Max Martin-produced single sets the mood for their July 30 album of the same name.
By Jocelyn Vena
Backstreet Boys In A World Like This cover art
Photo: BMG Rights Management
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1709243/backstreet-boys-in-a-world-like-this-single.jhtml
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WASHINGTON (AP) ? There's good news for most companies that provide health benefits for their employees: America's slowdown in medical costs may be turning into a trend, rather than a mere pause.
A report Tuesday from accounting and consulting giant PwC projects lower overall growth in medical costs for next year, even as the economy gains strength and millions of uninsured people receive coverage under President Barack Obama's health care law.
If the calculations are correct, cost spikes because of the new health care law should be contained within a relatively narrow market segment. That would come as a relief for Democrats in an election year during which Republicans plan to use criticism of "Obamacare" as one of their main political weapons.
"There are some underlying changes to the system that are having an impact, and we can expect lower increases as we come out of the recession," said Mike Thompson of PwC's Health Research Institute, which produced the study. Cost "is still going up, but not as much as it used to."
The report comes with a caveat that sounds counterintuitive at first: Self-employed people and others who buy coverage individually could well see an increase in premiums in 2014.
The reasons have to do with requirements in the health care law. For example, starting next year insurers must accept patients with pre-existing medical problems, who cost more to cover. Also, new policies have to provide a basic level of benefits more generous in some cases than what's currently offered to individual consumers.
About 160 million workers and family members now have job-based coverage and are less likely to be affected. The individual market is much smaller, fewer than 20 million people. Still, it's expected to grow significantly over the next few years as a result of the health care law, which will also provide tax credits to help many people afford their premiums.
The U.S. spends more than $2.7 trillion a year on health care, well above any other developed country. But quality is uneven, there's widespread waste and fraud, and the system still leaves about 45 million people uninsured.
For years U.S. health care spending has grown much faster than the overall economy and workers' wages, but since the recession those annual increases have slowed dramatically. The debate now is whether that's a continuing trend. The answer will be vitally important, not only for companies and their employees, but for taxpayers who foot the bill for government programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and Obama's coverage expansion.
PwC's report forecasts that direct medical care costs will increase by 6.5 percent next year, one percentage point lower than its previous projection. The cost of care is the biggest component of premiums, followed by administrative expenses and overhead.
Cost-shifting to workers and efficiency measures from employers got most of the credit for slowing growth. PwC also said the health care law's push for hospitals and doctors to be more accountable may be starting to have an impact.
Four big factors were seen as pushing costs down next year:
?Patients seeking more affordable routine services in settings like clinics springing up in retail stores, as opposed to a doctor's office or the emergency room.
?Major employers contracting directly with hospital systems that have a proven record for complicated procedures such as heart surgery and certain back operations.
?The government ramping up penalties on hospitals that have too many patients coming back with problems soon after being discharged.
?Employers' ongoing effort to shift more costs to workers through higher annual deductibles, the amount people must pay each year before insurance picks up.
By using such shifting, PwC estimates that employers may be able to drive their share of next year's cost increase even lower than 6.5 percent.
On the other hand, two big factors will push costs upward:
?The high price of new "specialty" drugs to treat serious chronic illnesses such as autoimmune diseases and some types of cancer.
?Industry consolidation, with big hospitals buying up smaller ones, as well as medical practices and rehab centers. The downside of the demand for greater efficiency by employers and government is that it may be fostering new health care monopolies.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/report-slowdown-health-care-costs-continue-040402498.html
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Smile, kids: It's only a misdemeanor.
This group of teens might have thought they were pretty smart when they used a Maryland woman's credit card to pay for a photo booth session, but pretty soon they might feel dumber than they look in these silly pictures.
SCROLL FOR PHOTOS
Police obtained the photos from a photo booth at a Crofton, Md., movie theater as part of a credit card fraud investigation. The victim, who reported her card missing June 6, told police that she had been shopping in the area and had misplaced her card.
According to Anne Arundel County Police, the teens used the woman's Visa to pay for the photo booth session and some movie tickets. They probably didn't realize that digital copies of their photo session were stored on the photo booth's hard drive. The goofy pictures -- tongues and all -- are now being distributed by police in the hopes of tracking down the teens.
A close look at two of the photos shows a boy in possession of the card that police believe belongs to the victim.
In Marlyland, credit card crimes under $500 are misdemeanors and carry a maximum sentence of 18 months in prison, and/or a $500 fine.
Anne Arundel County Police are asking anyone with information on the identity of the teens to contact Detective Golas here.
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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/17/teens-derpy-photos-credit-card-fraud_n_3455924.html
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ISTANBUL (AP) ? Turkey's Islamic-led government is facing its biggest protests in years as demonstrators and police clashed Tuesday for the 12th straight day. Here's a look behind the scenes:
Q: What's going on in Turkey?
A: Demonstrators were camping out in a park in Istanbul's landmark Taksim Square, protesting plans to cut down trees and redevelop the area when police went in May 31 to clear them out. That heavy-handed raid ignited protests that have since spread to dozens of Turkish cities. On Tuesday, police went into the square again, pulling down protesters' makeshift barricades and chasing some with tear gas and water cannons.
Q: Is this just about trees ? or something else?
A: Protesters are venting pent-up resentment against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has been in office for 10 years. Many secular Turks see him as an authoritarian figure trying to force his conservative religious Islamic views on them. Erdogan rejects those accusations. Still, he has spoken out against Caesarean births, said women should have at least three children, and backed laws to curb the sale of alcohol.
Q: What does Erdogan say?
A: The prime minister says the protests are being instigated by extremists who want to blacken Turkey's international image and he has lost patience with them. "For those who want to continue with the incidents I say: 'It's over,'" Erdogan said Tuesday. "Not only will we end the actions, we will be at the necks of the provocateurs and terrorists, and no one will get away with it."
Q: Why should other nations care about Turkey?
A: Turkey, a largely Muslim nation that straddles Europe and Asia, is a stable democracy, a key U.S. ally and an important regional influence. It has taken in tens of thousands of Syrian refugees fleeing that country's civil war.
Turkey's economy is worth $1.3 trillion annually, almost as much as Canada's. It also has a flourishing tourist industry that welcomed nearly 38 million visitors last year to ancient historical sites and ruins, wide sandy Mediterranean beaches and stunning regions of natural beauty.
Q: How is Turkey a key U.S. ally?
A: Turkey borders Iran, Iraq and Syria. The U.S. needs Turkey's help to quell the violence in Syria, stabilize Iraq and stem Iran's nuclear ambitions. Turkey also played a key role as the U.S. military went after Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Erdogan visited the White House last month for talks with President Barack Obama.
Q: What's next? Will Turkey see an Arab Spring revolution?
A: Turkey holds a presidential election next year in which Erdogan ? who will hit his term limit as prime minister ? could run against the current president. Despite the protests, Erdogan is unlikely to fall. His backing by rural conservative voters ? the so-called silent majority ? still appears to be strong.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/look-turkey-widespread-protests-205032279.html
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By Ben Hirschler
LONDON (Reuters) - AstraZeneca is to buy U.S. respiratory drug specialist Pearl Therapeutics for up to $1.15 billion as Britain's second biggest drugmaker steps up a drive to rebuild its product pipeline via deal-making.
The acquisition of the privately held company secures AstraZeneca a position in the emerging market for a new class of lung treatments known as LABA/LAMA drugs that promise improved patient compliance and disease control, without steroids.
Some industry analysts believe that LABA/LAMA inhalers are set to dominate future therapy for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which causes debilitating breathlessness and affects an estimated 210 million people worldwide.
Buying Redwood City, California-based Pearl fills a gap in AstraZeneca's respiratory portfolio, although it will still be behind rivals including GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis in the race to develop the new type of inhaled drug.
AstraZeneca said on Monday it will pay an initial $560 million plus up to $450 million if certain development milestones are hit as well as sales-related payments of up to a further $140 million.
The transaction is an important bet by new chief executive Pascal Soriot, who took over last October, on the British company's respiratory business, which he has identified as a core therapy area.
AstraZeneca's sales and profits are falling as older medicines lose patent protection and the company badly needs new products to replace former big sellers like the antipsychotic Seroquel, which lost exclusivity last year.
The deal is Soriot's second bolt-on acquisition in two weeks, following an agreement to buy Omthera Pharmaceuticals for as much as $443 million to build up its cardiovascular drug business.
LATE TO MARKET
AstraZeneca already has a successful existing inhaled respiratory drug in Symbicort but had risked losing out in the long term by not having a LABA/LAMA inhaler.
Pearl's lead product, PT003 is in final-stage Phase III clinical trials and is a fixed-dose combination of formoterol fumarate, a long-acting beta-2-agonist (LABA) and glycopyrrolate, a long-acting muscarinic antagonist (LAMA).
It also has another product called PT010 that is a triple-combination medicine, combining the LAMA and LABA components of PT003 with an inhaled corticosteroid. AstraZeneca said this triple combination drug could be accelerated into Phase II clinical development.
Industry analysts at Berenberg Bank said PT003 would be late to market, with Novartis likely gaining first regulatory approval for its LABA/LAMA product in Europe later this year, with GSK not far behind in the Europe and the United States.
Germany's Boehringer Ingelheim and Forest Laboratories, working with Almirall, should also complete their Phase III programs before the end of this year, ahead of PT003, making AstraZeneca potentially fifth to market.
PT003 is also taken twice-daily, rather than once a day for some competitors, but AstraZeneca hopes Pearl's pressurized metered dose inhaler device may give it an edge.
Berenberg said the greatest upside from the Pearl deal could come from the triple combination product, where AstraZeneca may be second to market, behind GSK.
The acquisition, which is expected to close in the third quarter of 2013, will have no impact on AstraZeneca's financial guidance for the year, the drugmaker said.
Pearl's backers, who stand to gain from the sale, include 5AM Ventures, Clarus Ventures, New Leaf Ventures and Vatera Healthcare Partners.
(Editing by Paul Sandle and Greg Mahlich)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/astrazeneca-buys-lung-drug-firm-pearl-1-15-061616773.html
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A rock analyzed by the rover Opportunity has signs of clay-mineral composition, hinting at abundant fresh water ? perhaps a habitable environment ? in Mars? past.
This image provided by NASA shows a rock that the NASA Mars rover Opportunity recently examined. The six-wheel, solar-powered rover is leaving its current location in Endeavour Crater and headed for a new spot ahead of the next Martian winter.
NASA/AP
EnlargeIn a small rock, planetary scientists are reading important evidence of once-abundant water on Mars.
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The rover Opportunity has examined a rock on Mars that dates back to a distant era when the Red Planet had plenty of water ? and possibly an atmosphere with clouds and rain.
?A lot of water moved through this rock," said Steve Squyres of Cornell University, principal investigator for the Opportunity mission, run by NASA?s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The rock, given the name ?Esperance? by scientists, has a combination of elements that indicate a clay-mineral composition, formed in a watery environment. ?This is water you could drink," Mr. Squyres said, referring to a neutral, non-acidic composition like fresh water on Earth.
That?s important because such neutral water and a substantial surrounding atmosphere are conditions that are favorable for harboring life. Those conditions may have existed in Mars? relatively early history, several billion years ago.
?The Esperance results are some of the most important findings of our entire mission," said Squyres, who is based in Ithaca, N.Y. "The composition tells us about the environmental conditions that altered the minerals.?
The finding isn?t the first evidence to emerge that Mars, now seen as a ?hostile? place lacking in protective atmosphere, once had conditions hospitable to life.
Back in March, NASA reported important findings from drilling done by a more advanced rover, Curiosity.
Minerals in that rock sample ?speak of abundant standing water, conditions neither too acidic or too alkaline for life, and the minerals that would have provided a ready energy source for microbes, if any had been there,? according to a Christian Science Monitor account of that discovery.
In contrast to the newer Curiosity, Opportunity?s longevity is part of the intrigue behind the latest evidence of a watery past on Mars.
Opportunity has chugged forward far longer than scientists expected, and is now nearing the 10-year mark in its exploratory mission.
It used a rock abrasion tool, spectrometer, and microscopic imager to examine the rock Esperance at an area of the planet called Cape York. Now Opportunity is trekking to a place called Solander Point, where researchers hope to use a large exposed cross-section of geological layering to learn about stages in the planet?s environmental history.
Much about the Martian past remains a mystery.
?There are signs that in the distant past, billions of years ago, Mars was a much more inviting place,? NASA said in 2011 as the space agency was launching new missions to the planet. ?It appears that in its youth, Mars was a place that could have harbored life, with a thicker atmosphere warm enough for rain that formed lakes or even seas.?
The exploring since then appears to be bearing out that view.
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TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Sunday the government would decide on tax cuts in autumn to encourage companies to boost capital expenditure as part of sweeping reforms to revive the economy from nearly two decades of stagnation.
The government will also work on legislation to scrap regulations hampering corporate research and investment and secure passage in parliament in autumn, he said.
"We'd like to decide on bold tax cuts for capital expenditure in autumn," Abe told public broadcaster NHK.
The measures will add to a series of steps the government unveiled in a draft of its growth strategy last week, such as setting up special economic zones to attract foreign business and raising incomes by 3 percent annually.
The growth strategy is the "Third Arrow" in Abe's prescription to reverse deflation, which also includes hyper-easy monetary policy and big government spending.
The first part of Abe's growth strategy, to be finalized on Friday, failed to impress markets that saw it as lacking specifics. That helped push down Japanese equities to two-month lows on Friday.
Abe said his government would lay out the second part of his growth strategy in autumn, to include the tax cuts, when parliament reconvenes after an upper house election on July 21.
"We will make that parliament session one in which we'll implement our growth strategies," he said.
On recent market turbulence and sharp falls in Tokyo share prices, Abe said he would not comment on day-to-day market moves, but stressed that his policy measures were already leading to improvements in output and job conditions.
(Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Ron Popeski)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/japan-pm-abe-unveils-plan-tax-cuts-boost-022730736.html
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