Foodles Production, the company behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens, is being prosecuted over the incident in which Harrison Ford broke his leg.
Harrison Ford was struck by a hydraulic metal door on the Pinewood set of the Millennium Falcon in June 2014.
The Health And Safety Executive (HSE) has brought four criminal charges against Foodles Production Ltd – a UK subsidiary of Disney.
Foodles Production said it was “disappointed” by the HSE’s decision.
Following the incident, Ford was airlifted to hospital for surgery.
Following an investigation, the HSE said it believed there was sufficient evidence about the incident which left Harrison Ford with serious injuries, to bring four charges relating to alleged health and safety breaches.
A spokesperson added: “By law, employers must take reasonable steps to protect workers – this is as true on a film set as a factory floor.”
Foodles Production is the company responsible for producing Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens, and as such is culpable under health and safety law.
Representatives of the production company will appear at High Wycombe Magistrates Court on May 12.
A spokesman for Foodles Production said: “Cast and crew safety is always a top priority. We provided full co-operation during HSE’s investigation into the on-set accident that occurred in June 2014 and are disappointed in HSE’s decision.”
Star Wars: The Force Awakens was filmed at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire, the UK.
Production of Star Wars: Episode VIII has already got under way at Pinewood, and is due for release in December 2017.
Indian authorities have closed more than 120 schools in Bangalore after reports that another leopard was sighted on the outskirts of the city.
Bangalore residents were asked to stay indoors and police and forest officials were trying to track the elusive cat.
On February 7, a male leopard entered the Vibgyor International school in Bangalore and injured six people who tried to capture it.
A scientist and a forestry employee were among those mauled during the 10-hour-long effort to corner the animal.
The latest sighting was reported by a construction worker on February 10 at Nallurhalli, near Whitefield area.
On February 11, authorities ordered 129 schools, including 53 government schools, to remain shut.
A recent wildlife census estimated that India has a leopard population of between 12,000 and 14,000.
The 8-year-old male leopard, which strolled into the Vibgyor International school, was eventually tranquillized and captured.
Wildlife officials said the leopard possibly strayed into the school from a patch of forest not far from the school.
Leopards and other big cats have been known to stray into populated areas, and conservationists have warned that such confrontations may increase as humans encroach on animal habitats.
Hong Kong shares sunk on February 11 as trading resumed after the Lunar New Year break.
The Hang Seng index closed down 742.37 points or 3.85% to 18,545.80.
The Chinese markets remained closed for a longer New Year break. Those markets that were open in the region over the past days had all seen hefty losses.
Japanese shares had tumbled in to bear territory after a two-day rout, but the Nikkei is closed on February 11 for a national holiday.
The continuing concern over the global economy and China’s slowing growth was confirmed by Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen in a speech to Congress on February 10.
Janet Yellen warned that financial conditions in the US had recently become “less supportive of growth”, while China’s “unclear” currency policy was fuelling global stock market volatility.
“This uncertainty led to increased volatility in global financial markets and, against the background of persistent weakness abroad, exacerbated concerns about the outlook for global growth.”
South Korean shares also resumed trade after the New Year break and joined the regional downward trend.
The Kospi index fell sharply by 2.9% to close at 1,861.54 points, after retreating as much as 3.1%, its biggest percentage loss since May 2012.
Auto makers were among the worst hit as fresh data showed that vehicle exports dropped by almost 20% in January, because of falling demand in emerging markets.
Hyundai, Kia and Ssangyong all lost around 2%.
Australian shares, though, managed to edge higher on February 11, providing some relief after two days of losses.
The ASX/200 closed 1% higher at 4,821.10 points after losing more than 4% since the beginning of the month.
Before the market opened, the Virgin Australia airline reported a swing back to half-yearly profit after cutting costs and profiting from lower fuel prices.
The forecast of full-year profitability comes after two years of net losses.
However, investors seem to have expected better results and remain cautious about the airline’s prospects.
Virgin Australia shares fell by more than 6% throughout the day.
South Korea is shutting down its operations in the Kaesong industrial park jointly run by the two Koreas.
On February 10, South Korea announced it would suspend its activity there because of North Korea’s recent rocket launch.
Seoul had already restricted some South Korean activity there following Pyongyang’s nuclear test in January.
It is unclear how long the shutdown will last, which Seoul said was aimed at cutting off money North Korea used for nuclear and missile development.
About 124 mostly South Korean companies operate in Kaesong employing thousands of North Koreans.
The companies operating in Kaesong have started taking out easily-moveable equipment and stocks of finished goods and raw materials.
Many North Korean workers failed to turn up for work on February 11. Their South Korean managers cleared their desks and started to leave.
Opened in 2004, the Kaesong complex is the only point of co-operation between South Korea and North Korea.
In April 2013, North Korea shut down the complex for more than four months, after heightened tensions sparked by military drills by Seoul and Washington.
The current shutdown came as the US Senate voted unanimously in favor of tougher sanctions against North Korea.
The draft legislation targets any person or entity trading or financing anything related to weapons of mass destruction, conventional arms proliferation, North Korea’s rocket program, money laundering, narcotics trafficking, human rights abuses, activities that threaten US cyber security, and the import of luxury goods.
All were already sanctioned, but the measures aim to tighten the restrictions.
The bill also authorizes $50 million for radio broadcasts into North Korea and humanitarian aid programs.
The House of Representatives passed a similar bill last month. The two will now have to be reconciled into a final measure needing President Barack Obama’s sign-off.
Republican Senator Cory Gardner, one of the authors of the latest sanctions bill, criticized President Barack Obama’s policy of “strategic patience”.
“The situation in the Korea peninsula is at its most unstable point since the armistice,” he said, referring to the deal to end hostilities in the Korean War in 1953.
Republican senators and presidential candidates Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio interrupted campaigning to go back to Washington DC for the vote.
Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders did not return, although he did express his support for the bill in a statement.
The last four occupiers of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon are preparing to surrender, a member of the group says.
Sean Anderson said they would leave the complex on Thursday morning, February 11, in a live broadcast on the internet.
Earlier, the FBI moved in on the group, which had been entrenched for 40 days.
The occupiers are protesting against federal government control of local land. One activist died in an earlier confrontation with police.
Agents were placed behind barricades near the self-styled militia’s encampment, an FBI statement said.
All four of the militia – a husband and wife and two other men – were said to be present during a discussion, broadcast live online, about how they would put down their weapons and walk out of the refuge at 08:00 local time.
They will meet a Nevada lawmaker, Michele Fiore, and a preacher who are travelling to meet them.
Michele Fiore, a Republican member of the Nevada state assembly, was also on the live conference call.
She said that the FBI had “given us their word that they are going to stand down tonight” on the understanding that the four would leave the complex in the morning.
As well as Sean Anderson, 48, the other occupiers have been named as Sandy Anderson, 47; David Fry, 27; Jeff Banta, 46.
The four had refused to leave despite the arrest of the group’s leader Ammon Bundy last month. He has urged those remaining to stand down.
The Malheur National Wildlife Refuge was seized early in January. The armed takeover was sparked by the return to prison of two Oregon ranchers accused of burning federal land.
It developed into a wider protest demanding the return of government-controlled land to locals.
Ammon Bundy and others were arrested late in January in a confrontation with police that left one of the activists, LaVoy Finicum, dead.
The FBI said its agents moved in on the four on February 10 after one of them drove a vehicle outside barricades erected by the group.
“We reached a point where it became necessary to take action in a way that best ensured the safety of those on the refuge, the law enforcement officers who are on scene, and the people of Harney Count,” the statement said.
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – Parts I & II, the eighth book in the series, is to be released this summer.
The new book contains the script for a new stage play telling the wizard’s story.
A hardback edition of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – Parts I & II will be released on July 31, the day after the play has debuted on stage.
The book sees Harry Potter as a father and an overworked Ministry of Magic employee.
The play is from an original new story by JK Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany.
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child will tell the “untold part” of the boy wizard’s story, including the story of the lives of his murdered parents, JK Rowling has said.
It will pick up the story 19 years after Harry was last seen in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, waving his two eldest children off to Hogwarts.
The script’s ebook will be published simultaneously with the print editions.
David Shelley, chief executive of the publishers Little, Brown Book Group said: “We are so thrilled to be publishing the script of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
“JK Rowling and her team have received a huge number of appeals from fans who can’t be in London to see the play and who would like to read the play in book format – and so we are absolutely delighted to be able to make it available for them.”
The special rehearsal edition of the script book will comprise the version of the play early in the production’s preview period and is therefore subject to being changed before the official opening.
Previews of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child begin in May at London’s Palace Theatre, with both plays set to open on July 30. The hardback and ebook will go on sale at 0001 on July 31.
Jamie Parker will star as an adult Harry Potter in the production.
According to unconfirmed South Korean reports, North Korea’s military chief of staff, General Ri Yong-gil, has been executed.
However, senior officials in North Korea have previously been absent from view for long periods only to reappear.
Ri Yong-gil would be the latest of several high-ranking North Korea officials to be purged under leader Kim Jong-un.
South Korean media reported that Gen. Ri Yong-gil had been executed earlier this month for corruption and “factional conspiracy”.
Last week, a meeting of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers’ Party attended by Kim Jong-un discussed how to deal with corruption.
While no individuals were mentioned, state news agency KCNA reported at the time that those at the meeting criticized “the practices of seeking privileges, misuse of authority… and bureaucratism manifested in the party”.
According to analysts, Gen. Ri Yong-gil had fallen from favor first surfaced late last year.
If this is the case, Ri Yong-gil will be the fourth chief of staff since Kim Jong-un took over in 2011, as opposed to three during his father Kim Jong-il’s 17 years in power.
The reports of Ri Yong-gil’s execution come days after North Korea launched a long-range rocket, which critics say is a test of banned missile technology.
On January 6, North Korea carried out its fourth nuclear test.
Some observers say the regime’s recent behavior may be linked to Kim Jong-un wanting to shore up his position ahead of a rare congress of the Workers’ Party due in May.
In May 2015, South Korea’s spy agency told parliament that North Korea’s Defense Minister Hyon Yong-chol had been executed for showing disloyalty to Kim Jong-un.
The agency said Hyon Yong-chol was killed by anti-aircraft fire in front of an audience of hundreds – it later said it was yet to verify the information. That news came weeks after the reported execution of 15 senior officials.
Also on February 10, South Korea announced it was suspending operations at the jointly-run Kaesong industrial park in North Korea following the North’s recent rocket launch and nuclear test.
Seoul said all operations at the Kaesong complex would halt, to stop North Korea using its investment “to fund its nuclear and missile development”.
The suspension will mean North Korea will lose the income it currently gains from the site, which comes to $100 million a year.
The head of the Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen, has warned financial conditions in the US had become “less supportive” of growth.
The Fed released Janet Yellen’s prepared comments ahead of her latest appearance before Congress.
The central bank raised interest rates by 0.25% for the first time in nine years in December 2015.
In the prepared testimony, Janet Yellen said: “Financial conditions in the United States have recently become less supportive of growth, with declines in broad measures of equity prices, higher borrowing rates for riskier borrowers and a further appreciation of the dollar.
“Against this backdrop, the [Federal Reserve] Committee expects that with gradual adjustments in the stance of monetary policy, economic activity will expand at a moderate pace in coming years and that labor market indicators will continue to strengthen.”
Janet Yellen added China’s “unclear” currency policy was fuelling global stock market volatility.
She said the decline in China’s currency, the yuan, had “intensified uncertainty about China’s exchange rate policy and the prospects for its economy”.
“This uncertainty led to increased volatility in global financial markets and, against the background of persistent weakness abroad, exacerbated concerns about the outlook for global growth.”
While Janet Yellen said she was confident China’s economy was not facing a “hard landing”, the Fed chief said the overall uncertainty created by the world’s second-largest economy was behind some of the steep falls in global commodity prices, which in turn were creating stress for exporting nations.
Janet Yellen added that “low commodity prices could trigger financial stresses in commodity-exporting economies” as well as in commodity-producing firms around the world.
If such problems materialized, she added, “foreign activity and demand for US exports could weaken and financial market conditions could tighten further”.
Following her prepared testimony Janet Yellen responded to questions in Congress about the new way in which the central bank implemented its last rate rise.
Congress is concerned the new policy benefits the country’s banks more than the American public, because banks receive a higher interest rate on the reserves they hold at the Fed.
Supporters of the interest rate on excess reserves (IOER) policy say it allows the Fed to maintain control of the market.
Janet Yellen has called the policy a “traditional tool” for adjusting rates, citing its use by other central banks around the globe. The Fed was given the power to offer IOER by Congress in 2006.
US stock markets opened higher after the comments.
Recent stock market turmoil has prompted most Wall Street analysts to push back their forecast of when the next US Federal Reserve interest rate rise will occur, from March to June at the earliest.
US stock markets have taken a battering in recent weeks over concerns caused by the economic slowdown in China, which has in turn led to lower commodity and oil prices, while the weaker yuan has made Chinese exports cheaper than those from the US.
The Dow Jones is down some 8.5% since the start of the year, the S&P 500 is down more than 9% since January 1 and the NASDAQ is lower by 14%.
US economic growth in the last three months of 2015 also slowed dramatically, to 0.7% compared with the same period a year earlier, falling from 2% three months earlier.
Ikea is recalling two popular glass ceiling lamps due to concerns about their safety.
The Swedish retailer said 11 customers worldwide had been injured after the glass shades, from some of their “Lock” and “Hyby” lamps, had fallen.
In a statement Ikea said: “In a few cases medical treatment was required and one customer reportedly needed stitches.”
Ikea has received 224 reports in total due to the retaining clips breaking.
The company said a full refund would be offered without a receipt.
Ikea has been selling “Lock” lamps since 2012 and the “Hyby” models since 2012.
The lamps have domed white frosted glass shades and three plastic clips that attach the shade to the electrical light fitting.
The retailer said it took product safety very seriously and apologized for the inconvenience.
In January 2016, Ikea asked customers to return LATTJO drum sticks and LATTJO tongue drum as a precautionary measure because of fears they could be a choking hazard for young children.
France Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has announced his departure from the socialist government.
He told reporters that he had attended his final cabinet meeting on February 10.
Laurent Fabius – who was prime minister in the 1980s – was seen as the architect of France’s tough foreign policy under President Francois Hollande.
The 69-year-old has been nominated by President Francois Hollande to head France’s constitutional court, which ensures bills comply with the constitution.
It is unclear who will replace Laurent Fabius as foreign minister.
Photo AFP
There had been reports of Laurent Fabius’s imminent departure as part of a wider cabinet reshuffle. He does not say why he was standing down.
Under Laurent Fabius as foreign minister, over the past three years French forces have battled militants in Mali and taken part in air strikes against ISIS in Syria and Iraq.
He has been a vocal opponent of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria.
Laurent Fabius has also been widely hailed for helping forge an ambitious agreement to tackle global warming, during a UN summit in Paris last year.
South Korea has decided to suspend operations at Kaesong complex following North Korea’s recent rocket launch and nuclear test.
Kaesong is a jointly-run industrial park in North Korea, the last points of co-operation between the two Koreas and a key source of revenue for Pyongyang.
South Korea said all operations at the complex would halt, to stop the North using its investment “to fund its nuclear and missile development”.
It came as Japan imposed new sanctions against North Korea following the launch.
They include a ban on North Korean vessels coming into port in Japan and on vessels from other countries that have visited the state,
The US warned on February 9 that North Korea could soon have enough plutonium for nuclear weapons.
South Korea, the US, Japan and others see February 7 rocket launch – ostensibly to put a satellite into space – as cover for a banned test of missile technology.
Tensions have risen over the past month since North Korea carried out a fourth nuclear test in early January.
“All our support and efforts… were taken advantage of by the North to develop its nuclear weapons and missile programs,” South Korea’s Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo told reporters.
The announcement came amid reports that North Korea’s military chief, Ri Yong-gil, had been executed on corruption charges.
South Korea’s state news agency Yonhap quoted unnamed sources saying the general, who was appointed in 2013, had been deemed guilty of corruption and pursuing personal gains.
A group of 113 Cuban refugees have been flown by the Costa Rican authorities to a Mexican border town, from where they are expected to enter the US.
The group, including children and pregnant women, landed in Nuevo Laredo on February 9.
They were among thousands stranded in Costa Rica after neighboring Nicaragua denied them passage north.
Cubans are allowed automatic residence when they set foot in the US.
Photo AP
However, after the United States and Cuba normalized ties following years of animosity, the number of Cubans trying to reach the US surged amid fears the policy would be dropped.
Central American nations reached a deal last month allowing refugees stranded in Costa Rica to continue on to the US.
The first flight carrying about 180 flew from Costa Rica to El Salvador in January.
The Supreme Court has blocked President Barack Obama’s plans to regulate emissions of carbon dioxide from US power plants.
The court ruled that Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan could not go forward until all legal challenges were heard.
Designed to cut US emissions by 32% by 2030, the scheme put huge emphasis on a shift to renewable energy.
It formed the key element of the US pledge at UN climate negotiations held in Paris in December 2015.
Introduced by Barack Obama in August 2015, the plan set carbon reduction goals for each state and it was up to the states themselves to come up with proposals to meet those goals.
A group of 27 states, utilities and coal miners sought to block the proposal in the courts. They argued that the plan was an infringement on states’ rights.
An initial attempt to halt the implementation of the plan until legal challenges were heard was thrown out by a US appeals court in Washington in January.
However, the Supreme Court voted 5-4 to halt the plan pending the outcome of the litigation.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest put out a statement following the decision: “We disagree with the Supreme Court’s decision to stay the Clean Power Plan while litigation proceeds.
“The Clean Power Plan is based on a strong legal and technical foundation, gives states the time and flexibility they need to develop tailored, cost-effective plans to reduce their emissions, and will deliver better air quality, improved public health, clean energy investment and jobs across the country, and major progress in our efforts to confront the risks posed by climate change.
“We remain confident that we will prevail on the merits.”
The Supreme Court’s ruling could have significant implications for Barack Obama’s attempt to cut down on carbon.
Under the Clean Power Plan, individual states were due to submit their proposals on how to meet the CO2 restrictions by September 2016. That date will be missed.
It is unlikely that all the legal questions over the future of the Clean Power Plan will be resolved before President Obama leaves office in January 2017.
West Virginia’s Attorney General Patrick Morrisey called the high court’s action a “great victory”.
“We are thrilled that the Supreme Court realized the rule’s immediate impact and froze its implementation, protecting workers and saving countless dollars as our fight against its legality continues,” he said in a statement.
Supporters of the Clean Power Plan were confident that the courts would ultimately upheld its legality.
“The electricity sector has embarked on an unstoppable shift from its high-pollution, dirty-fuelled past to a safer, cleaner-powered future, and the stay cannot reverse that trend,” said David Doniger, from the Natural Resources Defense Council.
“Nor can it dampen the overwhelming public support for action on climate change and clean energy.”
The Supreme Court’s ruling will be seen as a major embarrassment for President Barack Obama, who helped craft a new global agreement on climate change at UN sponsored talks in Paris in December.
What will worry the White House more is the division of the court along ideological lines, with conservative justices all supporting the stay while the liberal justices opposed.
If these divisions hold, the Clean Power Plan may suffer further setbacks in the Supreme Court which may ultimately render it useless.
If that was to happen, the ability of the US to live up to its commitments under the Paris Climate Agreement would be in serious doubt.
Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders have won the presidential race in the New Hampshire primary.
Republican Donald Trump is likely to get more than twice the number of votes of the next Republican candidate.
Democrat Bernie Sanders, who beat rival Hillary Clinton by a huge margin, said his victory showed people wanted “real change”.
Both candidates are riding on a wave of discontent with mainstream politics.
Ohio Governor John Kasich came second in the Republican vote, with former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Florida Senator Marco Rubio all vying for third place.
New Hampshire is the second state to choose delegates in the long nomination battle following last week’s Iowa caucuses, which were won by Ted Cruz for the Republicans and Hillary Clinton for the Democrats.
The result gives momentum to the winners ahead of the next contests in South Carolina and Nevada.
Donald Trump’s lead in New Hampshire is the first time the New York billionaire – who has never held elected office – has translated his widespread support in opinion polls into a victory at the polls.
In his victory speech, Donald Trump congratulated Democratic winner Bernie Sanders but sideswiped that “he wants to give away our country, folks!”.
Donald Trump, 69, has pledged to deport millions of migrants who are living in the US illegally; build a wall along the border with Mexico; and impose a temporary ban on all Muslims entering the country.
With close to 90% of the votes counted, Senator Bernie Sanders has a lead of more than 20 percentage points over Hilton Clinton in the two-horse race for the Democratic nomination. He had topped polls in New Hampshire in recent months, but it is still a significant victory for the self-described Democratic socialist candidate.
“What the people here have said is that given the enormous crises facing our country, it is just too late for the same old, same old establishment politics and establishment economics,” Bernie Sanders said in speech to his supporters late on February 9.
Bernie Sanders, 74, has vowed to eradicate income inequality, provide free university education and break up big banks.
Hillary Clinton congratulated Bernie Sanders, but said in a speech she would continue to fight for every vote in the campaign. Despite the setback, she still remains the frontrunner for the nomination.
Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager, Robby Mook, said in a memo that they expected the race for the Democratic nomination “very likely” to be decided in March.
The former secretary of state acknowledged before the polls that Bernie Sanders had a natural advantage in New Hampshire because he represents the neighboring state of Vermont as senator.
Hillary Clinton, who has more support from the Democratic establishment, narrowly won in Iowa.
Most polls in New Hampshire closed at 19:00 local time, with state officials forecasting a historic turnout in the vote.
They are the first contests in the US presidential race in which states decide who becomes each party’s official candidate.
Outsourcing has become a juggernaut trend within modern healthcare. As communications and medical standardization becomes cleaner and more efficient, hospitals are desperately looking for ways to widen their budget and cut costs without sacrificing quality of care. Outsourcing is a difficult task for many hospitals because it requires a certain amount of trust between a hospital and an alternative provider.
As the industry grows, certificates and standard tests are making it easier for caregivers to choose what providers they can safely work with. The majority of outsourcing simply cuts down on all the peripheral tasks that don’t immediately occupy nurses and residents.
Pharmacies
Outsourcing drug procurement to an unaffiliated pharmacy is one way to cut storage and supply costs, as well as cutting the cost of the staff necessary to manage the in-house pharmacy. In an interview with Pharmaceutical-Journal.com, healthcare consultant Mike Cross noted that outsourcing pharmacy services carries some strong benefits for hospitals in the department of cost-cutting and efficient care. Cross makes the point that, since medicine from community pharmacies are VAT-exempt unlike supplies in hospitals, there’s a percentage of cost to be cut from there.
The only worry, as in any branch of outsourcing, is that a certain degree of regulation and oversight is needed. The clinical and healthcare industry is one that must prioritize the health and safety of its patients first, and analyze cost-efficient methods for doing so second. Putting profit over care diminishes hospital quality, which is a detriment in both legal and financial ways. This is why certificates and industry standards are becoming a necessity in the outsourcing industry, so hospitals can rest easy about the quality of service they’re receiving, in terms of turnaround times and other important factors.
Clinical Services
Medicine and supplies isn’t the only aspect hospitals outsource regularly. Many of the more routine aspects of medical care – such as laboratory results, outsourced staffing for emergency rooms, diagnostic tests from x-rays to CT scans and even dedicated MIR facilities – these can all be outsourced to facilities that deal with several hospitals and have a local reputation for excellent service above anything else.
All clinical services tend to be crucial to the inner workings of a hospital – but they’re not crucial to the facilitation of patient-doctor care. Surgery cannot be readily outsourced, but blood tests can. The difference relies on the specialty of physicians required for any given task. The more technological aspects of medical care are being outsourced at a wide range, as roughly 30 percent of surveyed hospitals said they were outsourcing their lab services, according to an article in the online Modern Healthcare magazine.
Photo Flickr
Transcriptions
The benefits in outsourcing transcription work, in everything from pediatric to orthopedics transcription, are numerous. Firstly, transcription work can be more easily streamlined and made digitally available when outsourced to a specialized, certified company like Eyered Transcription. Secondly, quality transcription services don’t just make keeping records easier – they make data analysis easier and less obtuse in the stressful environment of a hospital floor.
An experienced outsourcing service is also overtly discreet. Keeping the integrity of a patient’s privacy intact above all is important, especially in the digital age where everyone’s information seems to be too easily up for grabs. Modern services utilize cloud-based encryption and safety measures to ensure client data is kept on lock and key for anyone except authorized hospital staff.
This removes major headaches for hospitals looking to reduce their costs but remain at the top of their own game. Outsourcing to companies with robust reputations in the foreign marketplace is even better – they maintain the level of quality found in local services, with the same turnaround times, but at a lower cost.
Billing
While the digital age may make paper irrelevant, in the fields of finance and medicine it’s still important to have physical copies of records to ensure these records are accessible in emergency or legal situations, or wherever electronic records may be rendered invalid. This requires printing, record keeping, and dedicated accountancy staff to make sure the hospital’s financials are in order.
Outsourcing emergency and medical billing services to another company cuts the cost of printing and billing distribution, and puts the burden on the billing service rather than the hospital when financial complications occur. As such, some hospitals may be worried about providing oversight — however, reputable services eliminate the need for oversight through a proven track record of quality.
Laundry Services
Hospital scrubs, beds and sheets have to be kept meticulously clean and sterile to avoid the dangers of post-operation infection and to keep patients with auto-immune diseases as healthy as possible.
Because of the realities of the industry, hospitals are at extreme risk of turning into hotbeds for sickness – clean laundry isn’t just a luxury, but an industry necessity. According to the CDC, healthcare-associated infections produce costs as high as $45 billion a year. However, delegating these services to reputable outsourcing companies can help reduce infection rates in hospitals with lower budgets.
These are just some of the major services hospitals can safely outsource today, as the industry continues to grow.
The White House has released the final budget proposal of Barack Obama’s presidency, a $4.1 trillion program that includes a $10.25 per barrel tax on oil.
The Republican-controlled Congress is expected to reject it.
The leaders of the House and Senate budget committees jointly announced they would not invite Barack Obama’s budget director to testify before them.
Despite the setbacks, the White House has said the budget sticks to a bipartisan agenda reached last autumn.
Barack Obama’s last budget is for the 2017 fiscal year and would not take effect until October 1, 2016.
The tax on oil would raise $319 billion over 10 years. The US Treasury said that the tax would apply to both imported and domestically-produced oil, but would not be collected on US oil shipped overseas.
The plan would also temporarily exempt home-heating oil from the tax.
The White House said the tax “creates a clear incentive for private-sector innovation to reduce America’s reliance on oil and invest in clean energy technologies that will power our future”.
The tax would be paid by oil companies in order to boost spending on transportation infrastructure, including mass transit and high-speed rail, and autonomous vehicles.
Photo Reuters
President Barack Obama’s budget includes $11 billion to fight ISIS, plus money for early childhood education, and research and development.
The budget includes $19 billion in spending on cyber security that would allow for a overhaul of the federal government’s internal computing systems.
In 2015, systems at the Office of Personnel Management were hacked, exposing the personal information of government employees and job applicants.
The proposed budget envisions a deficit of $503 billion in the 2017 fiscal year after a $616 billion budget gap in the current fiscal year, which ends on September 30.
It seeks to cut deficits by $2.9 trillion over 10 years, largely through smaller tax breaks for wealthy earners, new savings in Medicare healthcare, and assumptions that adoption of its policies would boost economic growth.
Over 10 years, deficits would average 2.5% of US economic output, compared with about 4% in the Congressional Budget Office’s estimate, which is based on current laws.
“That [budget] document… will be President Obama’s final vision of how he lays out the fiscal future for the country,” said Joel Friedman, vice president for federal fiscal policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
“I don’t think anyone expects it to be enacted this year. Republicans aren’t going to embrace it, but that doesn’t mean it’s not going to be a useful document.”
Congress can advance elements of the budget without endorsing the entire proposal.
South African President Jacob Zuma has made a U-turn in court over his refusal to repay some of the $23 million of state money used to upgrade his Nkandla home.
Jacob Zuma’s lawyer admitted the president was wrong to ignore an anti-corruption watchdog’s report to pay back money spent on features such as a swimming pool.
The opposition brought the case, hoping it will open the way for impeachment proceedings against Jacob Zuma.
Thousands of people protested outside court, shouting “Zuma must fall”.
Police put up a strong show of force, as the protesters, led by Julius Malema’s left-wing Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), marched to the court in Johannesburg.
The protest was against “corruption and cronyism” in government, the EFF said.
The main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) also organized its own demonstration.
The governing African National Congress (ANC) denounced the marches as a “political exercise”.
The opposition parties want the Constitutional Court to rule that Jacob Zuma flouted the constitution by ignoring a 2014 report by the anti-corruption watchdog, known as the Public Protector, that he should repay the money, as he had “unduly benefited” from the upgrade.
At the time, the police minister defended the expenditure as necessary security upgrades, saying the swimming pool was, in fact, a fire pool that could be used in the event a fire broke out at the residence in Jacob Zuma’s home village of Nkandla.
An amphitheatre, cattle enclosure and chicken run were also built.
Jacob Zuma’s lawyer, Jeremy Gauntlett, conceded in court that the report was “binding” on the president, and he was prepared to repay the money within 90 days.
However, Jeremy Gauntlett denied that Jacob Zuma had violated the constitution.
The hashtag #PayBackTheMoney, mirroring the slogan used by EFF members to taunt the president, has been trending in South Africa.
The case comes at a difficult time for Jacob Zuma, who has also been under fire over his handling of the finance ministry, after he sacked two ministers in a week in 2015.
Many South Africans also accuse Jacob Zuma’s government of not doing enough to tackle corruption and poverty.
According to US intelligence chief James Clapper, North Korea has restarted a plutonium production reactor that could provide a stockpile for nuclear weapons.
James Clapper also said North Korea had taken steps towards making an intercontinental ballistic missile system.
His announcement comes days after North Korea launched a long-range rocket, which critics say is a test of banned missile technology.
In September 2015, Pyongyang said its main nuclear facility at Yongbyon had resumed normal operations.
The reactor there has been the source of plutonium for its nuclear weapons program.
North Korea carried out its fourth nuclear test on January 6, 2016.
“We assess that North Korea has followed through on its announcement by expanding its Yongbyon enrichment facility and restarting the plutonium production reactor,” James Clapper told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
“We further assess that North Korea has been operating the reactor long enough so that it could begin to recover plutonium from the reactor’s spent fuel within a matter of weeks to months.”
According to James Clapper, Pyongyang was also committed to developing a long-range, nuclear-armed missile “capable of posing a direct threat to the United States”.
James Clapper said it had publicly displayed a mobile intercontinental ballistic missile system and had taken “initial steps toward fielding this system, although the system has not been flight-tested”.
Experts have said that, when fully operational, the Yongbyon reactor could make one nuclear bomb’s worth of plutonium per year. About 4kg of plutonium is needed in order to make a bomb that would explode with a force of 20 kilotons.
Pyongyang has pledged several times to stop operations at Yongbyon and even destroyed the cooling tower in 2008 as part of a disarmament-for-aid deal.
In March 2013, following a row with the US and with new UN sanctions over a third nuclear test, it vowed to restart all facilities at Yongbyon.
Six-nation talks involving South Korea, the US, China, Japan and Russia aimed at ending the North’s nuclear programme have been stalled since 2009.
North Korea says it has made a device small enough to fit a nuclear warhead on to a missile, which it could launch at its enemies. However, US officials have cast doubt on the claim.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai has become the highest-paid chief executive in the US after being awarded $199 million in shares, a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing has revealed.
Sundar Pichai became Google’s chief executive following the creation of its parent, Alphabet.
Google’s founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, have amassed fortunes of $34.6 billion and $33.9 billion, according to Forbes magazine.
Sundar Pichai, 43, was awarded 273,328 Alphabet shares on February 3, worth a total of $199 million, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
The new award of shares takes Sundar Pichai’s total stock value to approximately $650 million.
Sundar Pichai’s share award will vest incrementally each quarter until 2019. In other words, full control over the shares will pass to him on a gradual basis.
He joined the company since 2004, initially leading product management on a number of Google’s client software products, including Google Chrome and Chrome OS, as well as being largely responsible for Google Drive. He also oversaw the development of Gmail and Google Maps.
Sundar Pichai previously worked in engineering and product management at Applied Materials and as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company.
Last week, Alphabet – Google’s parent company – surpassed Apple as the world’s most valuable firm after it reported a profit of $4.9 billion in Q4 of 2015, an increase from $4.7 billion a year ago.
On an annual basis, Alphabet made $16.3 billion, but the figures showed that the “Other Bets” business lost $3.6 billion during the period, while Google’s operating income rose to $23.4 billion, as online advertising increased.
At least nine people have died and more than 100 are injured after two passenger trains have collided in the German state of Bavaria, police say.
The head-on crash happened near Bad Aibling, a spa town about 37 miles south-east of Munich.
One of the trains was derailed in the crash and several carriages were overturned, German media reported.
Police said rescue teams were trying to free people still trapped in the wreckage.
Regional police said in a tweet that four people were dead and about 100 injured, of whom 15 were in a critical condition and 40 seriously hurt.
“This is the biggest accident we have had in years in this region and we have many emergency doctors, ambulances and helicopters on the scene,” another police spokesman, Stefan Sonntag, told the Associated Press news agency.
Photo Twitter
Regional train company Meridian said in a statement that “a tragic accident” had occurred on a single-track route between Rosenheim and Holzkirchen at about 07:00 local time.
Bernd Rosenbach, managing director of Bayerische Oberlandbahn which operates Meridian trains, told reporters: “The accident is a huge shock for us. We are doing everything we can to help the travelers, relatives and workers.”
Technical manager Fabian Amini added: “Our thanks go to the emergency services and workers who gave their help so quickly.”
The scene of the crash is close to the Mangfall River in a hilly and densely wooded region.
Although the trains were carrying commuters, local carnival holidays meant no schoolchildren were on board, according to reports.
The cause of the collision is not yet known.
Roads around the scene have been closed and the railway line between Holzkirchen and Rosenheim is blocked, local media reported.
German Justice Minister Heiko Maas tweeted: “Really awful news from #badaibling – our thoughts are with the victims and injured. Thanks to the rescue workers.”
Hong Kong police have clashed with protesters in Mong Kok district after clearing of illegal food stalls set up for Lunar New Year celebrations.
At least 23 people were arrested.
Violence erupted overnight as food and hygiene inspectors tried to remove vendors from the junction of Portland Street and Shan Tung Street.
Angry protesters threw bricks and other missiles at police.
Police used batons and pepper spray and fired two warning shots into the air. At least 44 people, including police and journalists, were injured.
Hong Kong’s Chief Executive CY Leung has condemned the unrest, saying Hong Kong “can never tolerate that and the police will spare no effort to arrest the rioters”.
It is the largest unrest in Hong Kong since the massive pro-democracy street protests in 2014.
Photo AP
Street stalls are common in the Mong Kok area year-round, but particularly during the New Year holiday, where they are popular with locals for selling traditional New Year snacks.
Ahead of the clearance operation, hundreds of people had gathered in the area to defend the hawkers.
Police said the vendors and activists were told to leave but ignored the warnings.
Clashes then broke out in the early hours, and carried on past dawn..
Among the protesters were reportedly some “localist” – anti-Beijing – groups.
One of them was arrested, CY Leung said.
Acting District Commander Yau Siu-kei confirmed reports that an officer had fired two warning shots into the air. He said the officer had to act protect colleagues, the South China Morning Post said.
The unrest was widely referenced on social media, where it was dubbed #fishballrevolution after one of the food delicacies sold by the hawkers.
The North Korean satellite launched on February 7 is in orbit but it is not yet clear whether it is working, South Korea’s defense ministry has said.
North Korea has said the Kwangmyongsong-4 is a communications satellite and that February 7 launch was a complete success.
However, the move was internationally condemned as North Korea is banned under UN sanctions from using any ballistic missile technology.
The UN has vowed to impose further sanctions as punishment.
The US said on February 8 that this could include “a range of economic sanctions that would further isolate North Korea” and send a clear signal “that the resolve of the international community here is firm”.
The US has also said it will help South Korea deploy an advanced missile defense system as soon as possible, officials from the Pentagon have said.
South Korea’s defense ministry said the launch indicated North Korea now has long-range missiles with a 7,500-mile range, the Yonhap news agency reports.
It remains unclear whether it has developed the technology to make a missile re-enter the atmosphere, critical if it is to use the missile as weapon.
North Korea insists its space program is purely scientific in nature but the US, South Korea and even Pyongyang’s ally China say the rocket launches are aimed at developing inter-continental ballistic missiles.
According to official figures, the Indian economy grew at an average rate of 7.5% in 2015, faster than the 6.9% growth in China.
In recent history it has been unusual, but not unprecedented, for India to grow faster than China.
It happened in 1981,1989,1990 and 1999, and 2015 was the first instance in this millennium, according to the IMF.
India’s government said growth in the October to December quarter was 7.3%, a slight drop on previous quarters which were revised sharply higher.
Even though the economy lost steam in the last quarter, its pace of expansion was faster than the growth posted by China in the same quarter.
India measures its economy over a fiscal rather than a calendar year.
The government of Narendra Modi said the Indian economic growth for the fiscal year ending March 2016 is forecast to accelerate to 7.6%.
However, some economists say the latest growth figures are at odds with other data for Asia’s third largest economy, including weak exports, railway freight, cement production and investment and flat order books.
A year ago India’s statistics ministry revised GDP growth rates higher – closer to that of China – by updating the base year used for price comparisons.
The 2016 Presidential election is shaping up to be one of the most exciting in living memory. We’re still 10 months away from the election, and the sensational headlines are already hitting home. Last week played host to – what many call – the start of the election campaign in Iowa. The Iowa caucuses have a long-standing place in American presidential election history. It’s the time when the Republicans and Democrats come together to narrow their candidate field. Iowa is fiercely proud of its tradition, and the state has an uncanny ability to predict the ultimate outcome.
If that’s the case, then boy are we in for a treat. The Democratic vote was split almost down the middle between former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders. Clinton came away with the victory, but with only a hair to separate them. On the Republican side of town, Ted Cruz stormed to victory over headline-grabbing Donald Trump. Today, we’re digging deeper to find out what exactly happened.
Trump’s steam might be running out
Proof, if it were needed, that narcissistic, devisive politics can only get you so far, Donald Trump’s steam is running out. The New York businessman has lead a campaign based on headline-grabbing quotes. While that has brought him plenty of support, it’s not clear that it will translate into votes. That played out in a big way last week when Ted Cruz stormed to the number one spot in the Iowa caucuses. On a wider scale, Trump still leads in some of the US presidential election polls. His defeat in Iowa may simply be down to an ill-fated comment not so long ago. He famously asked “How stupid are the people in Iowa?”
Donald Trump can make Ted Cruz look progressive
A lot of people breathed a sigh of relief as Ted Cruz took to the podium. The thought of Trump as president has scared a huge portion of the country. But, let’s not forget that Ted Cruz has still spoken out in support of torture techniques like waterboarding. He is a fierce gun supporter, and proposes to repeal Obama’s healthcare plan. He is hardly a progressive candidate, but Trump has made him appear deceptively electable.
Bernie Sanders has the youth vote tied up
There’s a similar story over in the Democratic party. While Clinton perhaps thought her nomination was tied up, Senator Bernie Sanders isn’t giving up without a fight. In fact, he has mobilised an entire generation of young voters, and has rallied a political energy in much the same way Obama did eight years ago.
The Democrats are turning on each other, again
If there’s one thing you can always bet on, it’s that the Democrats will eventually turn against each other. Sanders and Clinton had their first knives-out fight regarding campaign funding. The candidates have already accused each other of a smear campaign. It’s very early in the election cycle, and the Democrats risk destroying themselves from the inside out.
Stick with us throughout the election, and we’ll bring you the latest updates as we have them.
