From a snuggle in the surf to a surprise engagement, see the former couple's most romantic moments
Credit: Kevin Mazur/Wireimage
Updated: Friday Jan 11, 2013 | 07:00 AM EST
By: Cara Lynn Shultz
WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly half the 70 employees at a Ford dealership in Clarksville, Ind., have been out sick at some point in the past month. It didn't have to be that way, the boss says.
"If people had stayed home in the first place, a lot of times that spread wouldn't have happened," says Marty Book, a vice president at Carriage Ford. "But people really want to get out and do their jobs, and sometimes that's a detriment."
The flu season that has struck early and hard across the U.S. is putting businesses and employees alike in a bind. In this shaky economy, many Americans are reluctant to call in sick, something that can backfire for their employers.
Flu was widespread in 47 states last week, up from 41 the week before, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday. The only states without widespread flu were California, Mississippi and Hawaii. And the main strain of the virus circulating tends to make people sicker than usual.
Blake Fleetwood, president of Cook Travel in New York, says his agency is operating with less than 40 percent of its staff of 35 because of the flu and other ailments.
"The people here are working longer hours and it puts a lot of strain on everyone," Fleetwood says. "You don't know whether to ask people with the flu to come in or not." He says the flu is also taking its toll on business as customers cancel their travel plans: "People are getting the flu and they're reduced to a shriveling little mess and don't feel like going anywhere."
Many workers go to the office even when they're sick because they are worried about losing their jobs, says John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, an employer consulting firm. Other employees report for work out of financial necessity, since roughly 40 percent of U.S. workers don't get paid if they are out sick. Some simply have a strong work ethic and feel obligated to show up.
Flu season typically costs employers $10.4 billion for hospitalization and doctor's office visits, according to the CDC. That does not include the costs of lost productivity from absences.
At Carriage Ford, Book says the company plans to make flu shots mandatory for all employees.
Linda Doyle, CEO of the Northcrest Community retirement home in Ames, Iowa, says the company took that step this year for its 120 employees, providing the shots at no cost. It is also supplying face masks for all staff.
And no one is expected to come into work if sick, she says.
So far, the company hasn't seen an outbreak of flu cases.
"You keep your fingers crossed and hope it continues this way," Doyle says. "You see the news and it's frightening. We just want to make sure that we're doing everything possible to keep everyone healthy. Cleanliness is really the key to it. Washing your hands. Wash, wash, wash."
Among other steps employers can take to reduce the spread of the flu on the job: holding meetings via conference calls, staggering shifts so that fewer people are on the job at the same time, and avoiding handshaking.
Newspaper editor Rob Blackwell says he had taken only two sick days in the last two years before coming down with the flu and then pneumonia in the past two weeks. He missed several days the first week of January and has been working from home the past week.
"I kept trying to push myself to get back to work because, generally speaking, when I'm sick I just push through it," says Blackwell, the Washington bureau chief for the daily trade paper American Banker.
Connecticut is the only state that requires some businesses to pay employees when they are out sick. Cities such as San Francisco and Washington have similar laws.
Challenger and others say attitudes are changing, and many companies are rethinking their sick policies to avoid officewide outbreaks of the flu and other infectious diseases.
"I think companies are waking up to the fact right now that you might get a little bit of gain from a person coming into work sick, but especially when you have an epidemic, if 10 or 20 people then get sick, in fact you've lost productivity," Challenger says.
___
Associated Press writers Mike Stobbe in Atlanta, Eileen A.J. Connelly in New York, Paul Wiseman in Washington, Barbara Rodriguez in Des Moines, Iowa, and Jim Salter in St. Louis contributed to this report.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - After over a month of watching Capitol Hill and Pennsylvania Avenue, Wall Street can get back to what it knows best: Wall Street.
The first full week of earnings season is dominated by the financial sector - big investment banks and commercial banks - just as retail investors, free from the "fiscal cliff" worries, have started to get back into the markets.
Equities have risen in the new year, rallying after the initial resolution of the fiscal cliff in Washington on January 2. The S&P 500 on Friday closed its second straight week of gains, leaving it just fractionally off a five-year closing high hit on Thursday.
An array of financial companies - including Goldman Sachs
"The banks have a read on the economy, on the health of consumers, on the health of demand," said Quincy Krosby, market strategist at Prudential Financial in Newark, New Jersey.
"What we're looking for is demand. Demand from small business owners, from consumers."
EARNINGS AND ECONOMIC EXPECTATIONS
Investors were greeted with a slightly better-than-anticipated first week of earnings, but expectations were low and just a few companies reported results.
Fourth quarter earnings and revenues for S&P 500 companies are both expected to have grown by 1.9 percent in the past quarter, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Few large corporations have reported, with Wells Fargo
The KBW bank index <.bkx>, a gauge of U.S. bank stocks, is up about 30 percent from a low hit in June, rising in six of the last eight months, including January.
Investors will continue to watch earnings on Friday, as General Electric
HOUSING, INDUSTRIAL DATA ON TAP
Next week will also feature the release of a wide range of economic data.
Tuesday will see the release of retail sales numbers and the Empire State manufacturing index, followed by CPI data on Wednesday.
Investors and analysts will also focus on the housing starts numbers and the Philadelphia Federal Reserve factory activity index on Thursday. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment numbers are due on Friday.
Jim Paulsen, chief investment officer at Wells Capital Management in Minneapolis, said he expected to see housing numbers continue to climb.
"They won't be that surprising if they're good, they'll be rather eye-catching if they're not good," he said. "The underlying drive of the markets, I think, is economic data. That's been the catalyst."
POLITICAL ANXIETY
Worries about the protracted fiscal cliff negotiations drove the markets in the weeks before the ultimate January 2 resolution, but fear of the debt ceiling fight has yet to command investors' attention to the same extent.
The agreement was likely part of the reason for a rebound in flows to stocks. U.S.-based stock mutual funds gained $7.53 billion after the cliff resolution in the week ending January 9, the most in a week since May 2001, according to Thomson Reuters' Lipper.
Markets are unlikely to move on debt ceiling news unless prominent lawmakers signal that they are taking a surprising position in the debate.
The deal in Washington to avert the cliff set up another debt battle, which will play out in coming months alongside spending debates. But this alarm has been sounded before.
"The market will turn the corner on it when the debate heats up," Prudential Financial's Krosby said.
The CBOE Volatility index <.vix> a gauge of traders' anxiety, is off more than 25 percent so far this month and it recently hit its lowest since June 2007, before the recession began.
"The market doesn't react to the same news twice. It will have to be more brutal than the fiscal cliff," Krosby said. "The market has been conditioned that, at the end, they come up with an agreement."
(Reporting by Gabriel Debenedetti; editing by Rodrigo Campos)
Last Updated, 8:31 p.m. Hours after it started on Friday night, Pakistani television began to report on a protest in the city of Quetta, where relatives of scores of people killed in bomb attacks one day earlier sat beside coffins in the street, refusing to bury their loved ones until they received assurance that the state would protect them.
No Pak media covering Hazara sitin refusing to bury the dead in Quetta, demanding city be handed over to army.
— Haroon Rashid (@TheHaroonRashid) 11 Jan 13
Geo Tv is finally running a ticker on a now 5 hour long sit-in by Shia protestors.
— Abdullah Saad (@kursed) 11 Jan 13
As my colleague Salman Masood reports, most of those killed in Thursday’s twin bomb attacks were Shiite Muslims from the Hazara ethnic group. Hazaras in Pakistan have been the target of a murderous campaign by Sunni Muslim extremists from the Taliban and a related militant group, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, which claimed responsibility for Thursday’s massacre of 86.
Pakistani activists, angered that the protest was ignored for so long by local media, attempted to draw attention to the sit-in near the site of the attack on Quetta’s Alamdar Road. In a series of Twitter messages, they called on the international press to cover the demonstration and shared photographs of the sit-in as it continued late into the night. The attention of journalists and bloggers in other parts of the country was focused more firmly on Quetta on Friday by the death in Thursday’s second bombing of the well-known Hazara activist Irfan Ali.
@Darveshh these pics hav come in of the ‘sit-in’ protest of #Hazara #ShiaGenocide in #Quetta @mehreenzahra @titojourno http://t.co/Xec29anf
— Haider Changezi (@Aushpaz) 11 Jan 13
Dear @BBCWorld #Pakistan media isn’t covering ‘sit-in’ protest by mourners demanding justice4 victims of #Quetta #Blast http://t.co/QXCcKx4e
— Haider Changezi (@Aushpaz) 11 Jan 13
Dear @AP #Pakistan media is not covering ‘sit-in’ protest by mourners demanding justice for victims of #Quetta #Blast. http://t.co/KS9SYQ9u
— Haider Changezi (@Aushpaz) 11 Jan 13
Dear @nytimes #Pakistan media isn’t covering ‘sit-in’ protest by mourners demanding justice4 victims of #Quetta #Blast. http://t.co/FDGhPVPQ
— Haider Changezi (@Aushpaz) 11 Jan 13
9 hours and counting. The sit-in staged by #ShiaHazaras, including women & children, continue in freezing cold. #WeAreAllHazara #Quetta
— Ali Salman Alvi (@alisalmanalvi) 11 Jan 13
Just look at these courageous people sitting next to their love ones’ coffins on the road in freezing cold & rain. http://t.co/n9wLu72m
— Ali Salman Alvi (@alisalmanalvi) 11 Jan 13
Its all about #Shias #Hazaras #Quetta #AlamdarRoad on social media now, I wish it turns out in real life in Pakistan. http://t.co/aR2bQ0YR
— Tahir Imran Mian (@TahirImran) 11 Jan 13
It’s now 4 am , Demand for justice in freezing and rainy weather of Quetta. #QuettaSitIn continues. #Hazara #ShiaGenocide #WeAreAllHazara
— Khudadad Changezi (@KdChangezi) 11 Jan 13
Alamdar road is our Tahrir Square #WeAreAllHazara
— M Adil (@koytagi) 11 Jan 13
#QuettaSitIn continues in -2 Degrees with 80+ bodies waiting for Justice. #Hazara #ShiaGenocide pic v @HazaraGenocide http://t.co/RcYbaGQN
— Haider Changezi (@Aushpaz) 11 Jan 13
Please, please Pakistan. Let this be a turning point
— Talat Aslam (@titojourno) 11 Jan 13
It has been 15 hours, Its 5 am in Sub Zero weather #QuettaSitIn participants say they will continue…more will join in from other parts.
— Haider Changezi (@Aushpaz) 12 Jan 13
No. RT @ammaryasir Has any from the provincial or Federal Govt contacted the mourners in Quetta yet? #PPP
— Darvesh (@Darveshh) 12 Jan 13
@Yasmeen973 no..it has been 15 hours. Just demanding that a Gov official shows up..is too much to ask? #WeAreAllHazara http://t.co/9nAtPiLI
— Haider Changezi (@Aushpaz) 12 Jan 13
6:10 a.m. 8000 present in sit-in protest. The number of proterters will certainly increase now. Temperature is -2. #ShiaGenocide #Quetta
— Darvesh (@Darveshh) 12 Jan 13
WASHINGTON (AP) — The video game industry, blamed by some for fostering a culture of violence, defended its practices Friday at a White House meeting exploring how to prevent horrific shootings like the recent Connecticut elementary school massacre.
Vice President Joe Biden, wrapping up three days of wide-ranging talks on gun violence prevention, said the meeting was an effort to understand whether the U.S. was undergoing a “coarsening of our culture.”
“I come to this meeting with no judgment. You all know the judgments other people have made,” Biden said at the opening of a two-hour discussion. “We’re looking for help.”
The gaming industry says that violent crime, particularly among the young, has fallen since the early 1990s while video games have increased in popularity.
There are conflicting studies on the impact of video games and other screen violence. Some conclude that video games can desensitize people to real-world violence or temporarily quiet part of the brain that governs impulse control. Other studies have concluded there is no lasting effect.
Cheryl Olson, a participant in Biden’s meeting and a researcher of the effect of violent video games, said there was concern among industry representatives that they would be made into a scapegoat in the wake of the Connecticut shooting.
“The vice president made clear that he did not want to do that,” Olson said.
Biden is expected to suggest ways to address violence in video games, movies and on television when he sends President Barack Obama a package of recommendations for curbing gun violence Tuesday. The proposals are expected to include calls for universal background checks and bans on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines.
Obama appointed Biden to lead a gun violence task force after last month’s shooting at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school that left 20 children and six educators dead.
Gun-safety activists were coalescing around expanded background checks as a key goal for the vice president’s task force. Some advocates said it may be more politically realistic — and even more effective as policy — than reinstating a ban on assault weapons.
The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence said some 40 percent of gun sales happen with no background checks, such as at gun shows and by private sellers over the Internet or through classified ads.
“Our top policy priority is closing the massive hole in the background check system,” the group said.
While not backing off support for an assault weapons ban, some advocates said there could be broader political support for increasing background checks, in part because that could actually increase business for retailers and licensed gun dealers who have access to the federal background check system.
“The truth is that an assault weapons ban is a very important part of the solution — and it is also much tougher to pass,” said Mark Glaze, director of Mayors Against Illegal Guns.
Restrictions on high-capacity ammunition magazines are also seen by some as an easier lift politically than banning assault weapons.
The National Rifle Association adamantly opposes universal background checks, as well as bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines — all measures that would require congressional approval. The NRA and other pro-gun groups contend that a culture that glamorizes violence bears more responsibility for mass shootings than access to a wide range of weapons and ammunition.
In a 2009 report, the American Academy of Pediatrics declared, “The evidence is now clear and convincing: Media violence is one of the causal factors of real-life violence and aggression.”
The report focused on all types of media violence. But for video games in particular, the pediatricians cited studies that found high exposure to violent ones increased physical aggression at least in the short term, and warned that they allow people to rehearse violent acts. On the other hand, it said friendly video games could promote good behavior.
A wide spectrum of the video game industry was represented at the meeting with the vice president, including the makers of violent war video games like “Call of Duty” and “Medal of Honor” and a representative from the Entertainment Software Ratings Board, which sets age ratings that on every video game package released in the United States.
The vice president met Thursday with representatives from the entertainment industry, including Motion Picture Association of America and the National Cable & Telecommunications Association. In a joint statement after the meeting, a half-dozen said they “look forward to doing our part to seek meaningful solutions” but offered no specifics.
Biden, hinting at other possible recommendations to the president, said he is interested in technology that would keep a gun from being fired by anyone other than the person who bought it. He said such technology may have curtailed what happened last month in Connecticut, where the shooter used guns purchased by his mother.
The vice president has also discussed making gun trafficking a felony, a step Obama can take through executive action. And he is expected to make recommendations for improving mental health care and school safety.
“We know this is a complex problem,” Biden said. “We know there’s no single answer.”
The president plans to push for the new measures in his State of the Union address, scheduled for Feb. 12.
___
Associated Press writers Lauran Neergaard and Darlene Superville contributed to this report.
Gaming News Headlines – Yahoo! News
By Elizabeth McNeil
01/10/2013 at 07:35 PM EST
Audrey Hepburn with her son, Luca Dotti, in 1985
Audrey Hepburn Childrens Fund
She thought her nose too big, her feet too large and her neck too long. She loved to shop for groceries (but not clothes), didn't wear makeup at home, never went to the gym and enjoyed two fingers of Scotch every night.
"She was not this ethereal creature," says Robert Wolders, 76, the Dutch actor who was her companion for the last 13 years of her life. "She was an earthy woman with a ribald sense of humor."
What Hepburn had, adds Wolders, "was more than beauty. It was this extraordinary mystique."
Hepburn left Hollywood at age 34 at the height of her fame, moving into a 1732 farmhouse in Tolochenaz, a small Swiss village, where she found happiness raising two sons and purpose in her charity work for UNICEF.
Two decades after her death from abdominal cancer at 63 on Jan. 20, 1993, her children and her last love remember the Audrey they adored.
NEW YORK (AP) — From the Rocky Mountains to New England, hospitals are swamped with people with flu symptoms. Some medical centers are turning away visitors or making them wear face masks, and one Pennsylvania hospital set up a tent outside its ER to deal with the feverish patients.
Flu season in the U.S. has struck early and, in many places, hard.
While flu normally doesn't blanket the country until late January or February, it is already widespread in more than 40 states, with about 30 of them reporting some major hot spots. On Thursday, health officials blamed the flu for the deaths of 20 children so far.
Whether this will be considered a bad season by the time it has run its course in the spring remains to be seen.
"Those of us with gray hair have seen worse," said Dr. William Schaffner, a flu expert at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.
The evidence so far points to a moderate season, Schaffner and others say. It looks bad in part because last year was unusually mild and because the main strain of influenza circulating this year tends to make people sicker and really lay them low.
David Smythe of New York City saw it happen to his 50-year-old girlfriend, who has been knocked out for about two weeks. "She's been in bed. She can't even get up," he said.
Also, the flu's early arrival coincided with spikes in a variety of other viruses, including a childhood malady that mimics flu and a new norovirus that causes vomiting and diarrhea, or what is commonly known as "stomach flu." So what people are calling the flu may, in fact, be something else.
"There may be more of an overlap than we normally see," said Dr. Joseph Bresee, who tracks the flu for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Most people don't undergo lab tests to confirm flu, and the symptoms are so similar that it can be hard to distinguish flu from other viruses, or even a cold. Over the holidays, 250 people were sickened at a Mormon missionary training center in Utah, but the culprit turned out to be a norovirus, not the flu.
Flu is a major contributor, though, to what's going on.
"I'd say 75 percent," said Dr. Dan Surdam, head of the emergency department at Cheyenne Regional Medical Center, Wyoming's largest hospital. The 17-bed emergency room saw its busiest day ever last week, with 166 visitors.
The early onslaught has resulted in a spike in hospitalizations. To deal with the influx and protect other patients from getting sick, hospitals are restricting visits from children, requiring family members to wear masks and banning anyone with flu symptoms from maternity wards.
One hospital in Allentown, Pa., set up a tent this week for a steady stream of patients with flu symptoms. But so far "what we're seeing is a typical flu season," said Terry Burger, director of infection control and prevention for the hospital, Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest.
On Wednesday, Boston declared a public health emergency, with the city's hospitals counting about 1,500 emergency room visits since December by people with flu-like symptoms.
All the flu activity has led some to question whether this year's flu shot is working. While health officials are still analyzing the vaccine, early indications are that it's about 60 percent effective, which is in line with what's been seen in other years.
The vaccine is reformulated each year, based on experts' best guess of which strains of the virus will predominate. This year's vaccine is well-matched to what's going around. The government estimates that between a third and half of Americans have gotten the vaccine.
In New York City, 57-year-old Judith Quinones skipped getting a flu shot this season and suffered her worst case of flu-like illness in years. She was laid up for nearly a month with fever and body aches. "I just couldn't function," she said.
But her daughter got the vaccine. "And she got sick twice," Quinones said.
Europe is also suffering an early flu season, though a milder strain predominates there. Flu reports are up, too, in China, Japan, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Algeria and the Republic of Congo. Britain has seen a surge in cases of norovirus.
On average, about 24,000 Americans die each flu season, according to the CDC. That's an estimate — the agency does not keep a running tally of adult flu deaths each year, only for children. Some state health departments do keep count, and they've reported dozens of flu deaths so far.
Flu usually peaks in midwinter. Symptoms can include fever, cough, runny nose, head and body aches and fatigue. Some people also suffer vomiting and diarrhea, and some develop pneumonia or other severe complications.
Most people with flu have a mild illness and can help themselves and protect others by staying home and resting. But people with severe symptoms should see a doctor. They may be given antiviral drugs or other medications to ease symptoms.
Flu vaccinations are recommended for everyone 6 months or older. Of the 20 children killed by the flu this season, only two were fully vaccinated.
___
AP Medical Writer Maria Cheng in London contributed to this report.
___
Online:
CDC flu: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/index.htm
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rose on Thursday and the S&P 500 ended at a fresh five-year high as stronger-than-expected exports from China spurred optimism about global growth prospects.
Buying accelerated late in the day after the S&P 500 broke through technical resistance at 1,466.47, which was the market's closing level last Friday and the highest level since December 2007.
"Historically, January is a positive month for the market and you're seeing that play out," said Michael Sheldon, chief market strategist at RDM Financial in Westport, Connecticut.
Financial and energy stocks were the day's top gainers. The financial sector index <.gspf> rose 1.4 percent and the energy sector <.gspe> was up 1 percent.
Analysts cited economic data out of China as the day's catalyst, which showed the country's export growth rebounded sharply to a seven-month high in December, a strong finish to the year after seven straight quarters of slowdown.
"It is being interpreted positively that they've stopped the downturn (in growth)," said Kurt Brunner, portfolio manager at Swarthmore Group in Philadelphia.
"If they continue to produce good growth, that's going to be supportive of our global manufacturers."
Wall Street's fear gauge, the CBOE Volatility Index <.vix> suggested markets were relatively calm. The VIX was down 2.3 percent at 13.49.
At Thursday's close, the S&P sits about 6 percent below its all-time closing high of 1,565.15, hit in October 2007.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> gained 80.71 points, or 0.60 percent, to 13,471.22. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> rose 11.10 points, or 0.76 percent, to 1,472.12. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> added 15.95 points, or 0.51 percent, to 3,121.76.
Thursday's session had earlier included a dip that traders said was triggered by a trade in the options market that prompted a large amount of S&P futures to hit the market at the same time. That sent the S&P 500 index down rapidly but those losses were reversed through the afternoon.
Financials benefited from events this week that added clarity to mortgage rules and banks' potential exposure to the housing market.
The U.S. government's consumer finance watchdog announced mortgage rules on Thursday that will force banks to use new criteria to determine whether a borrower can repay a home loan.
Earlier this week, several big mortgage lenders reached a deal with regulators to end a review of foreclosures mandated by the government.
"It's a resolution. It's not hanging over their heads," said Brunner.
Bank of America
Shares of upscale jeweler Tiffany
Herbalife Ltd
After the closing bell, American Express said it would cut about 5,400 jobs, and take about $600 million in after-tax charges in the fourth quarter. The stock added 0.7 percent to $61.20 in after-hours trade.
Volume was above the 2012 average of 6.42 billion shares traded a day, with roughly 6.77 billion shares changing hands on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and the NYSE MKT.
Advancers outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 1,916 to 1,039, while advancers also outpaced decliners on the Nasdaq by 1,439 to 1,036.
(Editing by Nick Zieminski)
Despite onerous sanctions that have basically shut Iran out of the global financial system, the country is still finding ways to bypass them, the Treasury Department said Thursday in an acknowledgment of what it described as an “emerging threat” to the effectiveness of the sanctions effort.
Adam Szubin, director of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, which supervises American enforcement of the sanctions, said the Iranians were using private exchange houses and trading companies in other countries, masking transactions with fake identities and relying on the paperless practice known as hawala, common in parts of the Middle East and Asia, in which money is transferred informally and often illegally through trustworthy couriers.
Mr. Szubin’s office issued an advisory on Thursday aimed at informing American financial institutions about what it called Iranian evasion techniques to circumvent the sanctions, which have been greatly intensified partly in response to Iran’s disputed nuclear program. Iran says the program is for peaceful use, while Western nations and Israel suspect it is meant to develop the ability to make nuclear weapons.
The most vexing sanctions, from Iran’s viewpoint, are financial prohibitions that have blacklisted many Iranian banks, denied them access to international money and credit channels and severely restricted Iran’s ability to sell oil, the most important Iranian export. A new law signed by President Obama this month expands the sanctions to include shipping, shipbuilding and energy concerns, which are likely to hurt many Iranian industries, including construction, machinery and automaking.
In a conference call with reporters, Mr. Szubin described the sanctions as a large achievement that had left Iran “almost without recourse through ordinary banking channels.” At the same time, he said, “Iran is adapting.”
“Increasingly we’re seeing them turn to trading houses in third countries,” he said, “to facilitate movement of money that would ordinarily go through a bank.”
The practice of hawala, he said, is much more difficult to monitor and disrupt. “That said, hawalas are even less perfect substitutes for banks,” he said. “It’s a mechanism that only works if you have absolute trust of the individuals involved.”
Mr. Szubin declined to quantify the total amount of money he said Iran had amassed despite the sanctions. Nor would he identify the trading houses — — or even the countries — where circumventions have been carried out, but said “we are pursuing a number of cases.”
He also said the transactions in question were often in the tens of thousands of dollars range and denominated in dollars, euros, British pounds and yen. Larger sums, he said, would be more likely to attract attention.
“This is an evolving and emerging threat,” he said. “Two years ago we saw little of this because Iran was able to find banks that were able to handle its business.”
Iranian officials have increasingly acknowledged that the American sanctions, coupled with a European Union oil embargo that took effect in July, are causing severe financial difficulties and aggravating problems caused in part by the government’s own economic mismanagement. Even the oil minister, who had repeatedly denied the sanctions were having an effect, acknowledged this week that oil exports and revenue plunged by more than 40 percent last year compared with the year before.
On Wednesday, Iran’s Central Bank said the annual inflation rate reached 27.4 percent at the end of 2012, one of the highest rates ever quoted. But private economists say even that figure vastly understates the real inflation rate and fails to fully account for a plunge in the value of Iran’s currency, the rial, which lost about 50 percent of its worth against the dollar in the past year.
Steve H. Hanke, a Johns Hopkins University economics professor and senior fellow at the Cato Institute, a conservative Washington research group, who has been following Iran’s case, said the official inflation rate reflected what he called the Central Bank’s “habit of failing to release useful economic data, and what it does release often has what I would describe as an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ quality.”
By Mr. Hanke’s calculations, Iran’s inflation rate last year was 110 percent.
LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – The Academy launched its official Oscars app on Android and Amazon on Thursday, expanding its initiative to direct fans’ attention from the television to the second screen.
The app, already available on the iPad and iPhone, was made available for free on the Google Play store and the Amazon app store, the Academy said. According to iTunes, the iPad app was updated earlier on Wednesday.
Developed by the Academy and Disney/ABC Television Group’s digital media arm, the app allows users to see behind-the-scenes videos and stories with host Seth MacFarlane and search information about the nominees. It also features a “My Picks” ballot on which users can organize their dream-team of winners.
On Oscar night on February 24, the app will feature “Backstage Pass,” a live telecast from more than a dozen cameras placed on the Red Carpet and throughout the Dolby Theatre – in the press room, the control room, backstage and elsewhere.
And a ticker on the app will notify when a users’ favorite actor and actress arrives on stage.
“We’re always looking for ways to bring fans closer to the show and this app provides a unique and fun way to do that,” Josh Spector, the managing director of digital media and marketing for the Academy, said in a statement. “More fans than ever will be able to enjoy the full Oscar experience now that our app is available to Droid users.”
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