FX orders “Tyrant” from “Homeland” producers

NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) – FX has ordered the Middle Eastern drama pilot “Tyrant” from “Homeland” producers Howard Gordon and Gideon Raff, as well as “Six Feet Under” and “Lost” producer Craig Wright.

The pilot follows an American family drawn into the troubles of a turbulent Middle Eastern nation. The series, written and created by Raff, was developed by Gordon and Wright. The pilot comes from Gordon’s shingle at 20th Century Fox Television, Teakwood Lane.

Gordon, Raff and Wright are executive producers in association with Keshet Broadcasting. If “Tyrant” becomes a series, Wright will serve as showrunner.

“We are thrilled to bring ‘Tyrant’ to FX,” said Nick Grad, FX’s executive vice president of original programming. “The brilliant and wholly original concept just blew us all away. It’s pretty amazing when you read a script and can instantly imagine it becoming one of the best shows on television. We’re grateful to the producers for choosing to bring it to FX and look forward to continuing our partnership with our friends at Fox 21.”

“‘Tyrant’ is exactly the type of project we aim to do at Fox 21 – working with extremely talented writer/creators to create provocative material with big, breakout characters and themes,” said Bert Salke, president of Fox 21. “This script has excited everyone who’s read it and it’s particularly gratifying to be back working with FX, with whom we have had such a successful partnership on the fantastic ‘Sons of Anarchy.’”

Production is tentatively slated to begin in the spring.

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APNewsBreak: DA investigating Texas cancer agency

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Texas prosecutor responsible for investigating public corruption among state officials says he has opened an investigation into the state’s troubled $ 3 billion cancer-fighting agency.

Gregg Cox is director of the Travis County district attorney‘s public integrity unit. He told The Associated Press on Tuesday that an investigation has begun into the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. The agency is also under investigation by the Texas attorney general’s office after an $ 11 million grant to a private company did not receive the proper review.

Cox says his office is starting an investigation not knowing “what, if any, crime occurred.”

Cox’s unit prosecutes crimes related to the operation of state government.

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Petrol strike threatens to cause chaos and hit economy in Italy

ROME (Reuters) – Italian petrol stations began a 60-hour strike late on Tuesday to protest against rising costs and falling profits, causing long queues as drivers rushed to fill up before pumps closed.

Hitting at the peak shopping period before Christmas, the strike comes at unwelcome time for retailers. Weak consumer spending has been a key factor in Italy‘s sluggish economy, which has been dipping in and out of recession since 2008.

“It is incredible, with all that petrol costs us nowadays, that they can even think of going on strike,” Rome resident Ida Lauro said as she queued in her car.

Unions have agreed to maintain minimum service on motorways, with at least one station open every 100 km (62 miles).

In a joint statement, unions said they called the strike to combat “a true aggression against the roughly 24,000 small businesses and 120,000 workers in the sector”.

They say oil companies have forced stations to absorb the costs of discounting campaigns, allowing them a profit of just one euro for every 100 euros ($ 130) or 55 liters of petrol sold.

Oil distributors in Italy Esso and Shell were not immediately available for comment. A government attempt to come to an agreement with the unions this week fell through.

Workers will demonstrate outside government buildings in Rome on Wednesday to pressure the state to intervene.

The strike will end on Friday morning on ordinary roads and late on Thursday on motorways.

Between December 17 and 22 the petrol stations will refuse to pay oil companies for refills. Then, between Christmas and New Year, they will refuse credit and debit card payments in protest at bank charges on electronic payments.

Mario Monti‘s technocrat government has cut spending and raised taxes since it was appointed last year to pull Italy out of a debt crisis, and is the focus of increasing protests.

The government was thrown into crisis last week when the party of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi withdrew its support, prompting Monti to announce he would resign once the 2013 budget bill is passed before Christmas.

(Reporting by Eleanor Biles and Naomi O’Leary)

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Egypt army given temporary power to arrest civilians

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt’s Islamist president has given the army temporary power to arrest civilians during a constitutional referendum he is determined to push through despite the risk of bloodshed between his supporters and opponents accusing him of a power grab.

Seven people were killed and hundreds wounded last week in clashes between the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood and their critics besieging Mohamed Mursi’s graffiti-daubed presidential palace. Both sides plan mass rallies on Tuesday.

The elite Republican Guard has yet to use force to keep protesters away from the palace, which it ringed with tanks, barbed wire and concrete barricades after last week’s violence.

Mursi, bruised by calls for his downfall, has rescinded a November 22 decree giving him wide powers but is going ahead with a referendum on Saturday on a constitution seen by his supporters as a triumph for democracy and by many liberals as a betrayal.

A decree issued by Mursi late on Sunday gives the armed forces the power to arrest civilians and refer them to prosecutors until the announcement of the results of the referendum, which the protesters want cancelled.

Despite its limited nature, the edict will revive memories of Hosni Mubarak’s emergency law, also introduced as a temporary expedient, under which military or state security courts tried thousands of political dissidents and Islamist militants.

But a military source stressed that the measure introduced by a civilian government would have a short shelf-life.

“The latest law giving the armed forces the right to arrest anyone involved in illegal actions such as burning buildings or damaging public sites is to ensure security during the referendum only,” the military source said.

Presidential spokesman Yasser Ali said the committee overseeing the vote had requested the army’s assistance.

“The armed forces will work within a legal framework to secure the referendum and will return (to barracks) as soon as the referendum is over,” Ali said.

Protests and violence have racked Egypt since Mursi decreed himself extraordinary powers he said were needed to speed up a troubled transition since Mubarak’s fall 22 months ago.

The Muslim Brotherhood has voiced anger at the Interior Ministry’s failure to prevent protesters setting fire to its headquarters in Cairo and 28 of its offices elsewhere.

Critics say the draft law puts Egypt in a religious straitjacket. Whatever the outcome of the referendum, the crisis has polarized the country and presages more instability at a time when Mursi is trying to steady a fragile economy.

On Monday, he suspended planned tax increases only hours after the measures had been formally decreed, casting doubts on the government’s ability to push through tough economic reforms that form part of a proposed $ 4.8 billion IMF loan agreement.

“VIOLENT CONFRONTATION”

Rejecting the referendum plan, opposition groups have called for mass protests on Tuesday, saying Mursi’s eagerness to push the constitution through could lead to “violent confrontation”.

Islamists have urged their followers to turn out “in millions” the same day in a show of support for the president and for a referendum they feel sure of winning with their loyal base and perhaps with the votes of Egyptians weary of turmoil.

The opposition National Salvation Front, led by liberals such as Mohamed ElBaradei and Amr Moussa, as well as leftist firebrand Hamdeen Sabahy, has yet to call directly for a boycott of the referendum or to urge their supporters to vote “no”.

Instead it is contesting the legitimacy of the vote and of the whole process by which the constitution was drafted in an Islamist-led assembly from which their representatives withdrew.

The opposition says the document fails to embrace the diversity of 83 million Egyptians, a tenth of whom are Christians, and invites Muslim clerics to influence lawmaking.

But debate over the details has largely given way to noisy street protests and megaphone politics, keeping Egypt off balance and ill-equipped to deal with a looming economic crisis.

“Inevitability of referendum deepens divisions,” was the headline in Al-Gomhuriya newspaper on Monday. Al Ahram daily wrote: “Political forces split over referendum and new decree.”

Mursi issued another decree on Saturday to supersede his November 22 measure putting his own decisions beyond legal challenge until a new constitution and parliament are in place.

While he gave up extra powers as a sop to his opponents, the decisions already taken under them, such as the dismissal of a prosecutor-general appointed by Mubarak, remain intact.

“UNWELCOME” CHOICE

Lamia Kamel, a spokeswoman for former Arab League chief Moussa, said the opposition factions were still discussing whether to boycott the referendum or call for a “no” vote.

“Both paths are unwelcome because they really don’t want the referendum at all,” she said, but predicted a clearer opposition line if the plebiscite went ahead as planned.

A spokeswoman for ElBaradei, former head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, said: “We do not acknowledge the referendum. The aim is to change the decision and postpone it.”

Mahmoud Ghozlan, the Muslim Brotherhood’s spokesman, said the opposition could stage protests, but should keep the peace.

“They are free to boycott, participate or say no, they can do what they want. The important thing is that it remains in a peaceful context to preserve the country’s safety and security.”

The army stepped into the conflict on Saturday, telling all sides to resolve their disputes via dialogue and warning that it would not allow Egypt to enter a “dark tunnel”.

A military source said the declaration read on state media did not herald a move by the army to retake control of Egypt, which it relinquished in June after managing the transition from Mubarak’s 30 years of military-backed one-man rule.

The draft constitution sets up a national defense council, in which generals will form a majority, and gives civilians some scrutiny over the army – although not enough for critics.

In August Mursi stripped the generals of sweeping powers they had grabbed when he was elected two months earlier, but has since repeatedly paid tribute to the military in public.

So far the army and police have taken a relatively passive role in the protests roiling the most populous Arab nation.

(Additional reporting by Edmund Blair and Yasmine Saleh; editing by Philippa Fletcher)

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Australian DJs break silence over UK royal prank tragedy

CANBERRA (Reuters) – Two Australian radio announcers who made a prank call to a British hospital treating Prince William‘s pregnant wife Kate broke a three-day silence on Monday to speak of their distress at the apparent suicide of the nurse who took their call.

The 2DayFM Sydney-based announcers, Mel Greig and Michael Christian, said the tragedy had left them “shattered, gutted, heartbroken”.

Greig and fellow presenter and prank mastermind Christian have been in hiding since nurse Jacintha Saldanha‘s death and the subsequent social media outrage at their prank.

Their show, “Hot 30,” has been terminated, the station’s parent company, Southern Cross Austereo (SCA), said in a statement on Monday. SCA also announced a company-wide suspension of prank calls.

Greig told Australian television her first thought when told of Saldanha‘s death was for her family.

“Unfortunately I remember that moment very well, because I haven’t stopped thinking about it since it happened,” she said, amid tears and her voice quavering with emotion. “I remember my first question was ‘was she a mother?’”

“I’ve wanted to just reach out to them and just give them a big hug and say sorry. I hope they’re okay, I really do. I hope they get through this,” said a black-clad Greig when asked about mother of two Saldanha’s children, left grieving their mother’s death with their father Ben Barboza.

Saldanha, 46, was found dead in staff accommodation near London’s King Edward VII hospital on Friday after putting the hoax call through to a colleague who unwittingly disclosed details of Kate’s morning sickness to 2DayFM’s presenters.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said news of the Saldanha’s death was “shocking”.

“I just feel incredibly sorry for her and her family. It’s an absolute tragedy this has happened, and I’m sure everyone will want to reflect on how it was allowed to happen,” he said.

The hospital at which Saldanha worked told the BBC it had not disciplined her for taking the prank call. Police said a post-mortem examination would be conducted on Tuesday.

FIRESTORM

A recording of the call, broadcast repeatedly by the station, rapidly became an internet hit and was reprinted as a transcript in many newspapers.

But news of Saldanha’s death sparked the Internet firestorm, with vitriolic comments towards the DJs on Facebook and Twitter.

Christian said his only wish was that Saldanha’s grief-stricken family received proper support.

“I hope that they get the love, the support, the care that they need, you know,” said Christian, who like Greig struggled to talk about the tragedy.

Both Greig, 30, and Christian were relatively new to the station, with Greig joining in March and Christian having been in the job only a few days before the prank call after a career in regional radio.

Greig said she did not think their prank would work.

“We thought a hundred people before us would’ve tried it. We thought it was such a silly idea and the accents were terrible and not for a second did we expect to speak to Kate, let alone have a conversation with anyone at the hospital. We wanted to be hung up on,” she said.

Christian drew headlines only two weeks before the royal prank call by angering fellow passengers with a harmonica playing stunt aboard pop star Rihanna’s private jet.

SCA, 2Day’s parent company, has received more than 1,000 complaints from Australians over the actions of the popular presenters, who have both been taken off air during an broadcasting watchdog investigation.

“SCA and the hosts of the radio program have also decided that they will not return to the airwaves until further notice,” SCA said in a statement.

Shares in SCA fell 5 percent on Monday after two major Australian companies pulled their advertising with the radio station in protest and other advertising was suspended.

The station said it had tried to contact hospital staff five times over the recordings.

“It is absolutely true to say that we actually did attempt to contact those people on multiple occasions,” said SCA chief executive Rhys Holleran.

“No one could have reasonably foreseen what has happened. I can only say the prank call is not unusual around the world,” he said.

The fallout from the radio stunt has brought back memories in Britain of the death of William’s mother Diana in a Paris car crash in 1997 and threatens to cast a pall over the birth of his and Kate’s first child.

Australia’s Communications Minister Stephen Conroy sought to deflect calls for more media regulation, telling journalists that a looming investigation by Australia’s independent regulator should be allowed to happen without political interference.

(Additional reporting by Mohammed Abbas in London; Editing by Michael Perry)

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Study: Talk Therapy May Help Depression when Medications Inadequate

A first-of-its-kind large scale research study concluded that the addition of talk therapy to a medication regimen helps to relieve the symptoms of depression, the leading cause of disability in the United States in those ages 15 years to 44 years, according to the National Institute of Mental Health .

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy as an Adjunct to Medication Treatment

Only one-third of people with depression receive relief of symptoms from medication alone, so what can be done to help the millions of people who have the illness? Researchers from the universities of Glasgow, Bristol and Exeter in the United Kingdom determined to find out by recruiting more than 450 study participants, ages 18 to 79, each of whom were among the two-thirds of those diagnosed with depression that medication alone did not resolve their symptoms.

The randomized controlled trial measured results at both six months and 12 months, and based the scores on self-reporting of depression symptoms and relief of depression symptoms by the participants. At both intervals, 46 percent of those receiving cognitive behavioral therapy, CBT, reported an abatement of at least 50 percent of their depression symptoms versus 22 percent of those receiving medication alone.

What Is the Impact of the Study Conclusions to Treatment for Depression?

Before this study, there was little measurable scientific evidence that CBT was a useful adjunct treatment for depression in people whose depressive symptoms did not respond to medication alone. Now, both mental health professionals and medical physicians alike can prescribe talk therapy for these individuals with reasonable certainty that nearly half of those who participate in such therapy will have some relief of symptoms.

But the study’s conclusions also indicate that additional research is needed to provide relief of symptoms of depression in 54 percent of the people whose symptoms are resistant to both medication and talk therapy.

What Is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy?

Cognitive behavioral therapy, talk therapy, is a widely used type of mental health counseling in which a mental health counselor provides a structured environment for aiding the individual to recognize inaccurate or negative thinking, explains MayoClinic.com .

Bottom Line

While it is reassuring to learn that many of the millions of individuals diagnosed with depression whose symptoms have not responded to antidepressant medications alone can find at least some relief of symptoms through CBT, the availability of such services in the United States is woefully lacking. Mental Health America , an advocacy group for mental health and substance abuse issues, reported that people with depression go, on average, 10 years before receiving treatment and fewer than one-third of those that do receive “minimally adequate care.”

Mental health service availability varies from state to state; those with the least amount of services have the highest rates for suicide, the most significant negative outcome of depression.

The statistics represent only those people who are diagnosed with depression. There are likely many more people who have depression symptoms who are not reporting it, such as baby boomers and their seniors, according to the American Psychological Association , whose data is not represented, meaning even less service availability.

In a nation that prides itself on being the greatest on earth, we have far to go in mental health treatment.

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BoE’s King warns on growth of managed exchange rates

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Bank of England Governor Mervyn King said on Monday he was concerned that countries will increasingly resort to “actively managed exchange rates” next year, in place of domestic monetary policies, if the global economy remains unbalanced.

King outlined the threats facing the struggling UK economy, including the euro zone crisis and the U.S. “fiscal cliff,” the full effects of which he expects the United States to avoid. But in a speech, he chose to highlight growing worries over central banks using their policies to influence domestic currencies.

If countries do not work to rebalance the global economy, “my concern is that in 2013, what we will see is the growth of actively managed exchange rates as an alternative to the use of domestic monetary policy,” King told the Economic Club of New York.

“You can see, month by month, the addition to the number of countries who feel that active exchange rate management, always to push their exchange rate down, is growing.”

Central banks, including that of England, have kept interest rates very low and used unprecedented policies to battle recession. Such easing in developed economies, however, can put upward pressure on currencies of emerging economies, hurting those countries’ exports.

“With interest rates at very low levels, with balance sheets having expanded a great deal and with the inability of monetary policy to indefinitely postpone the adjustments required to bring about rebalancing, some other mechanism will be needed,” King said.

King’s warnings echo those made in October by U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who delivered a blunt call for certain emerging economies to allow their currencies to rise.

(Reporting by Jonathan Spicer and Edward Krudy; Additional reporting by Steven Johnson; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

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EU leaders in Norway to pick up Nobel Peace Prize

OSLO, Norway (AP) — European Union leaders on Sunday hailed the achievements of the 27-nation bloc, but acknowledged they need more integration and authority to solve problems, including its worst financial crisis, as they arrived in Norway to pick up this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.

Conceding that the EU lacked sufficient powers to stop the devastating 1992-95 Bosnia war, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said that the absence of such authority at the time is “one of the most powerful arguments for a stronger European Union.”

Barroso spoke to reporters with EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy and the president of the EU Parliament, Martin Schulz, in Oslo, where the three leaders were to receive this year’s award, granted to the European Union for fostering peace on a continent ravaged by war.

Nobel committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland will present the prize, worth $ 1.2 million, at a ceremony in Oslo City Hall, followed by a banquet at the Grand Hotel, against a backdrop of demonstrations in this EU-skeptic country that has twice rejected joining the union.

About 20 European government leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, will be joining the ceremonies. They will be celebrating far away from the EU’s financial woes in a prosperous, oil-rich nation of 5 million on the outskirts of Europe that voted in 1972 and 1994 in referendums to stay out of the union.

The decision to award the prize to the EU has sparked harsh criticism, including from three peace laureates — South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Mairead Maguire of Northern Ireland and Adolfo Perez Esquivel from Argentina — who have demanded the prize money not be paid out this year. They say the bloc contradicts the values associated with the prize because it relies on military force to ensure security.

The leader of Britain’s Independence Party, Nigel Farage, in a statement described rewarding the EU as “a ridiculous act which blows the reputation of the Nobel prize committee to smithereens.”

Hundreds of people demonstrated against this year’s prize winners in a peaceful torch-lit protest that meandered through the dark city streets to Parliament, including Tomas Magnusson from the International Peace Bureau, the 1910 prize winner.

“This is totally against the idea of Alfred Nobel who wanted disarmament,” he said, accusing the Nobel committee of being “too close to the power” elite.

Dimitris Kodelas, a Greek lawmaker from the main opposition Radical Left party, or Syriza, said a humanitarian crisis in his country and EU policies could cause major rifts in Europe. He thought it was a joke when he heard the peace prize was awarded to the EU. “It challenges even our logic and it is also insulting,” he said.

The EU is being granted the prize as it grapples with a debt crisis that has stirred deep tensions between north and south, caused soaring unemployment and sent hundreds of thousands into the streets to protest austerity measures.

It is also threatening the euro — the common currency used by 17 of its members — and even the structure of the union itself, and is fuelling extremist movements such as Golden Dawn in Greece, which opponents brand as neo-Nazi.

Barroso acknowledged that the current crisis showed the union was “not fully equipped to deal with a crisis of this magnitude.”

“We do not have all the instruments for a true and genuine economic union … so we need to complete our economic and monetary union,” he said, adding that the new measures, including on a banking and fiscal union, would be agreed on in coming weeks.

He stressed that despite the crisis all steps taken had been toward “more, not less integration.”

Van Rompuy was optimistic saying that EU would come out of the crisis stronger than before. “We want Europe to become again a symbol of hope,” he said.

The EU says it will donate the prize money to projects that help children in conflict zones and will double it with EU funds.

The European Union grew from the conviction that ever-closer economic ties would ensure century-old enemies like Germany and France never turned on each other again, starting with the creation in 1951 of the European Coal and Steel Community, declared as “a first step in the federation of Europe.”

In 60 years it has grown into a 27-nation bloc with a population of 500 million, with other nations eagerly waiting to join, even as its unity is being threatened by the financial woes.

While there have never been wars inside EU territory, the confederation has not been able to prevent European wars outside its borders. When the deadly Balkans wars erupted in the 1990s, the EU was unable by itself to stop them. It was only with the help of the United States and after over 100,000 lives were lost in Bosnia was peace eventually restored there, and several years later, to Kosovo.

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Cablevision to raise Internet prices by $5 a month

(Reuters) – Cablevision Systems Corp, the New York-based cable operator, said on Thursday it would raise its Internet prices by $ 5 in January, representing an average hike of 3.2 percent for customers’ total monthly bills.

The company said in a statement that prices for its video and phone services will not be affected and that prices for promotional packages, which generally last one year, will not rise.

But all customers who have Internet service as part of their video or phone package will see prices rise.

Cablevision said it had not raised Internet prices in a decade. It raised video prices in 2011, which saw customer bills rise by 2.88 percent on average.

The company said it has invested $ 140 million in improving its Internet network, deployed more than 50,000 WiFi “hotspots,” and puts no usage caps on its service, unlike some cable competitors.

Canaccord Genuity analyst Tom Eagan downgraded his Cablevision rating from “buy” to “hold” on November 27 and said that Cablevision would lose customers if it were to decide to raise prices not long after Superstorm Sandy.

“Given the massive service outages among its subscribers (after Sandy), we don’t believe the company can raise rates … without incurring material customer churn,” Eagan said.

The cable provider, which is controlled by the Dolan family, said in early November that costs from Sandy, which knocked out service for as many as half its customers, would be substantially higher than its $ 16 million bill from Hurricane Irene in 2011.

Like bigger operators Comcast and Time Warner Cable, Cablevision has been losing customers to rivals such as satellite television provider DirecTV and telephone operator Verizon Communications.

Cablevision shares closed up 2.6 percent, at $ 14.16, on Thursday.

(Reporting By Liana B. Baker; Editing by Steve Orlofsky and Leslie Adler)

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Health workers march in Spain’s capital against cuts, reforms

MADRID (Reuters) – Thousands of health workers, on strike since last month, marched on Sunday in Madrid to protest against budget cuts and plans from the Spanish capital’s regional government to privatize the management of public hospitals and medical centers.

It was the third time doctors, nurses and health workers have rallied since the local authorities put forward a plan in October to place six hospitals and dozens of medical practices under private management. The plan also calls for patients to be charged a fee of 1 euro for prescriptions.

Workers launched an indefinite strike last month against the plan, which has not been endorsed by the centre-right government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. Health workers in the capital are striking Monday-Thursday each week and seeing patients only on Fridays, while also responding to emergencies.

Spain’s 17 autonomous regions control health and education policies and spending. They have all had to implement steep cuts this year as the country struggles to meet tough European Union-agreed deficit targets.

Dressed in white scrubs, the protesters shouted slogans such as “Health is not for sale” and “Health 100 percent public, no to privatizations”.

“Of course, privatization can be reversed. Actually the question is not if it can be reversed, because privatization should never have a future,” said Luis Alvarez, an unemployed man from Madrid attending the demonstration.

Belen Padilla, a doctor at Madrid’s hospital Gregorio Maranon, said one million citizens had already signed a petition rejecting the plan.

(Reporting by Reuters Television; Writing by Julien Toyer; Editing by Peter Graff)

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