UK to start regulating e-cigarettes as medicines

A person poses with an electronic cigarette, or e-cigarette, Wednesday June 12, 2013, after it was announced that Britain will start regulating electronic cigarettes as medicines, according to the country's top regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency. E-cigarettes are battery-operated products that turn nicotine into a vapor that is inhaled by the user, and the new regulations coming into force from 2016 will control products containing nicotine as medications, but normal cigarettes are exempt from the regulation. (AP Photo / Tim Ireland, PA) UNITED KINGDOM OUT - NO SALES - NO ARCHIVES

A person poses with an electronic cigarette, or e-cigarette, Wednesday June 12, 2013, after it was announced that Britain will start regulating electronic cigarettes as medicines, according to the country's top regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency. E-cigarettes are battery-operated products that turn nicotine into a vapor that is inhaled by the user, and the new regulations coming into force from 2016 will control products containing nicotine as medications, but normal cigarettes are exempt from the regulation. (AP Photo / Tim Ireland, PA) UNITED KINGDOM OUT - NO SALES - NO ARCHIVES

LONDON (AP) ? Britain will start regulating electronic cigarettes and other products containing nicotine as medicines, according to the country's top regulator.

E-cigarettes are battery-operated products that turn nicotine into a vapor inhaled by the user.

The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency said in a statement Wednesday it would treat e-cigarettes as medicines, "so that people using these products have the confidence they are safe, are of the right quality and work."

E-cigarettes and other nicotine products will be licensed in the U.K. from 2016, giving manufacturers time to ensure their products comply with all standards for medicines. The U.K. regulator says e-cigarettes aren't recommended for use until then, but it won't ban them entirely.

"While it's best to quit completely, I realize that not every smoker can and it is much better to get nicotine from safer sources such as nicotine replacement therapy," Britain's chief medical officer, Sally Davies, said in a statement. "It's only right (e-cigarettes) are properly regulated to be safe and work effectively."

Cigarettes are exempt from the regulation.

Last week, Britain's independent health watchdog said smokers unable to go cold turkey should be encouraged to use nicotine products like gum and patches to help them cut down. It hadn't recommended e-cigarettes, because they weren't yet regulated. Experts say smokers are at risk from the toxins and tar in cigarettes, not the nicotine.

Smoking is the biggest cause of preventable deaths in England, killing about 80,000 people every year. Once e-cigarettes and other nicotine products are licensed by the U.K. regulator, they will be available for sale as over-the-counter medicines. Britain said it will now push for European law to recognize nicotine products as medicines.

Some manufacturers said they were concerned about the new classification. Damien Scott, commercial manager of e-cigarette maker SKYCIG, said the products have been self-regulated to ensure they meet consumer standards.

"Medical regulation, which could restrict access to these lifestyle products, is entirely unjustified," he said.

In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration announced in 2011 that it would regulate e-cigarettes as tobacco products and won't try to regulate them under stricter rules for medical drug-delivery devices following a legal battle.

The FDA, however, plans to assert regulatory authority over the fast-growing category in the near future.

E-cigarettes could also still be regulated as drugs or drug-delivery devices, if they are "marketed for therapeutic purposes" ? for example, as a stop-smoking aid.

____

AP Tobacco Writer Michael Felberbaum contributed to this report from Richmond, Virginia.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/bbd825583c8542898e6fa7d440b9febc/Article_2013-06-12-Britain%20E-Cigarettes/id-5b464c954ce34620af67488ef7d12aa1

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Scott Weiland Files $7 Million Countersuit Against Stone Temple Pilots

'Without Weiland, the band ceases to be the same musical group that millions of fans recognize and love,' reads the suit answering the band's previous legal maneuver.
By Gil Kaufman

Scott Weiland
Photo: Tibrina Hobson/ Getty Images

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1708387/scott-weiland-stone-temple-pilots-countersuit.jhtml

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Glass Lewis advises no vote on Sprint-SoftBank deal

By Sinead Carew

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sprint Nextel Corp shareholders should not vote on SoftBank Corp's takeover bid on June 12 while Dish Network's rival $25.5 billion offer was still being reviewed, proxy advisory firm Glass Lewis said on Tuesday.

Dish's proposal "appears to be a bona fide offer from an interested and capable third-party" and is potentially superior to SoftBank's $20.1 billion bid to buy 70 percent of Sprint, the firm said.

It would be premature to vote on the Japanese company's bid at a special meeting on June 12 while the No. 3 U.S. wireless provider's board was still evaluating the Dish proposal, it said.

The recommendation contradicted that of bigger advisory firm Institutional Shareholders Services last week. ISS told investors to support SoftBank's proposal, even as it noted that it had not analyzed Dish's billion rival bid.

Sprint declined to comment on the Glass Lewis advisory.

MULTLI-COMPANY MERGER TANGLE

The fate of the battle over Sprint may be tied to another takeover fight.

Dish is also challenging Sprint in a takeover battle for smaller wireless service provider Clearwire Corp , which has valuable wireless airwaves both companies want. Clearwire is already majority owned by Sprint.

Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen on Tuesday defended his company's $4.40 per share bid for Clearwire against Sprint's claims on Monday that Clearwire could not accept Dish's offer without breaking the law.

Ergen argued, however, that Clearwire could legally accept Dish's offer without violating agreements with its existing shareholders and dismissed Sprint claims as "incorrect and misleading."

For example, Ergen said his request that Clearwire allow Dish to pick three directors would involve a nomination process that was "carefully designed to comply with applicable law and the existing rights of Clearwire stockholders including Sprint."

Ergen also said Dish's offer would not require Sprint to forfeit any of its rights as Clearwire's biggest shareholder.

"Nevertheless, Sprint does not and will not have the power to trample the rights of Clearwire's special committee and its minority stockholders to pursue a superior transaction," he said.

Clearwire shareholders are due to vote on Sprint's offer to buy out minority shareholders for $3.40 per share on June 13, but a special committee for Clearwire is also reviewing Dish's offer in the meantime.

Sprint declined to comment on Ergen's letter.

Clearwire did not respond directly to Dish's statement, but said that its special committee continues to review the Dish offer and has not changed its recommendation in favor of the Sprint transaction.

Some analysts have been debating whether the Sprint meeting should come before or after the Clearwire vote. But Sprint spokesman Doug Duvall said on Tuesday that his company was still moving ahead with the scheduled June 12 vote for SoftBank's bid.

Bloomberg, citing unnamed sources familiar with that matter, reported earlier in the day that Sprint's board may consider delaying the shareholder vote on the SoftBank deal as it was waiting for a binding offer from Dish.

Dish said it was continuing to review Sprint's books. Sprint had allowed Dish a closer look at its books in case it results in a superior offer. In the meantime, Sprint continues to recommend the SoftBank offer.

Clearwire shares closed down 11 cents, or 2.5 percent, at $4.31 on Nasdaq before Dish issued its statement.

(Reporting by Sinead Carew and Ben Berkowitz; Editing by Maureen Bavdek and Richard Chang)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sprint-may-delay-softbank-shareholder-vote-bloomberg-183442250.html

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How to Fake Your Way Into More Freelance Writing Gigs | The ...

By Linda Formichelli

Last week I got an email from a lady who said her name, Joan, pegged her as an older writer ? and did that mean she was stuck writing for Mature Living magazine?

I get this question a lot, and I?d like to set my readers straight: Editors typically don?t care about your age, gender, sexual orientation, marriage status, parental status, or anything else.

All they care about is that you can come up with ideas that are relevant to their audience and write the articles in a way that resonates with this readership.

Cases in point:

• I wrote for the parenting magazines ? American Baby, Parenting, Toddler, and more ? before I even thought I wanted to have kids. (Many of the editors at Parenting also had no kids.)
• I?ve written for Men?s Fitness, Men?s Health, and Details. Do I look like a man to you? (Don?t answer that.)
• I wrote for magazines aimed at kids, such as Odyssey, Zillions, and American Careers for Kids, when I was in my late 20s ? far from being a kid.
• In the early 2000s, I wrote for a magazine for African American computer users. I use computers, but I?m Caucasian.
• I?ve written for credit union executives, print shop owners, restaurateurs, nurses, college students, engineers, janitorial business owners, and more. I?ve never been any of these things.

Convinced yet?

If you wrote only for people in your own particular demographic, you probably wouldn?t be writing enough to make a living.

Here?s how you can expand into markets you have no personal experience in:

Mine Your Background ? And Then Expand on It

If you have a background in an area, such as marketing, raising healthy kids, cooking, science, or dog training, brainstorm ideas in those topics. Then ? and this is the important part ? think of any possible market that would want articles on your topic, even if those publications target audiences you?re not a part of.

For example, say you?re a 45-year-old Caucasian man with an interest in marketing. You could slant and pitch your marketing article ideas to general business magazines, but also business magazines for women, Hispanics, MBA students, and so on.

Study the Markets

Every market type has its own style of writing, and each publication within that type may even have its own variations on that style.

For example, you?ll find that many of the health magazines aimed at men have a very edgy and even slightly raunchy style, with a big helping of funny. Many of the women?s health magazines, on the other hand, tend to be written in a light and mildly humorous way. And, surprisingly, the writing in the kids? magazines doesn?t talk down to children; the sentences may be a little less complex than those in grownup publications, but the publication?s writers know that kids are smart and savvy.

Once you?ve absorbed the different styles of the different publications, you can use this knowledge to create pitches that resonate with the various audiences.

Resist the Urge to Come Clean

Whatever you do, don?t come out to the editor as a non-man/Ph.D./Asian/parent/young woman/whatever. You don?t need to spill your guts over this. If you can come up with a fabulous idea and present it well, most editors won?t care if you?re a 146-year-old green alien from Mars.

And by the way, Joan ? the older names are coming back in style!

How about you ? have you ever written for a readership you don?t belong to? Please tell us all about it in the Comments so other writers can learn from your experiences!

Stick figure by my son T. It?s a male writer writing for a female readership. Thanks, T!

If you liked that post, you might also like:

Source: http://www.therenegadewriter.com/2013/06/03/how-to-fake-your-way-into-more-freelance-writing-gigs/

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Rookie among 4 Houston firefighters killed

Anne Sullivan was a gifted athlete filled with energy who came out of high school with a focus on being a firefighter. But about a month after graduating from the Houston Fire Department Academy, the 24-year-old was among four firefighters who died while searching for people they thought might be trapped in a blazing Houston motel and restaurant.

"She had a lot of energy and had her heart set at that," her father, Jack Sullivan, said Saturday.

Also killed in the collapse during the Friday afternoon fire at the Southwest Inn were: Capt. Matthew Renaud, 35, an 11-year veteran of the department; Engineer Operator Robert Bebee, 41, who joined the department almost 12 years ago; and Firefighter Robert Garner, 29, who joined the department 12? years ago.

The Houston Fire Department said 14 firefighters were taken to the hospital Friday. One remained in critical condition on Saturday and another was undergoing surgery. The rest were in stable condition and several have been released from the hospital.

The fire broke out just after noon at a restaurant connected to the Southwest Inn along a busy freeway and quickly spread to the section of the building housing the motel. About 150 firefighters responded and were able to get it under control within about two hours.

The fire was the deadliest in the 118-year history of the department.

Fire officials said they took a high risk in aggressively fighting the fire because they believed people were inside the motel. When a portion of the building collapsed, the firefighters were trapped.

Anne Sullivan, a soccer player and cross country runner in high school, joined the Wharton County Junior College Fire Academy after graduation. She graduated from the Houston Fire Department Academy in April.

Jack Sullivan said he was on his way home from work Friday when he heard about the fire and realized it was in his daughter's area.

"I'm thinking she could be involved, but maybe not," he said.

About 10 minutes later he heard that four firefighters had died in the blaze and began crying in his car. As he approached his house, he saw an emergency vehicle parked outside and knew his daughter was among those who had died.

"I knew right that instant," Sullivan said.

He said that while he'd tried to sway his daughter into a less dangerous line of work ? such as an EMT ? he knew that her heart was set on being a firefighter. At 5-foot-2, she had the "grit and determination" to realize her dream, he said.

"There was no stopping her," Sullivan said.

The father of Garner, Jerry Veuleman, told the Houston Chronicle (http://bit.ly/1aMsrEe ) that Garner was proud of his work and had set his sights on becoming a firefighter after leaving the military.

"'Use your training. Don't be a hero. God will look after you,'" Veuleman recalled telling him. "God chose it was time to take Robert and the other firefighters. We are sorry, but we are also blessed."

The Houston Fire Department Arson Division is taking the lead in the investigation of the fire, with assistance from the State Fire Marshal's Office, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Houston Police Department.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/4-firefighters-killed-houston-fire-mourned-145058544.html

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Tea Party Patriots ? Bipartisan foolishness to dictate your fitness

?Cause this is a top priority for the federal government ? never mind violations of the First and Fourth Amendments, balancing the budget, tax reform, federal transparency and corruption, apparently:

A new House bill?would task the?Department of Health and Human Services with creating exercise guidelines for all Americans. Under the bipartisan bill, introduced by Representatives Ron Kind (D., Wis.) and Aaron Schock (R., Ill.), HHS would publish a ?Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans? report every ten years that would recommend certain levels of exercise for different groups of Americans, with a special emphasis on children, based on ?current scientific and medical knowledge.?

But it?s not the only one! Since Congress apparently has too little on its plate:

Their bill is one of several introduced last week aimed at boosting the health and fitness of Americans. Kind and Schock also proposed the FIT Kids Act, H.R. 2178, which would create a new grant program for physical education and nutrition programs at schools.

The grant program would let states fund improvements to these programs in schools, as well as professional development for health and physical education teachers.

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) proposed a companion bill in the Senate.

The FIT Kids Act has similar goals to a bill proposed by Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio), who offered the Promoting Health as Youth Skills in Classroom and Life (PHYSICAL) Act, H.R. 2160. Her bill would designate physical and health education programs as ?core subjects? under federal law, which means they could use federal funds under Title I and Title II to improve these programs.

Let?s break this down:

1. Parents, you can?t do your job, so the federal government is going to recommend what you should do more than it already does.
2. If that bill can?t pass, there?s a bill giving federal dollars to your kids so they don?t get fat!
3. And, if those bills aren?t good enough for Congress, why, we?ll just consider PE as important as math, English, history, and science!

If personal fitness is this difficult, how could our parents and grandparents avoid obesity without Congress? involvement? Good thing these Representatives are on the job!

Rather than play biggest loser with our tax dollars, perhaps they would consider legislation to decrease the size and cost of the federal government; it costs nothing to leave American diet decisions alone. . Imagine what might happen if these Members introduced legislation addressing the following:

1. A liberal consumer group found this disturbing bit of data:

The report finds that between 1995 and 2011, $18.2 billion in tax dollars subsidized corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, corn starch and soy oils. That equals $7.58 per taxpayer per year. It also said taxpayers spent only $637 million since 1995 subsidizing apples.

?2. Last week, the Senate shot down an amendment to the farm bill that would have eliminated sugar subsidies. The sugar ?cartel,? as one person put it, receives a large subsidy from taxpayers ? getting rid of this would save consumers $3.5 billion and give families more dollars to spend elsewhere ? perhaps on gym memberships, or family vacations to the beach or ski mountains, or on healthier food.

Defenders of the program note in many years taxpayers do not see a net cost, as much of the program is in loans. However, according to E21 Senior Policy Analyst David Barnes, ?Federal agricultural policy is costly for taxpayers and consumers, especially our program protecting domestic sugar production. The current policy of USDA loans to producers puts taxpayers at substantial risk when sugar prices drop.?

3. According to the liberal organization US PIRG, the U.S. spends ?more than?$1.28 billion annually to subsidize the crops that are used as additives in manufacturing?cookies, candies, soda pop and other highly popular junk food?that arguably are among the primary contributors to childhood obesity.? At the same link, The Fiscal Times notes the tripling of childhood obesity in the last few decades is ?an alarming public health development that is contributing about?$150 billion a year to the overall cost of U.S. health care.?

In other words, your tax dollars are being used to make the country fatter, and cost the our overly expensive health care system even more.

4. Many Americans spend too much time watching TV. Perhaps a Bush-era tax credit for Hollywood should end.

?5. And, finally, The New York Times highlighted how the video game industry used special interest deductions, write-offs, and tax credits to participate in the $123 billion corporate welfare industry in 2010.

?Simply put, it is well outside of the realm of the Constitution for the federal government to spend taxpayer dollars on health guidelines for citizens. Members of Congress should focus on shrinking government, before waistlines.

Source: http://www.teapartypatriots.org/2013/05/bipartisan-foolishness-to-dictate-your-fitness/

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