North Korea seeks military talks with rival South

SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea has proposed holding military talks with the South next week after it raised tension on the troubled peninsula last week by warning it would hold live-fire drills near the border with its rival.

Israel sees little fallout from Dubai killing

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli intelligence experts dismissed on Sunday the prospect of lasting diplomatic fallout for Israel or damage to its Mossad spy agency over the spotlight shone on the assassination of a Hamas commander in Dubai.

Reunited Aerosmith plots summer European tour

DETROIT (Billboard) – Aerosmith will add more European dates to its summer itinerary to follow up the booking at the Download Festival in England, a spokeswoman said.

Johnny Weir goes furless for free skate

As promised, Johnny Weir did not wear fur for the free skate as he did at the U.S. Championships, which drew the ire of animal rights groups. Instead of the controversial costume with a fox fur trim, Weir wore a costume that he wore to Grand Prix events, including the Cup of Russia and the Grand Prix Final.

In this outfit, Weir skated an excellent routine. He did not throw a quadruple jump as he had mentioned that he might, but the skate was technically and artistically sound. He finished in sixth place, but seemed pleased with his performance.

Premiums jump 14 percent on Medicare private plans Millions of seniors face 14 percent premium increase for popular Medicare Advantage plans

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Millions of seniors who signed up for popular private health plans through Medicare are facing sharp premium increases this year -- another sign that spiraling costs are a problem even for those with solid insurance.

A study to be released Friday by a major consulting firm found that premiums for Medicare Advantage plans offering medical and prescription drug coverage jumped 14.2 percent on average in 2010, after an increase of only 5.2 percent the previous year. Some 8.5 million elderly and disabled Americans are in the plans, which provide more comprehensive coverage than traditional Medicare.

"These premium increases fit within a broader trend of increased financial pressure on the insured," said Lindsey Spindle, a vice president of Avalere Health, a data analysis firm that produced the statistical study. "We see very large premium increases and a continued upward creep in how much out-of-pocket expenses beneficiaries are expected to pay, such as copayments."

The Medicare findings are bad news for President Barack Obama and his health care overhaul, bogged down in Congress. That's because the higher Medicare Advantage premiums for 2010 followed a cut in government payments to the private plans last year. And the Democratic bills pending in Congress call for even more cuts, expected to force many seniors to drop out of what has been a rapidly growing alternative to traditional Medicare.

Republicans have seized on the Medicare Advantage cuts in their campaign to derail the health care bills, and seniors are listening. Polls show they are they are more skeptical of the legislation than the public as a whole, even though Democrats would also reinforce original Medicare by improving preventive benefits and narrowing the prescription coverage gap. About three-fourths of Medicare recipients remain in the traditional program.

The Avalere study found that the average monthly Medicare Advantage premium for 2010 is $39.61, representing an increase of nearly $5 a month from the previous year. That compares with a rise of less than $1.75 a month in 2009. The averages are adjusted based on enrollment levels in particular plans that offer medical and prescription coverage, reflecting the choices that seniors make.

Seniors who did not shop around for lower-priced coverage during open enrollment in the fall got hit with some of the biggest increases, averaging 22 percent.

The report on Medicare comes after a series of double-digit premium increases around the country for privately insured working households who buy their own coverage. Obama has cited those increases as an argument for reviving his stalled health care overhaul plan.

Administration officials did not dispute the Avalere study, but they sought to pin responsibility on the private insurers that participate in the program, a list that includes such industry giants as UnitedHealthcare and Aetna. Nonpartisan technical advisers to Congress say Medicare Advantage plans are being overpaid because of a flawed formula.

"Medicare Advantage plans continue to be paid about 13 percent more than original Medicare," said Medicare spokesman Peter Ashkenaz. "The plans need to explain why these increases are necessary."

Eric Hammelman, a senior Avalere data analyst, said that after the government cut payments to the plans last year, the insurers faced a choice. "They could raise premiums or lower benefits, and what most of them decided to do was raise premiums," he said.

The study also found that Medicare Advantage premium increases varied by the type of plans that seniors picked. Private fee-for-service plans, which offer a broad choice of doctors and hospitals, saw increases averaging 31.2 percent. Health maintenance organizations, which account for most of the program enrollment, had an increase of 11.3 percent. Preferred provider organizations -- some of which already have high premiums -- experienced more modest increases.

Avalere serves industry, government and private foundations, analyzing Medicare financial data.

Failure on Economy

Feb. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, a potential 2012 Republican presidential candidate, said President Barack Obama focused on overhauling the U.S. health care system to the detriment of the economy.

Addressing the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington yesterday, Romney denounced the Democratic president’s $862 billion stimulus program enacted one year ago.

Obama didn’t know that “the number one cause of failure in the private sector is lack of focus, and that the first rule of turning around any troubled enterprise is focus, focus, focus,” Romney told the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington yesterday. “His energy should have been focused on fixing the economy and creating jobs. He failed to focus, and so he failed.”

The administration has said the stimulus package saved or created about 2 million jobs.

Attendance at the American Conservative Union’s gathering is projected by organizers to reach a record 10,000 people, about 1,500 more than last year. The meeting, which ends tomorrow, takes place as support for Obama and his policies have declined, according to public opinion polls.

Another possible presidential contender, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, is to speak to today. Former Vice President Dick Cheney made an unannounced appearance yesterday.

Insurgents Showcased

The conference also is serving as a showcase for Republican insurgents such as former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio, who is challenging the state’s governor, Charles Crist, for the party’s nomination for U.S. Senate.

“We are witnessing the single greatest political pushback in American history,” Rubio said. “A long list of early establishment endorsements will not spare you a primary.”

A Feb. 5-10 CBS News-New York Times poll gave Obama a 46 percent job-approval rating, down from 50 percent in December. Majorities disapproved of the way he is handling the economy and health care.

“Will the economy and unemployment recover? Thanks to a vibrant and innovative citizenry, they always do,” said Romney, who unsuccessfully sought his party’s nomination in 2008. “But this president will not deserve the credit he will undoubtedly claim. He has prolonged the recession, expanded the pain of unemployment and added to the burden of debt we will leave future generations.”

Obama Policies

Romney’s speech offered a litany of criticism of Obama policies, including his proposals to curb the emissions blamed for global warming, overhaul health care and allow tax cuts for the wealthy enacted under President George W. Bush to expire. Those tax cuts benefitted single filers earning more than $200,000 a year and couples earning more than $250,000.

Obama “said that the government can create the conditions, the environment, which leads the private sector to add employment,” Romney said. “But consider not what he said, but what he did last year and ask whether it helped or hurt the environment for investment, growth and new jobs.”

“Liberals are convinced that government knows better than the people how to run our businesses, how to choose winning technologies, how to manage healthcare, how to grow an economy and how to order our very lives,” Romney said. “They want to gain through government takeover what they could never achieve in the competitive economy -- power and control over the people of America.”

Terrorism Cases

Romney also criticized the Obama administration’s decision to try some terrorism suspects in U.S. courts, as was done under Bush as well.

He praised Obama’s predecessor, saying history would judge President George W. Bush “far more kindly.”

Democratic National Committee spokesman Brad Woodhouse, asked for a comment, said Bush and his administration “bankrupted this country financially, with their reckless economic policies, and ethically, with their allegiance to special interests over the American people.”

Romney, 62, was introduced by newly elected Republican Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts, who received a loud welcome from the convention. Brown’s victory in a Jan. 19 special election deprived the Democrats of the 60 votes in the Senate needed to overcome Republican filibusters.

“For the big government spenders, I’m sure my election does not make them feel good at all,” Brown said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan D. Salant in Washington at jsalant@bloomberg.net .

robbed of gold

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Russian figure skating chiefs were planning their own Crime Scene Investigation on Thursday night, as accusations of sporting robbery followed Evan Lysacek’s dramatic victory in the men’s long program at Pacific Coliseum.

The American star’s triumph sparked a furious reaction from Alexei Mishin, the coach of silver medalist Evgeni Plushenko, with Mishin claiming his athlete had been unfairly “robbed” of a second consecutive gold.

Russia's Evgeni Plushenko regards his silver medal on the podium on Thursday.
(AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

This is nonsense,” Mishin told Yahoo! Sports. “It is wrong. It is criminal. How can it be like this? They are killing figure skating and taking it back 20 years. They have robbed him of his destiny.

“There is nothing we can do but we want to know what happened because this is not right. We will investigate. Someone needs to explain to me how this is possible. I cannot believe it.”

Mishin was disgusted that Lysacek was awarded an overall score of 257.67, enough to overcome his 0.55 deficit from the short program and push him ahead of Plushenko, the sport’s shining star.

Mishin’s ire centered around the quadruple jump, the most difficult maneuver in the sport. Lysacek opted not to include one in his program but was awarded higher marks for his clean execution of simpler elements. Plushenko nailed his quad, but it wasn’t enough.

Plushenko felt he had performed strongly enough to clinch gold with his routine and even jokingly motioned to step on to the top level of the podium during the medal ceremony.

“I was certain I had won,” he said.

Plushenko had previously claimed the quad and its variations are the future of figure skating. Mishin focused his accusations of thievery on the judging panel.

“Any judge who thinks this is the right champion is a Cyclops,” Mishin said. “Without the quad, there is no difference between the men’s competition and the women’s. Why not let them skate together? Why not have it as a unisex competition in the Olympics?”

The Olympic competition has only served to put the controversial current judging system under further scrutiny. The complicated marking format, which replaced the old and popular 6.0-is-a-perfect-score method, has alienated some fans and made figure skating a nightmare to understand for the uninitiated.

However, Lysacek’s coach Frank Carroll was adamant that the right man had won.

“I looked at the performance of Evgeni and Evan, and I saw strengths and weaknesses in both,” Carroll said. “It was up to the panel to sift through it and see who came up with the most points.

“There were things about Evgeni’s routine that were weaknesses. It was up for grabs and we didn’t know how they were going to go through it

Parents surprise Bright in her golden moment

Torah Bright of Australia celebrates winning the gold medal in the women's snowboard halfpipe final on Thursday.

WEST VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Torah Bright almost ruined the surprise. Her parents drove six hours to the airport in Sydney, spent 20 hours more on a flight to the Winter Olympics and did all of it behind the back of the world’s best female snowboarder. At Bright’s Vancouver abode the night before the women’s halfpipe competition, Peter and Marion Bright heard her voice, and it begged for immediate improvisation.

“We hid in the closet,” Marion said. “She even came into the bedroom.”

Eventually, they slinked out, plan intact, and prepared to conceal themselves again at Cypress Mountain. It was a jig they couldn’t keep up very long, not when their daughter was winning Australia’s first gold medal of the Vancouver Games and breaking the United States’ near decade-long stranglehold on snowboarding supremacy.

After putting in the worst first run of the 11 finalists, Bright bounced back with the best of the night, scoring a 45.0 of 50 on the strength of a switch backside 720, in which she rode opposite her dominant foot and spun into a blind landing. Once she hit that, the rest of the evening was spent taking pictures and accepting hugs, as no one – not even Americans Hannah Teter and Kelly Clark, the silver and bronze medalists – could challenge Bright’s technical supremacy.

Of course, Bright first needed to wipe the tears from her eyes. As she embraced her coach and brother, Ben, following the run, Bright noticed a shock of blond hair in the crowd. The bald spot looked familiar. And only then did the 23-year-old realize mom and dad had ignored her wishes.

“I told them not to come,” Bright said. “I told them I’d prefer them at my wedding. I should’ve known they were going to come. Of course they were going to come.”

They were always coming – here and to Bright’s June wedding in Salt Lake City. Her snowboarding coronation was four years, multiple concussions and one dislocated jaw in the making. What Shaun White is to men’s snowboarding Bright is to women’s: the uber-talent whose technical ability supersedes her competitors’ by a significant amount.

“We thought we won’t rock the boat,” Marion said. “Whatever you want, Torah, you get. Well, it’s going to be a surprise then. We didn’t want it to be a shock, so we’ll hide ourselves until after the last run.”

By then, Bright, whose first name is Hebrew for “teach,” had dished a lesson in modern snowboarding, where style and grace is as important as ability to spin an obscene number of times. Particularly among the female riders, who still have yet to perfect the double-cork maneuvers that revolutionized men’s snowboarding, such artistry counts extra.

Bright’s predilection for the daring – she has attempted double corks and considered pulling one out if necessary – led to a lifetime’s worth of injuries in the past eight weeks alone. Before Christmas, Bright banged her jaw on a halfpipe, dislocating it and necessitating a chiropractor to put it back together. Since then, she has suffered multiple concussions, the double corks a doctor’s boon and rider’s thorn.

Her headaches didn’t subside until recently, and though Bright’s doctors weren’t sure they would clear her to participate, her fiancée, Jake Welch, said “she was always going to be here.” Bright couldn’t miss this, neither the huge crowd nor the recognition that comes with Olympic gold.

Overseas, advertisers will swoon at Bright’s toothy smile and intriguing accent. In Australia, everywhere from her small hometown of Cooma to Sydney and Melbourne, snowboarding will carry evermore cachet.

“I think every little girl will want a snowboard for Christmas,” said Holly Crawford, Bright’s Australian teammate.

Torah Bright competes in the women's snowboard halfpipe.
(AP Photo)

And why wouldn’t they? Bright cuts an excellent role model: doesn’t smoke, drink or curse, as an LDS church member, and is so universally liked on the women’s snowboarding tour that even her fellow medalists and opponents’ coaches were giving her hugs and congratulating her. Certainly keeping her family close doesn’t hurt the image, either.

Best of all, Bright showed incredible perseverance following her first run, a mess in which she missed the switch backside 720 and another trick at the bottom of the pipe. Her score: 5.9.

“Falling on the first run is never good,” Bright said. “Falling twice, while I was trying to have a bit of fun with that? Yeah. That wasn’t good, either.”

While Bright went last during the first round, her low score meant she needed to go first in the second round. So she commiserated with her brother, who said he had faith, and thought to herself: This is easy.

Once Bright stuck her final trick and wiped away her tears, she retired to a holding area where the highest-scoring riders stood. Ten other riders had a chance to beat her. None could.

“Torah’s been amazing competition,” Clark said. “It’s just inspiring. Snowboarding’s a unique sport. It’s not as cutthroat or competitive. We’re happy for each other when we do well.”

No one felt as much elation as Bright’s family. The emotional yo-yo of snowboarding is palpable. Her brother knows she’ll hit a double cork in competition soon enough and set an even higher standard. And her parents, so distraught watching officials drag Bright off the X Games halfpipe following a nasty crash and so thrilled to hear over the radio that she was carrying the Australian flag at the Opening Ceremony, live vicariously through the adventures of their daughter, who seeks thrills for a living.

It was edifying, then, to have a thrill of their own. Their daughter is an Olympic champion, and that’s nothing to hide.

TF1 est un leader avec un esprit de challenger

Nonce Paolini, PDG du groupe TF1. Crédits photo : Le Figaro

Nonce Paolini, le PDG du groupe audiovisuel, estime que 2010 sera une année de rebond.

Le groupe TF1 a publié jeudi, un résultat 2009 en retrait de 30 %, à 115 millions d'euros.

LE FIGARO. Comment TF1 a-t-il traversé la crise de 2009 ?

Nonce PAOLINI. Paradoxalement ces résultats prouvent, après deux années de recadrage, que le modèle TF1 est pérenne à condition d'avoir une gestion performante. Qui aurait dit en juin 2009 que nous serions capables de présenter un résultat de 115 millions d'euros en versant un intéressement important pour nos salariés, un dividende convenable à nos actionnaires, et en constituant une provision de 17 millions d'euros sur la Coupe du monde de football. Les résultats du quatrième trimestre 2009 ont prouvé qu'une chaîne comme TF1 était capable de rebondir et d'afficher une rentabilité de 9 %.

Ces résultats ont été obtenus grâce à une parfaite maîtrise des coûts tout en exploitant les programmes les plus attractifs. Cette gestion rigoureuse s'est traduite par une baisse de plus de 10 % de notre coût de grille. Une première dans l'histoire de la chaîne. Nous avons réussi à faire baisser les droits sportifs de 10 millions d'euros, notamment sur le contrat de la Ligue des champions et sur les droits de l'équipe de France renégociés à hauteur de 45 millions. Sur la Coupe du monde de football, grâce à la revente de 37 matchs à Canal + et France Télévisions TF1 ne paiera cette année que 87 millions pour 27 matchs contre 108 millions en 2006 pour 24 matchs. Nous avons également renouvelé nos grands contrats avec nos principaux partenaires, comme Endemol et certaines grandes majors américaines.

En 2010 allez-vous poursuivre vos économies ?

Nous devons être un leader avec un esprit de challenger. Ce qui signifie une gestion rigoureuse sans misérabilisme. Ce sont nos concurrents qui devront investir ! La valeur de nos programmes et de nos stocks nous permettra de rester performants et si la conjoncture est au rendez-vous, 2010 sera une année de rebond.

Comment atteindrez-vous l a croissance de 2 % promise ?

Du point de vue publicitaire, personne aujourd'hui n'est capable de dire ce que sera 2010. Nous avons pris l'hypothèse d'une reprise molle. Pour ce qui concerne les recettes, nous adoptons une stratégie de segmentation entre les écrans les plus faibles, comme ceux de la journée, et ceux à forte valeur autour de nos pics d'audience, au plus grand bénéfice de nos clients.

TMC et NT1 vous appartiendront bientôt, qu'en ferez-vous ?

Notre ambition pour ces deux chaînes est d'en augmenter la qualité en optimisant notamment les stocks de TF1 et en respectant leur identité. TMC bénéficie déjà d'une image solide auprès de sa cible féminine et dispose encore d'une petite marge de progression en audience comme sa concurrente W9. Quant à NT1, qui séduit une cible plus jeune de 15-35 ans, beaucoup reste à faire. Pour ces deux chaînes, il s'agira de faire progresser l'audience tout en conservant leur rentabilité afin que l'équation économique reste la bonne. Nous attendons encore la décision du Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel. Quand nous en aurons les clés, nous nous mettrons au travail.

Quel modèle envisagez-vous pour Internet et les nouveaux médias ?

Il y a deux manières d'envisager la monétisation sur Internet. D'abord en intégrant ces nouveaux médias au cœur du programme, comme dans «Secret Story» ou «La Ferme», ce qui nous permet de renforcer l'audience de la chaîne. Pour nos programmes les plus forts - comme les séries américaines - nous ne pouvons pas nous permettre d'en altérer la valeur en les donnant gratuitement et durablement sur la Toile. Il faudra donc les financer soit par la vente à l'unité, soit par abonnement, comme le propose déjà TF1 Vision, avec succès, dénombrant 300 000 téléchargements payants.

Quels sont vos chantiers en 2010 ?

Tout d'abord apporter à nos téléspectateurs sur nos différentes antennes les meilleurs programmes. La HD et la 3D demain donnent de l'avenir à la télévision grand spectacle qui est notre métier principal.

Ensuite, multiplier les points de contact avec le grand public, grâce aux développements réussis sur le Web et le mobile cette année. Ils nous ont permis de renforcer notre lien de proximité avec les téléspectateurs internautes. Explorer également les nouveaux territoires, comme les jeux en ligne, grâce à notre partenariat avec La Française des jeux avec laquelle nous développerons de la publicité du parrainage, des jeux en ligne et des licences.

Nous testons aussi nos premiers services de jeux en Angleterre avec Eurosport Bet. Enfin, nous allons poursuivre notre réflexion sur l'avenir des chaînes payantes du Groupe et notamment sur LCI. J'ai demandé à Catherine Nayl et Éric Revel de repenser le modèle marketing et éditorial de la chaîne d'ici à 2012.

J'ai la conviction forte que les profonds changements que nous avons opérés depuis deux ans, dans tous nos métiers, et qui commencent à porter leurs fruits aujourd'hui, nous permettront de saisir toutes les opportunités qui se présenteront dans les prochaines années et de renforcer la rentabilité du Groupe TF1.

Pack Sport Design pour la Jaguar XKR

19/02/2010 - Jaguar propose deux nouveaux packs pour les plus sportifs des acheteurs de coupé XKR ! Le premier, se prénomme de façon provocatrice "Pack Vitesse" et propose de faire sauter la bride électronique à 250 km/h. Histoire de ne pas faire les choses à moitié, ce pack est associé à un spoiler redessiné à l'avant, un large béquet à l'arrière et un diffuseur arrière. L'objectif est d'augmenter la déportance pour ne pas risquer de voir partir le beau coupé jaguar dans les arbres lorsqu'il accrochera les 280 km/h sur Autobahn. Le différentiel arrière électronique est également reparamétré pour augmenter la stabilité à très haute vitesse.

Le second pack pour les sportifs est plus soft dans sa vocation. Baptisé Sport Design, il permet, comem son nom l'indique, de rendre plus viril le design du félin britannique. La métamorphose s'opère via des jantes de 20 pouces en alliage noir brillant et trois teintes de carrosserie inédites (noir Black Ultimate, blanc Polaris White ou rouge Salsa Red). Une finition noir brillant est appliquée aux contours de fenêtres, calandre et prises d'air latérales. Dans l'habitacle, la sellerie est recouverte de cuir anthracite (Charcoal) personnalisable grâce à une large gamme de surpiqûres et de grains. En option, les étriers de freins peuvent être peints en rouge pour faire plus "sport".

Combinez les deux packs et vous obtenez la Jaguar XKR Édition Spéciale, à découvrir au salon de Genève début mars.