White House preps Plan B if debt talks fail

White House press secretary Jay Carney (Charles Dharapak/AP)President Barack Obama's budget office is preparing for the possibility that "fiscal cliff" talks will fail, triggering painful automatic cuts to domestic and defense programs that he and his Republican foes officially want to avoid. White House press secretary Jay Carney described the planning as an abundance of caution, not pessimism about the seemingly stalled negotiations.

The White House's Office of Management and Budget this week "issued a request to federal agencies" for information needed to finalize calculations on the spending cuts required under what is technically known as "sequestration," Carney told reporters at his daily briefing. OMB is "acting responsibly," he added.

"The administration remains focused on reaching agreement, as we've been discussing, on a balanced deficit-reduction plan that avoids sequestration" he said. "This action should not be read … as a change in the administration's commitment to reach an agreement and avoid sequestration."Leaders of both parties have pledged to work together in the coming weeks, and we are confident, as I just said, that we can reach an agreement. However, with less than one month left before a potential sequestration order would have to be issued, the Office of Management and Budget must take certain steps to ensure the administration is ready to issue such an order should Congress fail to act."

Carney's comments came as talks on the fiscal cliff—a series of tax hikes and government spending cuts that could plunge the economy into a new recession—seemed to be making no headway. Obama and congressional Republicans have each put a proposal on the table but do not appear to be actively involved in negotiating a compromise. The president and Republican House Speaker John Boehner spoke by telephone, a House Republican aide said. They spoke "this afternoon—no other information," the aide said.

"If our offer is not acceptable to the president, then he has an obligation to show leadership by presenting a credible plan of his own that can pass both houses of Congress," Boehner said earlier. He accused Obama of snubbing spending cuts he accepted in the past (notably in failed 2011 negotiations) and failing to lay out "serious spending cuts."

"This is preventing us from reaching an agreement," Boehner continued. "With the American economy on the brink of the fiscal cliff, we don't have time for the president to continue shifting the goal posts. We need to solve this problem."

Obama, meanwhile, flatly dismissed the idea that Republicans might use next year's vote on raising the country's debt limit as leverage in current fiscal cliff negotiations, saying it won't be entertained by the White House.

While talks between Obama and Boehner appeared to be in a deep freeze, the president and congressional leaders met separately with top executives of the Business Roundtable association in Washington. A BRT official said the group met with Republican House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, then Democratic Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus and Republican Sen. John Thune, who sits on the Finance and Budget committees.

BRT Chairman Jim McNerney, president and CEO of Boeing, described the discussion with Obama as "candid and constructive" and the chat with congressional leaders as "constructive."

He noted that "we encourage both sides to work around the clock, if necessary, to avoid the severe repercussions that inaction would have on U.S. economic growth and job creation."

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WestJet embraces tech to woo business travelers

TORONTO (Reuters) – WestJet Airlines Ltd will use technological innovation, including a new Internet ticket booking system, to help it transform from a no-frills carrier to a lower-cost full-service airline courting lucrative corporate travelers, its chief executive said on Monday.

Canada’s second-biggest airline plans to launch a series of technology systems, most notably the new online booking engine, which will sell three tiers of tickets, in the next two months.

“Companies evolve or they die,” Chief Executive Gregg Saretsky told Reuters in a phone interview from the company’s Calgary head office.

“We’re 16 and going on 17 years old and we can’t stay just as we were 17 years ago. The world has changed. And we are changing to be more relevant for a broader segment of guests.”

The new Internet booking system, which WestJet hopes to launch in late January, will sell economy, mid-tier and premium tickets. That is a major shift from its current system, which sells only the lowest-priced ticket available.

Economy tickets under the new system will continue to sell the lowest available fare, but the cancellation fee for them will jump to C$ 75 ($ 75.48) from C$ 50. Mid-tier tickets will have a C$ 50 cancellation fee.

Premium tickets, unavailable until late March when WestJet finishes reconfiguring its 100 Boeing 737 planes to allow more leg room, will include priority screening and boarding, free cancellations and flexibility on ticket changes.

Pricing for those tickets, which may include free meals and drinks and an extra baggage allowance, has not yet been determined. Fares will be well below half the price for business class at WestJet’s bigger competitor, Air Canada, Saretsky said.

“It’s time for us to be more serious with respect to going after business travelers because frankly, they’re the ones who are booking last-minute and are happy to pay for the conveniences,” Saretsky said.

WestJet will launch its premium economy service with 24 seats per plane, but will consider expansion if it proves “wildly successful,” he added.

POISED FOR CHANGE

WestJet, which has spent about C$ 40 million over the past two years on technology projects, is poised for major changes in 2013 as it readies to launch a new regional airline, Encore.

Saretsky hopes that WestJet’s switch in coming weeks to a new Internet phone system will allow ticket reservation agents to work from home and help make room for Encore staff.

Some 750 reservation agents work at WestJet’s Calgary offices, which house about 2,400 staff. Space will be needed for Encore employees over the next 18 months while their office, hangars and maintenance stores are constructed at the WestJet campus.

Encore will be launch in the second half of 2013, “probably closer to July than December,” Saretsky said, with seven Bombardier Q400 planes.

While WestJet won’t announce Encore’s schedule until Jan 21, the carrier will initially serve only “a handful” of new cities, with ticket prices up to 50 percent below Air Canada’s, he added.

Over the next two months, WestJet will also roll out a guest notification system that alerts travelers via email about their flights, allowing them to check in remotely.

Such self-service technology will be critical as WestJet faces increasing labor costs, Saretsky said.

Wage and benefit costs, which represent about a third of operating costs, have climbed 50 percent since WestJet was founded in 1996.

“You can see that creates a little bit of drag on earnings,” Saretsky said. “We’ve got to find ways of reducing our component costs.”

If WestJet can increase self service options for travelers, that could limit the need for new employees, Saretsky said. Management also wants to improve attendance management, so that fewer employees book off sick around long weekends, and more quickly clean and process planes between flights, he said.

(Reporting By Susan Taylor; Editing by Peter Galloway)

(This story was corrected to show that WestJet is replacing its Internet booking engine, not entire reservation system, in the first and second paragraphs)

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Google updates Gmail for iOS to support multiple accounts, deliver autocomplete suggestions

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Disney, Netflix sign exclusive TV distribution deal

(Reuters) – Walt Disney Co agreed to give Netflix exclusive TV distribution rights to its movies, becoming the first major studio to stream its movies to TV viewers via Netflix instead of distributing them to HBO, Showtime or other premium TV channels.

The agreement begins in 2016, after Disney‘s current deal with Liberty Media’s pay-TV channel Starz expires.

The deal gives Netflix streaming rights to movies from Disney‘s live action and animation studios, including those from Pixar, Marvel, and the recently acquired Lucasfilms. Disney bought the famed studio founded by George Lucas and responsible for the “Star Wars” franchise for $ 4 billion on October 30.

Movies from Steven Spielberg’s DreamWorks studios are not included in the deal, as that studio distributes its movies through CBS’s Showtime on TV. Disney recently signed a deal to distribute DreamWorks’ films theatrically after the studio’s deal with Viacom’s Paramount Pictures expired.

Under the deal’s terms, Netflix can stream Disney movies beginning seven to nine months after they appear in theaters, as Starz had done in Disney’s prior agreement. The deal does not cover DVD rentals of Disney movies.

The agreement follows similar deals Netflix has inked with smaller studios, including Relativity Media, The Weinstein company and DreamWorks Animation.

Netflix shares were up 12.9 percent to $ 85.83 in afternoon trading following news of the agreement.

(Reporting By Ronald Grover; Editing by Peter Lauria and Tim Dobbyn)

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Medicare Open Enrollment Period Comes to a Close on Dec. 7

Oklahoma residents age 65 or older and disabled residents have until midnight Friday to make their choices for supplement health insurance and/or prescription drug coverage — as do the residents in the rest of the nation.

Medicare Open Enrollment 2012

Medicare recipients have the opportunity to choose whether or not to add additional health care coverage to that which Medicare provides during the annual open enrollment period of Oct. 15 through Dec. 7. Medicare recipients can choose between the more traditional supplemental health insurances or the Medicare Advantage plans. The Advantage plans have prescription coverage built into them, while someone who chooses a supplemental plan will likely need to purchase a Part D plan if they wish to have prescription drug coverage.

Where Can Oklahomans, Other Americans Go to Get Help?

Oklahoma senior residents can get free assistance in reviewing policies available in their areas from unbiased, knowledgeable sources via the Medicare Assistance Program provided by the Oklahoma Insurance Department, reported NewsOK.com, by calling 800-763-2828. Use this number also if you’d prefer to find someone in your area with whom you could visit on site or by phone to assist in your open enrollment decision-making.

Any Medicare recipient can also access free assistance and information in choosing the best supplemental or Advantage plan for your needs and area by visiting the Department of Health and Human Service’s Plan Finder, at healthcare.gov, medicare.gov or by calling 1-800-MEDICARE.

Do You Have to Change Plans Each Year?

If you like the benefits you are receiving with your current plan, and that plan is still being offered in your area, you don’t have to do anything for that same plan to be your coverage for 2013. Many health insurance experts advise you to compare your current plan with new plans that may have become available. Medicare.gov allows you to select and compare plans side by side to determine which is best for your individual situation.

What Other Issues Are Important in Choosing the Best Coverage for You?

The price of a policy is only one factor for your consideration when choosing the best coverage for you. One policy may charge more per month than another policy, but if the higher-priced policy would result in lower health care costs for you, you have to do the math to weigh the differences.

Medicare.gov also provides a star-rating system for each of the insurances, with five stars being the highest rating. This may or may not influence your choices.

Bottom Line

If you want your Medicare supplemental coverage to begin seamlessly on Jan. 1, you must make your choice before midnight on Dec. 7. Don’t hesitate any longer to find the information you need to make a good decision for yourself and your health care.

Smack dab in the middle of the baby boomer generation, L.L. Woodard is a proud resident of “The Red Man” state. With what he hopes is an everyman’s view of life’s concerns both in his state and throughout the nation, Woodard presents facts and opinions based on common-sense solutions.

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Conservative Republicans booted from House budget panel

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two of the most conservative Republicans in the House of Representatives have been kicked off the House Budget Committee, a rare move that could make it easier for the panel to advance a deal with Democrats to cut fiscal deficits.

Representatives Tim Huelskamp of Kansas and Justin Amash of Michigan - both favorites of the anti-tax Tea Party movement - are among those Republicans voting most often against House Speaker John Boehner.

Huelskamp and Amash, who both will begin second terms in the House next month, voted against last year's deal to raise the federal debt limit and staunchly oppose any tax increases. Boehner has now included new revenue in his latest offer to avert the "fiscal cliff" of year-end tax hikes and automatic spending cuts. Given their voting records, winning support from Huelskamp and Amash for such a compromise seemed an uphill battle.

Huelskamp released a statement saying the Republican leadership "might think they have silenced conservatives but removing me and others from key committees only confirms our conservative convictions.

"This is clearly a vindictive move and a sure sign that the GOP establishment cannot handle disagreement," he said.

Huelskamp and Amash had said that despite sweeping changes to the Medicare and Medicaid healthcare programs, committee chairman Paul Ryan's budget did not make deep enough cuts to entitlement programs and military spending.

Boehner spokesman Michael Steel declined to be specific on the reasons for their ouster by the House Republican Steering Committee, which occurred Monday in a closed-door meeting.

"The Steering Committee makes decisions based on a range of factors," Steel said.

Huelskamp said he was given "limited explanation" for his removal from the Budget Committee, a move he called "vindictive." A spokesman for Amash could not be immediately reached for comment.

Huelskamp and Amash cast the only House Budget Committee votes against Ryan's budget plan earlier this year.

While there is often wrangling over committee chairmanships just before a new Congress takes office, it is rare for rank-and-file committee members to be stripped of their assignments.

The 34-member Republican steering committee is headed by Boehner and includes members of House leadership, committee chairs and other lawmakers representing different regions of the country.

The same group last week recommended that Ryan, the conservative former Republican vice presidential candidate, be renewed as Budget Committee chairman.

(Editing by Bill Trott)

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Official: Syria moving chemical weapons components

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. and allied intelligence have detected Syrian movement of chemical weapons components in recent days, a senior U.S. defense official said Monday, as the Obama administration strongly warned the Assad regime against using them.

A senior defense official said intelligence officials have detected activity around more than one of Syria‘s chemical weapons sites in the last week. The defense official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about intelligence matters.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, in Prague for meetings with Czech officials, reiterated President Barack Obama‘s declaration that Syrian action on chemical weapons was a “red line” for the United States that would prompt action.

“We have made our views very clear: This is a red line for the United States,” Clinton told reporters. “I’m not going to telegraph in any specifics what we would do in the event of credible evidence that the Assad regime has resorted to using chemical weapons against their own people. But suffice it to say, we are certainly planning to take action if that eventuality were to occur.”

Syria said Monday it would not use chemical weapons against its own people. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Syria “would not use chemical weapons — if there are any — against its own people under any circumstances.”

Syria has been careful never to confirm that it has any chemical weapons.

The use of chemical weapons would be a major escalation in Assad’s crackdown on his foes and would draw international condemnation. In addition to causing mass deaths and horrific injuries to survivors, the regime’s willingness to use them would alarm much of the region, particularly neighboring states, including Israel.

At the White House, press secretary Jay Carney said, “We are concerned that in an increasingly beleaguered regime, having found its escalation of violence through conventional means inadequate, might be considering the use of chemical weapons against the Syrian people. And as the president has said, any use or proliferation of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime would cross a red line for the United States. “

Administration officials would not detail what that response might be.

Although Syria is one of only seven nations that have not signed the Chemical Weapons Treaty, it is a party to the 1925 Geneva Protocol that bans the use of chemical weapons in war. That treaty was signed in the aftermath of World War I, when the effects of the use of mustard gas and other chemical agents outraged much of the world.

Clinton didn’t address the issue of the fresh activity at Syrian chemical weapons depots, but insisted that Washington would address any threat that arises.

An administration official said the trigger for U.S. action of some kind is the use of chemical weapons or movement with the intent to use or provide them to a terrorist group like Hezbollah. The U.S. is trying to determine whether the recent movement detected in Syria falls into any of those categories, the official said. The administration official was speaking on condition of anonymity this person was not authorized to speak publicly about the issue.

The senior defense official said the U.S. does not believe that any Syrian action beyond the movement of components is imminent.

An Israeli official said if there is real movement on chemical weapons, it would require a response. He didn’t say what that might be and spoke on condition of anonymity pending a formal government response to the reports of the latest activities.

Israeli officials have repeatedly expressed concerns that Syrian chemical weapons could slip into the hands of Hezbollah or other anti-Israel groups, or even be fired toward Israel in an act of desperation by Syria.

Syria is believed to have several hundred ballistic surface-to-surface missiles capable of carrying chemical warheads.

Its arsenal is a particular threat to the American allies, Turkey and Israel, and Obama singled out the threat posed by the unconventional weapons earlier this year as a potential cause for deeper U.S. involvement in Syria’s civil war. Up to now, the United States has opposed military intervention or providing arms support to Syria’s rebels for fear of further militarizing a conflict that activists say has killed more than 40,000 people since March 2011.

Clinton said that while the actions of President Bashar Assad‘s government have been deplorable, chemical weapons would bring them to a new level.

“We once again issue a very strong warning to the Assad regime that their behavior is reprehensible, their actions against their own people have been tragic,” she said. “But there is no doubt that there’s a line between even the horrors that they’ve already inflicted on the Syrian people and moving to what would be an internationally condemned step of utilizing their chemical weapons.”

Activity has been detected before at Syrian weapons sites, believed to number several dozen.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said in late September the intelligence suggested the Syrian government had moved some of its chemical weapons in order to protect them. He said the U.S. believed that the main sites remained secure.

Asked Monday if they were still considered secure, Pentagon press secretary George Little declined to comment about any intelligence related to the weapons.

Senior lawmakers were notified last week that U.S. intelligence agencies had detected activity related to Syria’s chemical and biological weapons, said a U.S. intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door meetings. All congressional committees with an interest in Syria, from the intelligence to the armed services committees, are now being kept informed.

“I can’t comment on these reports but I have been very concerned for some time now about Syria’s stockpiles of chemical weapons and its stocks of advanced conventional weapons like shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles,” said House intelligence committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Mich. “We are not doing enough to prepare for the collapse of the Assad regime, and the dangerous vacuum it will create. Use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime would be an extremely serious escalation that would demand decisive action from the rest of the world,” he added.

Syria is believed to have one of the world’s largest chemical weapons programs, and the Assad regime has said it might use the weapons against external threats, though not against Syrians. The U.S. and Jordan share the same concern about Syria’s chemical and biological weapons — that they could fall into the wrong hands should the regime in Syria collapse and lose control of them.

___

Klapper reported from Prague. Associated Press writers Josef Federman in Jerusalem, Albert Aji in Damascus and Matthew Lee, Kimberly Dozier, and Julie Pace in Washington contributed to this report.

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Ericsson seeks U.S. import ban on Samsung products

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Swedish telecoms gear maker Ericsson has filed a request with the U.S. International Trade Commission to ban U.S. imports of products made by South Korean group Samsung,

The request from Ericsson, which said on Monday the products infringe on its patents, came after it sued Samsung for patent infringement in a U.S. court last week.

“The request for an import ban is a part of the process. An import ban is not our goal. Our goal is that they (Samsung) sign license agreements on reasonable terms,” spokesman Fredrik Hallstan said.

Ericsson said last week it was suing Samsung after talks failed to reach agreement on terms that were fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) over patents.

Samsung said it would defend itself against the lawsuit, adding that Ericsson had asked for “prohibitively higher royalty rates to renew the same patent portfolio”.

(Reporting by Sven Nordenstam; Editing by Dan Lalor)

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Turkey fines TV channel for “The Simpsons” blasphemy

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – Turkey‘s broadcasting regulator is fining a television channel for insulting religious values after it aired an episode of “The Simpsons” which shows God taking orders from the devil.

Radio and television watchdog RTUK said it was fining private broadcaster CNBC-e 52,951 lira ($ 30,000) over the episode of the hit U.S. animated TV series, whose scenes include the devil asking God to make him a coffee.

“The board has decided to fine the channel over these matters,” an RTUK spokeswoman said but declined further comment, saying full details would probably be announced next week.

CNBC-e said it would comment once the fine was officially announced.

Turkey is a secular republic but most of its 75 million people are Muslim. Religious conservatives and secular opponents vie for public influence and critics of the government say it is trying to impose Islamic values by stealth.

Elected a decade ago with the strongest majority seen in years, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and his Islamist-rooted AK Party have overseen a period of unprecedented prosperity in Turkey. But concerns are growing about authoritarianism.

Erdogan last week tore into a chart-topping soap opera about the Ottoman Empire’s longest-reigning Sultan and the broadcasting regulator has warned the show’s makers about insulting a historical figure.

“The Simpsons” first aired in 1989 and is the longest-running U.S. sitcom. It is broadcast in more than 100 countries and CNBC-e has been airing it in Turkey for almost a decade.

“I wonder what the script writers will do when they hear that the jokes on their show are taken seriously and trigger fines in a country called Turkey,” wrote Mehmet Yilmaz, a columnist for the Hurriyet newspaper.

“Maybe they will add an almond-moustached RTUK expert to the series,” he said, evoking a popular Turkish stereotype of a pious government supporter.

($ 1 = 1.7873 Turkish liras)

(Reporting by Ece Toksabay; Editing by Nick Tattersall and Paul Casciato)

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Dial back esophageal cancer screening: internists

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – A group of U.S. internal medicine doctors today recommended limiting esophageal cancer screening to people with chronic heartburn who have additional, more severe symptoms.

Known as upper endoscopy, the screening procedure is often used to diagnose and manage gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) – which can be tied to a higher risk of esophageal cancer.

But some of that use may be unnecessary, the American College of Physicians (ACP) said – adding costs and putting patients at risk of side effects without evidence of a clear benefit.

“Not every patient with GERD who comes in should be getting this procedure done,” said Dr. Amir Qaseem, ACP’s director of clinical policy, who co-wrote the guidelines.

“It’s a low-risk procedure, but every procedure carries risk of complications,” he told Reuters Health.

During an upper endoscopy, a doctor inserts a flexible tube with a camera, called an endoscope, into the mouth and down the throat. Some patients receive anesthesia beforehand.

Earlier this year, a Reuters Health report suggested another type of screening, transnasal esophagoscopy, is becoming increasingly popular despite a lack of evidence it lowers the risk of dying from esophageal cancer (see Reuters Health story of April 20, 2012: http://reut.rs/I3mkij).

One in 125 men and one in 400 women in the United States will get esophageal cancer in their lifetime, according to the American Cancer Society, and most people who are diagnosed with the disease die within five years.

But there’s no evidence that traditional upper endoscopy lowers those risks either, according to the ACP’s Clinical Guidelines Committee.

The group laid out recommendations for use of the procedure in people with GERD on Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Most people with GERD, including patients with heartburn and regurgitation, should start treatment with acid-suppressing drugs and only undergo endoscopy if medication doesn’t help them, the committee said. People with more severe symptoms, such as bleeding and frequent vomiting, can go straight to endoscopy to rule out more serious conditions – but screening shouldn’t be regularly repeated if the initial test is negative.

In the case of Barrett’s esophagus, in which the esophageal lining is damaged by stomach acid, patients with no signs of cancer shouldn’t be screened more than once every three years, according to the guidelines.

UNNECESSARY COSTS, RISKS

Even among most people with Barrett’s, the risk of cancer is quite low, according to Dr. Lauren Gerson, a gastroenterologist at Stanford University in California who wasn’t involved in the new study.

“Use of upper endoscopy beyond the indications listed here is likely to generate unnecessary costs and expose patients to risks without improving clinical outcomes,” the committee wrote.

In particular, the ACP does not recommend routine screening for women or adults younger than 50, because their risk of esophageal cancer is much lower than that of older men.

An upper endoscopy costs more than $ 800. Rare side effects include esophageal perforation, pneumonia and breathing problems. False positives could also lead to more unnecessary tests and procedures with their own set of side effects, Qaseem said.

Although the new guidelines are directed at physicians, Qaseem said it’s also important for patients to understand the benefits and limitations of esophageal cancer screening. And people shouldn’t be afraid to ask their doctors why they’re ordering an endoscopy and whether it’s really necessary, he said.

Most cases of GERD, Qaseem added, will not be dangerous and can get better with lifestyle changes, such as weight loss.

“There is evidence that losing weight is effective, not eating late at night is effective, and so-forth,” Gerson told Reuters Health.

“That’s the first recommendation to patients, to try to make lifestyle changes to reduce their GERD symptoms and try to get off medications, if possible.”

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/R1w1Xu Annals of Internal Medicine, online December 3, 2012.

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