Health Workers Gunned Down In Nigeria, Threatening Global Effort To Combat Polio

Child receives polio vaccine in Nigeria

Several health workers administering vaccines were shot dead in Nigeria today, part of a spread in violence threatening the tantalizingly close eradication of polio.

While the exact number of those dead is unclear — estimates on the ground vary from as many as twelve to as few as nine — there is a consensus growing about the identity of the group behind the attack:

No one claimed responsibility but the Islamist militant group Boko Haram, which has condemned the use of western medicine, has been blamed for a spate of assaults on security forces in the city in recent weeks.

[...]

“Gunmen opened fire on a health centre in the Hotoro district, killing seven, while an attack on the Zaria Road area of the city claimed two lives,” said a police spokesman, Magaji Musa. “[The health workers] were working for the state government giving out polio vaccinations at the time of the attack.”

Boko Haram — which has referred to itself as the “Nigerian Taliban” — has been a thorn in the side of the Nigerian government for over a year now, launching attacks against government facilities and bombing multiple churches. Should they be behind today’s murders, it would be the first instance of their targeting health workers.

The attacks seem close in nature to a rash of killings that swept through Pakistan last month, killing over a dozen. Much as in that case, current reports indicate all of those killed in Nigeria on Friday were women. Unlike in Pakistan, however, there’s no CIA program to blame the workers for colluding with. Instead, the militants have blamed the vaccines for being a Western plot to sterilize young girls and causing AIDS, neither of which is remotely true.

Nigeria is one of the last remaining holdouts of polio on Earth, with only Pakistan and Afghanistan joining it in having regular significant outbreaks. In 2012, Nigeria had at least 121 cases of polio, by far the most in the world. Facilitating a drop in those numbers will require a near universal vaccination rate, one that is unlikely to occur with the threat of violence.

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Kansas Governor’s Tax Plan Will Cost Hundreds Of Millions Of Dollars, Despite Raising Taxes On The Poor

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback (R), like Republican governors all across the country, aims to implement a regressive tax plan that involves cutting income taxes for the rich while, in his case, maintaining a sales tax hike that primarily hurts the poor. The sales tax increase was supposed to be temporary when it was adopted in 2010, but Brownback now wants to make permanent.

Sales taxes disproportionately impact the poor, who are more likely to spend all or most of their income. According to an analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, Brownback’s plan will raise taxes on the poorest Kansans, but still lose hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue due to huge tax cuts for the rich:

– The poorest 20 percent of Kansas taxpayers would pay 0.2 percent more of their income in taxes each year, or an average increase of $22.

– The middle 20 percent of Kansas taxpayers would pay 0.2 percent less of their income in taxes each year, or an average cut of $104.

– Upper-income families, by contrast, reap the greatest benefit with the richest one percent of Kansans, those with an average income of over a million dollars, saving an average of $6,528 a year.

The plan would cost the state $340 million in revenue, despite hiking taxes the poor. And Kansas already has a regressive tax system, with the poorest residents paying a rate more than twice as high as the richest 1 percent.

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Presidential Memorandum -- Presidential Determination Regarding Waiver of Restriction on Providing Funds to the Palestinian Authority

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE

SUBJECT: Waiver of Restriction on Providing Funds to the Palestinian Authority

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 7040(b) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2012 (Division I, Public Law 112-74) (the "Act") as carried forward by the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2013 (Public Law 112-175) (the "CR"), I hereby certify that it is important to the national security interests of the United States to waive the provisions of section 7040(a) of the Act as carried forward by the CR, in order to provide funds appropriated to carry out chapter 4 of part II of the Foreign Assistance Act, as amended, to the Palestinian Authority.

You are directed to transmit this determination to the Congress, with a report pursuant to section 7040(d) of the Act as carried forward by the CR, and to publish this determination in the Federal Register.

BARACK OBAMA

President Obama urges Congress to act to avoid a series of harmful and automatic cuts—called a sequester—from going into effect that would hurt our economy and the middle class and threaten thousands of American jobs.

Here's quick glimpse at what happened this week on WhiteHouse.gov.

Vice President Biden's Chief of Staff Bruce Reed sat down with us to give us a quick update on the work the President and Vice President have been doing since the President released his plan to reduce gun violence.

view all related blog posts

View the original article here

Clinton: America’s Debt Problems ‘Can’t Be Solved’ With Austerity

Former president Bill Clinton urged House Democrats to avoid the push for immediate austerity at a party retreat in Virginia today, pointing to Europe’s failed deficit-cutting experiment that has led to further economic malaise instead of prosperity.

The American economy, bolstered by a major stimulus bill in 2009, has slowly recovered from the Great Recession, but unemployment remains high and growth slower than it should be. The U.S. has already cut more than $2.5 trillion from future deficits, but with the automatic spending cuts brought about by the 2011 debt ceiling deal fast approaching, Clinton pushed Democrats to avoid calls for “conventional austerity measures”:

The debt problem can’t be solved right now by conventional austerity measures, and that’s why Paul Krugman is right when he keeps talking about all these — everybody that’s tried austerity in a time of no growth has wound up cutting revenues even more than they cut spending because you just get into the downward spiral and drag the country back into recession.

Watch:

European countries that have attempted to spur growth by rapidly reducing their deficits have failed to accomplish either goal and have instead driven their economies back into recession. The United Kingdom’s deficit has hardly gotten smaller despite its austerity efforts and the country is on the verge of a triple-dip recession. Greece and Spain both have unemployment rates above 25 percent. Even Germany, Europe’s largest economy, is on the brink of another recession. The Eurozone as a whole slipped back into recession in November and its unemployment rate is at record highs.

Still, politicians in the United States have failed to heed Europe’s warnings, pursuing deficit reduction instead of job growth. Republicans blocked the American Jobs Act, which economists estimated would have spurred growth and created more than a million jobs, and have instead pursued damaging budget cuts that would have the opposite effect even amid evidence that the original American push for stimulus worked better than the European approach.

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President Obama Nominates Two to Serve on the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, President Obama nominated Raymond T. Chen and Todd M. Hughes to the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

" Raymond T. Chen and Todd M. Hughes have displayed exceptional dedication to public service throughout their careers," President Obama said. "I am honored to nominate them today to serve the American people on the United States Court of Appeals. I am confident that they will be judicious and esteemed additions to the Federal Circuit."

Raymond T. Chen:  Nominee for the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

Raymond T. Chen currently serves as the Deputy General Counsel for Intellectual Property Law and Solicitor for the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), a position he has held since 2008. 

Chen received his B.S. in electrical engineering in 1990 from the University of California, Los Angeles, and his J.D. in 1994 from the New York University School of Law.  After graduating from law school, he joined Knobbe, Martens, Olson & Bear, a boutique intellectual property law firm in Irvine, California, where he prosecuted patents and represented clients in intellectual property litigation.  From 1996 to 1998, Chen served as a Technical Assistant at the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, performing the functions of a staff attorney.  At the end of his two-year term, he joined the USPTO as Associate Solicitor and remained in that role until his promotion to Solicitor in 2008.   Since joining the USPTO, Chen has represented the agency in numerous appeals before the Federal Circuit and personally argued over 20 cases, issued guidance to patent examiners to ensure consistency with developing law, advised the agency on legal and policy issues, and helped promulgate regulations.  He has co-chaired the Patent and Trademark Office Committee of the Federal Circuit Bar Association and is a member of the Advisory Council for the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. 

Todd M. Hughes:  Nominee for the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

Todd M. Hughes is Deputy Director of the Commercial Litigation Branch of the Civil Division at the United States Department of Justice, a position he has held since 2007.  He also has served as an adjunct lecturer in law with the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law and as an instructor for Duke University’s writing program. 

Hughes received his A.B. from Harvard College in 1989 and completed a joint degree program with Duke University, earning both his J.D. with honors and his M.A. in English in 1992.  After graduating from law school, Hughes clerked for the Honorable Robert B. Krupansky of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.  In 1994, he joined the Commercial Litigation Branch as a trial attorney.  Five years later, he was appointed to be Assistant Director for Commercial Litigation, a role he held until assuming the title of Deputy Director in 2007.  Throughout his career with the Department of Justice, Hughes’s practice has been devoted to matters of federal personnel law, veterans’ benefits, international trade, government contracts, and jurisdictional issues regarding the United States Court of Federal Claims.  He has extensive experience before the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the United States Court of International Trade, and the United States Court of Federal Claims, and he has garnered a number of special commendations from the Department of Justice and a special contribution award from the Department of Veterans Affairs. 

President Obama urges Congress to act to avoid a series of harmful and automatic cuts—called a sequester—from going into effect that would hurt our economy and the middle class and threaten thousands of American jobs.

Here's quick glimpse at what happened this week on WhiteHouse.gov.

Vice President Biden's Chief of Staff Bruce Reed sat down with us to give us a quick update on the work the President and Vice President have been doing since the President released his plan to reduce gun violence.

view all related blog posts

View the original article here

Readout of White House and Department of Homeland Security Officials’ Meeting with Law Enforcement on Comprehensive Immigration Reform

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

WASHINGTON, DC – White House Domestic Policy Council (DPC) Director Cecilia Muñoz, Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) Janet Napolitano, Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Alan Bersin and Acting Associate Attorney General Tony West met with law enforcement officials from across the country today at the White House’s Eisenhower Executive Office Building to discuss the need for commonsense reform to fix our nation’s broken immigration system. DPC Director Muñoz outlined the principles at the heart of the President’s proposal: continuing to strengthen border security, cracking down on employers that hire undocumented workers, creating a pathway to earned citizenship, and streamlining our legal immigration system. Secretary Napolitano highlighted the Department’s work with local law enforcement to enforce immigration laws while securing our borders, and noted that in order to continue making progress, we need to modernize our immigration laws.

Secretary Napolitano also highlighted the significant progress that has been made as the Administration has dedicated historic levels of personnel, technology, and resources to the Southwest border over the last four years, and undertaken an unprecedented effort to transform our nation's immigration enforcement systems into one that focuses on public safety, border security, and the integrity of the immigration system. Attempts to cross the border illegally totaled nearly 365,000 nationwide in FY 2012, representing a nearly 50 percent decrease since FY 2008 and a 78 percent decrease from their peak in FY 2000; and that from FY 2009 to 2012, CBP and ICE seized 71 percent more currency, 39 percent more drugs, and 189 percent more weapons along the Southwest border as compared to FY 2005 to 2008.

The Secretary made it clear that commonsense immigration reform is the single best step we can take to continue to enhance border security, enabling our officers and agents along the border to spend the bulk of their time focused on public safety and national security threats. Law enforcement officials agreed that immigration reform will strengthen trust between communities and law enforcement agencies, and allow officers to focus resources on public safety. 

Participants in today’s meeting included: Los Angeles County, Calif. Sheriff Leroy Baca; former New York Police Department/Los Angeles Police Department Chief of Police Bill Bratton; Calhoun County, Ala. Sheriff Larry Amerson; Oakwood, Ohio Chief of Police Alex Bebris; Loudoun County, Va. Sheriff Michael L. Chapman; Harris County, Texas Sheriff Adrian Garcia; Fremont, Calif. Police Chief and International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) President Craig Steckler; Tuscaloosa County, Ala. Sheriff Edmund Sexton; Cambridge, Mass. Police Department Commissioner Robert Haas; Vermont State Police Director Thomas L’Esperance; Montgomery County, Md. Chief of Police Thomas Manger; Cook County, Ill. Homeland  Security Executive Director Michael Masters; Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority Superintendent-in-Chief Joseph O’Connor; Arlington County, Va. Chief of Police Douglas Scott; Utah Department of Public Safety Deputy Commissioner Keith Squires; IACP Director of the Research Division John Firman; Police Executive Research Forum Chief of Staff Andrea Luna; and Prince George's County, Md. Assistant Chief of Police Kevin Davis.

On Feb. 4-5, Secretary Napolitano traveled to San Diego, California and Clint and El Paso, Texas to inspect border security operations at the Southwest border, meet with state and local stakeholders, and discuss the Department’s on-going efforts to secure the border while facilitating lawful travel and trade. 

For more information on the President’s proposal and how it would help officers and agents along the border better focus on combating public safety and national security threats by continuing to build upon the progress already made – including by investing in ports of entry, and making it harder for transnational criminal organizations to operate, click HERE. For more information on the Department of Homeland Security visit www.DHS.gov.

President Obama urges Congress to act to avoid a series of harmful and automatic cuts—called a sequester—from going into effect that would hurt our economy and the middle class and threaten thousands of American jobs.

Here's quick glimpse at what happened this week on WhiteHouse.gov.

Vice President Biden's Chief of Staff Bruce Reed sat down with us to give us a quick update on the work the President and Vice President have been doing since the President released his plan to reduce gun violence.

view all related blog posts

View the original article here

Arkansas Restaurant Cancels LGBT Center’s Fundraiser, Just Like It Would For The KKK

The River Valley Equality Center is a support group for LGBT people and their allies in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Recently, the organization scheduled a fundraiser at the Sisters Gourmet Bistro, but now the restaurant has canceled the event because owner Richard Hodo opposes the group’s support of LGBT equality, just like he opposes the KKK’s white supremacy:

HODO: I called them and told them that I — we’re not going to have that at Sisters, we had no plans for that and there were no reservations to hold any kind of fundraiser or anything like that. I told them that I do not support their cause, that if they want to do that that’s their business. I do not care, but I don’t support their lifestyle and their cause.

What I told the lady on the on the phone, look I said if the KKK came here and wanted to hold a fundraiser rally and all that, I wouldn’t allow that either. This is a private club and I have the right to refuse service to anyone.

It’s unclear how Hodo was able to cancel the event if there was supposedly no reservation to cancel. To raise awareness about his discrimination and offensive comparison to the KKK, the group will hold a demonstration on the street corner by his restaurant later this month. The River Valley Equality Center formed just last year and is trying to raise enough money to obtain non-profit status. (TP: Queerty.)

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Lilly stops rheumatoid arthritis treatment study

INDIANAPOLIS -- Drug developer Eli Lilly and Co. is stopping clinical testing of an experimental rheumatoid arthritis treatment because it wasn't working.

The Indianapolis company said Thursday it will continue studying the potential drug, tabalumab, as a possible treatment for a form of the autoimmune disorder lupus and the bone marrow cancer multiple myeloma.

Lilly said in December it stopped a late-stage study of tabalumab due to a lack of effectiveness. The company announced Thursday that it decided to end additional mid- and late-stage research after further analyzing data. It said the decision was not based on safety concerns.

Late-stage studies are generally the last and most expensive phase of testing a drug undergoes before the developer asks regulators to approve it.

Rheumatoid arthritis is a major area of research for drug companies because it is a chronic condition, meaning patients will likely take the drugs regularly for a long time. In November, the Food and Drug Administration approved a new treatment for the disease, Pfizer Inc.'s twice-a-day pill Xeljanz.

Lilly shares fell 46 cents to $53.47 in morning trading.

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Obama welcomes ‘Year of the Snake’

President Obama on Friday acknowledged the Lunar New Year in a statement of well wishes for those celebrating “the Year of the Snake.”

“Michelle and I send our warmest wishes to all those who will be celebrating the Lunar New Year this Sunday, February 10th. Here in America and around the world, people of Asian and Pacific Islander descent will welcome the Year of the Snake.”

The Chinese New Year is celebrated by billions around the world, and many Asian communities in the U.S. will celebrate the turning of the calendar over the weekend. 2012 was the Year of the Dragon.

“In Chinese tradition, the snake represents wisdom, and a thoughtful approach to tackling the challenges before us — principles that I hope will continue to guide us as we perfect our union and create a more just and equal future for every American,” the statement continued. “Our challenges may be great, but our diversity and the traditions that thrive here give us the strength to meet them. To everyone celebrating the Lunar New Year, I wish you peace, prosperity and good health and fortune.”

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Teva Pharmaceutical 4Q profit falls 37 percent

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.'s fourth-quarter earnings sank 37 percent, as generic competition from other companies hurt revenue for one of the world's biggest generic drugmakers.

The Israeli company said Thursday its revenue from the United States fell 14 percent in the quarter to $2.62 billion, as sales of one of its brand-name products, Provigil, slid due to cheaper, generic competition.

Provigil treats tiredness caused by narcolepsy, obstructive sleep apnea, and changes in work schedule. Teva acquired the drug when it bought Cephalon Inc. in 2011. As part of that deal, antitrust regulators required Teva to sell the U.S. rights to generic Provigil to another company. Par Pharmaceutical Cos. bought those rights and began selling a generic version of the drug last year, as did another company, Mylan Inc.

Teva said Provigil's revenue tumbled to $25 million from $350 million in the final quarter of 2011, as it joined large drugmakers like Pfizer Inc. and Eli Lilly and Co. that also have seen sales fall after losing U.S. patent protection for key products.

Overall, Teva earned $320 million, or 37 cents per share, in the three months that ended Dec. 31. That compares to earnings of $506 million, or 57 cents per share, in the 2011 fourth quarter. Adjusted earnings totaled $1.32 per share.

Total revenue fell more than 7 percent to $5.25 billion.

Analysts expected, on average, earnings of $1.33 per share on $5.26 billion in revenue, according to FactSet.

Teva said revenue from generic drugs, which made up slightly more than half its total, fell 11 percent in the quarter to $2.7 billion. The company said the decline came largely due to a tough comparison with the final quarter of 2011, when it saw "extraordinary" contributions from its launch of a generic version of Lilly's antipsychotic Zyprexa and from an agreement related to another company's launch of generic Lipitor, a cholesterol fighter made by Pfizer.

For the full year, Teva earned $1.96 billion, or $2.25 per share, on $20.32 billion in revenue.

U.S.-traded shares of Teva fell 30 cents to $37.86 Thursday morning, in line with slight decreases from broader trading indexes. The share price has fallen about 15 percent over the past year.

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