contrave combines an antidepressant and an anti-addiction drug, both of which have been used individually for 20 years -- naltrexone for opioid addiction and alcohol dependence and bupropion for depression and smoking cessation. However, little is known about combining the drugs for weight managment.

 The Endocrine and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee reviewed results from Orexigen's four placebo-controlled, one-year, phase III clinical trials, which enrolled 3,200 obese patients with at least one comorbid condition, including diabetes and depression.

 In all four trials, patients on the naltrexone/bupropion combination lost more weight than those in the placebo group (P<0.001), and more than 30% lost at least 5% of their body weight, which is one standard by which the FDA judges efficacy of weight-loss drugs.

 In a pooled analysis, naltrexone/bupropion patients lost an average of 4.2% more weight than the placebo group (ranging from 3.3% to 4.8%). That falls short of the other FDA standard that after one year, the difference in mean weight loss between the active and control groups should be at least 5%.

 In one trial where patients taking naltrexone/bupropion were compared with those undergoing a lifestyle modification program, the difference between the groups was even smaller, suggesting that diet and exercise can achieve similar results as naltrexone/bupropion.

 "As far as efficacy goes, I think they made it by the hair of their chinny chin chin," said Melanie Coffin, the panel's patient representative.

 In the FDA's assessment of the drug released last week, reviewers expressed concerns over several side effects -- a potential increased risk for dizziness, nausea, seizures, and high blood pressure among patients taking naltrexone/bupropion.

 However, the panel was mostly just concerned with one side effect: The drug's effect on blood pressure.

 In the trials, patients taking naltrexone/bupropion were more likely to have an increase in blood pressure and heart rate than placebo patients, an effect that was most pronounced during the first eight weeks of treatment.

 However, patients taking naltrexone/bupropion who lost at least 5% of their body weight achieved lower blood pressure and heart rate compared with those who lost less weight. But the most impressive improvements in blood pressure and weight loss were seen among patients taking placebo who achieved more than a 5% weight loss, suggesting diet and exercise is the best option for obese patients to lower their blood pressure.

 Panelists were concerned that a drug that is supposed to reduce obesity -- and hopefully other comorbidities along with it -- actually raised blood pressure instead.

 "This is my biggest concern," said Lamont Weide, MD, PhD, chief of diabetes and endocrinology at Truman Medical Centers Diabetes Center in Kansas City, Mo. "That we are blunting all the good effects that we should see with weight loss."

 The FDA reviewers concluded there wasn't enough data on the cardiovascular risks of the drug. The panel seemed to agree, but voted 11-8, with two panelists abstaining, that the company could submit new data after approval to show that the drug doesn't present major heart risks.

 The panel's one neurologist, Michael Rogawski, MD, PhD, said he thought the panel downplayed the drug's seizure risk.

 Two patients in the clinical trials experienced seizures after going on naltrexone/bupropion; no participants in the placebo group had seizures. About one in 1,000 patients who take the drug would be expected to have a seizure, the panelists said.

 "They occur only in one out of 1,000, but still, the consequences of having a seizure could be catastrophic," said Rogawski, who ended up voting in favor of the drug.

 There is currently just one anti-obesity drug on the market: Orlistat (Xenical, Alli), after Abbott, the maker of another drug sibutramine (Meridia) voluntarily agreed to remove it from the U.S. market in October because of increased risk of stroke and MI.

 Several physicians and other healthcare professionals contacted by MedPage Today/ABC News were pleased with the panel's decision and said that doctors badly need a new drug to help patients battle obesity.

 "It is nice to have a medication that can help those who are watching their diet and boosting activity lose the weight that thus far has been a slow process," said dietitian Connie Diekman, director of University Nutrition at Washington University in St Louis. "This is one more option in the tool chest to deal with the obesity issue."

 "Finally!" said Robert F. Kushner, MD, professor of Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. "I fully endorse the panel's vote. The key will be to educate physicians on how to best prescribe the medication -- identify patients who will benefit from the medication and to accompany it with lifestyle and behavioral recommendations."

 Paul L. Doering, a pharmacy professor at the University of Florida, said he doesn't "doubt for a minute that this drug will be wildly successful, at least at first," adding, "Time will ultimately tell if it is a good drug or not. In the meantime, I'm going to let somebody else be the first to take it."

 This article was developed in collaboration with ABC News. |||||

Write a summary.

– A rarity in the weight wars: An FDA advisory panel gave the green light today to a diet pill that could become the first such drug to hit the market in more than a decade. The FDA is expected to make a final decision next month on Contrave, though it generally follows the advice of its panels. Made by Orexigen Therapeutics—whose shares were soaring, notes Bloomberg—Contrave has what MedPage Today describes has "modest" weight-loss effects. Panel members thought the benefit outweighed potential side effects such as high blood pressure. Contrave is a combination of two drugs already on the market: bupropion, an antidepressant also used to quit smoking, and naltrexone, which is used to treat addictions to alcohol and painkillers. One pharmacy professor tells MedPage Today he's sure it will be a huge success initially. "Time will ultimately tell if it is a good drug or not," he adds. "In the meantime, I'm going to let somebody else be the first to take it."


Here is a news article: TIFFIN, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio couple that was married for 69 years died eight hours apart in what their son called an unsurprising end to the love story of two people who did everything together.

 Eighty-eight-year-old Gene Warrington and his 86-year-old wife, Pat, died Dec. 27 in Findlay, The Advertiser-Tribune in Tiffin (http://bit.ly/1BysPGQ) reported.

 "You could have almost predicted it," said their son, Phil. "They did everything in their life together. They were never apart."

 Both had been in hospice care. A few days before their deaths, Gene Warrington had been able to visit his wife's room and hold her hand.

 Phil Warrington said his father recognized that Pat was in critical condition and did not have long to live.

 "He said 'life's not going to be fun anymore,'" the son told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "He went back to his room. He laid down and decided to die. He did will himself to die. I'm sure of that."

 Eight hours after Gene died, his wife passed away.

 The couple raised three children and had seven grandchildren and a dozen great-grandchildren. They were nearly inseparable, even in failing health, their son said.

 Gene and Pat met in junior high school and wed secretly as teenagers while he was home from boot camp before leaving for World War II.

 "He told me that when he came back from war, he knew he never wanted to be away from her again," Phil Warrington said.

 ___

 Information from: The Advertiser-Tribune, http://www.advertiser-tribune.com ||||| Throughout their 69-year marriage, Gene and Pat Warrington were always with one another.

 Dec. 27, the pair died eight hours apart, both while in hospice care in Findlay.

 Phil Warrington, the son of Gene and Pat, said his parents had been in hospice with health issues, and the day before their deaths, they spent time together in Pat's room.

 Article Photos PHOTO COURTESY OF THE WARRINGTON FAMILY

 PHOTO COURTESY OF THE WARRINGTON FAMILY

 "We were able to get them together for about 45 minutes and he held her hand," Warrington said.

 Knowing his wife's condition had become critical, Gene returned to his room and the next day began pulling out his intravenous tubes and was "out of it," Warrington said.

 "He said it wouldn't be fun without her," Warrington said.

 Warrington said his father died and his mother died eight hours after him.

 "You could have almost predicted it," he said. "They did everything in their life together. They were never apart."

 Warrington said the pair met in junior high shool and secretly wed when Pat was 16 and Gene was 18.

 Warrington said the wedding took place while Gene was home from boot camp and before he left for World War II. Warrington said the wedding was kept secret so Pat could graduate high school.

 After Gene returned from war, he graduated from high school in 1947, a year after Pat's graduation.

 "He told me that when he came back from war, he knew he never wanted to be away from her again," Warrington said.

 Gene and Pat had three children, Warrington said, and after retirement, they enjoyed spending time in Florida and had two farms in Hancock County. Warrington said they loved spending time with their seven grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.

 "They did everything together," Warrington said. "They had been feeding on each other all along." |||||
A summary of this is?

– It's another uncanny story about an elderly couple dying just hours apart: In this case, 88-year-old Gene Warrington died on Dec. 27, and his wife of 69 years, Pat, followed eight hours later, reports the Advertiser-Tribune of Tiffin, Ohio. Both had been in hospice, and son Phil tells AP that Gene visited his 86-year-old wife a few days before their deaths, held her hand, and realized she was near death. "He said, 'Life's not going to be fun anymore.'" Phil Warrington thinks his dad willed himself to die because "they did everything in their life together—they were never apart." (Two sisters who were 90-year-old twins died on Christmas Day.)


Rihanna stepped out in New York in one of her most revealing daytime looks yet – as she continues to rebel against handlers who have been urging her to tone down her wild behavior.

 The singer was seen shopping in SoHo in a revealing, and see-through, tiny pink strapless bra with a pleated skirt, showing off her flat stomach and toned arms.

 The star, who matched her look with Converse sneakers, sunglasses and bright yellow talon nails, wandered around the SoHo shops with girlfriends before heading to Da Silvano for an early dinner.

 She cancelled a trip to the UK last week insisting she needed to spend more time with her family and her grandmother, Dolly, who is suffering from cancer. She was spotted catching the Miami Heat game on Saturday at 40/40 with her family, including her grandfather, and her group was later joined by her ex Chris Brown. Rihanna and Brown later headed with their respective entourages to Meatpacking hotspot SL.

 While sources told the UK’s Closer Magazine that Rihanna’s friend and manager Jay-Z has ordered her to “go to rehab,” sources tell Page Six that this is not the case, and the real issue is that Rihanna is at the center of a management struggle at Roc Nation about how to deal with her rebellious behavior, and refusal to stay away from Brown.

 One source told Page Six, “Rihanna feels she has worked hard, and rightly deserves to enjoy her huge success. She has rebelled against her management and her record label execs who want her to tone her lifestyle down and work more. She has been taking more vacations, wearing more wild outfits, posting more on Twitter. Her message is that she’s an artist, and will live her life how she likes.” ||||| That's one way to dominate New York! Nude billboard of Rihanna is centre of attention in Times Square

 She's no stranger to stripping off in an effort to promote herself.

 But Rihanna's latest advert takes her sexy shots to the next level, with a naked image of the singer dominating Times Square as it appears on a billboard in the centre of New York.

 The image shows a red-headed Rihanna covering her modesty with her arms as she promotes her latest fragrance, Rebelle.

 Making a statement: A huge billboard showing a nude picture of Rihanna is on display in New York's bustling Times Square

 Talking about the scent recently, Rihanna said it was all about girl power, explaining: 'My new fragrance is about taking control but still being a lady.

 'There’s a feminine, romantic element to the fragrance — but there’s also a defiant quality in it. I love its duality.'

 The billboard of Rihanna came as the singer hit out at claims she had used a body double for portions of her sexy commercial for Armani Jeans.

 Naked ambition: The shot of the singer is to promote her latest fragrance, Rebelle

 Sheer exhibitionism: Rihanna left little to the imagination as she teamed a see-through bra top with a matching skirt while stepping out in New York yesterday

 Rihanna took exception to the article written by The Sun and launched a foul mouthed tirade against the newspaper yesterday afternoon.

 She wrote on Twitter: 'Ok @thesunnewspaper, this is the only way I could say this to you!!! F*** YOU....'.

 According to The Sun, Irish model Jahnassa Aicken is the other woman who bares her body in a pair of designer knickers.

 Just me: Rihanna was fuming at the suggestion portions of her Armani advert showed someone else's figure

 The other woman: Jahnassa Aicken is rumoured to be the body shown in parts of the sexy commercial ||||| Tweet with a location

 You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| Rihanna and Chris Brown are “seeing a lot of each other in private,” sources say, and Brown even joined her and her family to cheer on the Miami Heat over the weekend.

 The two stars have partied at the same clubs twice in the past two weeks but kept a coy distance. But sources tell Page Six they’re very close in private.

 And in a sign that Brown has been forgiven for his infamous 2009 attack on Rihanna, he joined her family, including her grandfather Lionel Brathwaite and various cousins, at Jay-Z’s 40/40 on Saturday to watch the Heat beat the Celtics.

 A source told us, “Rihanna arrived first in a yellow cab, with her family and friends, and was escorted to a private room. Brown arrived a little later and joined her and her family. They sat on the same couch together rooting for the Heat. There was no sign of his girlfriend.”

 The pair then left separately — with Brown exiting first with his pals — while Rihanna and her family remained behind to watch the Manny Pacquiao–Timothy Bradley fight.

 As we reported yesterday, Rihanna and Brown reunited later at Meatpacking club SL — where they kept a cool distance. They partied in separate booths but kept a close eye on each other. He sent over two bottles of Ace of Spades Champagne.

 Meanwhile, sources say Rihanna’s management is deeply divided on how to deal with the “Chris Brown issue.” One source said, “Everyone in the business assumes she and Chris are getting back together, and it is only a matter of time before they’ll be more public about it.

 “It’s like she is testing the water — first they work on music together, then they hang out in a friendly way, so the public won’t be completely shocked when they step out together publicly.

 “There is also a tug of war at Roc Nation over the final say on what she is doing. But everyone agrees they can’t control Rihanna and can’t stop her seeing Chris, no matter how much they fear the negative public reaction will be. It means she probably won’t release another album this year, for fear of a backlash.” |||||

Write a summary.

– The media is moving on from "zombie apocalypse" to "Rihannapocalypse." The gossip rags are teeming with stories about the singer's rebellious ways, and Newser rounds up the juicy tidbits: Sign No. 1 that she's nearing breakdown: The singer apparently spent yesterday shopping in SoHo ... wearing a strapless bra ... that was pretty darn see-through, reports the New York Post. (Click to see a photo.) She now appears naked on a billboard in Times Square, but that's not the falling-apart part. The Daily Mail notes that the ad promotes her perfume Rebelle, and it's the second fashion ad to create buzz this week. The Sun apparently claimed Rihanna used a body double in a sexy Armani Jeans ad, leading the singer to tweet, "Ok @thesunnewspaper, this is the only way I could say this to you!!! F*** YOU." (Click to read the whole tweet, which gets nastier.) She's hanging out with Chris Brown ... in the presence of her family. The Post reports that Brown watched a Miami Heat game with Rihanna's family over the weekend. The two later sat in separate booths at a Meatpacking District club; he sent her table two bottles of champagne. Still, the Post notes that they two have been careful to keep "a coy distance." She has, horrors, been taking more vacations. A source tells the Post that her management and record label execs want her to buckle down, but instead Rihanna is having fun and "posting more on Twitter."


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– After nearly a half-century tracking trends in rock and culture, Rolling Stone is up for sale. Trailblazing editor Jann Wenner, 71, tells the New York Times he is making way for new blood by hawking his 51% controlling stake in the magazine. "I love my job,” says Wenner, but selling is "just the smart thing to do." Wenner Media confirms the sale to NBC News, saying it was investigating "strategic options ... to best position the brand for future growth." Wenner sold 49% of his stake in Rolling Stone in 2013, and more recently two other magazines run by Wenner Media. But those moves weren't enough to turn the financial tide after decades of plummeting ad revenue. "There’s a level of ambition that we can’t achieve alone," his son and company president, Gus Wenner, tells the Times. "So we are being proactive ... Publishing is a completely different industry than what it was." Gus Wenner, who crafted the sale, and his father say they'd like to stay on, though they recognize the new buyer might wish otherwise. But Jann Wenner concedes that "it's time for young people" to have a crack at running the glossy known for its edgy pieces—but badly bruised by a $3 million libel verdict over the botched University of Virginia gang rape story. The sale process is just beginning. One candidate is American Media, which recently bought Wenner Media's other titles, Us Weekly and Men's Journal. Music critic Anthony DeCurtis worries over the magazine's future. "That sense of the magazine editor’s hands on the magazine," he tells the Times, "that’s what’s going to get lost here." (Vanity Fair announced its own "changing of the guard.")

Rolling Stone, the bible of rock 'n' roll for a half-century, is for sale, Jann Wenner, the magazine's swaggering co-founder, said Sunday.

 The New York Times first reported the intended sale of Wenner's 51 percent stake on Sunday. Wenner's company, Wenner Media, confirmed the report Sunday night, saying in a statement that it was looking at "strategic options ... to best position the brand for future growth."

 Rolling Stone editor and publisher Jann Wenner at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in Los Angeles in 2013. AP

 "I love my job, I enjoy it, I've enjoyed it for a long time," Wenner, 71, told The Times. But selling now is "just the smart thing to do," he said.

 Since he co-founded it with Ralph Gleason in 1967, Rolling Stone and Wenner have been synonymous, writing the history of rock 'n' roll in a style equal parts reverent and irreverent, promoted by some of the most famous covers in American publishing history. Gleason died in 1975.

 Along the way, it published some of the most important political and investigative writers of the last 50 years, as well, among them Hunter S. Thompson, whose "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" made its debut in the magazine in 1971; Washington insider Joe Klein, the author of "Primary Colors"; conservative provocateur P.J. O'Rourke; and Tom Wolfe.

 In June, the magazine settled a defamation lawsuit brought by a fraternity at the University of Virginia, which said its 2014 investigation "A Rape on Campus" was significantly false.

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 In a long report published in Rolling Stone, Steve Coll, dean of the Columbia University School of Journalism and former managing editor of The Washington Post, declared the article a "failure of journalism."

 Wenner sold 49 percent of his stake in Rolling Stone in 2013 to a digital music startup. He recently sold the company's other magazines, Us Weekly and Men's Journal, to American Media Inc., publisher of The National Enquirer.

 "We have made great strides transforming Rolling Stone into a multi-platform company, and we are thrilled to find the right home to build on our strong foundation and grow the business exponentially," said Wenner's son Gus Wenner, the company's president and chief operating officer, whom The Times credited with engineering the planned sale. ||||| But that was perhaps the last Rolling Stone cover piece that gained significant journalistic acclaim. And the magazine’s reputation as a tastemaker for the music world had long since eroded, as Mr. Wenner clung to the past with covers that featured artists from his generation, even as younger artists emerged. Artists like Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan have continued to secure cover spots in recent years.

 Rolling Stone suffered a devastating blow to its reputation when it retracted a debunked 2014 article about a gang rape at the University of Virginia. A damning report on the story by the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism cited fundamental journalistic failures. The article prompted three libel lawsuits against Rolling Stone, one of which led to a highly publicized trial last year that culminated with a federal jury awarding the plaintiff $3 million in damages.

 The financial picture had also been bleak. In 2001, Jann Wenner sold a 50 percent stake in Us Weekly to the Walt Disney Company for $40 million, then borrowed $300 million five years later to buy back the stake. The deal saddled the company with debt for more than a decade, preventing it from investing as much as it might have in its magazines.

 At the same time, Rolling Stone’s print advertising revenue and newsstand sales fell. And as readers increasingly embraced the web for their news and entertainment, Mr. Wenner remained skeptical, with a stubbornness that hamstrung his company.

 Wenner Media was already a small magazine publisher. But the sale of Us Weekly and Men’s Journal, which together brought in roughly three-quarters of Wenner Media’s revenue, has left it further diminished.

 Regardless, the sale of Rolling Stone would be Jann Wenner’s denouement, capping his unlikely rise from dope-smoking Berkeley dropout to silver-haired media mogul. An admirer of John Lennon and publishing mavens like William Randolph Hearst, Mr. Wenner — who invested $7,500 of borrowed money to start Rolling Stone along with his mentor, Ralph J. Gleason — was at turns idealist and desperado, crafting his magazine into a guide for the counterculture epoch while also gallivanting with superstars. He once boasted that he had turned down a $500 million offer for Rolling Stone, more than he could ever dream of getting for the magazine today. (BandLab invested $40 million to acquire its 49-percent stake in the magazine last year.) |||||


News article:

We've told you what celebrities' majors were in college, where they went to school, and celebs that are actually really smart cookies.

 Now we're tracking which celebrities will be on a college campus for school this fall.

 As usual, James Franco will be taking classes. In addition, Emma Watson is coming back from a year at Oxford in the United Kingdom to study stateside again. Also, remember the kid from Home Alone 3? He's currently studying at the University of California, Berkeley, alongside an Olympic gold medalist.

 To find out more, you've got to check out the slideshow below!

 Check out which celebs will be on a college campus this fall, and let us know if we missed any:

 Celebrities Who Will Be In College In Fall 2012

 Celebrities Who Will Be In College In Fall 2012

 1 of 10 Alex Linz - UC Berkeley Remember him from Home Alone 3? Share this slide:

 Correction: An early version of this story said the 'Jersey Shore's' Vinny Guadagnino will attend Cornell next year. He isn't. ||||| We've told you what celebrities' majors were in college, where they went to school, and celebs that are actually really smart cookies.

 Now we're tracking which celebrities will be on a college campus for school this fall.

 As usual, James Franco will be taking classes. In addition, Emma Watson is coming back from a year at Oxford in the United Kingdom to study stateside again. Also, remember the kid from Home Alone 3? He's currently studying at the University of California, Berkeley, alongside an Olympic gold medalist.

 To find out more, you've got to check out the slideshow below!

 Check out which celebs will be on a college campus this fall, and let us know if we missed any:

 Loading Slideshow Alex Linz - UC Berkeley Remember him from Home Alone 3?

 Nathan Adrian - UC Berkeley Olympic gold medalist in 2008, planning to return to the Olympics this summer.

 Miranda Cosgrove - University of Southern California Of Nickelodeon fame

 Chet Hanks - Northwestern University Also known as "Chet Haze," the rapper. Son of Tom Hanks, has had a couple small roles in films.

 James Franco James Franco was most recently enrolled at Yale University and teaching a class at New York University. In the past few years, he has also studied at the University of California-Los Angeles, Warren Wilson College, Brooklyn College and Columbia University. So really, it's just safe to assume these days that Franco is taking a class somewhere.

 Connor Paolo - Lee Strasberg Theater Institute Of Gossip Girl fame

 Justin Combs - UCLA Son of Sean Combs AKA P. Diddy AKA Puffy AKA Puff Daddy AKA Diddy

 Christy Turlington - Columbia University Best known as a former Calvin Klein model turned activist

 Hannah Dakota Fanning - New York University Recently seen in the The Twilight Saga: Eclipse and heard as the voice of "Coraline Jones" in Coraline.

 Emma Watson - Brown University Of Harry Potter fame

 Correction: An early version of this story said the 'Jersey Shore's' Vinny Guadagnino will attend Cornell next year. He isn't. |||||
What is a shorter version of the above article?

– Celebrities may like guns and have weird addictions, but they enjoy speaking in full sentences too. So let's salute those who are heading to college this fall (and not include James Franco, for once, if possible). From the Huffington Post: Hannah Dakota Fanning: The actor seen in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse and heard in Coraline will attend New York University. Connor Paolo: The Gossip Girl actor will develop his method techniques at the Lee Strasberg Theater Institute. Christy Turlington: The activist and former Calvin-Klein-ad hotty will attend Columbia University. Alex Linz: Remember the Home Alone 3 guy? He'll be at UC Berkeley. Emma Watson: The Harry Potter star will be at Brown University. OK ... James Franco: Recently enrolled at Yale, the actor-writer-artist-Oscar host also taught a class at New York University—so we figure he'll study again somewhere. But professors beware: Don't give him a 'D'. Click for the full list.