BBC chief quits after saying TV report was wrong

The BBC Director General, George Entwistle, left, stands with the Chairman of the BBC Trust, Lord Chris Patten, as he announces his resignation as Director General outside New Broadcasting House in central London, after recent news program problems, Saturday Nov. 10, 2012. The BBC's director general had said earlier Saturday that it should not have aired a report that wrongly implicated a politician in a child sex-abuse scandal, admitting that the program further damaged trust in a broadcaster already reeling from the fallout over its decision not to air similar allegations against one of its star hosts. George Entwistle's comments followed an embarrassing retreat for the BBC, which apologized Friday for its Nov. 2 "Newsnight" TV show on alleged sex abuse in Wales in the 1970s and 1980s. During the program, victim Steve Messham claimed he had been abused by a senior Conservative Party figure. The BBC didn't name the alleged abuser, but online rumors focused on Alistair McAlpine, a Conservative Party member of the House of Lords. On Friday, he issued a fierce denial and threatened to sue. (AP Photo/ Max Nash)

The BBC Director General, George Entwistle, left, stands with the Chairman of the BBC Trust, Lord Chris Patten, as he announces his resignation as Director General outside New Broadcasting House in central London, after recent news program problems, Saturday Nov. 10, 2012. The BBC's director general had said earlier Saturday that it should not have aired a report that wrongly implicated a politician in a child sex-abuse scandal, admitting that the program further damaged trust in a broadcaster already reeling from the fallout over its decision not to air similar allegations against one of its star hosts. George Entwistle's comments followed an embarrassing retreat for the BBC, which apologized Friday for its Nov. 2 "Newsnight" TV show on alleged sex abuse in Wales in the 1970s and 1980s. During the program, victim Steve Messham claimed he had been abused by a senior Conservative Party figure. The BBC didn't name the alleged abuser, but online rumors focused on Alistair McAlpine, a Conservative Party member of the House of Lords. On Friday, he issued a fierce denial and threatened to sue. (AP Photo/ Max Nash)

The BBC Director General, George Entwistle, announces his resignation from the BBC outside New Broadcasting House in central London, after recent news program problems, Saturday Nov. 10, 2012. The BBC's director general had said earlier Saturday that it should not have aired a report that wrongly implicated a politician in a child sex-abuse scandal, admitting that the program further damaged trust in a broadcaster already reeling from the fallout over its decision not to air similar allegations against one of its star hosts. George Entwistle's comments followed an embarrassing retreat for the BBC, which apologized Friday for its Nov. 2 "Newsnight" TV show on alleged sex abuse in Wales in the 1970s and 1980s. During the program, victim Steve Messham claimed he had been abused by a senior Conservative Party figure. The BBC didn't name the alleged abuser, but online rumors focused on Alistair McAlpine, a Conservative Party member of the House of Lords. On Friday, he issued a fierce denial and threatened to sue. (AP Photo/ Max Nash)

ARCHIVO - En la imagen de marzo de 2008, Jimmy Savile muestra una medalla en Londres. Las acusaciones de que Savile, un presentador de renombre para programas infantiles de la cadena BBC, cometi? abuso sexual a cientos de ni?os deton? un debate a nivel nacional. El director general de la cadena brit?nica dijo el s?bado 10 de noviembre de 2012 que la BBC no deber?a haber transmitido un reporte que incorrectamente implic? a un pol?tico en un esc?ndalo de abuso sexual infantil, error que se suma a los efectos de su decisi?n de no transmitir las acusaciones contra Savile. (Foto AP/Lewis Whyld/PA Wire)

FILE - A Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2012 photo from files showing BBC Director General, George Entwistle, leaving Portcullis House in London after giving evidence to the Parliament Select Committee. The BBC?s director general said Saturday that it should not have aired a report that wrongly implicated a politician in a child sex-abuse scandal, admitting that the program further damaged trust in a broadcaster already reeling from the fallout over its decision not to air similar allegations against one of its star hosts. George Entwistle?s comments followed an embarrassing retreat for the BBC, which apologized Friday for its Nov. 2 ?Newsnight? TV show on alleged sex abuse in Wales in the 1970s and 1980s. During the program, victim Steve Messham claimed he had been abused by a senior Conservative Party figure. The BBC didn?t name the alleged abuser, but online rumors focused on Alistair McAlpine, a Conservative Party member of the House of Lords. On Friday, he issued a fierce denial and threatened to sue. (AP Photo/Sang Tan, Flle)

FILE - A Tuesday Oct. 23, 2012 photo from files showing BBC Director General George Entwistle as he leaves Portcullis House in London after giving evidence to the Parliament Select Committee. In a statement made outside New Broadcasting House, central London, Saturday evening, George Entwistle said he was stepping down as BBC Director General. (AP Photo/Sang Tan, File)

LONDON (AP) ? The BBC's top executive resigned Saturday night after the prestigious broadcaster's marquee news magazine wrongly implicated a British politician in a child sex-abuse scandal, deepening the crisis that exploded after it decided not to air similar allegations against one of its own stars who police now say was one of the nation's worst pedophiles.

In a brief statement outside BBC headquarters, George Entwistle said he decided to do the "honorable thing" and step down after just eight weeks in the job.

"The wholly exceptional events of the past few weeks have led me to conclude that the BBC should appoint a new leader," he said.

It was a rapid about-face for Entwistle, a 23-year BBC veteran who earlier Saturday had insisted he had no plans to resign despite growing questions about his leadership and the BBC's integrity in the wake of the scandals.

Lawmaker John Whittingdale, who chairs a parliamentary committee on the news media, said Entwistle had no choice but to go, as the BBC's management appears to have "lost their grip" on the publicly funded organization.

"I think that what has happened in the last few days has immensely weakened his authority and credibility," Whittingdale said. "It would have been very difficult for him to continue in those circumstances."

The scandal comes at a sensitive time for Britain's media establishment, struggling to recover from an ongoing phone-hacking scandal which brought down the nation's best-selling Sunday newspaper, led to the arrests of dozens of journalists and prompted a judge-led inquiry into journalistic ethics and the ties between politics and the news media.

Kevin Marsh, a former senior editor of the BBC, said the resignation does little to re-establish public trust in the BBC, which is funded mainly by a tax on U.K. households that have televisions.

"The BBC asks the British public to pay its bills every year, and the only way it can do that is if the British public trusts the way it is spending its money," he said.

Entwistle took over as head of the BBC two months ago from Mark Thompson, who will become chief executive of The New York Times Co. this month. The broadcaster was emerging from a difficult period marked by budget cuts, job losses and mounting calls to justify its 3.5 billion pound ($5.6 billion) budget.

A month into Entwistle's leadership, the BBC was thrown into crisis with the revelation that its "Newsnight" program had shelved an investigation into allegations that Jimmy Savile, the renowned BBC TV host who died last year, had sexually abused several hundred children ? cajoling some into having sex with him in his car, his camper van, and even in dingy dressing rooms on BBC premises.

The sex allegations were later aired on the rival ITV network. Since then, scores of adults have come forward to claim that their allegations of sexual assault had been ignored by authorities and the news media.

The BBC's decision not to air the Savile report ? and the suggestion that managers did not investigate allegations of sexual abuse by one of their stars ? prompted deep soul-searching at the trusted broadcaster and assurances from Entwistle that he would get to the bottom of the decision.

He said the broadcaster would hold an inquiry into the "culture and practices of the BBC" during the years Savile worked there. Soon after, "Newsnight" editor Peter Rippon stepped aside pending an investigation into his decision to scrap the Savile story.

But the furor was reignited soon after the same program aired a Nov. 2 report about alleged sexual abuse of children in Wales in the 1970s and 1980s. During the program, victim Steve Messham claimed he had been abused by a senior Conservative Party figure.

The BBC didn't name the alleged abuser, but online rumors focused on Alistair McAlpine, a Conservative Party member of the House of Lords. On Friday, McAlpine issued a fierce denial and threatened to sue.

Messham then said he had been mistaken about his abuser's identity and apologized to McAlpine, prompting criticism over the BBC's decision to air the report, the suspension of investigative programs at "Newsnight" and mounting questions over Entwistle's leadership.

Entwistle insisted he was not aware of the program before it was broadcast, saying in hindsight he wished the matter had been referred to him. That claim drew incredulity from politicians and media watchers who wondered how he could have allowed a second botched handling of a high-profile child sex-abuse story only weeks after the Savile scandal.

When the Savile scandal broke, he had portrayed himself as a hands-off chief executive who relies on a BBC system under which issues are brought to his attention by competent editors and executives.

He pleaded the same in a combative BBC radio interview on Saturday, saying that the McAlpine report, as far as he could tell, had been referred to senior figures in the BBC's news, management and legal divisions.

Marsh, the former BBC editor, said Entwistle's position became untenable after those comments and appearances made clear the executive had no idea what was going on within his own organization.

"This was an absolutely catastrophic combination of events," he said. "He inherited a massive crisis over Jimmy Savile. He made some missteps in managing that. He then never corrected those missteps and that helped generate the Lord McAlpine crisis."

The BBC Trust's chairman, Chris Patten, called Saturday "one of the saddest evenings of my public life" but praised Entwistle's "honor and courage" in tendering his resignation.

"At the heart of the BBC is its role as a trusted global news organization, and as the editor-in-chief of this organization, George has very honorably offered us his resignation because of the unacceptable mistakes and the unacceptable shoddy journalism which has caused so much controversy," Patten said.

British Culture Secretary Maria Miller welcomed the resignation, calling it "regrettable but the right decision."

"It is vital that credibility and public trust in this important national institution is restored. It is now crucial that the BBC puts the systems in place to ensure it can make first-class news and current affairs programs," she said.

Media watchers say doing so could mean rethinking the management structure of the BBC, whose portfolio of radio and television channels dominate the British media landscape.

"The BBC has been run by too many people who are insiders and there's no clear chain of command," said Charlie Beckett, director of the London School of Economics think tank Polis. "It has such a strong, closed-system culture that it needs an injection of fresh thinking."

Beckett noted that in the past, trust in the BBC has recovered from scandals because the broadcaster "provides so much to the public as individuals."

But journalists might be left in a more precarious position of lacking the confidence to do challenging investigative and critical journalism, Beckett said.

"The danger is that the BBC will play safe, and it's too important in British life for it to always play safe," Beckett said.

The chief executive of BBC Worldwide, Tim Davie, will serve as acting director general until a permanent replacement for Entwistle is found.

___

Associated Press writer Cassandra Vinograd can be reached at http://twitter.com/CassVinograd

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-11-10-Britain-Child%20Abuse/id-53146ff5b4ee4a958c5a01170aaeae58

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Malaria vaccine a letdown for infants

FILE - Two children stricken down with malaria rest at the local hospital in the small village of Walikale, Congo, in this Sunday, Sept. 19, 2010 file photo. Malaria is spread by mosquitoes and kills more than 650,000 people every year, mostly young children and pregnant women in Africa. An experimental malaria vaccine developed by GlaxoSmithKline and the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative, helped develop a new experimental malaria vaccine which was thought promising but is now turning out to be a disappointment, with a new study showing it is only about 30 percent effective at protecting infants from the killer disease according to results released in South Africa Friday Nov. 9, 2012. (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam, file)

FILE - Two children stricken down with malaria rest at the local hospital in the small village of Walikale, Congo, in this Sunday, Sept. 19, 2010 file photo. Malaria is spread by mosquitoes and kills more than 650,000 people every year, mostly young children and pregnant women in Africa. An experimental malaria vaccine developed by GlaxoSmithKline and the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative, helped develop a new experimental malaria vaccine which was thought promising but is now turning out to be a disappointment, with a new study showing it is only about 30 percent effective at protecting infants from the killer disease according to results released in South Africa Friday Nov. 9, 2012. (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam, file)

FILE - In this Friday, Oct. 30, 2009 file photo showing an unidetified mother as watches over her child who is suffering from severe malaria, as other children lay nearby, in the Siaya hospital in Western Kenya. Malaria is spread by mosquitoes and kills more than 650,000 people every year, mostly young children and pregnant women in Africa. GlaxoSmithKline and the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative, helped develop a new experimental malaria vaccine which was thought promising but is now turning out to be a disappointment, with a new study showing it is only about 30 percent effective at protecting infants from the killer disease according to results released in South Africa Friday Nov. 9, 2012. (AP Photo/Karel Prinsloo, file)

LONDON (AP) ? An experimental malaria vaccine once thought promising is turning out to be a disappointment, with a new study showing it is only about 30 percent effective at protecting infants from the killer disease.

That is a significant drop from a study last year done in slightly older children, which suggested the vaccine cut the malaria risk by about half ? though that is still far below the protection provided from most vaccines. According to details released on Friday, the three-shot regimen reduced malaria cases by about 30 percent in infants aged 6 to 12 weeks, the target age for immunization.

Dr. Jennifer Cohn, a medical coordinator at Doctors Without Borders, described the vaccine's protection levels as "unacceptably low." She was not linked to the study.

Scientists have been working for decades to develop a malaria vaccine, a complicated endeavor since the disease is caused by five different species of parasites. There has never been an effective vaccine against a parasite. Worldwide, there are several dozen malaria vaccine candidates being researched.

In 2006, a group of experts led by the World Health Organization said a malaria vaccine should cut the risk of severe disease and death by at least half and should last longer than one year. Malaria is spread by mosquitoes and kills more than 650,000 people every year, mostly young children and pregnant women in Africa. Without a vaccine, officials have focused on distributing insecticide-treated bed nets, spraying homes with pesticides and ensuring access to good medicines.

In the new study, scientists found babies who got three doses of the vaccine had about 30 percent fewer cases of malaria than those who didn't get immunized. The research included more than 6,500 infants in Africa. Experts also found the vaccine reduced the amount of severe malaria by about 26 percent, up to 14 months after the babies were immunized.

Scientists said they needed to analyze the data further to understand why the vaccine may be working differently in different regions. For example, babies born in areas with high levels of malaria might inherit some antibodies from their mothers which could interfere with any vaccination.

"Maybe we should be thinking of a first-generation vaccine that is targeted only for certain children," said Dr. Salim Abdulla of the Ifakara Health Institute in Tanzania, one of the study investigators.

Results were presented at a conference in South Africa on Friday and released online by the New England Journal of Medicine. The study is scheduled to continue until 2014 and is being paid for by GlaxoSmithKline and the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative.

"The results look bad now, but they will probably be worse later," said Adrian Hill of Oxford University, who is developing a competing malaria vaccine. He noted the study showed the Glaxo vaccine lost its potency after several months. Hill said the vaccine might be a hard sell, compared to other vaccines like those for meningitis and pneumococcal disease ? which are both effective and cheap.

"If it turns out to have a clear 30 percent efficacy, it is probably not worth it to implement this in Africa on a large scale," said Genton Blaise, a malaria expert at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute in Basel, who also sits on a WHO advisory board.

Eleanor Riley of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said the vaccine might be useful if used together with other strategies, like bed nets. She was involved in an earlier study of the vaccine and had hoped for better results. "We're all a bit frustrated that it has proven so hard to make a malaria vaccine," she said. "The question is how much money are the funders willing to keep throwing at it."

Glaxo first developed the vaccine in 1987 and has invested $300 million in it so far.

WHO said it couldn't comment on the incomplete results and would wait until the trial was finished before drawing any conclusions.

___

Online:

www.nejm.org

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/bbd825583c8542898e6fa7d440b9febc/Article_2012-11-09-Malaria%20Vaccine/id-1c906303ce7c4b928a95d605958e606d

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Time ripe for India sovereign dollar bond ? opinion

Time ripe for India sovereign dollar bond ? opinion

October 24, 2012 ?

From Frances Yoon

Now that India?s macroeconomic picture is slowly improving, the country should start mapping out a schedule to issue a dollar sovereign bond as liquidity constraints continue to strain its financial system.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/FixedIncomeCommodities/~3/yH6LlRLcpVw/Time-ripe-for-India-sovereign-dollar-bondopinion.html

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News Summary: Sluggish signs nudge stocks down

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Direct Sales: 5 Factors Small Businesses Should Consider ...

Susan Wilson Solovic is an award-winning entrepreneur and journalist, author of three best-selling books, multi-media personality and contributor to ABC News and other outlets, public speaker and attorney.?AT&T has sponsored the following blog post.

When I was a little girl I couldn?t wait for the Avon lady to visit my mom. She?d always give me little lipstick samples to play with. She?d spend 30 minutes or so showing my mom the latest and greatest products and leave with a nice order. In fact, I still have a collection of Avon Christmas collector plates starting in the 1970s my mom purchased from the Avon lady.

?The small business boom

What I didn?t realize then was that the Avon lady was a small business owner ? an independent consultant for a direct sales company. Direct selling companies like Avon have been around for years, and while most of the economy is shrinking or struggling, this market segment is booming.?

More than 15 million people make a full- or part-time living as independent consultants for a direct selling company. Approximately 74 percent of Americans have purchased a product or service from a direct sales representative. And it?s not just makeup anymore. You can purchase nearly anything through the direct sales distribution channel ? from jewelry and home goods to stun guns and power tools.

Why is the industry doing so well?? People need jobs, and it?s a way to get started in business for yourself without a huge start-up expense.? However, just as with any business, it?s not an instant cash flow machine.

What to consider before jumping in

It takes a strong commitment, hard work and a plan to be successful as a small business owner.? And it?s important to know, not all direct sales companies provide the same opportunities.? So before you decide this business model may be right for you, here are five factors to consider.

1.?Belief in the Product.?? No matter how exciting the business opportunity sounds, if you don?t believe in the product itself, you?ll have a tough time being successful.? The best marketing strategy for any direct sales representative is an almost evangelistic zest.? So don?t jump until you are comfortable that the opportunity is the right fit for you.

2. Instant Success.? Companies that try to entice you with instant success stories and big money should make you nervous.? If something sounds too good to be true, it is. As I noted earlier, it takes a significant effort to build your direct sales business.? You?ll need patience and the dedication to put an action plan together and work the business regularly. To attract independent consultants some companies try to get you all jazzed up about the opportunity and then pressure you to commit on the spot.? Do your homework before you sign on the dotted line.

3.?Established Company. It?s hard to know just how many direct sales companies there are in the market. Many of them frizzle out quickly. So make sure you choose a company with a successful track record. You don?t want to invest your time and energy building your business only to have the company go out of business.

4.?Upfront Fees and Inventory. One of the attractive things about a direct sales business opportunity is that it usually costs very little to get started.? So be wary of a company that requires a significant upfront fee or the purchase of large amounts of inventory. Both are red flags. I recently met a woman who had joined a direct sales company that required an $800 up-front in addition to purchasing inventory in advance ? money she really didn?t have. But she invested in the ?dream.? Sadly, her investment turned out to be for naught.? There are many similar stories, so be cautious and choose wisely.

5.?Success Dependent on Recruitment.? Success with some direct sales companies depends on recruiting other independent consultants.? Your compensation is a reflection of their sales and success. It?s what is known in the industry as a down-line. However, with a solid company you should be able to enjoy success based on your own efforts without building a down-line organization.

?There are people who have made significant amounts of money in the direct sales industry, but there are even more who haven?t been successful.? So a word to the wise: Assess any business opportunity carefully.? There?s no such thing as an overnight success.

?If you found this article interesting, share it with your colleagues using the links below.

Source: http://networkingexchangeblog.att.com/small-business/direct-sales-5-factors-small-businesses-should-consider/

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U.S. Consulate in Berlin evacuated in false alarm

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Obama Gives Hope to a Son at Portsmouth, N.H., Campaign Stop

FIRST PERSON | PORTSMOUTH, N.H. -- I received news that my mother had passed just after midnight on Friday. Despite her Alzheimer's, she had been my biggest fan. She was the first to see the photos I took at campaign events; she had even accompanied me to several events. She had the honor of having her picture with her hero, Bill Clinton, and published in the Concord Monitor.

One, a Romney-Ryan rally at Saint Anselm College, had been an ordeal for her and she had asked me to take her away, away from the hate and bombast.

I sat with her until well past three in the morning saying my goodbyes. By the time I left -- if I was going to get to the Obama-Biden rally at Portsmouth's Strawberry Banke Museum -- I had slept all of one-half-hour in the past 24.

I felt I would go mad with grief if I didn't go to see the president. I struggled with whether it was the right thing to do, though I knew she would have wanted me to go. But did I want to go?

Thursday night was frantic, getting ready for the Obama-Biden rally and a Mitt Romney rally planned for Friday night, to counter the president in the battle for New Hampshire. I had visited my mother in the hospital in the morning and then later in the afternoon, before leaving to cover a "Veterans for Romney" press conference in Concord. It was a phony-baloney event in which the press was allowed to ask exactly one question -- a setup. As we left the conference, who should show up magically but Mitt Romney himself?

At the hospital, after seeing Romney sidestep a question about the Manchester's veterans hospital, I spent my last time with my mother. She was in full dementia. I did all I could to calm her. The nurse gave her medication and she went to sleep. I left with my sister.

She was to be transferred to a nursing home for short-term rehabilitation the following morning.

The calculations a family must do when confronted with Medicare (which would not pay for the nursing home unless she were in hospital three days) are inhuman and cruel. Should the Romney-Ryan ticket be elected, the dilemmas faced by families would be crueler, as there would be less options.

Did I want to go? Yes. I had seen the president several times, and after having been estranged from him and actually voting Republican for the first time in the New Hampshire primary (casting a ballot for Jon Huntsman), I had become increasing bound to him as the Republican Party had metastasized into a monstrous, anti-human thing.

The motto of the Romney-Ryan campaign seems to be "every man for himself," a command given sailors on a sinking ship. They had given up on America. I wanted to see Obama and his message of hope.

He did not disappoint. The 6,000 supporters who thronged the central square at the Strawberry Banke living museum had to wait two hours, but it was worth it. Obama was cool and in command, his tie loosened. At one point, he casually put his hand on his hip as he talked, alternating his cool with fire as he attacked the GOP. It was the Barack of old, the barn-burner orator.

And he did give me hope and helped lift my despair.

Because he cares. Barack Obama cares. He is not perfect, but when I was with him and his wife Michelle, Joe Biden and his wife Jill, I felt like part of a community. A community that cares.

Back home, the following day, I collected some of Mom's snapshots for her memorial. Pictures of my late father and her and a favorite dogs had been stuck into the frame of the mirror in her bedroom -- along with the temporary I.D. we had to get earlier this year so she could vote. (At the age of 86, it had been an ordeal.)

I saw she had draped my press pass from a N.H. primary debate over the mirror. As I removed the photos, I discovered she had also tucked into the mirror frame a photo of President Obama and his family.

It was nice to know I had done the right thing. It was a message from her.

It was nice to know the man I chose to see the day after she passed, seeking to be comforted, had been there to comfort her in her final days.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-gives-hope-son-portsmouth-n-h-campaign-130900215.html

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