Jimmy Kimmel’s Family Members Are Apparently Fair Game

We realize there’s only so much time one can spend in a day watching new trailers, viral video clips, and shaky cell phone footage of people arguing on live television. This is why every day The Atlantic Wire highlights the videos that truly earn your five minutes (or less) of attention. Today:

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Watch this video, bookmark it, and watch it the next time you think you’d rather go home than wait in a long line to vote. Seriously, Time‘s look at the Rockaways on the election night hits the matrix where heart-break and optimism meet and it makes you really appreciate a right we shouldn’t take for granted: 

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The best part of Louis C.K.’s SNL appearance was his “Lincoln” skit. Six days later, here we are with a new video: the director’s cut of the Lincoln-Louie parody—it’s funnier, dirtier, and one really awesome look at what NBC think is too offensive for network television. 

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Children, we’ve learned, are not safe from the pranks of Jimmy Kimmel. Neither is Jimmy Kimmel‘s aunt. 

And finally, the weekend is here. We’re talking like one hour away. This baby elephant video is clear evidence of that: 

Wireless News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Final “Spartacus” Season to Enter the Arena January 25

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Starz’s “Spartacus” series will engage in one last round of battle in January, the cable network said Tuesday.

“Spartacus: War of the Damned” will premiere January 25, 2013 at 9 p.m., marking the beginning of the end for the blood-and-sex soaked franchise, whose previous installments included “Spartacus: Vengeance” and “Spartacus: Blood and Sand.”

“Spartacus: War of the Damned” sees Liam McIntyre returning as the titular gladiator, and takes place following the defeat of Roman commander Gaius Claudius Glaber. Following successful battles against the Romans after the Battle of Vesuvius, the ranks of the rebellious slaves have swelled, with Rome trembling at Spartacus’ increased threat to the empire.

This season also sees the addition of new cast members Todd Lasance as Gaius Julius Caesar, Simon Merrells as Marcus Crassus and Anna Hutchison as Laeta.

TV News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Allscripts to evaluate strategic alternatives

(Reuters) – Healthcare IT firm Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc said it is evaluating strategic alternatives, sending its shares up 10 percent in extended trade.

“We are confirming today that in light of the ongoing interest expressed in the company by third parties, the company is evaluating strategic alternatives,” Allscripts Chief Executive Glen Tullman said.

The company, which reported a lower third-quarter profit on Friday, had spoken to several private equity firms including Blackstone Group LP, Bloomberg reported in September.

The company faced shareholder activism earlier this year, when its largest investor, HealthCor Management, demanded the resignation of Allscripts chief executive.

Allscripts agreed to nominate three of the investor’s candidates to its board in early June.

The company said it is withdrawing its forecast for 2012 in light of its decision to evaluate strategic alternatives. It had forecast adjusted earnings of between 77 cents and 83 cents per share in August.

Allscripts’s net income fell to $ 9.4 million, or 5 cents per share, in the third quarter, from $ 19.1 million, or 10 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, earnings were 23 cents per share.

Total revenue fell nearly 1 percent to $ 360.7 million.

Analysts expected a profit of 22 cents per share on revenue of $ 377.01 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Shares of the Chicago-based company closed at $ 12.26 on Thursday on the Nasdaq.

(This story corrected paragraph six to say earnings outlook was between 77-83 cents per share, not 74-80 cents per share)

(Reporting By Pallavi Ail in Bangalore; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)

Health News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Can Ryan and Obama Get Along?

One of the most fraught and fascinating relationships in Washington over the next few months—and likely the next four years—will be that of Paul Ryan and Barack Obama. Ryan is defeated but unbowed. Obama is triumphant but trying hard not to gloat. The men are archrivals who must find a way to work together to keep the U.S. from plunging off the “fiscal cliff” and then to get the country on the path to balanced budgets.

It won’t be easy for either the House Budget Committee Chairman or the president. Republican strategist Karl Rove told Fox News’ Neil Cavuto in August that Ryan “gets under the president’s skin.” For his part, Ryan let it be known that he was stung when Obama criticized him and his budget proposal last year while Ryan (unbeknownst to the president) was sitting in the audience.

I asked three Washington insiders whether they thought Ryan and Obama would be able to have a constructive relationship after the bitterness of a presidential campaign in which Ryan ran and lost as Mitt Romney’s running mate.

Norman Ornstein, a political scientist, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, and co-author, with Thomas Mann, of It’s Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism:

“Ryan has other ambitions now, and comes at it from a different perspective. … It probably makes him less accommodating. You’ve now got serious jockeying for leadership of the conservative movement of the Republican Party.” To win the Republican nomination for president in 2016, Ryan may choose to stick to a strong conservative message rather than move quickly to compromise with Obama, Ornstein says. “It’s a tricky path, let’s put it that way. A lot of peril in that path. I think it’s his inclination. He’s going to get a lot of advice to do that. But he’s a smart guy. He’s very much an ideologue, but he’s not crazy.”

Steve Bell, senior director of economic policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center, who served on former Republican Senator Pete V. Domenici’s staff from 1974 to 1986 and 1996 to 2009:

“I think he [Ryan] is going to be part and parcel of the negotiations.” Ryan’s staff on the budget committee, led by Austin Smythe, “essentially become the speaker’s staff” in the last session of Congress, Bell says. “They do all the real number-crunching. That worked in the past, and I think that’s how they’ll work it in the future.” Bell says that Obama is a loner who doesn’t bond easily with members of Congress, especially those across the aisle like Ryan. On the other hand, he says, “They’re both athletes. … Males bond this way. There’s a pretty good chance that they’ll be able to get along sufficiently well to make a deal and stick to it. … One thing the president knows about Ryan, he knows he won’t be able to play fast and loose with the assumptions, because he knows that Ryan knows these numbers cold.”

Michael Zolandz, a partner and the practice leader for public policy and regulation at the SNR Denton lobbying firm:

“They were well and truly familiar with one another’s viewpoints and approach before they got into this campaign. … Having been on the same national stage, they have a little bit more, I wouldn’t say admiration, but a better sense of the other’s mojo and capabilities. That kind of familiarity engenders a certain degree of respect. … I don’t think there’s intense hatred. I think there’s significant disagreement on the numbers.” Ryan isn’t the final decision-maker, Zolandz says. “While Paul Ryan’s thoughts were felt [last session] as a matter of politics and leadership, it’s still [House Speaker John] Boehner’s play. He’s still the leader.”

Businessweek.com — Top News

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Myanmar says Obama to visit later this month

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — President Barack Obama will make a groundbreaking visit later this month to Myanmar, an official said Thursday, following through with his policy of rapprochement to encourage democracy in the Southeast Asian nation.

The Myanmar official speaking from the capital, Naypyitaw, said Thursday that security for a visit on Nov. 18 or 19 had been prepared, but the schedule was not final. He asked not to be named because he was not authorized to give information to the media.

The official said Obama would meet with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi as well as government officials including reformist President Thein Sein.

It would be the first-ever visit to Myanmar by an American president. U.S. officials have not yet announced any plans for a visit, which would come less than two weeks after Obama’s election to a second term.

Obama’s administration has sought to encourage the recent democratic progress under Thein Sein by easing sanctions applied against Myanmar’s previous military regime.

Officials in nearby Thailand and Cambodia have already informally announced plans for visits by Obama that same week. Cambodia is hosting a summit meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and Thailand is a longtime close U.S. ally.

The visit to Myanmar, also known as Burma, would be the culmination of a dramatic turnaround in relations with Washington as the country has shifted from five decades of ruinous military rule and shaken off the pariah status it had earned through its bloody suppression of democracy.

Obama’s ending of the long-standing U.S. isolation of Myanmar’s generals has played a part in coaxing them into political reforms that have unfolded with surprising speed in the past year. The U.S. has appointed a full ambassador and suspended sanctions to reward Myanmar for political prisoner releases and the election of Nobel laureate Suu Kyi to parliament.

From Myanmar’s point of view, the lifting of sanctions is essential for boosting a lagging economy that was hurt not only by sanctions that curbed exports and foreign investment, but also by what had been a protectionist, centralized approach. Thein Sein’s government has initiated major economic reforms in addition to political ones.

A procession of senior diplomats and world leaders have traveled to Myanmar, stopping both in the remote, opulent capital city, which was built by the former ruling junta, and at Suu Kyi’s dilapidated lakeside villa in the main city of Yangon, where she spent 15 years under house arrest. New Zealand announced Thursday that Prime Minister John Key would visit Myanmar after attending the regional meetings in Cambodia.

The most senior U.S. official to visit was Hillary Rodham Clinton, who last December became the first U.S. secretary of state to travel to Myanmar in 56 years.

The Obama administration regards the political changes in Myanmar as a marquee achievement in its foreign policy, and one that could dilute the influence of China in a country that has a strategic location between South and Southeast Asia, regions of growing economic importance.

But exiled Myanmar activists and human rights groups are likely to criticize an Obama visit as premature, rewarding Thein Sein before his political and economic reforms have truly taken root. The military — still dominant and implicated in rights abuses — has failed to prevent vicious outbreaks of communal violence in the west of the country that have left scores dead.

Asia News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Priceline to buy Kayak Software for $1.8 billion

(Reuters) – Online travel agency Priceline.com Inc said on Thursday it will buy Kayak Software Corp in a friendly deal that values the company at $ 1.8 billion.

Priceline is offering $ 40 a share for Kayak, a 29 percent premium on the company’s Thursday closing price of $ 31.04.

Kayak shares jumped 27 percent to more than $ 39 in extended trading, while Priceline.com moved lower.

Daniel Kurnos, an analyst at Benchmark Company, said the purchase would let Priceline.com participate more in the travel advertising space.

“Priceline had previously addressed that it was having issues in terms of marketing efficiencies,” he said. “This certainly represents an investment for them in the paid-search, or the advertising channel, which is not an area where they’ve historically had a lot of exposure.”

But Kurnos added the move also exposes Priceline.com more significantly to the volatile air travel market.

Kayak, which uses a website and a mobile site to help consumers compare prices for airlines and hotels, went public in July with shares priced at $ 26.

The deal expected to close late in the first quarter of 2013.

(Reporting by Karen Jacobs in Atlanta and Tej Sapru in Bangalore; Editing by Maju Samuel; and Peter Galloway)

Internet News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Phase 4 Films Acquires “Precious” Producer’s Directorial Debut “Long Time Gone”

NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) – Phase 4 Films has acquired U.S. and Canadian rights to Sarah Siegel-Magness‘ “Long Time Gone,” a drama starring Virginia Madsen, Amanda Crew and Zach Gilford.

Connecticut resident who has a nervous breakdown after discovering her husband is having an affair. Her son tries to comfort her with the help of his older brother (Gilford) and live-in girlfriend (Crew).

Anthony LaPaglia and Eva Longoria also star in the directorial debut of Siegel-Magness, who produced “Precious.”

“We are thrilled to be working with Sarah on her directorial debut after her past success as a producer,” Phase 4 president and CEO Ben Meyerowitz said in a statement. “We cannot wait until audiences see the great performances by Virginia Madsen and the rest of the wonderful cast involved.”

Phase 4 will release the film day-and-date in theaters and across all VOD and digital platforms Spring 2013.

“I am thrilled to have Phase 4 release my directorial debut. From the very start, they understood and appreciated our film and their enthusiasm has us very excited to move forward in the next chapter of our film’s journey,” Siegel-Magness said in a statement. “Their understanding of the ever changing landscape of the marketplace has us feeling confident that our film is in the right hands.”

Movies News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Mass. pharmacy board director fired

BOSTON (AP) — The director of the Massachusetts pharmacy board has been fired for ignoring a complaint that a company linked to a deadly meningitis outbreak was violating its license by shipping drugs in bulk.

The Colorado pharmacy board complained about the New England Compounding Center in July, before the third of three batches of tainted steroids tied to the outbreak was shipped in August. A spokesman said state investigators are still looking into any sickness or deaths related to that third batch.

After receiving the report, director James D. Coffey told Colorado officials that the Board of Registration in Pharmacy would “respond as soon as possible following a thorough analysis of (the report).”

Coffey forwarded the complaint to the board’s attorney, Susan Manning, who also failed to act, state officials said.

The two didn’t notify leadership at the state Department of Public Health about the Colorado complaint, which investigators discovered last weekend while sifting through Coffey’s emails, said Massachusetts Office of Health and Human Services spokesman Alec Loftus.

Coffey was fired Tuesday; Manning has been placed on administrative leave. Their replacements have not been publicly announced.

Massachusetts Interim Public Health Commissioner Dr. Lauren Smith said it was ultimately Coffey’s duty as board director to initiate an investigation.

She called it “incomprehensible” that Coffey and Manning did nothing, especially given past problems at the NECC.

“I … expect the staff charged with oversight to perform their duties to the highest standards,” Smith said. “That failed to happen here.”

Efforts to contact Coffey and Manning for comment were not successful.

Compounding pharmacies custom-mix drugs in doses or forms that generally aren’t commercially available.

A contaminated steroid produced at the New England Compounding Center and used mainly to treat back pain has been linked to a fungal meningitis outbreak that has spread to 19 states, sickening more than 400 people, including 31 who died.

In September, the company recalled three batches of steroids, totaling 17,676 single-dose vials of medicine, made since May.

The NECC, located in Framingham, outside Boston, was authorized by its state license only to fill specific prescriptions for individual patients.

Pharmacies that produce drugs in bulk are subject to federal oversight, and state officials have accused the NECC of masking its true nature as a drug manufacturer to escape more stringent regulation.

Colorado officials first dealt with the company in April 2011, when the board there issued a cease-and-desist order for the NECC, ordering it to stop “the unlawful distribution of prescription drugs in the state of Colorado.” The order came after an inspector discovered NECC drugs stored for general use at a hospital in Lone Tree, Colo., near Denver.

Then in July, another inspector found bulk quantities of other NECC-made drugs at a hospital in St. Delta, Colo.

After confirming with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that the NECC was not registered as a drug manufacturer, the Colorado officials emailed Coffey.

The NECC has been closed since early last month, and Massachusetts officials have taken steps to permanently revoke its license. Federal and state investigators have found evidence of unsanitary conditions and practices at the company, and federal investigators are conducting a criminal investigation.

A company spokesman has said it was always NECC’s intent to obey the law in every state in which it was licensed.

Medications/Drugs News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Greece MPs back austerity cuts

7 November 2012 Last updated at 18:27 ET

Lawmakers in Greece have narrowly backed a fresh round of austerity measures, despite violent protests across the country.

The austerity package aimed at securing the next round of bailout funds was passed with 153 MPs in favour – a majority of just three.

The 13.5bn-euro ($ 17.3bn; £10.5bn) bill includes tax rises and pension cuts.

Earlier, riot police fired tear gas towards protesters when they were attacked with petrol bombs in Athens.

Prime Minister Antonis Samaras warned before the vote late on Wednesday that without the bailout Greece would run out of money this month and face “catastrophe”.

The austerity package – Greece’s fourth in three years – is meant to close the nation’s budget deficit, lower its huge debt burden and make its economy more competitive.

Continue reading the main story

“Start Quote

Many of these measures are fair and should have been taken years ago, without anyone asking us to”

End Quote Antonis Samaras Greek PM

But the level of resistance on the streets is a reminder that implementing the measures will be extraordinarily difficult, the BBC’s Mark Lowen in Athens reports.

The approval of the bill means that Greece will stay afloat, but the decision will go down very badly among this exhausted nation, our correspondent adds.

Samaras’s warning

The crucial vote was held after a lengthy debate in the 300-strong parliament.

Immediately after the bill was adopted, co-governing New Democracy and Pasok parties expelled seven lawmakers from their ranks for failing to back the package.

The adopted plan includes a two-year increase in the retirement age from the current average of 65, as well as salary cuts and labour market reforms, including cuts to holiday benefits, notice periods and severance pay.

Continue reading the main story

Measures in austerity package

• Retirement age up from 65 to 67


• A further round of pension cuts, of 5-15%


• Salary cuts, notably for police officers, soldiers, firefighters, professors, judges, justice officials; minimum wage also reduced


• Holiday benefits cut


• 35% cut to severance pay


• Redundancy notice reduced from six to four months

Workers fear this will just make it easier and cheaper for them to be fired at a time when unemployment has already soared to 25% and a five-year recession means there are few job prospects.

“Many of these measures are fair and should have been taken years ago, without anyone asking us to,” Mr Samaras said.

“Others are unfair – cutting wages and salaries – and there is no point in dressing this up as something else,” the prime minister said, adding that Greece was, nevertheless, obliged to take the measures.

Mr Samaras has said that without this money, which will be used largely to recapitalise the country’s banks, the country will be bankrupt by 15 November.

The vote on the cuts will be followed by a second vote this Sunday on Greece’s revised budget for 2013.

A positive vote on both is required for Greece to secure 31.5bn euros in fresh loans from the European Union (EU) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

‘Mother of all strikes’

Earlier on Wednesday, tens of thousands of protesters held a rally in Syntagma Square – outside the parliament building in the heart of the capital.

Continue reading the main story

Key dates

• 6-7 Nov General strike


• 7 Nov Vote on austerity package


• 11 Nov Vote on budget


• 12 Nov Eurozone finance ministers to discuss releasing new cash for Greece


• 16 Nov Deadline for Greece to repay 5bn euros in debt

The protesters chanted: “People – don’t bow your heads!”

Some in the crowd held giant flags of Greece, Portugal, Italy and Spain – four of the eurozone’s most heavily-indebted states.

The riot police – who sealed off parliament – later fired tear gas after the demonstrators attacked them with petrol bombs and flares.

Protests also took place in other big cities across Greece.

The Greek unions were staging what they described as the “mother of all strikes” – a 48-hour walkout which culminated on Wednesday.

The third major strike in just two months brought public transport to a halt and shut schools, banks and government buildings.

BBC News – Business

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Merkel says Germany, Britain must work together on EU

LONDON (Reuters) – Germany and Britain must cooperate to work round their differences on the European Union‘s long-term spending plans, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday.

“Despite differences that we have it is very important for me that the UK and Germany work together,” Merkel said through a translator before a meeting in London with Prime Minister David Cameron to discuss the EU‘s 2014-2020 budget.

“We always have to do something that will stand up to public opinion back home. Not all of the expenditure that has been earmarked has been used with great efficiency … We need to address that,” she said.

EU leaders meet in Brussels on November 22-23 to try to secure a seven-year budget for the 27-nation bloc amid signs of differences of opinion over what action should be taken.

(Reporting by Peter Griffiths; Editing by Andrew Osborn)

Europe News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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