Jakarta News.Net Friday 6th January, 2012 (Source: The Jakarta Post)
A | President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is extending the tenure of a government-sanctioned task force on Indonesian migrant workers, especially for those who are facing death penalties, a minister says.Coordinating Political, Security and Legal Affairs Minister Djoko Suyanto said Thursday that the President lauded the task force's work, saying tha... ...
NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Stocks were slightly lower on Friday as investors were pulled in a tug-of-war between strong domestic data and continued concerns about Europe's debt crisis.
The U.S. economy added 200,000 jobs in December, topping forecasts, and the jobless rate fell to 8.5 percent, a near three-year low. The data followed strong employment reports on Thursday, and recent bullish readings on housing and manufacturing.
Signals of stronger U.S. growth have helped to lift equities, with major indexes gaining more than 1 percent this week. At the same time, volatility has increased as the emphasis went back and forth between the U.S. economy and fears that Europe's economic troubles would spill over to the global economy.
"The data has been very good and should have implications for the sustainability of consumer spending and strength in manufacturing, but the lack of commitment we're seeing shows how there are still concerns about Europe," said David Joy, chief market strategist at Ameriprise Financial in Boston.
Fitch cut Hungary's credit rating to junk in the latest reminder of contagion tied to the region's debt crisis.
The euro, which has been closely correlated with global equities, fell near a fresh 16-month low against the dollar.
"Stability there is starting to fray a bit, markets seem to be on shaky ground, and that's holding us back," added Joy, who helps oversee $571 billion in assets.
The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) was down 38.15 points, or 0.31 percent, at 12,377.55. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (.SPX) slipped 2.01 points, or 0.16 percent, at 1,279.05. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) was up 5.49 points, or 0.21 percent, at 2,675.35.
For the week, the Dow is up 1.3 percent, the S&P is up 1.7 percent, and the Nasdaq is up 2.7 percent. Most of the gains came from cyclical sectors tied to growth, including financials and energy.
Those were among the weakest on Friday, with the S&P financial sector (.GSPF) off 0.6 percent and the S&P energy index (.GSPE) off 0.5 percent.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) fell 1.1 percent to $93.53 after JPMorgan cut its stock target and Bernstein forecast a challenging year for the investment banking giant.
The Nasdaq was helped by strength in large-cap Internet stocks. Netflix Inc (NFLX.O) gained 8.5 percent to $86.02, while Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) added 3.3 percent to $183.42.
Alcoa Inc (AA.N) fell 2.1 percent at $9.16 after the largest U.S. aluminum producer said it will cut global smelting capacity amid a steep drop in metal prices.
Sprint Nextel Corp (S.N) rose 0.9 percent to $2.26 a day after its chief executive said the mobile service provider had iPhone sales in the fourth quarter.
The number of advancing and declining stocks was about equal on both the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq.
(Reporting By Ryan Vlastelica; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
Abiraterone: Indication of considerable added benefit in certain patientsPublic release date: 6-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Anna-Sabine Ernst presse@iqwig.de 49-022-135-6850 Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care
Advantages for men with metastatic hormone-refractory prostate cancer who are no longer eligible for docetaxel therapy
Abiraterone (trade name: Zytiga) has been approved since September 2011 for men with metastatic prostate cancer that is no longer responsive to hormone therapy and progresses further during or after therapy with the cytostatic drug docetaxel. In an early benefit assessment pursuant to the "Act on the Reform of the Market for Medicinal Products" (AMNOG), the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) examined whether abiraterone offers an added benefit compared with the present standard therapy.
IQWiG finds an indication of a considerable added benefit of abiraterone in patients who are not eligible for further treatment with docetaxel. In contrast, an added benefit is not proven in patients who can still be treated with docetaxel, as the dossier submitted by the drug manufacturer provides inadequate information for this group of patients.
Separate assessment for two groups of patients
In accordance with the specifications of the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA), IQWiG separately assessed abiraterone in two groups of patients. The G-BA has specified different appropriate comparator therapies for the two groups.
The "best supportive care population" contains patients who are not eligible for further treatment with docetaxel. The appropriate comparator therapy for this group is palliative treatment with dexamethasone, prednisone, prednisolone or methylprednisolone, as well as "best supportive care".
"Best supportive care" means the therapy that provides the patient with the best possible individually optimized supportive treatment to alleviate symptoms (e.g. adequate pain therapy) and improve quality of life.
The "docetaxel-retherapy population" comprises patients who are still eligible for further treatment with docetaxel. The appropriate comparator therapy for this patient population is docetaxel in combination with prednisone or prednisolone.
Indication of increase in survival and delay in consequences of disease
One study (COU-AA-301), which considers patient-relevant outcomes and provides relevant data, was included in the assessment of added benefit in the "best supportive care population". This study compared treatment with abiraterone versus placebo, in each case combined with prednisone and "best supportive care".
IQWiG finds an indication of an added benefit in patients treated with abiraterone: the above study provides indications that abiraterone can prolong survival and delay consequences of prostate cancer, such as fractures or operations due to bone metastases. In addition, the "time to pain progression" was prolonged in study participants receiving abiraterone.
IQWiG classifies the extent of this added benefit as "considerable". The corresponding legal ordinance has specified three grades to determine the extent of added benefit: "minor", "considerable" and "major".
The study data presented on health-related quality of life assessments cannot be used; an added benefit of abiraterone is therefore not proven for this outcome.
The indications of advantages for abiraterone are not accompanied by proof of greater harm.
Added benefit in the docetaxel-retherapy population not proven
The manufacturer presented inadequate data for the "docetaxel-retherapy population". The required search in trial registries was missing in the dossier. Moreover, studies presented by the manufacturer, such as indirect comparisons and one-arm studies, cannot be used due to deficits in methods and content. An added benefit in this patient group is therefore not proven.
G-BA decides on the extent of added benefit
The procedure for inferring the overall conclusion on the extent of added benefit is a proposal from IQWiG. The G-BA, which has opened a formal commenting procedure, decides on the extent of added benefit.
###
The website gesundheitsinformation.de, which is issued by IQWiG, provides easily understandable brief information (German version, http://www.gesundheitsinformation.de/prostatakrebs-welche-vor-oder-nachteile-hat-abirateron.804.de.html).
The G-BA website contains both general information (http://www.english.g-ba.de/special-topics/pharmaceuticals/benefitassessment/) on benefit assessments pursuant to 35a Social Code Book V and specific information on the assessment of abiraterone (German version, http://www.g-ba.de/informationen/nutzenbewertung/19/).
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Abiraterone: Indication of considerable added benefit in certain patientsPublic release date: 6-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Anna-Sabine Ernst presse@iqwig.de 49-022-135-6850 Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care
Advantages for men with metastatic hormone-refractory prostate cancer who are no longer eligible for docetaxel therapy
Abiraterone (trade name: Zytiga) has been approved since September 2011 for men with metastatic prostate cancer that is no longer responsive to hormone therapy and progresses further during or after therapy with the cytostatic drug docetaxel. In an early benefit assessment pursuant to the "Act on the Reform of the Market for Medicinal Products" (AMNOG), the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) examined whether abiraterone offers an added benefit compared with the present standard therapy.
IQWiG finds an indication of a considerable added benefit of abiraterone in patients who are not eligible for further treatment with docetaxel. In contrast, an added benefit is not proven in patients who can still be treated with docetaxel, as the dossier submitted by the drug manufacturer provides inadequate information for this group of patients.
Separate assessment for two groups of patients
In accordance with the specifications of the Federal Joint Committee (G-BA), IQWiG separately assessed abiraterone in two groups of patients. The G-BA has specified different appropriate comparator therapies for the two groups.
The "best supportive care population" contains patients who are not eligible for further treatment with docetaxel. The appropriate comparator therapy for this group is palliative treatment with dexamethasone, prednisone, prednisolone or methylprednisolone, as well as "best supportive care".
"Best supportive care" means the therapy that provides the patient with the best possible individually optimized supportive treatment to alleviate symptoms (e.g. adequate pain therapy) and improve quality of life.
The "docetaxel-retherapy population" comprises patients who are still eligible for further treatment with docetaxel. The appropriate comparator therapy for this patient population is docetaxel in combination with prednisone or prednisolone.
Indication of increase in survival and delay in consequences of disease
One study (COU-AA-301), which considers patient-relevant outcomes and provides relevant data, was included in the assessment of added benefit in the "best supportive care population". This study compared treatment with abiraterone versus placebo, in each case combined with prednisone and "best supportive care".
IQWiG finds an indication of an added benefit in patients treated with abiraterone: the above study provides indications that abiraterone can prolong survival and delay consequences of prostate cancer, such as fractures or operations due to bone metastases. In addition, the "time to pain progression" was prolonged in study participants receiving abiraterone.
IQWiG classifies the extent of this added benefit as "considerable". The corresponding legal ordinance has specified three grades to determine the extent of added benefit: "minor", "considerable" and "major".
The study data presented on health-related quality of life assessments cannot be used; an added benefit of abiraterone is therefore not proven for this outcome.
The indications of advantages for abiraterone are not accompanied by proof of greater harm.
Added benefit in the docetaxel-retherapy population not proven
The manufacturer presented inadequate data for the "docetaxel-retherapy population". The required search in trial registries was missing in the dossier. Moreover, studies presented by the manufacturer, such as indirect comparisons and one-arm studies, cannot be used due to deficits in methods and content. An added benefit in this patient group is therefore not proven.
G-BA decides on the extent of added benefit
The procedure for inferring the overall conclusion on the extent of added benefit is a proposal from IQWiG. The G-BA, which has opened a formal commenting procedure, decides on the extent of added benefit.
###
The website gesundheitsinformation.de, which is issued by IQWiG, provides easily understandable brief information (German version, http://www.gesundheitsinformation.de/prostatakrebs-welche-vor-oder-nachteile-hat-abirateron.804.de.html).
The G-BA website contains both general information (http://www.english.g-ba.de/special-topics/pharmaceuticals/benefitassessment/) on benefit assessments pursuant to 35a Social Code Book V and specific information on the assessment of abiraterone (German version, http://www.g-ba.de/informationen/nutzenbewertung/19/).
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ? Just 15 years old, Sahar Gul has become the bruised and bloodied face of women's rights in Afghanistan. The teenage bride's eyes were swollen nearly shut as she was wheeled into the hospital seven months after her arranged marriage. Black scabs crusted her fingertips where her nails used to be.
According to officials in northeastern Baghlan province, Gul's in-laws kept her in a basement for six months, ripped her fingernails out, tortured her with hot irons and broke her fingers ? all in an attempt to force her into prostitution. Police freed her after her uncle called authorities.
The horrific images, captured by television news cameras last week, transfixed Afghanistan and set off a storm of condemnation. President Hamid Karzai set up a commission to investigate, and his health minister visited her bedside. Police arrested her in-laws, who denied abusing her. A warrant was issued for her husband, who serves in the Afghan army.
The case highlights both the problems and the progress of women 10 years after the Taliban's fall. Gul's egregious wounds and underage wedlock are a reminder that girls and women still suffer shocking abuse. But the public outrage and the government's response to it also show that the country is slowly changing.
"Let's break the dead silence on women's plight," read the title of an editorial Wednesday in the Afghanistan Times.
Despite guaranteed rights and progressive new laws, Afghanistan still ranks as the world's sixth-worst country for women's equality in the U.N. Development Program's annual Gender Inequality Index. Nevertheless, Afghan advocates say attitudes have subtly shifted over the years, in part thanks to the dozens of women's groups that have sprung up.
Fawzia Kofi, a lawmaker and head of the women's affairs commission in the Afghan parliament, says the outcry over a case like Gul's probably would not have happened just a few years ago because of deep cultural taboos against airing private family conflicts and acknowledging sexual abuse ? such as forcing a woman into prostitution.
"I think there is now a sense of awareness about women's rights. People seem to be changing and seem to be talking about it," Kofi said.
Ending abuse of women is a huge challenge in a patriarchal society where traditional practices include child marriage, giving girls away to settle debts or pay for their relatives' crimes and so-called honor killings in which girls seen as disgracing their families are murdered by their relatives.
And some women activists worry that their hard-won political rights may erode as foreign troops withdraw and Karzai's government seeks to negotiate with the Taliban to end their insurgency. Women's rights, they fear, may be the first to go in any deal with the hardline Islamic militants.
"I'm afraid we won't have all this anymore if the Taliban are allowed back into society," said Sima Natiq, a longtime activist.
Freedoms for women are one of the most visible ? and symbolic ? changes in Afghanistan since 2001 U.S.-led campaign that toppled the Taliban regime. Aside from their support for al-Qaida leaders, the Taliban are probably most notorious for their harsh treatment of women under their severe interpretation of Islamic law.
For five years, the regime banned women from working and going to school, or even leaving home without a male relative. In public, all women were forced wear a head-to-toe burqa veil, which covers even the face with a mesh panel. Violators were publicly flogged or executed. Freeing women from such draconian laws lent a moral air to the Afghan war.
As U.S. troops begin to draw down, activists say Afghanistan is unmistakably a better place to be born female than a decade ago.
In parliament, 27 percent of lawmakers are female, mostly because the constitution reserves 68 seats for women. More than 3 million girls are in schools, making up 40 percent of the elementary school population, according to the education ministry. A survey last year indicated that women dying in childbirth had dropped by nearly two-thirds to below 500 per 100,000 live births since 2005, although that is still one of the world's highest rates.
Still, for every improvement, there are other signs of women's continued misery. The U.N. says more than half of Afghanistan's female prison population is made up of women sentenced by local courts for fleeing their marriages ? the charge is often phrased as "intent to commit adultery," even though that's not a crime under Afghan law. And the U.N. women's agency UNIFEM estimates that half of all girls are forced to marry under age 15, even though the legal marriage age is 16.
"There's very good standards on paper. There's very active women's networks," said Georgette Gagnon, the U.N.'s human rights director in Afghanistan. "A lot has been done, but there is still a long way to go."
A U.N. report in November also found that a 2009 law passed to protect Afghan women from violence was rarely enforced. For the 12-month period ending in March 2011, prosecutors filed indictments in 155 cases, only 7 percent of all 2,299 crimes reported. And activists say those complaints are a small fraction of the true level of abuse.
Part of the problem is the ingrained attitudes of police and courts that cause them to turn a blind eye or even send women back to their abusers, said Latifa Sultani, coordinator for women's protection with the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission.
"Some local officials still believe women shouldn't have rights," Sultani said.
Last month, Karzai pardoned a 19-year-old woman who was imprisoned after she was raped and impregnated by a cousin. A local court sentenced her to 12 years in prison for having sex out of wedlock, a crime in Afghanistan. The judge told her she could get out of prison if she agreed to marry her alleged rapist, but she refused and gave birth to her daughter in prison.
Passing laws that protect women is one thing, enforcing them is another. Women's groups are pressing Karzai to do more, but most acknowledge that with the central government so weak, the real battle will be fought in individual police stations, courtrooms and prosecutors' offices. Not least will be persuading Afghans to change their views.
That's why the gruesome story of Sahar Gul's imprisonment and torture is seen by some activists as an opportunity for the government to recommit publicly to women's rights. They say are encouraged that Karzai felt compelled by the outcry to become involved.
"This is a sign of progress in a way," Kofi said. "This is just a small example. We have hundreds of thousands of women like Sahar Gul who are victims of violence, but their voices are not heard."
For now, Gul remains in a Kabul hospital, where she transferred from a local hospital in Baghlan province. An Afghan official said this week that she will be sent to India for further medical treatment. It's unclear where she will go when she returns to Afghanistan.
OGDEN, Utah ? A shootout erupted when police raided a Utah house on Wednesday evening, killing an officer and seriously wounding five others and the suspect, authorities said.
"It's a very, very sad day for Ogden," an emotional Ogden Police Chief Wayne Tarwater said Thursday.
The officers from an anti-drug task force went to the suburban Salt Lake City house as part of a routine drug-related investigation. They knocked on the door and identified themselves, he said.
"When there was no answer, they forced entry onto the door," he said. "When they entered, the officers came under fire."
The suspect, Matthew David Stewart, 37, has a limited criminal history. Stewart suffered injuries that are not life threatening, though it's unclear if he was shot.
Stewart is in a hospital under guard and it wasn't immediately clear if he had an attorney.
The officer killed, Jared Francom, was with the Ogden police. He had a wife and two young children.
After one of the officers was shot, police blocked off the area and a SWAT team took positions. Ogden is about 35 miles north of Salt Lake City.
The team serving the search warrant was made up of officers from the Weber County Sheriff's Office, local police departments and the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.
Authorities said the conditions of the officers ranged from serious to critical.
They are Ogden officers Shawn Grogan, Kasey Burrell and Michael Rounkles, Weber County sheriff's Sgt. Nate Hutchinson and Roy officer Jason Vanderworf.
The unit's commander, So. Ogden City Lt. Darin Parke said that "other than the outcome" the investigation that led to the plan to search Stewart's home was like any other.
A total of 12 officers were on hand when the warrant was served, he said.
Police continued to search the home Thursday, but would not say what they had found, or specifically what they had been looking for.
Witnesses said they heard three quick pops followed by a two- to three-minute pause, then lots of gunfire.
"We came running outside to see what was going on," Janessa Vanderstappen, who lives nearby, told the Deseret News. "Officers told us to go back in our house."
Vanderstappen said she went back inside, and minutes later heard yelling coming from the backyard. She said she walked onto the back porch to see officers addressing a person hiding in a nearby shed.
"There's cops telling him to `put your hands up, put your hands up,'" she said.
Mat Weinberger, who lives about a half block away, said he first thought the noise was fireworks.
From the porch, he told the Salt Lake Tribune that he could see several police cars parked at a nearby intersection. He also could hear a voice on the police radio shout that an officer was down.
He estimated that between 30- to 40- shots were fired during the shootout.
"Chaotic end to a quiet night," he said.
On Thursday, Ogden Mayor Mike Caldwell called the shooting, which occurred on his first full-day in office, a "one-in-a-billion event."
"It's amazing what these officers do ? put themselves in harm's way," he said.
___
Associated Press writer Jennifer Dobner in Salt Lake City contributed to this report.
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