LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Stan Lee‘s newest superhero creation, “Annihilator,” is coming to the big screen with the help of producer Barry Josephson and Magic Storm Entertainment, the company announced on Thursday.
Screenwriter Dan Gilroy (“The Bourne Legacy”) wrote the script for the film based on a treatment by Lee, which focuses on a Chinese expatriate named Ming who participates in a secret U.S. super solider program that gives him extraordinary abilities that complement his martial arts training. The reluctant hero is forced not only to face his personal demons, but must also to defeat a villain who will destroy everything that he knows and loves.
“One of my dreams when I became a producer was to work with Stan Lee,” Josephson said of the Marvel comic book legend. “Now with Dan Gilroy’s magnificent script, that dream will become a reality.”
Magic Storm hopes the story will appeal to American and Chinese audiences enough to launch an original franchise.
“Barry is the perfect partner at every level to produce a film of this magnitude that targets a global market, including mainland China.” said Eric Mika, CEO of Magic Storm. “Barry’s talents combined with Dan Gilroy’s explosive script makes Stan Lee’s treatment extremely powerful and a cornerstone for a unique franchise. “
“Dan’s story and character is unlike anything I have developed before,” Lee added. “So I wait with intrigue as we begin to reveal more details about the ‘Annihilator’ franchise and to hear what audiences think as they immerse themselves into his world through the film.”
Dough Falconer, whose latest project is Jamie Foxx-starring Wall Street drama “Why Should White Guys Have All the Fun,” will also produce the superhero flick.
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NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – In a new survey, most women had inaccurate perceptions about the safety and effectiveness of intrauterine devices (IUDs) in preventing pregnancy, say U.S. researchers, who urge doctors to talk more about the benefits of the devices.
In particular, many of the study participants didn’t know that IUDs are more effective contraceptives than the birth control pill and that the devices don’t increase the risk of getting a sexually transmitted disease.
“It’s not clear whether women have an overly optimistic view of the effectiveness of the birth control pill or an overly pessimistic view of the IUD,” said Dr. Lisa Callegari, the study’s lead author and a clinical assistant professor at the University of Washington.
Whatever their source, these misperceptions lead to underuse of “one of the most safe and effective methods” of birth control, said Dr. Jeffrey Peipert, an obstetrics and gynecology professor at Washington University, who was not part of the study.
IUDs, which include the brand name products ParaGard and Mirena, are small plastic or copper-and-plastic objects inserted into the uterus. They can be left implanted for years, and are more than 99 percent effective at preventing pregnancy.
In contrast, the birth control pill has been found in real-world practice to be about 95 percent effective.
Callegari said that earlier studies have highlighted some of the mistaken beliefs women have about IUDs, and she and her colleagues wanted to get a better sense of how common they are among average women visiting primary care clinics.
They surveyed more than 1,600 women between the ages of 18 and 50 who had visited one of four clinics in Pennsylvania.
Five percent of the women were currently using an IUD, and another 5.8 percent had used one previously.
Only about one in five of the women correctly stated that IUDs are more effective at preventing pregnancy than the Pill.
And just 28 percent knew that an IUD is more cost effective than the Pill when it is used for more than three years, the researchers report in the medical journal Contraception.
According to Planned Parenthood, the upfront costs of an IUD are between $ 500 and $ 1,000, whereas birth control pills can cost between $ 15 and $ 50 a month – so they become more expensive over time.
The women in the study were considerably more knowledgeable about the risk of disease related to an IUD, with 57 percent answering correctly that there is no greater risk of contracting a sexually transmitted disease with an IUD compared to the Pill.
Still, Peipert said he’s not surprised that women might view IUDs less favorably.
“There’s been a LOT of bad press about IUDs in the past,” Peipert wrote in an email to Reuters Health.
For instance, thousands of women have sued the makers of the Dalkon Shield, an IUD sold in the 1970s, because of injuries sustained from infections.
“It’s not surprising, because of the history of the IUD in the United States, that people still have inaccurate perceptions of the device,” said Dr. Rebecca Allen, an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Brown University, who was not involved in the study.
Currently available devices are considered to be much safer, said Allen.
Indeed, women over age 36 tended to have more misperceptions than younger women who took the survey, the researchers note in their report.
It’s likely, too, that many women are simply not as familiar with the devices as they are with the Pill, said Callegari.
According to a 2012 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 28 percent of women of reproductive age use oral contraception, making the Pill the most common form of birth control, followed closely by sterilization methods like getting the fallopian tubes “tied,” used by 27 percent of women.
The same CDC study found that IUD use had risen from 0.8 percent of reproductive-age women in 1995 to 5.6 percent in 2010.
To correct widespread misconceptions about IUDs, Allen said, health care providers should be encouraged to talk to their patients about the devices.
Among women who have never used an IUD, Callagari’s study found that those who had been counseled about the device by a health care provider were more knowledgeable than women who hadn’t discussed it.
“I think it helps to give more evidence that providers should be talking with patients about IUDs,” she told Reuters Health. “Women hear it and it affects their perceptions.”
Providers themselves might need to be educated too, however.
One recent survey of physicians found that 30 percent had outdated ideas about IUDs, including thinking they are unsafe for women who had never had a baby or being unsure about their safety (see Reuters Health story of March 28, 2012 here: http://reut.rs/HhJ0dH).
“We need to educate more primary care providers about the facts about IUDs so that they can counsel their patients,” said Allen.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/XP6lK8 Contraception, online February 18, 2013.
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21 February 2013 Last updated at 13:30 ET
The government needs to act now to make sure enough affordable homes are being built, campaign groups have said, after figures showed the number of housing starts in England fell 11% in 2012.
Housing charity Shelter said the government faced a “housing crisis” unless immediate action was taken.
The National Housing Federation also said more needed to be done to meet the huge demand for affordable homes.
A spokesperson for the government said ministers were “far from complacent”.
The Home Builders Federation said it was “still a challenging environment” in which to build homes.
“A lack of mortgage finance is the most important short-term issue and if buyers can’t buy, builders can’t build.
“But we have seen a much more positive start to the new year with an easing in lending and schemes like the government’s NewBuy enabling people to get a 95% mortgage,” the group said.
‘Unlock finances’
Latest figures from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) showed the number of new builds started in England fell to 98,280 in 2012.
The number of housing starts peaked at 183,000 in the year ending March 2006, but fell sharply in the downturn to a low of 75,000 in the year ending June 2009.
Since then starts have recovered somewhat to about 110,000 per year, but DCLG said recent quarters had seen them slip back again.
However, the most recent quarter, ending in December, saw a 1% rise compared with the previous three months.
David Orr, chief executive of the National Housing Federation, said: “Despite the current tough economic environment, the small signs of increased house building are encouraging – but more needs to be done across the whole sector to meet the huge need for more affordable homes.
“We expect housing associations, who are dealing with a radically new investment framework and a huge cut in funding for affordable housing, to continue finding innovative new ways to meet that demand.”
Campbell Robb, chief executive of Shelter, urged the government to use next month’s Budget to unlock the finance to deliver more affordable family homes.
“Unless action is taken now, it’s hard to see our housing crisis improving any time soon,” he said.
A DCLG spokesman said the latest figures showed “steady improvement” compared with the previous quarter.
He said: “The government is far from complacent, which is why, despite the need to tackle the deficit, we’re investing £19.5bn public and private funding in an affordable housing programme set to deliver 170,000 homes, putting £1.3bn into unlocking stalled sites and building the infrastructure we need and making enough formerly used, surplus public sector land available to deliver 33,000 new homes.”
BBC News – Business
CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian rights groups alleged Wednesday that police abuse and brutality are on the rise in detention centers and at demonstrations, which have intensified since the second anniversary of the uprising that ousted longtime leader Hosni Mubarak.
More than a dozen groups charged in a statement that police were reverting back to the systematic torture that prevailed under Mubarak’s autocratic regime. “Some of the crimes have even gone beyond that,” the statement said.
The groups hold President Mohammed Morsi, Egypt‘s first elected leader after Mubarak’s ouster, responsible for failing to stop or condemn such practices. They called on him to sack his interior minister, who oversees the police, and try him in connection with the deaths of nearly 60 protesters since last month across Egypt.
Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim denied Tuesday that his forces have shot at protesters, and said only the prime minister can fire him. Ibrahim said his forces don’t confront peaceful protesters, and have only used tear gas to break up the deadly riots.
As part of a 10-point initiative, the rights groups asked for more transparency and accountability on crimes committed against protesters since the uprising. They also called for an overhaul of the nation’s security forces.
In a widely watched TV program late Tuesday, one victim, whose case was documented by the groups, told viewers of harrowing treatment he received while he was detained for more than 48 hours earlier this month, including being forced to fall to his knees and bark.
“They asked me to choose a woman’s name so they can use (it) for me. It was the easiest part of the torture,” Ayman Mohanna told the privately owned ONTV station.
He said he was detained with nearly 50 others in a small room where the floor was flooded with water and then electrified.
“We would be jumping up and down like grilled fish,” he told the station.
Hossam Bahgat, the head of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, one of the groups documenting testimonies of detainees, said on the TV program that security agents used physical abuse mainly to extract confessions but also to humiliate and punish those who took part in protests.
The groups claim security agents’ crackdown on protesters and activists has intensified since Jan. 25, when hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets across Egypt to mark the second anniversary of the start of the uprising against Mubarak’s rule.
The protests were critical of Morsi and his government as many Egyptians are growing frustrated over the continued turmoil since Mubarak’s ouster in Feb. 2011. Rallies turned to clashes in several cities with police firing tear gas and protesters throwing stones at government offices. At least six civilians were killed.
The violence turned more deadly two days later when a court handed down death sentences to 21 residents of the coastal city of Port Said in connection with a deadly soccer riot a year ago. Angry locals gathered outside the city’s prison, demanding that their relatives be freed, and decrying the verdict as unjust.
According to the rights groups, Egyptian security forces opened fire on protesters and at funerals the following day, leaving more than 40 people killed. Ibrahim, the interior minister, claimed in comments to reporters that the first two people who died were policemen.
The rights groups claim the security forces used excessive force to break up the riots outside the prison.
“This has become more aggressive than during the Mubarak days,” said Malek Adly, a lawyer of the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights, one of the groups issuing the statement.
Adly compared the riots in Port Said with one of the most threatening protests against Mubarak before the uprising. In 2008, thousands of protesters tore down Mubarak’s pictures, stepped on them and clashed with the police in the city of Mahalla. Adly alleged that police were responsible for killing three people during that demonstration.
Adly also said more than 1,000 people, including minors, were detained in recent weeks.
Rights groups have also reported the death of a number of activists, including a member of an opposition group, who was allegedly tortured to death in detention. A state medical report denied he was tortured.
The groups say Morsi bears responsibility for failing to stop or condemn such practices. In at least one incident, Morsi thanked the police for the way it handled the protests and described the demonstrators as thugs or die-hard Mubarak loyalists trying to bring down the state.
“Matters were made worse by repeating mistakes of the past when the presidency and the government were late in intervening or condemning such crimes, or taking serious immediate measures to stop them and hold the culprits accountable,” the groups said in their statement.
The groups called for the sacking of the Morsi-appointed chief prosecutor for allegedly failing to investigate cases of abuse.
The discontent over the violent crackdown on protesters in the city of Port Said has turned into a general strike campaign in the city. For the fourth day, activists, factory workers and students held rallies in the city and observed a work stoppage that has brought the coastal city on the northern tip of the Suez Canal to a halt.
Shipping in the international waterway has not been affected.
In some cases, activists have enforced participation in the strike, chanting outside government offices for employees to join them and obstructing entrances to factories. On Wednesday, one of the largest companies operating a container terminal in Port Said said its workers were unable to reach the terminal the day before because of the strike.
The protesters are demanding retribution for those killed during the violent clashes late last month and a new investigation into the incident, which they blame on security forces.
Middle East News Headlines – Yahoo! News
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Mike Tyson is suing a financial services firm affiliated with Live Nation, claiming it cost him more than $ 5 million due to a former employee’s embezzlement and mismanagement.
The lawsuit filed Wednesday in Los Angeles claims an adviser from SFX Financial Advisory Management Enterprises embezzled more than $ 300,000 from the former heavyweight boxing champ. The suit claims the losses hindered Tyson and his wife from emerging from bankruptcy.
SFX is a subsidiary of Live Nation Entertainment Inc.
The case claims Tyson and his wife lost millions more by having to hire new attorneys and advisers to handle their financial affairs, and they had to turn down lucrative contracts.
Messages left for a Live Nation spokeswoman and at the Washington, D.C., offices of SFX were not immediately returned.
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NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Older adults who eat diets high in antioxidants may not have a lower risk of dementia or stroke, a new study suggests.
Researchers found that people who ate or drank lots of coffee, tea, oranges and red wine were just as likely to develop neurological problems over the next 14 years as those who skimped on antioxidant-rich foods.
“The literature on antioxidants and dementia has been mixed,” said Elizabeth Devore, who led the new research at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
Although there’s some evidence that specific vitamins have a protective effect in the brain, she said it’s unclear whether that’s the case for all antioxidants – which include vitamin C, vitamin E, selenium and flavonoids.
“There is the thought that overall antioxidants might be helpful, but it’s also true that if you actually look at the individual antioxidants, there’s not necessarily a reason to think that one would behave exactly the same way in the body as the next.”
The Netherlands-based study included 5,395 people aged 55 years and older, who reported their usual consumption of 170 different foods in 1990.
Devore and her colleagues tracked those participants over the next 14 years, during which 599 were diagnosed with dementia – including 484 with Alzheimer’s disease – and 601 had a first stroke.
People who consumed the most antioxidants, according to an analysis of their diets, were just as likely to end up having either of those neurological disorders as study participants who hardly got any antioxidants.
That pattern held after the researchers took into account people’s ages, how much they ate in general and whether they smoked, according to the findings published Wednesday in Neurology.
There was also no link between total dietary antioxidants and white or gray matter volume in the brain, according to scans done on 462 of the participants.
Since the study looked only at foods consumed, it can’t address whether antioxidant supplements may impact dementia or stroke risk, according to Devore.
Her team concludes that it’s still likely certain individual antioxidants have positive effects on the brain.
“There have been a number of studies that have shown that higher intake of dietary vitamin E is associated with lower risk of dementia,” Devore told Reuters Health. The same goes for vitamin C and stroke risk, she added.
That suggests people should continue eating plenty of fruits and vegetables, including berries, and seek out specific antioxidants, she said.
“For dementia specifically and stroke specifically, if you’re worried about those… you should try to take in vitamin E for dementia and vitamin C for stroke.”
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/csS3ol Neurology, online February 20, 2013.
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(Reuters) – Citigroup Inc chairman Michael O’Neill is not eager to explore a breakup of the third-largest U.S. bank, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
O’Neill was among a small group of directors who urged Citi to consider the benefits of splitting the bank after the financial crisis.
But he has concluded that breaking up Citigroup doesn’t make sense now, given economic and regulatory uncertainty, the Journal quoted the people as saying.
(Reporting by Aman Shah in Bangalore; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The number of U.S. drone strikes in Afghanistan rose sharply last year compared with 2011, the United Nations said Tuesday. The increase was a sign that unmanned aircraft are taking a greater role as Americans try to streamline the fight against insurgents while preparing to withdraw combat forces in less than two years.
Drones have become a major source of contention between the U.S. and countries like Pakistan, where covert strikes on militant leaders have drawn condemnation and allegations of sovereignty infringements as family members and other bystanders are killed.
They have not been a prominent issue in Afghanistan, however. While drone attacks have occurred, they have largely been in support of ground troops during operations and have not been singled out by President Hamid Karzai‘s administration in its campaign against international airstrikes.
The steep rise in the number of weapons fired from unmanned aerial aircraft — the formal term for drones — raises the possibility that may change as U.S. forces become more dependent on such attacks to fight al-Qaida and other insurgents as combat missions are due to end by the end of 2014.
The U.N. mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said 506 weapons were released by drones in 2012, compared with 294 the previous year. Five incidents resulted in casualties with 16 civilians killed and three wounded, up from just one incident in 2011.
Georgette Gagnon, the head of human rights for UNAMA, said it was the first year the U.N. had tried to document civilian casualties from drones.
The U.S. Air Force Central Command also recorded an increase, giving the numbers of weapons released by drones as 243 in 2009, 277 in 2010, 294 in 2011 and 494 in 2012.
Drones are highly effective and most nations have given Washington at least tacit agreement to carry out the attacks.
Peter Singer of the Washington-based Brookings Institution noted that the drone program in Afghanistan is run by the Pentagon, and therefore is more transparent than the CIA drone counterterrorism program in Pakistan.
Singer, who has written extensively about drones, said the number of operations in Afghanistan is increasing, but most are performed in support of troops on the ground.
“This is just another sign of how drones are becoming the new normal,” he said.
The U.N. figures were released as part of its annual report on civilian casualties in Afghanistan. Overall, the full-year toll of civilian deaths in 2012 declined to 2,754, a 12 percent decrease from 3,131 in the same period a year earlier. It was the first time in six years that the civilian death toll dropped.
But the toll spiked in the second half of the year as weather improved, compared with the same period in 2011, suggesting that Afghanistan is likely to face continued violence as the Taliban and other militants fight for control following the impending withdrawal of U.S. and allied combat forces.
The population also faced a sharp increase in assassinations and other insurgent attacks targeting government supporters.
Conflict-related violence struck more women and girls last year as well, with 301 killed and 563 wounded — a 20 percent increase from 2011, the report said.
The findings come as the war is reaching a turning point, with international troops increasingly taking the back seat in operations and Afghan government forces in the lead.
The total number of civilian deaths by airstrikes fell for the year after the U.S.-led coalition implemented stricter measures to prevent innocent people from being killed.
The U.N. said most civilian casualties from drone strikes appeared to be the result of weapons aimed directly at insurgents, but some may have been targeting errors. It cited the example of four boys killed Oct. 20 in Logar province when a drone struck after a clash between pro-government forces and insurgents a few kilometers (miles) away from the area.
UNAMA called for a review of tactical and operational policy on targeting to ensure compliance with international humanitarian law “with the expansion of the use of unmanned combat aerial vehicles” in Afghanistan.
George Little, a Pentagon spokesman, said the U.S. works hard to protect civilians.
“We take great care with our unmanned systems to conduct very precise targeting in Afghanistan, and we will continue to do so. When there are mishaps, we take steps to work closely with the government of Afghanistan and the affected individuals to express our concerns,” he said in Washington.
UNAMA said civilian casualties rose 13 percent to 4,431 in the second half of the year, including more from roadside bombs in public areas, compared with the same period in 2011.
That included 1,599 people killed and 2,832 wounded from July 1 to Dec. 31, a jump from 1,556 and 2,832 respectively in the same period the previous year.
It cited a growing number in civilian casualties from roadside bombs even as fewer bystanders were hurt in ground engagements in the country’s troubled south and east.
An Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman pledged to do everything possible to stop the insurgents from attacking civilians.
“They’re still using suicide bombers, they still use IEDs (roadside bombs) in the very populated areas and they still use civilians as a shield in the villages,” Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqi said. “The important thing is that civilian casualties should be decreased to zero.”
Most of the victims were killed by Taliban militants and other armed groups, while the number of civilian casualties at the hands of U.S. and allied forces dropped by nearly 50 percent, according to the report.
“The situation for civilians is still very difficult in many communities and many thousands of Afghans are still affected by the armed conflict, so we are again calling on all concerned to redouble their efforts, increase their efforts to protect civilians,” UNAMA’s Gagnon told reporters in Kabul.
The UNAMA report attributed the overall drop in civilian casualties for the year to a decline in suicide attacks, reduced numbers of airstrikes and “an unseasonably harsh winter which impeded insurgent movements and effects of earlier military operations against anti-government elements.”
But it expressed concern about the spike in targeted killings and human rights abuses by armed groups, a worrisome trend as the Afghan government works to assert control beyond its seat in Kabul.
The Taliban and other insurgents were responsible for 81 percent of the civilian casualties last year, the U.N. said. The report said so-called anti-government elements killed 2,179 civilians and wounded 3,952, a 9 percent increase in casualties from 2011.
Of those, 698 were killed in targeted attacks, often against government employees. That was up from 512 in 2011.
The number blamed on U.S. and allied forces, meanwhile, decreased by 46 percent, with 316 killed and 271 wounded in 2012. Most of those were killed in U.S. and NATO airstrikes, although that number, too, dropped by nearly half last year to 126, including 51 children.
The death of civilians in military operations, particularly in airstrikes, has been among a major source of acrimony between Karzai’s government and foreign forces.
The U.S.-led military coalition said in June it would only use airstrikes as a self-defense weapon of last resort for troops and would avoid hitting structures that could house civilians.
The report came a day after Karzai banned government forces from requesting foreign air support during operations in residential areas amid anger over an airstrike that killed at least 10 civilians in northeastern Kunar province last week.
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Associated Press writers Heidi Vogt and Amir Shah contributed to this report.
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Follow Kim Gamel at http://twitter.com/kimgamel
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LONDON (Reuters) – Scottish singer Emeli Sande is favorite to win the coveted British album of the year honor later on Wednesday when the BRIT Awards are handed out in London.
Sande, whose profile received a major boost when she took part in the opening and closing ceremonies at the London Olympics last year, has been nominated for three prizes on British pop’s biggest night.
She was shortlisted for best British female, which she is expected by bookmakers to win, and best British single for “Next to Me”. Sande also features on another contender for the single prize, Labrinth’s “Beneath Your Beautiful”.
Arguably the biggest category is British album, where Sande’s “Our Version of Events” is up against other acts who each picked up three nominations – Mumford & Sons for “Babel” and Alt-J for “An Awesome Wave”.
Sande, who had Britain’s best-selling album in 2012, has hit back at critics who have questioned whether she had been over-exposed in the last 12 months.
“I feel like it’s a bit unfair,” she told the Sun tabloid. “I actually haven’t done that much, but it’s just what I have done have been huge events.
“Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I worked so hard to get any exposure at all, so I don’t see that as a negative.”
Adele looks set to add to her groaning trophy cabinet with the best single award for James Bond theme “Skyfall”, while U.S. acts Lana Del Rey and Frank Ocean are bookmaker Ladbrokes’ favorites for best international female and male respectively.
“There’s a nailed on favorite in every category and it’s hard to see any last minute upsets at this stage,” said Ladbrokes spokeswoman Jessica Bridge.
It may be that the big surprises this year at the BRITs, which have a reputation of rewarding commercial success over musical originality, came at the nominations stage.
Last month eyebrows were raised when Amy Winehouse was nominated in the British female solo category some 18 months after her death for a chart-topping album of unreleased songs and demos called “Lioness: Hidden Treasures”.
And veteran rockers the Rolling Stones were shortlisted for best live act after they returned to the stage for a short, sellout tour of London and the United States at the end of 2012 to mark 50 years in the business.
The last time the group was nominated for a BRIT was in 1996, and the Rolling Stones are the only act to be nominated both at this year’s ceremony at the O2 Arena and at the first BRIT Awards staged in 1977.
Performing at the awards ceremony will be Taylor Swift, Justin Timberlake, Muse, Robbie Williams, Sande, Mumford & Sons, Ben Howard and One Direction.
(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)
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