Tunisia secures more loans as protests hit deprived town

TUNIS (Reuters) – Tunisia, struggling to ease economic difficulties that have provoked unrest since its democratic revolution, said on Wednesday it had secured more international lending to cover its 2013 spending.

Tunisia’s new, elected Islamist-led government has sought to revive the economy in the face of a decline in trade with the crisis-hit euro zone and disputes between secularists and hardline Salafi Islamists over the future direction of the North African Arab state.

At least 200 people were injured when Tunisians demanding jobs clashed with police on Tuesday and Wednesday in the city of Siliana in a region on the edge of the Sahara desert that has long complained of economic deprivation.

The state news agency TAP said Tunis had clinched a $ 500 million loan from the African Development Bank, after the World Bank approved a $ 500 million loan on Tuesday, and a government minister told Reuters finances were now in order for 2013.

“Next year our public expenditure is essentially covered, thanks also to lines of credit for a total of $ 1 billion from the World Bank and the African Development Bank,” Investment Minister Riad Bettaieb said on the sidelines of a meeting with a European Union business delegation.

“So we are not planning to ask for further international support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF),” he said.

But he said Tunisia could ask the IMF for a standby credit line worth $ 2.5 billion for 2014 and beyond. “We are considering asking the IMF for a precautionary line of credit to give a guarantee for our financing needs … around $ 2.5 billion.”

The loans, the World Bank’s second since the “Arab Spring” uprising that toppled autocrat Zain al-Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011, aim to support economic recovery by improving the business and financial sectors and reforming social services.

BLINDED BY BIRDSHOT

In Siliana on Wednesday, police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse crowds who rallied for a second day.

A medic from Siliana Hospital who did not wish to named said more than 200 people had been injured in the clashes. A journalist from France 24 television told Reuters he and a colleague had been hospitalized for wounds from birdshot apparently fired by riot police.

State media said 17 people had been blinded by birdshot wounds to the eyes. Residents blocked the entrances to the city, setting tyres alight on roads.

Many protesters called for the resignation of local officials, saying the authorities had failed to release development funds for their region.

Iyed Dahmani, a politician from the Republican Party in the town, said the national guard – an interior ministry-run security force – had deployed tanks to help restore order.

Interior Minister Ali Larayed appeared on state television to call for calm. “I ask people in Siliana to calm down, to protest calmly and accept dialogue,” he said, accusing leftist politicians of inflaming the situation.

But state TV also showed Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali saying he would not remove the unpopular governor of the region: “I won’t accept sacking him; he will stay in place.”

Jebali has accused both Salafis and liberal elites of harming Tunisia’s economy and image through their conflict with each other. His Ennahda party has tried to present itself as a middle way between liberals and Salafis.

The protests are the fiercest since hardline Salafi Islamists attacked the U.S. embassy in Tunis in September over an anti-Islam film made in California. That violence left four people dead.

(Writing by Andrew Hammond)

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Rugby-England add flyhalf Burns to squad for All Blacks’ test

LONDON, Nov 27 (Reuters) – England called up uncapped Gloucester flyhalf Freddie Burns on Tuesday to their squad for Saturday’s test against New Zealand in place of the injured Toby Flood.

Flood sustained ligament damage to a big toe during the 16-15 loss to South Africa at Twickenham last Saturday.

Owen Farrell, whose last start was in the first test in South Africa this year, is set to replace Flood in the starting XV against the world champions.

Lock Courtney Lawes, who missed England’s first three tests of the November series because of a knee injury, has also been included in the 23-man squad. Two other locks, Mouritz Botha and Tom Palmer, have been omitted.

After beating Fiji in their opening match, England have lost to Australia and the Springboks and now face a daunting match against the All Blacks who are unbeaten in 20 tests since the start of their victorious World Cup campaign last year.

“For those in Saturday’s squad the message is clear – last week we went toe to toe with the second best team in the world and felt we should have won,” England head coach Stuart Lancaster said in a statement.

“Now we have a chance to take on the number one side in front of a passionate Twickenham crowd, who have been fantastic throughout the Internationals, and it is a challenge we will meet head on.” (Reporting by John Mehaffey; Editing by Ken Ferris)

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‘Two and a Half Men’ actor not expected on set

NEW YORK (AP) — The teenage actor who stars in “Two and a Half Men” and called the CBS comedy “filth” may have some time before he faces the show’s producers.

Angus T. Jones wasn’t expected at rehearsal Tuesday because he is not going to be in the episode they are filming, according to a person close to the show who spoke on condition of anonymity because producers were not commenting publicly.

Jones, 19, has been on the show, which used to feature bad-boy actor Charlie Sheen and remains heavy with sexual innuendo, since he was 10 but says in a video posted online by a Christian church that he doesn’t want to be on it anymore.

“Please stop watching it,” Jones said. “Please stop filling your head with filth.”

The person familiar with the production schedule said Jones does not appear in either of the two episodes filming before the end of the year, so he wouldn’t be expected back at work until after the New Year.

His character has been largely absent because he has joined the Army.

CBS and producer Warner Bros. Television have not commented.

“Two and a Half Men” survived a wild publicity ride less than two years ago, when Sheen was fired for his drug use and publicly complained about the network and the show’s creator, Chuck Lorre.

Jones plays Jake, the son of Jon Cryer’s uptight divorced chiropractor character, Alan, and the nephew of Sheen’s hedonistic philandering music jingle writer, Charlie. Sheen was replaced by Ashton Kutcher, who plays billionaire Walden.

In the video posted by Forerunner Chronicles in Seale, Ala., Jones describes a search for a spiritual home. He says the type of entertainment he’s involved in adversely affects the brain and “there’s no playing around when it comes to eternity.”

“You cannot be a true God-fearing person and be on a television show like that,” he said. “I know I can’t. I’m not OK with what I’m learning, what the Bible says, and being on that television show.”

The show was moved from Monday to Thursday this season, and its average viewership has dropped from 20 million an episode to 14.5 million, although last year’s numbers were somewhat inflated by the intense interest in Kutcher’s debut. It is the third most popular comedy on television behind CBS’s “The Big Bang Theory” and ABC’s “Modern Family.”

The actors on “Two and a Half Men” have contracts that run through the end of the season.

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AAP Recommends Prescribing Emergency Contraception for Teens

In a new policy statement released online on Monday, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) officially recommended that physicians consider prescribing teens emergency contraception in advance. This assertion by the AAP follows on the heels of a new recommendation from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) last week that advocated making birth control pills available to women as an over-the-counter medication.

The AAP stated in a press release published ahead of the policy statement that much of the justification for the organization’s stance lies in the fact that the “United States continues to see substantially higher teen birth rates compared to other developed countries.” Prescribing emergency contraception ahead of time, according to the AAP, may help lower those rates.

What exactly is the AAP recommending?

The AAP is recommending that physicians prescribe emergency contraception, more commonly known as “morning after” pills, to teens, particularly, although not limited to, those that are currently sexually active. Specifically, the AAP is recommending prescribing emergency contraception for those teens who are under the age of 17, as the organization notes that females who are already 17 years of age or older can obtain emergency contraception without a prescription.

What information is the AAP basing its recommendation on?

The AAP has looked at the available research and determined that there is a need for teens to be prescribed the pills in advance in order to try and mitigate the number of unplanned pregnancies, which account for 80 percent of all pregnancies in girls between the ages of 15 and 19. The organization’s policy statement cited the need for teens to be protected against improper use or failure of other contraceptive methods, such as condoms, and also made note of the need to protect teens who may be the victims of sexual assault. The AAP also cited research indicating that teens who are prescribed emergency contraception “in advance of need” are more likely to use it if that need presents itself later, as opposed to teens who must ask for emergency contraception after the fact.

What are the risks involved in prescribing emergency contraception in advance?

The biggest risk factor, according to the AAP’s policy statement, is the fact that emergency contraception can prevent pregnancy (by preventing ovulation), but not sexually transmitted infections. According to a Reuters report, studies have shown that there is no known correlation between a teenager being given access to emergency contraception and them becoming sexually active any earlier.

What has been the reaction to the AAP’s decision to publish this policy statement?

The statement has gotten mostly positive reviews from women’s health advocates, including Susan Wood of the Jacobs Institute of Women’s Health at George Washington University in Washington, who told Reuters on Monday that the AAP’s decision is “significant.” Bill Albert, who is the chief program officer of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, also praised the decision, telling the Washington Times that his organization “supports wider access to all birth-control products.”

Not everyone is convinced that the AAP’s recommendation is a good thing, however. In that same Washington Times piece, Wendy Wright, who is the vice president for government relations at the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute, said that “there are too many questions to be answered” before the idea of prescribing emergency contraception to teens should be entertained.

Vanessa Evans is a musician and freelance writer based in Michigan, with a lifelong interest in health and nutrition issues.

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King warns euro risk has grown

27 November 2012 Last updated at 08:46 ET

Sir Mervyn King: “Mark Carney was the outstanding candidate”

The risk posed by the eurozone has grown, the departing Bank of England governor Sir Mervyn King has warned.

The governor said problems in the eurozone, as well as the US and Asia, lay behind the Bank’s recent pessimism about UK growth prospects in 2013-14.

Speaking to MPs, he defended the Bank’s decision to pass interest earned on the UK gilts it owned back to the Treasury.

He also said the Bank would be in “very good hands” with his recently announced successor as governor, Mark Carney.

Mr Carney was named by Chancellor George Osborne on Monday as his surprise choice for the new Bank of England head.

Currently the governor of the Canadian central bank, Mr Carney will serve for five years and will hold new regulatory powers over banks.

The UK should take pride, Sir Mervyn said, in not only that it could search the world for the best candidate, but that the country was able to produce a “truly outstanding shortlist” from among its own citizens.

‘Slow and protracted’

In evidence to the Treasury Committee, the Bank governor said that Mr Carney – under whom the Bank will be taking on new responsibilities to oversee the health of the country’s banks – faced a difficult task.

“There is a great deal of adjustment to be made in the financial sector, a great deal of adjustment to be made in the economy as a whole,” he said.

“It may be unreasonable to expect anything other than a slow and protracted recovery absent a further fall in the real exchange rate.”

The Bank of England and most City economists say that UK banks must increase their reserves against potential future losses and work their way through problem loans, while the UK economy needs to boost its exports and investment.

The string of difficulties still faced by the UK explained why the Bank chose earlier this month to downgrade the chances of the country experiencing a significant rebound in growth over the coming two years.

“It would take a rather unusual combination of circumstances to see growth of 4% or above in 2013 or 2014,” Sir Mervyn said, adding that the recovery would be much more protracted than has typically been the case after previous recessions.

He confirmed that the Bank’s decision earlier this month to downgrade its forecasts was due to a change of heart amongst the Monetary Policy Committee, rather than any recent economic developments.

“I think there are times where you debate something and you finally decide: ‘Well look, our judgment really has to change now’,” he said.

Global economy doubts

The governor said that the biggest drag on the UK came from the weakness of the global economy.

Continue reading the main story

It is impossible to escape the conclusion that Mr Osborne wants to give a bit of shake to the Bank of England’s culture”

End Quote

Despite recent positive indications from China and from the US housing market highlighted in the Bank’s latest inflation report, the governor expressed doubts.

“I think the staff probably take a more upbeat view on the prospects of the Chinese economy than I would be inclined to,” he said.

He also divulged that private conversations with US colleagues led him to doubt the sustainability of the US recovery.

But he expressed his strongest concerns about the eurozone, claiming that – despite a lull in market anxiety over the euro’s future – the situation on the continent has become worse over the past year.

“The longer the problem goes on, the bigger the adjustment will need to be,” he said, pointing to the continued build-up in debt as southern European governments struggle to regain competitiveness and get their budgets under control.

The governor said that, while the UK economy continued its own adjustment process, the Bank’s ability to stimulate recovery would be limited, although he foresaw that further quantitative easing – purchases by the Bank of government debt – may be warranted.

However, he noted that one of his successor’s most difficult tasks may be to decide when to start raising interest rates or reversing quantitative easing.

“There’s a very difficult policy judgment to be made down the road, first as to when we start tightening monetary policy, and then how rapidly we tighten monetary policy,” he said.

Public accounts

The governor was also questioned by MPs about the Bank’s decision this month to hand back to the Treasury the surplus income that it earns on government debts it holds as a result of its quantitative easing policy.

He admitted that the timing of the announcement could have been handled better – particularly because the Bank’s private knowledge of the agreement had influenced its decision at a committee meeting a few days before the announcement to hold fire on further quantitative easing.

However, he said that the decision did not affect monetary policy or the Bank of England’s independence, although he was concerned it could create the appearance that the Bank was acting under the Treasury’s influence.

The move would not have any meaningful impact on taxpayers, Sir Mervyn said, and all it would achieve was a change in the way that the government reports its borrowing.

“This is about presentation of public accounts, and I do not want to dissuade you from looking into that and raising it with the Treasury, but it is a matter for the Treasury,” he said.

“They are entitled to publish their accounts in the way that they want. And you’re entitled to challenge them about whether those accounts are misleading or not.”

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Dog days in Cuba: from shih tzus to schnauzers

HAVANA (AP) — The Cuban capital has played host to political summits and art festivals, ballet tributes and international baseball competitions. Now dog lovers are getting their chance to take center stage.

Hundreds of people from all over Cuba and several other countries came to a scruffy field near Revolution Plaza this past week to preen and fuss over the shih tzus, beagles, schnauzers and cocker spaniels that are the annual Fall Canine Expo’s star attractions. There were even about a dozen bichon habaneros, a mid-sized dog bred on the island since the 17th century.

As dog lovers talked shop, the merely curious strolled the field, checking out the more than 50 breeds on display while carefully dodging the prodigious output of so many dogs.

The four-day competition, which ended Sunday, included competitions in several breeding categories, and judges were flown in from Nicaragua, Colombia and Mexico.

“This is a small, poor country, but Cubans love dogs,” said Miguel Calvo, the president of Cuba’s dog federation, which organized the show. “We make a great effort to breed purebred animals of quality.”

Winners don’t receive any trophy or prize money, but that doesn’t mean the competition is any less fierce.

Anabel Perez, owner of a cocker spaniel named Lisamineli after the U.S. actress, spent more than half an hour coifing the dog’s hair in preparation for the competition, while the owner of a shih tzu named Tiguer meticulously brushed his coat nearby.

“I’m a hairdresser for humans,” explained Tiguer’s owner, Miguel Lopez. “So it’s easy for me. I like shih tzus because they are a lot of work to keep well groomed.”

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Actor: CBS comedy ‘Two and a Half Men’ is ‘filth’

NEW YORK (AP) — The teenage actor who plays the half in the hit CBS comedy “Two and a Half Men” says it’s “filth” and through a video posted by a Christian church has urged viewers not to watch it.

Nineteen-year-old Angus T. Jones has been on the show since he was 10 but says he doesn’t want to be on it. He says, “Please stop watching it. Please stop filling your head with filth.”

The video was posted by the Forerunner Christian Church in California, where Jones says he went to meet his spiritual needs.

Show producer Warner Bros. Television has no comment. CBS hasn’t responded to a request for comment left Monday.

The show stars Jon Cryer as Jones’ uptight dad and originally featured Charlie Sheen as his hedonistic philandering uncle, but Sheen was replaced by Ashton Kutcher.

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Obama spoke with House Speaker Boehner, others on “fiscal cliff”

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama spoke with House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner over the weekend on efforts to avert the looming “fiscal cliff” of budget cuts and tax rises that threatens to tip the U.S. economy back into recession.

A White House official said on Monday that Obama also spoke with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a fellow Democrat, and said discussions among staff members continued.

The president met with congressional leaders, including Boehner and Reid, 10 days ago seeking common ground following Obama’s re-election for another four-year term on November 6.

Boehner and fellow Republicans oppose the Democrats’ proposal to raise taxes on the very wealthy as part of arrangements to rein in the enormous U.S. budget deficits.

Starting on January 2, about $ 600 billion worth of tax increases and spending reductions, including $ 109 billion in cuts to domestic and defense programs, will begin to kick in if Congress cannot decide how to replace them with less extreme deficit-reduction measures.

(Reporting by Mark Felsenthal; Editing by David Storey)

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Feds charge Intrade with illegally allowing bets

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. regulators on Monday sued Intrade, the online prediction market that gained popularity as an informal oddsmaker for the presidential election, saying it illegally let customers bet on future economic data, the price of gold and even acts of war.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission said in a complaint in federal court that Intrade and its operator solicited customers to trade investment contracts that technically are options. Options must be traded on approved, regulated exchanges.

“Today’s action should make it clear that we will intervene in the ‘prediction’ markets, wherever they may be based, when their U.S. activities violate” laws and rules enforced by the agency, CFTC enforcement director David Meister said in a statement.

By requiring that options be traded on approved exchanges, Meister said, regulators can “police market activity and protect market integrity.”

Intrade did not respond to an emailed request for comment.

It was unclear whether regulators believe that all trades on Intrade by U.S. investors are illegal. The CFTC said it would not comment further because the matter was in litigation.

Intrade is known for facilitating bets on award shows, weather and other high-profile events. The prices at which customers are willing to make those bets are cited as informal odds. TEN also used to allow betting on sports through other sites that it operated.

For example, on Monday the site gave “Argo” a 28.5 percent chance of winning the Oscar for best picture and assigned a 19 percent chance that the United States or Israel would launch an airstrike against Iran by June 30.

The CFTC oversees markets for futures and options, investments that allow people to bet on the future prices of commodities like grain and oil. Those contracts help farms, airlines and other businesses to protect themselves against unexpected price swings.

In the complaint, the CFTC alleged that Intrade, based in Ireland, had illegally solicited everyday U.S. investors to use the website between September 2007 and June 25 of this year.

Intrade and its operator, Trade Exchange Network Ltd., falsely claimed in annual reports that the contracts were not being sold to ordinary U.S. customers, the CFTC said. Regulators want the companies to pay fines and return profits that were obtained illegally. They want the site and its operators barred from any future activities related to options trading.

Intrade users reported on Twitter that the site already blocks them from trading contracts related to the prices of oil and gold.

One of them, Joe Schilling, posted an image of an email he said was sent by Intrade in 2009, stating that crude oil and gold contracts were unavailable to U.S. users “due to a regulatory request” from the CFTC.

TEN settled similar charges of soliciting U.S. investors in 2005. In an order filed with that settlement, the CFTC said that U.S. customers accounted for up to 40 percent of Intrade’s total customer base. TEN paid $ 150,000 and agreed to halt further violations.

Under the settlement, TEN agreed to use pop-up windows to tell U.S. customers which bets were not available to them. It said it would cooperate in any future investigations.

Monday’s complaint includes charges that TEN violated that earlier settlement. The company used Intrade to offer illegal options including on the future prices of gold, changes in the unemployment rate and a measure of U.S. economic output, the complaint said. It said TEN failed to provide the pop-up notices mandated in the 2005 order.

___

Daniel Wagner can be reached at www.twitter.com/wagnerreports.

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Israel successfully tests missile defense system

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel successfully tested its newest missile defense system Sunday, the military said, a step toward making the third leg of what Israel calls its “multilayer missile defense” operational.

The “David’s Sling” system is designed to stop mid-range missiles. It successfully passed its test, shooting down its first missile in a drill Sunday in southern Israel, the military said.

The system is designed to intercept projectiles with ranges of up to 300 kilometers (180 miles).

Israel has also deployed Arrow systems for longer-range threats from Iran. The Iron Dome protects against short-range rockets fired by militants in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon. Iron Dome shot down hundreds of rockets from Gaza in this month’s round of fighting.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said the success of Iron Dome highlighted the “immense importance” of such systems.

“David’s Sling,” also known “Magic Wand,” is developed by Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and U.S.-based Raytheon Co. and is primarily designed to counter the large arsenal of Hezbollah rockets in Lebanon.

The military said the program, which is on schedule for deployment in 2014, would “provide an additional layer of defense against ballistic missiles.”

The next generation of the Arrow, now in the development stage, is set to be deployed in 2016. Called the Arrow 3, it is designed to strike its target outside the atmosphere, intercepting missiles closer to their launch sites. Together, the two Arrow systems would provide two chances to strike down incoming missiles.

Israel also uses U.S.-made Patriot missile defense batteries against mid-range missiles, though these failed to hit any of the 39 Scud missiles fired at Israel from Iraq In the first Gulf War 20 years ago. Manufacturers say the Patriot system has been improved since then.

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