Which Dress is the Best?
If anyone knows how to make a quick wardrobe change, it's supermodel Heidi Klum. The Project Runway beauty hosted MTV's European Music Awards, and kept all eyes on her with her show-stopping styles throughout the show. Klum made around eight wardrobe changes during the show, all totally different but all Versace. Click the pics and let us know which style is your fave.
LONDON (AP) — A leading British medical journal is asking the drug maker Roche to release all its data on Tamiflu, claiming there is no evidence the drug can actually stop the flu.
The drug has been stockpiled by dozens of governments worldwide in case of a global flu outbreak and was widely used during the 2009 swine flu pandemic.
On Monday, one of the researchers linked to the BMJ journal called for European governments to sue Roche.
"I suggest we boycott Roche's products until they publish missing Tamiflu data," wrote Peter Gotzsche, leader of the Nordic Cochrane Centre in Copenhagen. He said governments should take legal action against Roche to get the money back that was "needlessly" spent on stockpiling Tamiflu.
Last year, Tamiflu was included in a list of "essential medicines" by the World Health Organization, a list that often prompts governments or donor agencies to buy the drug.
Tamiflu is used to treat both seasonal flu and new flu viruses like bird flu or swine flu. WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said the agency had enough proof to warrant its use for unusual influenza viruses, like bird flu.
"We do have substantive evidence it can stop or hinder progression to severe disease like pneumonia," he said.
In the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends Tamiflu as one of two medications for treating regular flu. The other is GlaxoSmithKline's Relenza. The CDC says such antivirals can shorten the duration of symptoms and reduce the risk of complications and hospitalization.
In 2009, the BMJ and researchers at the Nordic Cochrane Centre asked Roche to make all its Tamiflu data available. At the time, Cochrane Centre scientists were commissioned by Britain to evaluate flu drugs. They found no proof that Tamiflu reduced the number of complications in people with influenza.
"Despite a public promise to release (internal company reports) for each (Tamiflu) trial...Roche has stonewalled," BMJ editor Fiona Godlee wrote in an editorial last month.
In a statement, Roche said it had complied with all legal requirements on publishing data and provided Gotzsche and his colleagues with 3,200 pages of information to answer their questions.
"Roche has made full clinical study data ... available to national health authorities according to their various requirements, so they can conduct their own analyses," the company said.
Roche says it doesn't usually release patient-level data available due to legal or confidentiality constraints. It said it did not provide the requested data to the scientists because they refused to sign a confidentiality agreement.
Roche is also being investigated by the European Medicines Agency for not properly reporting side effects, including possible deaths, for 19 drugs including Tamiflu that were used in about 80,000 patients in the U.S.
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Online:
www.bmj.com.tamiflu/
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CEYLANPINAR, Turkey (Reuters) - Forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad bombarded the Ras al-Ain area on the border with Turkey on Sunday, days after the town fell to rebels during an advance that has sent thousands of refugees fleeing for safety.
Helicopters circled above the town and opposition activists said they had strafed targets near the village of Tal Halaf.
The Arab and Kurdish town of Ras al-Ain fell to the Free Syrian Army on Thursday in fighting that sent 9,000 fleeing in a 24-hour period, one of a largest refugee influxes into Turkey of the 19-month civil war.
Tank rounds slammed into the western part of the town on Sunday and a Reuters reporter on the Turkish side of the border saw black smoke rising over the area.
Rebels and forces loyal to Assad exchanged artillery fire and some rounds appeared to land just inside Turkey.
"It's a disaster over there," a man shouted to reporters as he crossed into the Turkish town of Ceylanpinar. Ambulances with sirens wailing ferried wounded people from the Turkish side of the border for treatment at a local clinic.
With winter setting in, over 120,000 Syrians are now sheltering in Turkish camps, deepening alarm in Ankara.
Turkey has already beefed up security on its southeastern border with Syria, in an area of the country where it is also fighting an emboldened insurgency by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
Increasingly critical of the failure of world powers to halt the war, Turkey is in discussions with NATO allies over the possible deployment of Patriot surface-to-air missiles to defend against any spillover of violence.
The move could also be a step towards enforcing a no-fly zone within Syria to limit the reach of Assad's air power.
Helicopters were in action on Sunday, opposition activists said, bombing a grain storage area near the village of Tal Halaf outside Ras al-Ain.
"NO BREAD, NO FOOD"
Ras al-Ain is part of Syria's northeastern oil-producing province of Hasaka, home to a large part of Syria's Kurdish minority and 600 km (375 miles) from the Syrian capital, Damascus.
"The fighting hasn't stopped. We waited for it to stop, that's why we didn't cross, but we decided to come today because we are all starving," said 35-year-old Reshad, a Kurd who had just crossed into Turkey with his family.
"Everyone is starving over there, there's no bread, no food." Other refugees ventured back to their homes in Syria, reluctant to stay in camps or homes on the Turkish side of the border.
Most of the inhabitants of Ras al-Ain, an agricultural town that has been Arabised under the nationalist rule of President Bashar al-Assad's Baath Party from its Kurdish name of Seri Kaneh, fled to Turkey when rebels captured the area in a push to seize control of frontier regions from Assad's forces.
A statement by Birth of Freedom, a Syrian Kurdish activists' organization, said clashes were under way between rebels and Assad's forces in the area of Asfar Najjar.
The group said the rebels had committed a "big strategic mistake" by entering Seri Kaneh, where thousands of refugees from other parts of Syria had taken refuge.
Syria's Kurds fear that the mostly Arab rebels will ignore their aspiration to secure some form of autonomy in any post-Assad era.
Ras al-Ain and most of the major towns and cities in Hasaka have seen protests against Assad by Arabs and Kurds, but the Kurdish community has largely stayed away from the armed revolt against his autocratic rule.
The challenge to Syria's central authority has strengthened the Syrian branch of the PKK, which Assad persecuted prior to the revolt when he had good ties with Turkey.
Turkey now accuses Assad of arming the PKK rebels who have mounted a wave of attacks on security forces in southeast Turkey over past few months.
(Additional reporting by Khaled Yacoub Oweis in Amman; Writing by Khaled Yacoub Oweis and Matt Robinson; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — Want to avoid pesticides and antibiotics in your produce, meat, and dairy foods? Prefer to pay more to make sure farm animals were treated humanely, farmworkers got their lunch breaks, bees or birds were protected by the farmer and that ranchers didn't kill predators?
Food labels claim to certify a wide array of sustainable practices. Hundreds of so-called eco-labels have cropped up in recent years, with more introduced every month — and consumers are willing to pay extra for products that feature them.
While eco-labels can play a vital role, experts say their rapid proliferation and lack of oversight or clear standards have confused both consumers and producers.
"Hundreds of eco labels exist on all kinds of products, and there is the potential for companies and producers to make false claims," said Shana Starobin, a food label expert at Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment.
Eco-labels have multiplied in recent years in response to rising consumer demand for more information about products and increased attention to animal and farmworker welfare, personal health, and the effects of conventional farming on the environment.
"Credible labels can be very helpful in helping people get to what they want to get to and pay more for something they really care about," said Urvashi Rangan, director of consumer safety at Consumer Reports. "The labels are a way to bring the bottom up and force whole industries to improve their practices."
The problem, Rangan and other said, is that few standards, little oversight and a lot of misinformation exist for the growing array of labels.
Some labels, such as the USDA organic certification, have standards set by the federal government to which third party certifiers must adhere. Some involve non-government standards and third-party certification, and may include site visits from independent auditors who evaluate whether a given farm or company has earned the label.
But other labels have little or no standards, or are certified by unknown organizations or by self-interested industry groups. Many labels lack any oversight.
And the problem is global, because California's products get sold overseas and fruits and vegetables from Europe or Mexico with their own eco-labels make it onto U.S. plates.
The sheer number of labels and the lack of oversight create a credibility problem and risk rendering all labels meaningless and diluting demand for sustainably produced goods, Rangan said.
Daniel Mourad of Fresno, a young professional who likes to cook and often shops for groceries at Whole Foods, said he tends to be wary of judging products just by the labels — though sustainable practices are important to him.
"Labels have really confused the public. Some have good intentions, but I don't know if they're really helpful," Mourad said. "Organic may come from Chile, but what does it mean if it's coming from 6,000 miles away? Some local farmers may not be able to afford a label."
In California, voters this week rejected a ballot measure that would have required labels on foods containing genetically modified ingredients.
Farmers like Gena Nonini in Fresno County say labels distinguish them from the competition. Nonini's 100-acre Marian Farms, which grows grapes, almonds, citrus and vegetables, is certified biodynamic and organic, and her raisins are certified kosher.
"For me, the certification is one way of educating people," Nonini said. "It opens a venue to tell a story and to set yourself apart from other farmers out there."
But other farmers say they are reluctant to spend money on yet another certification process or to clutter their product with too much packaging and information.
"I think if we keep adding all these new labels, it tends to be a pile of confusion," said Tom Willey of TD Willey Farms in Madera, Calif. His 75-acre farm, which grows more than 40 different vegetable crops, carries USDA organic certification, but no other labels.
The proliferation of labels, Willey said, is a poor substitute for "people being intimate with the farmers who grow their food." Instead of seeking out more labels, he said, consumers should visit a farmers' market or a farm, and talk directly to the grower.
Since that's still impossible for many urbanites, Consumer Reports has developed a rating system, a database and a web site for evaluating environmental and food labels — one of several such guides that have popped up recently to help consumers.
The guides show that labels such as "natural" and "free range" carry little meaning, because they lack clear standards or a verification system.
Despite this, consumers are willing to pay more for "free range" eggs and poultry, and studies show they value "natural" over "organic," which is governed by lengthy federal regulations.
But some consumers and watchdog groups are becoming more vigilant.
In October, the Animal Legal Defense Fund filed a lawsuit against Petaluma, Calif., organic egg producer of Judy's Eggs over "free range" claims. The company's packaging depicts a hen ranging on green grass, and the inside reads "these hens are raised in wide open spaces in Sonoma Valley..."
Aerial photos of the farm suggest the chickens actually live in factory-style sheds, according to the lawsuit. Judy and Steve Mahrt, owners of Petaluma Farms, said in a statement that the suit is "frivolous, unfair and untrue," but they did not comment on the specific allegations.
Meanwhile, new labels are popping up rapidly. The Food Justice label, certified via third party audits, guarantees a farm's commitment to fair living wages and adequate living and working conditions for farmworkers. And Wildlife Friendly, another third-party audited program, certifies farmers and ranchers who peacefully co-exist with wolves, coyotes, foxes and other predators.
___
Follow Gosia Wozniacka at http://twitter.com/GosiaWozniacka
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street's post-election sell-off may gather steam in the coming weeks as worries mount about the looming "fiscal cliff" and technical weakness suggests a possible correction ahead.
The benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 <.spx> closed below its 200-day moving average - a measure of the market's long-term trend - on Thursday for the first time in five months, and ended below it again on Friday. More than half of the Dow components are trading below key technical levels.
"I don't think you have to panic here, but I think you really want to be looking for the market to move lower for the next couple of months," said Frank Gretz, market analyst and technician for Wellington Shields & Co., a brokerage in New York. "I think the next rally is the rally you want to sell."
At the heart of the market's worry is whether U.S. leaders can come to agreement on some $600 billion in spending cuts and tax increases that are due to kick in early next year. Some fear dramatic cutbacks could send the U.S. economy into another recession.
The prospect of higher tax rates in 2013 is driving investors to sell shares as they seek to decrease the tax impact from their positions this year and next.
"You would have thought the fiscal cliff scenarios would have been already mulled over and priced in, but they weren't. It's almost like the market has ADD and can only focus on one thing at a time," said Natalie Trunow, chief investment officer of equities at Calvert Investment Management in Bethesda, Maryland, whose firm manages about $13 billion in assets.
The S&P 500 fell 2.4 percent for the week, its worst weekly percentage drop since June. The index is now down 6.4 percent from its intraday high for the year of 1,474.51 reached on September 14. That drop puts the benchmark index below its 50-day moving average, but not yet into correction territory, defined as a 10 percent drop from a peak.
READING THE TECHNICAL SIGNS
The S&P 500 has been trading in a range between the 50-day moving average of 1,433.50 and the 200-day moving average of 1,380.98 for about two weeks. A significant break below that lower level could be a precursor to further weakness, analysts said.
"There's a technical breakdown in the market that indicates further losses," said Adam Sarhan, chief executive of Sarhan Capital in New York. "A 10 percent drop is the next big line in the sand."
The primary driver of stock prices in coming weeks looks likely to be investor concern about the U.S. fiscal situation.
In a sign of the risks involved, comments by President Barack Obama on Friday about the upcoming negotiations caused stocks to sharply cut their gains.
The president, who defeated Republican candidate Mitt Romney in Tuesday's U.S. election, outlined a position for the fiscal issues on Friday that is far apart from that of his political opponents, suggesting a long battle is to come.
"If the market anticipates a resolution to the fiscal cliff or Europe or any of the other bricks in the wall of worry, we could easily take off," Sarhan said.
Seventeen of the Dow's 30 components are trading below both their 50-day and 200-day moving averages, while another eight are under their 50-day levels, but not their 200. Only five components - Bank of America
Another big negative for the market has been heavy selling of Apple shares. The stock of the world's biggest company, ranked by market capitalization, lost 5.2 percent this week, weighing heavily on both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq <.ixic>. The stock is down 22.4 percent from its September 21 all-time intraday high of $705.07.
BIG RETAILERS' REPORT CARDS
The election and fiscal cliff concerns, which came on the heels of Superstorm Sandy and its devastating effects on many parts of the U.S. Northeast, have captured so much attention that they've overshadowed weakness coming from third-quarter earnings.
With results in from 449 of the S&P 500 companies, third-quarter earnings now are estimated to have declined 0.3 percent from a year ago, which is slightly better than the forecast at the start of the reporting period. Results have been especially weak on the revenue side, however, with just 38 percent of companies beating on sales, Thomson Reuters data showed.
But recent stronger economic data, including a report on Friday showing consumer sentiment at more than a five-year high in early November, suggests that retailers, many of which have yet to report, could be among the stronger performers this earnings period.
Next week, results are expected from such big names as Target
Consumer discretionary companies have outperformed the broader S&P 500 in earnings, with 72 percent of the companies in that sector beating analysts' expectations, compared with 63 percent for the S&P 500 as a whole.
Investors will be paying close attention to those results with the holiday shopping period around the corner, said Rick Meckler, president of LibertyView Capital Management in Jersey City, New Jersey, which oversees about $1 billion in assets.
"It's really the beginning of the Christmas sell season, and I think there's going to be a lot of interest with the outlook for that season and how promotional companies are going to be," Meckler said.
(Wall St Week Ahead runs every Friday. Questions or comments on this column can be emailed to: caroline.valetkevitch(at)thomsonreuters.com )
(Reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch and Ryan Vlastelica; Editing by Jan Paschal)
CEYLANPINAR, Turkey (Reuters) - Gun and mortar fire could be heard on Saturday from the Syrian border town of Ras al-Ain two days after it fell to rebels fighting to oust President Bashar al-Assad, and refugees who had fled to Turkey said they feared retribution from the air.
Laden with what possessions they could carry, Syrians continued to cross the border into Turkey, some saying they were scared the fighting was not over and Assad's fighter planes and helicopters would be back.
Some 9,000 fled the fighting on Thursday and Friday, the United Nations said, swelling to over 120,000 the registered refugees Turkey is sheltering in camps, testing the country's resources and patience.
"We will stay here until the fighting has completely stopped and all has calmed down," said 40-year-old Gasan Alun, who fled to the Turkish town of Ceylanpinar several days ago with 23 members of his family.
"I hope to God they don't bring the planes," he said. "It's the planes we're scared of."
The rebel flag flew above the town, a Reuters reporter on the Turkish side of the border said, and early on Saturday rebels could be seen driving freely in open pick-up trucks, guns slung across their shoulders.
But as dusk fell, several mortars landed near Ras al-Ain and gunfire grew more intense, according to a Reuters witness in Ceylanpinar, just across the border.
Rebels of the Free Syrian Army have claimed towns before in the 19-month civil war, only to be pounded again by Assad's air force or shelled by his army.
"The fighting has stopped but only for now," said Ahmad, a Syrian teenager who had just crossed into the Turkish border town from Ras al-Ain through a hole in the barbed wire fence marking the border.
"They (Assad's soldiers) will be back," he said. "Assad's helicopters have been circling, identifying where the Free Syrian Army soldiers are based."
Ahmad's friend, Mahdi, said: "We will try and stay in Ceylanpinar but if we can't we will have to go back. But we are scared of the helicopters coming."
SPILLOVER OF VIOLENCE
With winter setting in, the refugee influx is causing alarm in Turkey, and could spur calls for a buffer zone to be set up inside Syria to house refugees and aid the rebels in a war that opposition activists say has killed 38,000 people.
Increasingly critical of world powers for failing to act, Turkey says it is considering lodging a request with its NATO allies to deploy Patriot surface-to-air missiles to its border to guard against a spillover of violence.
Such a move could be a step towards enforcing a no-fly zone within Syria.
The refugee crisis and the threat of spillover risks stretching Turkey's military and resources in a region where it is also fighting an emboldened Kurdish insurgency.
On Saturday, 17 Turkish soldiers were killed when their Sikorsky helicopter crashed due to bad weather conditions on Herekol mountain in the Pervari area of southeastern Siirt province, Siirt Governor Ahmet Aydin said.
The victims were members of the country's gendarmerie special forces and there were no survivors on board, he said.
There has been an upsurge in attacks since the summer in southeast Turkey by the outlawed separatist group the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), which launched an insurgency in 1984 with the aim of carving out a separate state.
On Friday, authorities said Turkish jets and helicopters had killed 42 militants along the border with Iraq and Iran.
Ankara has accused Syria, where 1 million Kurds also live, of arming the PKK.
"I would like to remind once again, the ones who think that they can subdue our state, our nation through terror, and see instability, and political developments in our region and our neighbors as an opportunity, are greatly mistaken and will regret," Turkish President Abdullah Gul said in a statement.
Kurds in Syria have largely tried to steer clear of the violence triggered by the uprising against Assad.
But over the last three months, the mainly Sunni Muslim Arabs of the Free Syrian Army have captured outposts on the Turkish border, moving towards the northeastern heartland of the Syrian Kurds.
(Additional reporting by Murad Sezer, Seda Sezer in Istanbul and Seyhmus Cakan in Diyarbakir, Writing by Matt Robinson; Editing by Sophie Hares)
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Google Inc said several of its online services have been blocked in China.
Traffic to Google’s services in China dropped sharply beginning Friday evening there, according to an online “Transparency Report” website operated by Google, which provides updates about access to its services in different parts of the world.
Among the sites affected were Google’s search engine and its Gmail web email product.
The disruptions come as China’s once-in-a-decade meeting to appoint new leadership gets underway.
A Google spokeswoman said the company did not know why the disruption was happening. Google said in a statement that it had “checked and there’s nothing wrong on our end.”
Google’s YouTube video service has been inaccessible in China since 2009, while access to other services in China are blocked sporadically.
In 2010 Google relocated its Chinese search engine to Hong Kong after a spat with authorities over censorship and cyber-attacks that Google said originated in China.
(Reporting By Alexei Oreskovic; editing by John Wallace)
Tech News Headlines – Yahoo! News
What had ET readers buzzing this week?
1. It's Brad vs. Zombies in World War Z
Zombie attack!!! Brad Pitt plays a family man and United Nations employee who faces a deadly zombie pandemic in World War Z -- we gave you an exclusive first look and now we've got the intense trailer!
Just when you thought that the zombie genre may be starting to generate less screams and more Zzzz's, World War Z arrives with an adrenaline shot in the arm for the genre -- complete with insane special effects and a claustrophobic urgency and realism not seen since the introduction of those "speed zombies" in 28 Days Later.
Directed by Marc Forster (Quantum of Solace), World War Z invades theaters June 21, 2013.
2. Oprah Reveals Her 2012 'Favorite Things'
It's officially the holiday season!
Oprah just revealed her "Favorite Things" for 2012, which includes such items as a $1,800 Jetson E-Bike, a $192 hand-picked Tom Ford lipstick palette and a $238 Lafco soap set.
"This luxuriously oversize, deliciously scented soap is my new go-to gift. I even brought a set to Mr. and Mrs. Colbert when I interviewed Stephen for Next Chapter," she says about the pricey soap set.
But of course if you don't have the income of Oprah, you can pick up O's December issue to learn how you can win all 49 of Oprah's favorite things, which hits newsstands November 6.
"Oprah's Favorite Things" is also getting its own two-hour, prime time special airing Nov. 18 on OWN. The special will surprise unsuspecting military spouses with items from the media mogul's exclusive must-have gift selections for the holiday season, and for the first time, viewers of Oprah's Favorite Things: 2012 will have the opportunity to watch and win select items featured in each segment of the show.
3. Brooke Burke-Charvet Reveals Cancer Diagnosis
Brooke Burke-Charvet released a video online Thursday to announce that she was recently diagnosed with a cancerous growth on her thyroid gland. In the video posted on her Modern Mom blog, the 41-year-old actress and TV host explained that a nodule was discovered on her thyroid and after a series of tests over the last few months, it was eventually determined to be cancerous and her thyroid will have to be removed.
"Which means that I'm going to have a nice big scar right her across my neck," Brooke said. "And I don't get to just walk around and pretend like nothing happened or not follow up or not share it, because it's going to be pretty much dead center."
Brooke said the discovery -- which originated from a regular physical -- came as a complete shock because she's otherwise healthy. "As crazy as it is, my head is in the right place, and it's going to be good," she said, adding that the doctors consider this a form of "good cancer" compared to many others and the prognosis is good. "I'm just going to make a positive out of this negative thing."
She said the surgery has been scheduled and she promised to keep her fans updated through her blog. "Now I'm ready to deal with it and I'm going to be fine. And I feel really, really strong."
Speaking on Thursday's episode of The Talk, Brooke's co-host on Dancing with the Stars, Tom Bergeron, commented on her cancer diagnosis. "My love and support are with you -- we are all there with her," he said. Bergeron added that he personally has a very positive outlook. "I've known about this for a few months. I have had experience with this in my family. You never want to hear the word cancer. But thyroid cancer is one of the most treatable cancers. It has an incredibly high success rate."
4. Kirstie on Secret Relationship with Swayze
Kirstie Alley reveals to ET's Chris Jacobs intimate details about what she says was a powerful attraction and hidden relationship with her North and South co-star, Patrick Swayze. Although both stars were married during filming of the mini-series, Alley tells Jacobs when she first saw Swayze, they had an intense attraction and she tried to avoid "going down that road," but they ultimately fell in love.
"Both of us were married. We did not have an affair. But again, I think what I did was worse. Because I think when you fall in love with someone when you're married, you jeopardize your own marriage and their marriage. It's doubly bad," said Alley.
Alley goes on to say that although she's friends with Patrick's wife, Lisa Niemi, who asked Alley to speak at Swayze's funeral, she is uncertain if Lisa is aware of their relationship.
5. One Direction & Drew Brees Play Catch - Exclusive
One Direction and Drew Brees teamed up last month to film an adorable Pepsi spot and during Thursday night's episode of The X Factor, the band will not only perform their newest singles, Live While We're Young and Little Things, but also reveal an alternate ending to the ad!
For those who missed the spot, the original ended with Drew Brees sacrificing his last can of Pepsi in order to become an unofficial member of One Direction. But, according to Angelique Krembs, VP Marketing for Pepsi, they also wanted to show fans what would happen if Drew won the last can of Pepsi. "Our latest Live For Now spot has received an enormous amount of buzz and online excitement," Krembs said. "And of course everyone wants to see the boys from 1D suit up in football gear and have some fun."
While you have to wait until Thursday to see the entire surprise ending to Pepsi's Live For Now television commercial, ETonline scored an exclusive sneak peek of One Direction tossing the pigskin around with Brees!
Tune in to The X Factor on November 8 at 8 p.m. to see the alternate ending!
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