FDA says longer use of nicotine gum is OK

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) ? The Food and Drug Administration says smokers who are trying to quit can safely use over-the counter nicotine gum, patches and lozenges for longer than previously recommended in a move to help millions of Americans kick the habit.

Current labels suggest consumers stop smoking or using other products containing nicotine when they begin using the products to help them quit and that they should stop using nicotine replacement products after 12 weeks at most.

The federal agency said Monday that the makers of gum and other nicotine replacement products can change the labels that say not to smoke when using the products. The FDA also said the companies can let consumers know that they can use the products for longer periods as part of a plan to quit smoking, as long as they are talking to their doctor.

Nicotine replacement products, designed to help people stop smoking by supplying controlled amounts of nicotine to ease the withdrawal symptoms, were first approved about 30 years ago and have since gone from prescription to over-the-counter within the last 17 years. However, when they were approved for over-the-counter use little reliable data existed on the safety of long-term use or use of more than one product containing nicotine, the FDA said.

In recent years, the agency said, a number of stakeholders in public health have suggested the current labels were barriers for smokers that are trying to quit because they'd relapse if they stopped using the nicotine-replacement products after the suggested time period, and they'd abandon their attempt to quit if they had a cigarette while using them.

More than 45 million Americans smoke cigarettes and about half try to quit every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Smoking is the leading cause of preventable illness and death in the U.S. and is responsible for the majority of the nation's lung cancer deaths. It's also a factor in heart attacks and a variety of illnesses.

The agency hopes the recommended changes will "allow more people to use these products effectively for smoking cessation and that tobacco dependence will decline," FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said in a statement.

The makers of the nicotine replacement products must seek approval to change their labels, but the FDA said the companies can cite the studies used by the agency.

GlaxoSmithKline, the leading seller of nicotine-replacement therapy products under the Nicorette and NicoDerm CQ brands, called the FDA's action a "positive step to help more smokers quit." It plans to work with the FDA to make changes to its product labeling "as soon as possible."

The move by the FDA comes less than a week after government health officials launched the second round of a graphic ad campaign designed to get smokers off tobacco. The CDC campaign cost $48 million and includes TV, radio and online spots as well as print ads and billboards.

The ads feature sad, real-life stories: There is Terrie, a North Carolina woman who lost her voice box. Bill, a diabetic smoker from Michigan who lost his leg. And Aden, a 7-year-old boy from New York, who has asthma attacks from secondhand smoke.

Last year's similar $54 million campaign was the agency's first and largest national advertising effort. The government deemed it a success: That campaign triggered an increase of 200,000 calls to quit lines. The CDC believes that likely prompted tens of thousands of smokers to quit based on calculations that a certain percentage of callers do actually stop.

Meanwhile, the FDA said it is missing a Monday deadline to submit three tobacco-related reports to Congress, which the agency said are nearing completion. It also is missing another deadline to publish a consumer-friendly list of the levels of dangerous chemicals found in cigarettes and other tobacco products, as well as tobacco company testing and reporting requirements for ingredients and additives.

There are no penalties for forgoing the deadlines outlined in the 2009 law that gave the FDA authority to regulate a number of aspects of tobacco marketing and manufacturing

___

Michael Felberbaum can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/MLFelberbaum .

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fda-says-longer-nicotine-gum-ok-174643143--finance.html

andrew brietbart branson mo monkees songs rail gun harrisburg top chef texas great pacific garbage patch

Exxon cleans up Arkansas oil spill; Keystone plan assailed

(Reuters) - Exxon Mobil on Sunday continued cleanup of a pipeline spill that spewed thousands of barrels of heavy Canadian crude in Arkansas as opponents of oil sands development latched on to the incident to attack plans to build the Keystone XL line.

Exxon spokesman Alan Jeffers said on Sunday that crews had yet to excavate the area around the pipeline breach, a needed step before the company can estimate how long repairs will take and when the line might restart.

"I can't speculate on when it will happen," Jeffers said. "Excavation is necessary as part of an investigation to determine the cause of the incident."

Exxon's Pegasus pipeline, which can carry more than 90,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude from Pakota, Illinois to Nederland, Texas, was shut after the leak was discovered late Friday afternoon in a subdivision near the town of Mayflower. The leak forced the evacuation of 22 homes.

Exxon also had no specific estimate of how much crude oil had spilled, but the company said 12,000 barrels of oil and water had been recovered - up from 4,500 barrels on Saturday. The company did not say how much of the total was oil and how much was water.

Exxon said it staged the response to handle 10,000 barrels of oil "to ensure adequate resources are in place."

Fifteen vacuum trucks remained on the scene for cleanup, and 33 storage tanks were deployed to temporarily store the oil.

The pipeline was carrying Canadian Wabasca Heavy crude at the time of the leak. An oil spill of more than 1,000 barrels into a Wisconsin field from an Enbridge (Toronto: ENB.TO - news) pipeline last summer kept that line shuttered for around 11 days.

The Arkansas spill drew fast reaction from opponents of the 800,000 bpd Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry heavy crude from Canada's tar sands to the U.S. Gulf Coast refining centre.

Environmentalists have expressed concerns about the impact of developing the oil sands and say the crude is more corrosive to pipelines than conventional oil. On Wednesday, a train carrying Canadian crude derailed in Minnesota, spilling 15,000 gallons of oil.

"Whether it's the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, or ... (the) mess in Arkansas, Americans are realizing that transporting large amounts of this corrosive and polluting fuel is a bad deal for American taxpayers and for our environment," said Representative Ed Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat.

Supporters of Keystone XL and oil sands development say the vast Canadian reserves can help drive down fuel costs in the United States. A report from the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association, put together by oil and gas consultancy Penspen, argued diluted bitumen is no more corrosive than other heavy crude.

CLEANUP

Exxon said that by 3 a.m. Saturday there was no additional oil spilling from the pipeline and that trucks had been brought in to assist with the cleanup. Images from local media showed crude oil snaking along a suburban street and spewed across lawns.

Twenty-two homes in the affected subdivision remained evacuated on Sunday, though Mayflower police were providing escorts for residents to temporarily return to retrieve personal items.

Jeffers said a couple of homes "appear to have small amounts of oil on their foundations," but he had no information on damage estimates or claims. Exxon had established a claims hotline for affected residents and said about 50 claims had been made so far.

Officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration were deployed to the scene.

Exxon said no oil had reached nearby Lake Conway, known as a fishing lake stocked with bass, catfish, bream and crappie. The company said it deployed 3,600 feet of boom near the lake "as a precaution."

(Reporting by Kristen Hays in Houston, Matthew Robinson in New York and Timothy Gardner in Washington; Editing by Steve Orlofsky, Bernard Orr)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/exxon-shuts-oil-pipeline-major-005905765.html

one direction tulsa news scalloped potatoes the ten commandments charlton heston moses tulsa shooting

Apple CEO apologizes to Chinese consumers, revamps service

By Terril Yue Jones and Poornima Gupta

BEIJING/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc Chief Executive Tim Cook apologized to Chinese consumers on Monday and altered iPhone warranty policies in its No. 2 market after more than two weeks of condemnation of its after-sales service in the state-run media.

From China Central Television to the People's Daily newspaper, government-controlled media outlets bashed the world's largest technology corporation for its "arrogance," protesting among other things that its current one-year service warranty was far shorter than in other smaller markets.

Apple, which initially dismissed those criticisms, on Monday promised to overhaul its consumer practices. Cook has previously said the world's second-largest economy is a crucial market for the iPad-maker.

"We are aware that owing to insufficient external communication, some consider Apple's attitude to be arrogant, inattentive or indifferent to consumer feedback," Cook said in a letter written in Chinese on the company's local website. "We express our sincere apologies for causing consumers any misgivings or misunderstanding."

Cook's apology, unusual though not as rare as during his predecessor Steve Jobs' tenure, highlights the importance of the market for Apple.

The country is typically the brightest spot in Apple's quarterly financial statements. Revenue from Greater China -- which includes Taiwan and Hong Kong -- totaled $7.3 billion in its fiscal first quarter, up 60 percent from a year ago.

Apple will begin detailing quarterly sales results from the region starting this month.

'MUCH TO LEARN'

Cook also said in the lengthy letter that Apple has "much to learn about operating and communicating in China."

China has long been a prime market for Western corporations hoping to capitalize on its growing economic power and increasingly affluent middle-class. Still, companies face many pitfalls operating in the country.

Since it joined the World Trade Organization and opened up its markets, many have run afoul of perplexing and sometimes arbitrary local regulations, notoriously fickle consumer sentiment - and occasionally capricious media coverage. Regardless, many corporations view the country as prime expansion territory as growth slows in the developed world.

Apple is hardly the first Western brand-name to come under fire in the media for a variety of real or perceived missteps, or the first to alter its policies.

KFC parent Yum Inc issued a mea culpa in January for its handling of reports that chicken from some of its suppliers contained excess amounts of drugs and hormones. It subsequently outlined how it would improve food safety and quality control.

In the case of Apple, its iPhones, iPods and computers are considered aspirational products in China with cache among the countries growing middle class.

Successful foreign brands like Wal-Mart Stores and Gucci have also come under fire for various product and labor issues.

Criticism of Apple began on March 15 with the broadcast of an annual show on CCTV about consumer safety and rights, which has become an annual ritual targeting foreign, along with Chinese consumer firms.

The program assailed Apple for its after-sales service, including Apple's failure to offer new replacement iPhones with a one-year warranty in the case of major repairs.

Now, Apple will offer full replacements of iPhone 4 and 4S instead of major repairs, adding a one-year warranty starting from the date of replacement.

It will provide simpler and clearer explanations of warranties on its website and allow customers to offer feedback directly, Cook said. The company will also provide refresher training to service providers to explain the new warranty policy, he added.

The iPhone 5, the latest model, already carries a similar warranty to the new iPhone 4 and 4S coverage.

CCTV's show this year became the subject of online ridicule over claims the network paid celebrities to post micro-blog comments against Apple. Thousands of Chinese have come to its defense online, criticizing Chinese firms as being the ones that lack transparency and consumer trust.

(Editing by Jane Baird and Alden Bentley)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/apple-apologizes-chinese-consumers-over-warranty-confusion-171502823--finance.html

dallas mavericks washington capitals delmon young amare stoudemire tallest building in the world the pitch brandon inge

Are There Really Two Republican Parties? And If So, Why? (Powerlineblog)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/295703162?client_source=feed&format=rss

wii u American Music Awards turkey brine Imessage Not Working mc hammer pecan pie recipe Hector Camacho

Serena Williams beats Sharapova in Sony Open final

KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. (AP) ? Serena Williams danced to the crowd's roar, spinning and grinning, hopping and waving, then spinning some more.

If her victory celebration on the stadium court seemed well-rehearsed, it was. She earned a record sixth Key Biscayne women's title Saturday by beating familiar foil Maria Sharapova 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 at the Sony Open.

Sharapova set a new standard for futility in finals. She completed a career Grand Slam by winning the French Open last year, and won Indian Wells two weeks ago, but she's now 0-5 in Key Biscayne finals.

Sharapova playing nearly flawless tennis for an hour, before her serve and groundstrokes began to lose steam. Williams swept the last 10 games and faltered only during the trophy ceremony.

"I felt good today," she told the crowd with the smile. "It's so good to be No. 6 now ? I mean, the six-time ? oh, gosh. Thank you."

At 31, the No. 1-ranked Williams became the oldest female champion at Key Biscayne. She won the tournament for the first time since 2008 and surpassed Steffi Graf, a five-time champion.

"Serena played a great match," Sharapova said. "I'm sure we'll be playing a few more times this year."

Sharapova didn't sound thrilled by the prospect, with good reason. She has lost 11 consecutive matches against Williams and hasn't beaten her since 2004.

The men's finalists are familiar foes, too. On Sunday, 2009 champion Andy Murray will play frequent practice partner David Ferrer, who is trying to become the first Spaniard to win the men's title.

The women's final began at high noon in sunny, mild weather, and the quality of shotmaking matched the conditions in the early going. The aggressive style of both players made for slam-bang points, and the occasional long rallies had a near-capacity crowd gasping at their ferocity.

As they battled from the baseline, Sharapova built a lead by keeping Williams on the defensive, and kissed the line with a winner on consecutive points to break for a 3-2 advantage in the second set.

"I just was like, 'Serena, are you really going to get to the final and not play up to your potential?'" Williams said. "I don't think I was as energized as I could be."

Then came the turnaround. Williams ratcheted up the power, began feasting on Sharapova's tentative second serve and broke back at love, then took advantage of two double-faults by Sharapova to break again.

Williams lives 2 hours up I-95 in Palm Beach Gardens, and she made herself right at home in the final set, losing only 10 points.

"That's why she's No. 1 in the world," Sharapova said. "She's really capable of doing that. I was controlling a lot of the points in the first set and the beginning of the second. Then toward the end, I wasn't there."

Williams' late surge won cheers from the crowd, which included her sister, three-time champion Venus.

Sharapova made 80 percent of her first serves early on but finished at 63. Williams converted all seven break-point chances and had a 35-13 advantage in winners.

But Williams' standards are high, and in her postmatch news conference, she sounded as though she had lost.

"Today wasn't my day, I don't think," she said. "Maria played really the best I have seen her play, and I think she was moving unbelievable, and she was hitting winners from everywhere."

It wasn't Williams' first test this week. She trailed Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 4-1 before rallying in the fourth round, and was annoyed to hit six double-faults in the quarterfinals.

"I'm happy to be holding the championship," she said. "It's definitely not my best tournament. I think everyone here can agree. But those are the moments that count ? when you can still come out on top."

She'll remain No. 1 and Sharapova No. 2 next week. Williams is the first No. 1-seeded woman to win the title since she was champion in 2004.

Williams' other titles at Key Biscayne came in 2002, '03, '07 and '08. Sharapova was runner-up in 2005, '06, '11 and '12.

"It's tough to lose in the final stage, because you work so hard to get there," Sharapova said. "But the more I give myself this opportunity, the better chance I have of winning."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/serena-williams-beats-sharapova-sony-open-final-183546746--spt.html

mega lottery sag aftra mega mill power ball livan hernandez soledad o brien mega ball

Senators caution immigration deal not final

FILE - In this March 12, 2013 file photo, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington. The Republican Party?s search for a way back to presidential success in 2016 is drawing a striking array of personalities and policy options. It?s shaping up as a wide-open self-reassessment by the GOP. Some factions are trying to tug the party left or right. Others argue over pragmatism versus defiance. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

FILE - In this March 12, 2013 file photo, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington. The Republican Party?s search for a way back to presidential success in 2016 is drawing a striking array of personalities and policy options. It?s shaping up as a wide-open self-reassessment by the GOP. Some factions are trying to tug the party left or right. Others argue over pragmatism versus defiance. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., makes a point as he is joined by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., and Sen. Michael Bennett, D-CO, during a news conference after their tour of the Mexico border with the United States on Wednesday, March 27, 2013, in Nogales, Ariz. A group of influential U.S. senators shaping and negotiating details of an immigration reform package vowed Wednesday to make the legislation public when Congress reconvenes next month. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Even with one of the largest hurdles to an immigration overhaul overcome, optimistic lawmakers on Sunday cautioned they had not finished work on a bill that would provide a path to citizenship for 11 million illegal immigrants.

The AFL-CIO and the pro-business U.S. Chamber of Commerce reached a deal late Friday that would allow tens of thousands of low-skill workers into the country to fill jobs in construction, restaurants and hotels. Yet despite the unusual agreement between the two powerful lobbying groups, lawmakers from both parties conceded that the negotiations were not finished.

"With the agreement between business and labor, every major policy issue has been resolved," said Sen. Chuck Schumer, the New York Democrat who brokered the labor-business deal.

But it hasn't taken the form of a bill and the eight senators searching for a compromise haven't met about the potential breakthrough.

"We haven't signed off," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

"There are a few details yet. But conceptually, we have an agreement between business and labor, between ourselves that has to be drafted," he added.

Yet just before lawmakers began appearing on Sunday shows, Sen. Marco Rubio warned he was not ready to lend his name ? and political clout ? to such a deal without hashing out the details.

"Reports that the bipartisan group of eight senators have agreed on a legislative proposal are premature," said Rubio, a Florida Republican who is among the lawmakers working on legislation.

Rubio, a Cuban-American who is weighing a presidential bid in 2016, is a leading figure inside his party. Lawmakers will be closely watching any deal for his approval and his skepticism about the process did little to encourage optimism.

Rubio, who is the group's emissary to conservatives, called the agreement "a starting point" but said 92 senators from 43 states haven't yet been involved in the process.

The detente between the nation's leading labor federation and the powerful business lobbying group still needs senators' approval, including a nod from Sen. John McCain, the Arizona Republican whose previous efforts came up short.

"I think we're on track. . But as Sen. Rubio correctly says, we have said we will not come to final agreement till we look at all of the legislative language and he's correctly pointing out that that language hasn't been fully drafted," Schumer said.

Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., also noted the significance of the truce between labor and business but added that this wasn't yet complete.

"That doesn't mean we've crossed every 'i' or dotted every 't,' or vice versa," said Flake, who is among the eight lawmakers working on the deal.

Schumer negotiated the deal between AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka and Chamber of Commerce head Tom Donohue during a late-Friday phone call. Under the compromise, the government would create a new "W'' visa for low-skill workers who would earn wages paid to Americans or the prevailing wages for the industry they're working in, whichever is higher. The Labor Department would determine prevailing wage based on customary rates in specific localities, so that it would vary from city to city.

The proposed measure would secure the border, crack down on employers, improve legal immigration and create a 13-year pathway to citizenship for the millions of illegal immigrants already here.

It's a major second-term priority of President Barack Obama's and would usher in the most dramatic changes to the faltering U.S. immigration system in more than two decades.

"This is a legacy item for him. There is no doubt in my mind that he wants to pass comprehensive immigration reform," said David Axelrod, a longtime political confidant of Obama.

During the last week, an immigration deal seemed doomed. But the breakthrough late Friday restarted the talks.

Ultimately the new "W'' visa program would be capped at 200,000 workers a year, but the number of visas would fluctuate, depending on unemployment rates, job openings, employer demand and data collected by a new federal bureau being pushed by labor groups as an objective monitor of the market, according to an official involved with the talks who also spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of a formal announcement.

A "safety valve" would allow employers to exceed the cap, the official said, if they could show need and pay premium wages, but any additional workers brought in would be subtracted from the next year's cap.

The workers could move from employer to employer and would be able to petition for permanent residency and ultimately seek U.S. citizenship. Neither is possible for temporary workers now.

"As to the 11 million (illegal immigrants), they'll have a pathway to citizenship, but it will be earned, it will be long, and it will be hard, and I think it is fair," Graham said.

The new program would fill needs employers say they have that are not currently met by U.S. immigration programs. Most industries don't have a good way to hire a steady supply of foreign workers because there's one temporary visa program for low-wage nonagricultural workers but it's capped at 66,000 visas per year and is only supposed to be used for seasonal or temporary jobs.

Separately, the new immigration bill also is expected to offer many more visas for high-tech workers, new visas for agriculture workers, and provisions allowing some agriculture workers already in the U.S. a speedier path to citizenship than that provided to other illegal immigrants, in an effort to create a stable agricultural workforce.

Schumer, Flake and Axelrod appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press." Graham was interviewed on CNN's "State of the Union."

___

Associated Press writer Erica Werner contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-03-31-US-Immigration/id-9a61247a0ae24e93bfdaee06f464ffab

Voting Results 2012 pbs ron paul Cnn Electoral Map roseanne barr guy fawkes gary johnson

92% The Gatekeepers

All Critics (71) | Top Critics (30) | Fresh (65) | Rotten (6)

The film and its talking head participants paint the picture in both broad strokes and fine detail.

Whatever one's political stripe regarding Israel, it's hard to dispute the impressions and perspective of the film's six eyewitnesses.

The level of candor here may not satisfy hard-liners of either stripe, but it can help viewers begin to formulate new questions about the philosophical, strategic and moral challenges of conflict, in particular "wars on terror."

Ultimately the movie feels evasive, and its flashy, digitally animated re-creations of military surveillance footage unpleasantly evoke the Call of Duty video games.

It offers startlingly honest insight into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from some of those who called the shots.

As a political testament, the result is revealing and important.

Moreh employs a direct interviewing style, reminiscent of Errol Morris' work, to get the men to talk about their days leading Shin Bet.

Moreh gets some startling confessions and insights from each man but also misses the opportunity to truly challenge his subjects on their regard for democracy, basic human rights and their own accountability.

Director Dror Moreh doesn't rest on his scoop

A powerful look inside the Israeli defense establishment

A deadly serious and detailed examination of and meditation upon the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, The Gatekeepers makes no attempt to find a silver lining.

The rule of surveillance is to keep quiet and let others do the talking. The Oscar-nominated documentary The Gatekeepers flips the script, to astonishing effect, giving voice to the retired directors of Shin Bet, Israel's domestic intelligence agency.

An up-close and personal look at the psychology of war -- their war and, by extension, all war.

A riveting firsthand account of how legitimate security concerns can lead to policies considered extreme and even immoral by the people administering them.

Extraordinary...not only an engrossing first-hand account of Israel's Palestinian policies over time, but one that may have lessons to teach both Israeli leaders and other nations confronting those they identify as terrorists.

Unprecedented and deeply unsettling, it offers little hope for a lasting peace in that war-torn region.

For its candor and impact, deserves to be seen and discussed.

An often remarkable Israeli documentary about Shin Bet, the country's internal security agency.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_gatekeepers_2012/

Katie Ledecky Aaron Ross Sikh temple Nastia Liukin Gabby Douglas hair Kayla Harrison Mars landing