National Briefing | West: California: Toll Rises From Poisonous Mushroom Soup

A third person has died from eating soup made from poisonous mushrooms at a senior care center, authorities said Wednesday. The person’s name was not released. Three other people were sickened at the Gold Age Villa in Loomis. The caretaker who prepared the soup, who was among those sickened, apparently picked them from the backyard of the six-bed facility and did not know they were poisonous.

Read More..

Hostess wins court approval to shut down

Twinkies maker Hostess Brands Inc. won court approval to start shutting down operations, selling its assets and laying off its 18,500 workers, after the failure of an 11th-hour mediation to try to resolve a labor dispute.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain gave Hostess the go-ahead Wednesday to sell its plants and brands after he presided over the closed-door talks Tuesday with the company and the striking Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco and Grain Millers Union, which represents about 5,000 Hostess workers.

Heather Lennox, a lawyer for Hostess, said in court that the company has received a "flood of inquiries" from potential suitors.

Among the possible bidders are Nature's Own parent Flowers Foods Inc., Sun Capital Partners Inc., Sara Lee owner Grupo Bimbo, Pabst Blue Ribbon owner C. Dean Metropoulos & Co. and investment firm Hurst Capital, according to reports and analysts.

An outpouring of concern and nostalgia broke out last week when Hostess said publicly that it would shut down. It held back to give mediation a try, but Wednesday's action kindled disappointment among workers' families.

"My uncle lost his job of 27 years working for Merita Bread (partnered with Hostess)," tweeted user @sunlightmocha. "He had only ever taken ONE sick day. It's so sad."

"I'm so sad Hostess went out of business," tweeted user @NikkiKiley1. "My dad lost his job and I will never get to eat a Twinkie again. What a bad day."

"This is truly a sad day for thousands of families," said Ken Hall, general secretary-treasurer of the non-striking Teamsters union, the largest at Hostess with 6,700 members.

The 82-year-old company said that it would shrink its head count to 3,200 workers in the coming months and that those remaining would stay until the liquidation is done, which it said would take a year.

Hostess, based in Irving, Texas, will end up closing 33 bakeries, 565 distribution centers and 570 bakery outlet stores nationwide. In Southern California, the maker of Ho Hos, Ding Dongs, Dolly Madison Cakes, Wonder bread and other products employed more than 500 workers at the start of the year.

Hostess filed for bankruptcy in January for the second time in a decade.

It first moved to shut down its operations Friday, blaming the union for a strike that "crippled its operations at a time when the company lacked the financial resources to survive a significant labor action."

The baker said its "inflated cost structure," which it attributed primarily to its collective bargaining agreements, put it at a "profound competitive disadvantage."

Workers who walked off their jobs accused Hostess of awarding pay increases to executives while pillaging employee benefits and wages.

In court Wednesday, Drain noted that the failure of the talks was the result of disagreements and not the fault of either party. He allowed the company to remain in control of the liquidation, rejecting a request to turn the Chapter 11 proceeding into one overseen by the U.S. trustee's office under Chapter 7.

The company will return to court later to seek approval to sell off specific brands, which financial advisors testified could generate $1 billion in proceeds.

Last year, Hostess reported sales of $2.45 billion, down 2% from the year before, according to estimates from research group PrivCo. The company's net loss more than doubled to $341 million from $136 million, according to the report.

tiffany.hsu@latimes.com

Read More..

LAFD looks at ways to speed up emergency response times

Los Angeles Fire Department officials, facing criticism over slow response times to 911 calls, are considering two new strategies that could get rescuers to the scene of medical emergencies more quickly.

One program, known as "quick launch," reduced the time it took to get fire units moving by an average of 50 seconds — roughly in half — during a test period in 2006. The experiment allowed dispatchers to send units before fully determining the nature of emergencies, according to internal LAFD documents obtained by The Times.

The test was discontinued because so many rescue units were being dispatched that it created gaps in coverage, department officials said during a Fire Commission meeting Tuesday. "It ties up resources," Fire Chief Brian Cummings explained to reporters.

FULL COVERAGE: 911 breakdowns at LAFD

But with pressure building to reduce response times, Cummings and the fire commissioners said Tuesday that the department will reexamine the program to see if it can be improved.

The agency also plans to roll out a separate program that would quickly alert paramedics and emergency medical technicians whenever a 911 call is received from their area. The alert would give rescuers a head start on gathering gear and getting into their trucks while dispatchers collect information on the nature of the emergency, according to the commander of the LAFD dispatch center.

The department is struggling to improve its data analysis and trying to reassure the public and elected officials about its emergency response performance. Fire officials have been under scrutiny since March, when they acknowledged that for years they had produced reports that made it appear rescuers were getting to victims faster than they actually were.

Fire commissioners on Tuesday also discussed a study by a special task force that found the department has produced inaccurate response-time data that should not be relied upon. Some of the faulty reports were used by City Council members when they decided to shut down fire engines and ambulances at more than one-fifth of the city's 106 firehouses.

A Times investigation earlier this year found LAFD's dispatchers lag well behind national standards that call for rescuers to be sent to those in need in under 60 seconds on 90% of 911 calls. Those findings were confirmed this week in the report from the task force, which was headed by Asst. Chief Patrick Butler and included experts from inside and outside the department.

The quick-launch dispatching experiment was conducted over a four-week period in the summer of 2006. Dispatchers normally ask callers a series of carefully scripted questions to determine the severity of a medical incident. The answers typically must be entered into a computer before firefighters are dispatched.

The pilot program got rescuers rolling earlier in the 911 call-handling process. The 50-second reduction in average dispatching time exceeded officials' expectations and was "especially encouraging," according to an internal LAFD study obtained by The Times.

But Asst. Chief Daniel McCarthy, commander of the LAFD dispatch center, said firefighters were being sent to shooting scenes and other potentially dangerous locations not knowing what to expect.

"We put people at risk when we did that," McCarthy told The Times.

He said the department also will deploy a new dispatching system known as "quick alert." Rescuers will be notified over loudspeaker and by Teletype as soon as a medical 911 call is received involving their fire station's service area, speeding up so-called turnout time. Special notification equipment is expected to be installed at fire stations over the next 18 months, McCarthy said.

Last week, The Times reported that waits for medical aid vary dramatically across Los Angeles' diverse neighborhoods. Residents in many of the city's most exclusive hillside communities can wait twice as long for rescuers as those living in more densely populated areas in and around downtown, according to the analysis that mapped out more than 1 million dispatches since 2007.

Cummings acknowledged the findings on Tuesday, saying waits for help are longer in areas farther from fire stations.

"It is a matter of geography," the chief said. "Personally, if I had a serious medical condition, I'd live close to a hospital."

FULL COVERAGE: 911 breakdowns at LAFD

robert.lopez@latimes.com

ben.welsh@latimes.com

Read More..

One Direction's 2nd CD hits No. 1, sells 540,000

NEW YORK (AP) — One Direction's "Take Me Home" is the taking the boys to the top of the charts — and to new heights.

The group's sophomore album has sold 540,000 in its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It's the year's third-highest debut behind Taylor Swift's "Red," which sold 1.2 million units its first week earlier this month, and Mumford & Sons' "Babel," which sold more than 600,000 albums in September in its debut week.

"We just want to say a massive thanks to all the fans who have supported us," band member Harry Styles, 18, said in an interview Tuesday from London. "We can send tweets and thank them, but 140 characters is never going be enough to say how much it means."

The album also debuted at No. 1 in the United Kingdom this week. The fivesome's debut, "Up All Night," came in at No. 2 in the United Kingdom last year; it was just released in March in America, where it hit No. 1 and has achieved platinum status.

"We were a little bit nervous about how people were going to take it," 19-year-old Niall Horan said of the new album during tour rehearsals. "Everyone gets that second album syndrome."

They say though they're excited, they won't be celebrating too much: "We're finishing rehearsing soon and we're going home to bed."

One Direction, who placed third on the U.K. version of "The X Factor" in 2010, is signed to Simon Cowell's Syco label imprint. In just a year, the band has become worldwide sensations, thanks to its feverish fans. They released a book and have a Nickelodeon show and 3-D movie planned. They also made the cut for Barbara Walters' most fascinating people of 2012 list, which includes New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and U.S. gold medalist Gabby Douglas.

One Direction says those experiences have helped the group mature.

"We've been working hard. We're starting to grow up," Horan said. "We're still young, but we've passed the initial teenage years. ...We've grown up quite quick in the job we have to do and we became a lot more independent."

The group — which includes Zayn Malik, Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson — will launch a worldwide tour in February. They hope to work with Katy Perry and are still trying to adjust to the celebrity and fame that has taken over their lives.

"I can see how it gets to people. I guess it's quite easy to get wrapped up in it all," Styles said. "We do the same things every other lad our age does. We go out, we have fun, we meet girls and stuff like that. Sometimes it gets written about, which, yeah, we think about it and it's absolutely crazy. It's still a bit weird thinking that that's the way it is."

___

Online:

http://www.onedirectionmusic.com/us/home/

___

Follow Music Mesfin on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MusicMesfin

Read More..

Well: The 'Love Hormone' as Sports Enhancer

Is playing football like falling in love? That question, which would perhaps not occur to most of us watching hours of the bruising game this holiday season, is the focus of a provocative and growing body of new science examining the role of oxytocin in competitive sports.

Phys Ed

Gretchen Reynolds on the science of fitness.

Oxytocin is, famously, the “love hormone,” a brain peptide known to promote positive intersocial relations. It makes people like one another, especially in intimate relationships. New mothers are awash in oxytocin (which is involved in the labor process), and it is believed that the hormone promotes bonding between mother and infant.

New-formed romantic couples also have augmented bloodstream levels of the peptide, many studies show. The original attraction between the lovers seems to prompt the release of oxytocin, and, in turn, its actions in the brain intensify and solidify the allure.

Until recently, though, scientists had not considered whether a substance that promotes cuddliness and warm, intimate bonding might also play a role in competitive sports.

But the idea makes sense, says Gert-Jan Pepping, a researcher at the Center for Human Movement Sciences at the University of Groningen in The Netherlands, and the author of a new review of oxytocin and competition. “Being part of a team involves emotions, as for instance when a team scores, and these emotions are associated with brain chemicals.”

Consider, he says, what happens during soccer shootouts. For a study that he and his colleagues published in 2010, they watched replays of a multitude of penalty shootouts that had decided recent, high-pressure World Cup and European Championship games.

They found that when one of the first shooters threw his arms in the air to celebrate a goal, his teammates were far more likely to subsequently shoot successfully than when no exuberant gestures followed a goal.

The players had undergone, it seems, a “transference of emotion,” Dr. Pepping and his colleagues wrote. Emotions such as happiness and confidence are known to be contagious, with one person’s excitement sparking rolling biochemical reactions in onlookers’ brains.

In the shootouts, he says, each player almost certainly had experienced a shared burst of oxytocin, and in the rush of positive feeling, had shot better.

It is difficult, however, to directly quantify changes in oxytocin levels during sports, largely because of practical logistics. Few teams (or referees) will willingly pause games or celebrations after a thrilling play in order for scientists to draw blood.

But there are hints that physical activity, by itself, may heighten production of oxytocin. In a 2008 study, distance runners had significantly higher bloodstream levels of oxytocin after completing an ultramarathon than at the start.

More telling, in a study presented last month at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in New Orleans, male prairie voles that exercised by running on wheels over six weeks displayed changes in their nervous systems related to increased oxytocin production and bonded rapidly and sturdily with new female cage cohabitants, while unexercised males showed little interest in any particular mate.

“Lots of stresses can trigger oxytocin release, among them exercise,” says William Kenkel, a doctoral candidate at the University of Illinois at Chicago, who led the study. He continued that “it stands to reason, then,” that such exercise-related oxytocin release “could facilitate social bonding.”

What this means for competitive athletes is that, in unexpected ways, every game or race may be a kind love match. And that’s good, Dr. Pepping says.

“In any social setting that requires some form of social interaction, be it cooperation, trust or competition, we require social information to guide our behavior and a nervous system and associated brain chemicals that are sensitive to this social information,” he said. A player needs to accurately scrutinize the body language of his or her opponents and teammates in order to gauge how they will respond during the next play, he points out. They also generally benefit from a tug of fellow feeling toward teammates, their “in-group,” and antagonism toward the other team or competitors, the “out-group.”

Oxytocin facilitates the ability to read other people’s emotions, and it deepens bonds between group members and heightens suspicion of and antagonism toward those outside the group, Dr. Pepping says.

It is also believed, as blood and brain levels rise, to encourage gloating.

So oxytocin is almost certainly an essential, if unacknowledged, player in most competitions.

But people differ in how much oxytocin they produce and in how their bodies respond to the hormone, a situation that has not, to date, been considered when judging athletes and their potential, Dr. Pepping points out, or when planning training routines. “Performance is not simply a matter of physique and strength” or of technique, he says. “It is important to start taking social emotions seriously,” he says, “and in particular those linked to positive emotional experiences.”

Encourage athletes to celebrate openly after a big play or new personal record (within the bounds of what referees will tolerate, of course). High-five often. Even gloat. “A healthy degree of gloating,” prompted by squirts of oxytocin, “could well be associated with and feed an athlete’s self-confidence,” Dr. Pepping says.

Athletes, by the way, aren’t the only group affected by oxytocin in a sports setting, “Sports fans, too, experience spurts of oxytocin release,” Dr. Pepping says, including the half-hearted. “Even when you don’t much like sports,” he says, watching others high-five and leap about the living room after their favored team scores will lead “your body to release oxytocin.” At that moment, we are all a fervent Bears or Giants or Oklahoma City Thunder fan, whatever we might think, in our more sober moments, about that James Harden trade.

Read More..

Ex-hedge fund manager Mathew Martoma accused of insider trading

NEW YORK — After building a huge stake in two drug companies, hedge fund manager Mathew Martoma told his powerful boss on a Sunday morning that they had to immediately dump their position.

It was an unusual request even by the outsized standards of Wall Street, but the hedge fund quietly liquidated its $700-million position within days.

Federal authorities suggested Tuesday why Martoma was in such a hurry back in 2008 — he'd allegedly gotten an illegal tip about big problems with the companies' developmental Alzheimer's drug. It was the most profitable insider-trading scheme in U.S. history, netting $276 million in profit and avoided losses, according to prosecutors.

But it resulted in criminal charges against Martoma and a swirl of questions about his boss, Steven Cohen, who is one of the most celebrated figures on Wall Street.

Cohen is worth an estimated $8.8 billion and lives in a 35,000-square-foot mansion in Greenwich, Conn., that includes an ice rink and Zamboni machine. He helped bankroll a failed bid last year to buy the Dodgers.

His firm, SAC Capital Advisors, has drawn attention in recent years as the government launched a massive crackdown on insider trading.

The hedge fund reportedly told clients it received a subpoena seeking a "broad" array of documents in late 2010. Around that time, two hedge funds founded by SAC alumni were raided by FBI agents as the government pursued its insider probe.

Martoma is the fifth person affiliated with SAC Capital to be charged in insider-related cases. Cohen's ex-wife sued him three years ago, alleging that her former husband amassed his fortune partly through insider trading.

Cohen was not named in the dual federal and civil complaints Tuesday, but experts said the government might have him in its sights.

In a civil complaint filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Cohen is referred to as "Portfolio Manager A," the Wall Street Journal reported. The companion criminal action lists Cohen as the "owner" of hedge funds involved in the scheme, the Journal said.

"He is to hedge funds what Michael Milken, back in the '80s, was to investment bankers," said John Coffee, a law professor at Columbia University. "The government seems to be within one move of getting a key witness against one of the most important figures in the new universe of hedge funds."

An SAC spokesman disputed that.

"Mr. Cohen and SAC are confident that they have acted appropriately and will continue to cooperate with the government's inquiry," the spokesman said in a statement.

Martoma's lawyer denied wrongdoing by his client.

"Mathew Martoma was an exceptional portfolio manager who succeeded through hard work and the dogged pursuit of information in the public domain," the lawyer, Charles Stillman, said in a statement. "What happened today is only the beginning of a process that we are confident will lead to Mr. Martoma's full exoneration."

The case revolves around a drug developed by Irish biotechnology company Elan Corp. and New Jersey-based pharmaceutical giant Wyeth, which was acquired by Pfizer Inc. in 2009.

Martoma specialized in healthcare stocks for an SAC unit called CR Intrinsic. He got a series of tips about the drug, bapineuzumab, from Dr. Sidney Gilman, a neurology professor at the University of Michigan, the government said.

Gilman consulted for Elan and Wyeth. Martoma was connected to Gilman by an "expert network" that matches investors with specialists in various fields.

After initial optimism about bapineuzumab, a clinical trial showed disappointing results. Gilman allegedly alerted Martoma to the test results shortly before public disclosure in July 2008, prompting Martoma's 8:52 a.m. email to Cohen.

The subsequent selling accounted for a whopping 20% of Elan's trading volume and 11% of Wyeth's at one point, according to the FBI. The fund even bet against the companies by "shorting" their stocks.

"And so, just like that, overnight, Martoma went from bull to bear as he tried to dig his hedge fund out of a massive hole," Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, said at a news conference.

Elan shares slumped 42% the day after the results were revealed.

Martoma is the fifth former SAC employee and the 73rd defendant accused of insider trading by Bharara's office since August 2009. Of those defendants, 69 have been convicted, most of them through plea agreements.

Bharara's office agreed to not prosecute Gilman, 80, in exchange for his testimony.

Martoma, 38, got an annual bonus of $9.3 million, primarily stemming from the profits in Elan stock, according to the government.

He got no bonus after disappointing years in 2009 and 2010 and was terminated in 2010. According to the government, an email recommending his termination said Martoma appeared to be a "one trick pony with Elan."

andrew.tangel@latimes.com

walter.hamilton @latimes.com

Read More..

Israel, Hamas keep up attacks as talks continue in Egypt

GAZA CITY — As negotiators worked on a tenuous cease-fire deal, Israel and Hamas pounded each other for a sixth day and anger rose in the Gaza Strip over the increasing number of casualties.

Hopes for a truce grew Monday night when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened Cabinet members to discuss the details of what was said to be a multiphase, multiyear cease-fire agreement.

Officials in Egypt, where the talks were underway, expressed cautious optimism. Arab League leaders and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who was visiting the region, were trying to help negotiate a deal. The White House said President Obama, who is visiting Asia, called Netanyahu and Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi on Monday.

Israel is seeking assurances from Egypt that Hamas will halt rocket fire into Israel and not be allowed to rebuild the weapon caches that Israel has destroyed in recent days. Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, wants an end to the land and sea blockade that has crippled its economy, and to targeted killings of its leaders by Israel.

Any sort of agreement must overcome huge obstacles. Israel views Hamas as a terrorist organization and the Islamist militant group refuses to recognize Israel's right to exist.

Even if the two don't alter those stances, any internationally endorsed truce would usher in a new phase in their relationship. Previously Israel and Hamas have refused direct negotiations, occasionally reaching informal agreements brokered through intermediaries, such as last year's deal to release captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

There are sizable risks for both sides, but also opportunities, said Doron Avital, a lawmaker with Israel's centrist Kadima party and a former commander of an elite military unit.

Hamas would win some of the international legitimacy it craves, but it would also need to moderate its behavior, just as the Palestine Liberation Organization did after signing the Oslo peace accords in 1993.

"It might elevate the status of Hamas, but that will also mean that Hamas will have to play realpolitik," Avital said. "It can't stay a terrorist organization forever. There's an interesting potential here."

Heated comments by Hamas political chief Khaled Meshaal during a Cairo news conference Monday underscored the level of animosity. He called Netanyahu a "child killer" and "murderer."

"It is Netanyahu who asked for a truce," Meshaal said. "Gazans don't even want a truce."

For Israel, besides gaining an end to rocket attacks from Gaza, a deal might start the process of encouraging Hamas to become more moderate. And if Egypt guarantees an agreement, it would be directly invested in keeping Hamas unarmed.

With no cease-fire in place, Israel has massed soldiers and armor along the Gaza border in preparation for a possible invasion. But ground fighting would almost certainly lead to more Israeli and Palestinian casualties, and voices on both sides have cautioned against it.

Some said the negotiations may have led to an uptick in violence in recent days, as each side attempts to intimidate the other before a truce is called.

Palestinian casualties were relatively low in the first days of the conflict, but have increased as Israel's air campaign hit targets in more populated areas. On Monday, Israel attacked the Sharouk communications building in Gaza City where it said four senior members of the Islamic Jihad militant group were meeting.

Among the dead was Ramez Harb, a Palestinian journalist. Israel said he was a legitimate target because he served in the information department of Islamic Jihad.

Hamas' Health Ministry said 107 people had been killed in Gaza, including more than two dozen children. At least 850 people had been wounded.

Three Israelis have died in the barrage of rockets from Gaza and a dozen have been wounded, including three on Monday. An additional 135 rockets were fired Monday, pushing the total over the last week to more than 1,000. Hamas has fired rockets at Tel Aviv and Jerusalem for the first time.

The White House said Obama, in his conversation with Morsi, emphasized that the rocket fire into Israel must end.

In a somber sign of the climbing death toll, hundreds of Gazans crowded around the Shifa Hospital morgue Monday morning in a familiar ritual: collecting the bodies of loved ones.

Read More..

Alda, Lear honored at 40th International Emmys

NEW YORK (AP) — Glee co-creator Ryan Murphy paid tribute at the International Emmy Awards Monday night to television legends Norman Lear and Alan Alda, whose cutting-edge, socially-conscious shows in the '70s changed the face of television.

Unlike previous years when Britain dominated the awards honoring excellence in television production outside the U.S., the winners in the nine categories this year spanned six countries. Argentina, Brazil and Britain each won two Emmys; Australia, France and Germany had one apiece.

Murphy closed the awards ceremony by delivering a moving tribute to Lear, now 90, and "M(asterisk)A(asterisk)S(asterisk)H" star Alda as he presented them with the 40th Anniversary Special Founders Award. The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences marked the milestone anniversary by presenting special awards honoring a producer and performer who had groundbreaking shows on TV in 1972 when the International Emmys were first presented.

Fittingly, the night's big winner was Argentina's "Television x la Inclusion," a drama produced by On TV Contenidos dealing with issues of social exclusion and inclusion. It became the first series in the history of the International Emmys to sweep both acting categories.

Dario Grandinetti, who starred in Pedro Almodovar's film "Talk to Her," won the best actor award for his portrayal of a divorced, xenophobic taxi driver determined to drive out his Peruvian neighbors.

Cristina Banegas, a Argentine theater, film and TV actress, was honored as best actress for her role as the mother of a girl with Down syndrome who fights her health insurance company when it won't authorize life-saving heart surgery for her daughter.

The British winners were in the documentary category for "Terry Pratchett: Choosing to Die," about the author who after his Alzheimer's diagnosis travels to a Swiss clinic for a first-hand look at assisted suicide procedures, and "Black Mirror," a suspenseful and satirical look at the unease created by modern technology, in the TV movie/mini-series category.

Both of Brazil's wins went to TV Globo productions. "The Invisible Woman," about a publicist married to his boss whose relationship is threatened by the appearance in his life of his imaginary ideal woman, was chosen the best comedy. "The Illusionist," the story of a scam artist who becomes an illusionist after meeting a magician in jail, won in the telenovela category.

Murphy himself was honored midway through the awards ceremony hosted by Regis Philbin at the Hilton New York Hotel. Jessica Lange, the star of Murphy's contemporary gothic TV series "American Horror Story," presented him with the honorary 2012 International Emmy Founders Award.

Murphy, the writer, director and producer whose credits also include "Nip/Tuck" and "Popular," was recognized for the impact his shows have had in recognizing diversity and encouraging people to become more inclusive. With "Glee," Murphy also essentially created a novel TV format mixing music with drama/comedy.

At the end of the ceremony, Murphy returned to the stage to give the awards to Lear and Alda. Murphy recalled how moved he was when he watched Lear's sitcoms in his youth — "All in the Family" and its spinoffs "Maude" and "The Jeffersons," which decades later inspired him to produce "Glee" and "The New Normal."

Lear's shows were funny but tackled the key social issues of the day — racism, sexism, even abortion, rape and homosexuality — a sharp contrast to '60s hits like "The Beverly Hillbillies" and "Green Acres" which avoided race or other social problems.

Alda starred as the wise-cracking, anti-authoritarian Army surgeon Hawkeye Pierce on "M(asterisk)A(asterisk)S(asterisk)H, in which the Korean War served as a stand-in for social commentary on the Vietnam War. He became the only person ever to win U.S. Emmys for acting, writing and directing in the same series.

The other Emmy winners included France's police drama "Braquo," about a group of Parisian cops who circumvent the law, using violence and intimidation, for best drama series; Germany's "Songs of War," in which "Sesame Street" composer Christopher Cerf explores the relationship between music and violence after learning his songs had been used to torture prisoners in Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, for arts programming; and "The Amazing Race Australia" for non-scripted entertainment.

Six International Emmys for children's programming will be presented at a new awards ceremony on Feb. 8 in New York.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon gave a taped introduction before Korean entertainer J.Y. Park presented the honorary International Emmy Directorate Award to Kim In-kyu, president of the Korean Broadcasting System.

___

Online:

www.iemmys.tv

Read More..

Global Update: Meningitis Vaccine Gets Longer Window Without Refrigeration

In what may prove to be a major advance for Africa’s “meningitis belt,” regulatory authorities have decided that a new meningitis vaccine could be stored without refrigeration for up to four days.

The announcement was made last week at a conference in Atlanta of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. While a few days may seem trivial, the hardest part of protecting poor countries is often keeping a vaccine cold while moving it from electrified cities to villages with no power. In antipolio drives, for example, the freezers, generators and fuel needed to make ice for the shoulder bags of vaccinators can cost more than the vaccine.

The new vaccine, MenAfriVac, made in India for 50 cents a dose, was introduced in 2010. In bad years, epidemics during the hot harmattan winds have killed as many as 25,000 Africans and disabled 50,000 more. In Chad this year, vaccination drove down cases to near zero in districts where it was used, while others nearby had serious outbreaks.

Experts decided that the vaccine is safe for four days as long as it stays below 104 degrees.

While temperatures get higher than that in Africa, said Dr. Godwin Enwere, medical director for the Meningitis Vaccine Project, teams normally get the vaccine out of coolers at dawn, drive to villages and finish before the day heats up. Other experts said it should be kept in the shade and monitored with colored paper “dots” that darken after hours in the heat.

Read More..

Over-the-top cooking show 'Epic Meal Time' sizzles on the Web

The chef at Someone Cares Soup Kitchen is accustomed to preparing meals for hundreds of people using donated meat, vegetables and fruit.

But on a recent afternoon in Costa Mesa, the chefs of Internet cooking sensation "Epic Meal Time" were raising a skeptical eyebrow.

Among the "epic" meals added to the lunch menu: Fast Food Lasagna (whose main ingredient is 45 McDonald's cheeseburgers), the Angry French Canadian (an adaptation of the Quebec dish poutine, on this day made with French fries, bacon and cheddar cheese and topped with brown gravy and maple syrup), and TurBaconEpic, a super-size version of the Thanksgiving-themed stunt classic, in which a quail is stuffed inside a Cornish game hen, inside a chicken, inside a duck, inside a turkey — then slow-roasted inside a pig.

PHOTOS: Celebrity portraits by The Times

"We brought a whole bunch of our best-tasting recipes today to share with everyone here," said Harley Morenstein, the host of "Epic Meal Time." "So, I hope you enjoy it. If not, I apologize."

This isn't Ina Garten's "Barefoot Contessa." Morenstein and his cast of supporting characters aren't seeking the perfect bechamel sauce.

They're cooking big piles of meat, making such comically over-the-top meals as the barbecue Colosseum constructed out of ribs, cheeseburgers, hot dogs and macaroni and cheese, or a Christmas tree decorated with garland strands of chicken nuggets and 2,000 strips of bacon.

Online audiences — especially young men — eat it up. The weekly cooking show has attracted some 2.9 million subscribers on YouTube, and nearly a half-billion video views. The recent episodes "Chinese Pizza," "The Unbalanced Breakfast" and "Country Fried Meal Time" have each had more viewers than for a recent episode of TLC's popular "Cake Boss" or The Travel Channel's "Man Vs. Food." According to ratings firm Nielsen, new episodes of "Cake Boss" and "Man Vs. Food" attracted 1.5 million and 1.1 million viewers, respectively, in their initial TV outings.

PHOTOS: Hollywood back lot moments

Eager to reach the Web show's young male demographic, Frito-Lay North America Inc.'s Doritos brand, retailer GameStop Corp., subscription service Netflix Inc. and the publisher of the "Gears of War" video game have advertised on the channel.

The Web show is not without its detractors. The advocacy group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals featured a parody video called "Vegan Meal Time" on its blog and criticized the show's creators for "the nastiness of their gluttonous creations."

"'Epic Meal Time' seems to be a proud sponsor of the obesity epidemic," Jane Dollinger, a spokeswoman for PETA, said in a statement.

But "Epic Meal Time" has won some surprising fans who appreciate its satire of the over-serious TV cooking show. Healthful-eating advocate Jamie Oliver, who hosted ABC's "Food Revolution," even wrote the forward for the Web show's forthcoming cookbook.

Morenstein, who holds a degree in elementary education from McGill University in Montreal, was developing a children's show when he uploaded a video of him and a buddy cooking a pizza topped with melted cheese and McDonald's hamburgers. For fun, he tacked on nutritional information (6,000 calories and over 1,000 grams of fat) and invented the "Epic Meal Time" name to capture the gastronomical excess.

The October 2010 video was a modest YouTube sensation — attracting 150,000 views and coverage in the local newspaper. The next video, in which Morenstein created the Angry French Canadian sandwich, grabbed an even bigger online viewership and earned the 6-foot-6 host the nickname "Jackass in the kitchen."

In a bid for American viewers, Morenstein planned a Thanksgiving feast in which he created an exaggerated version of the legendary turducken. He dubbed his creation the TurBaconEpic.

"It got 2 million views in a week," Morenstein said. "I was like, 'OK, this is what we do for my life now.'"

In 2010, "Epic Meal Time" was accepted into YouTube's partner program, allowing it to share in online advertising revenue. To prepare, he wrote 200 to 300 cooking ideas for such things as a variation on spaghetti and meatballs, in which the pasta is stuffed into a meatball the size of a basketball.

Now, Morenstein's production company is profitable and supports a 10-person full-time team.

It collects revenue from advertisers attracted by its more than 30 million monthly video views, garners fees from marketers who are coming to the show's creator to develop branded content to promote their products and services, and operates a lucrative merchandising operation that sells everything from hats, hoodies and T-shirts to, soon, cooking utensils, said Dan Weinstein, chief content officer at Collective Digital Studio, Morenstein's management company and distribution partner.

Read More..