IHT Rendezvous: And Now, via Google, Time Travel Through the Streets of Segovia

PARIS — Last month, Google and the Network of Jewish Quarters in Madrid announced an online pilot project that offers an expansive street-level tour of Spain’s long-ignored medieval neighborhoods that were emptied by the Spanish Inquisition. As I explored the site, to my surprise, the photographs of ancient, sand-colored stone walls in Segovia connected me with my own ancestors: my 16th great-grandparents.

The project is designed to offer a digital stroll through 1,000 years of history that was long buried and ignored: the legacy of the expulsion of Jews in 1492 by the Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella. The platform offers historical timelines, maps and photographs of ancient landmarks of Jewish life. Among them are the butcher shop at the entrance to Barcelona’s Jewish quarter at Sant Domènec street and my personal favorite, the 14th-century Tower of Love, in Palma on the island of Majorca. The tower figured in a clash between two prominent Jews over the affections of a woman, allowing one of them to spy on the other in the narrow lane of the quarter until a king intervened.

It is those kinds of intangible memories that the Spanish Network of Jewish Quarters, a nonprofit association founded in 1995, is hoping to pass on to a broader global audience. Google, which financed the project, has grand ambitions to create a platform that other institutions can use to mix information and history with a mapping system, according to William Echikson, a Google spokesman in Europe.

The project’s release comes within weeks of the Spanish government’s offer of citizenship to descendants of expelled Sephardic Jews with current religious ties. In Córdoba, local officials in Andalusia have also struck an agreement with the catering industry to open up the14th-century Córdoba synagogue for weddings in a bid to boost Jewish tourism. The new site allows visitors a glimpse of its neighborhood, Calle Judío.

“Maybe this will help people to trace their family roots from around the world so that they can figure out connections,” said Assumpció Hosta, general secretary of the network. “And maybe this will also give the citizens of Spain knowledge about their own history that has been neglected for years.”

In my own case, I made the acquaintance of my 16th great-grandparents only recently, while poring through genealogy records to trace the lines of my grandmother, Ángela Chacón. Her family lived in Costa Rica for generations and intermarried with other Catholic converso families like the Carvajals, who guarded their secret Sephardic Jewish identity for centuries.

Two weeks of exploring my grandmother’s line led me to distant great-grandfathers who were conquistadors in New Spain, one who searched fruitlessly for El Dorado. Others led me to ancestors in the south of Spain and in Segovia, home of Diego Arías Dávila, my distant great-grandfather, who was the wealthy royal treasurer for Enrique IV, the king of Castile and León and the half-brother of Queen Isabella, who succeeded him.

Diego Arías Dávila and his wife and my ancestor, Elvira González, were Jews whose families converted to Christianity in the tense decades leading up to the start of the Inquisition in 1478. After their deaths, they were posthumously tried in 1486 by the Inquisition for heresy for secretly maintaining Jewish rituals despite their conversions. Their son, Juan, the Catholic bishop of Segovia, was also accused of heresy, and retreated in exile to Rome, where he died trying to clear the family’s name.

I have never been to Segovia, but the new Web site took me on a haunting stroll to a street framed by stone walls called Martínez Campos. It was the site of the Campo synagogue – built and paid for in 1456 by Elvira González, although she was then a convert. Nothing remains of the building.  Another page took me on a tour of Merced Square, with a splashing fountain and towering monastery. It was there that Diego Arías Dávila
built a hospital with a chapel that existed until 1946. At one point, according to Inquisition records, Diego joked about being buried in a monastery there, prayed over by the monks and for good measure by the prayers of Jews at a neighboring synagogue.

But today, as I scroll through photos of Merced Square, I’m well aware that the remains of my ancestors have disappeared from Segovia – secretly removed from their tomb by their son, the bishop, who feared that the Inquisition would seize them and burn them in effigy as punishment for heresy.

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The Golden Globes, Starring Tina Fey and Amy Poehler and Nobody Else

We realize there’s only so much time one can spend in a day watching new trailers, viral video clips, and shaky cell phone footage of people arguing on live television. This is why every day The Atlantic Wire highlights the videos that truly earn your five minutes (or less) of attention. Today:  

RELATED: The Way the World Could Have Ended

Now, we know what you’re thinking. Forget the rest of the show. And the red carpet. And the after-parties. And Lena Dunham, and maybe even Unimpressed Tommy Lee Jones. Now if only someone could just put together all the Tina Fey and Amy Poehler bits from last night’s Golden Globes — what little their was after that fantastic monologue, anyway. Well, you’re in luck. Don’t thank us, thank Flavorwire. Oh, fine, thank us a little bit:

RELATED: The Only ‘Kiss From a Rose’ Cover You’ll Ever Need

RELATED: Let’s Get Honest with ‘The Avengers’

If you were wondering, we were totally rooting for the fish: 

RELATED: ‘Roseanne’ Predicted Internet Addiction; A Weather Alert from Hell

RELATED: Yes, Someone Turned Their Dead Cat Into a Helicopter

As you may have heard, it is very cold in Los Angeles. As you also may have heard, cold in Los Angeles is very different than cold anywhere else, and, well, it’s quite funny watching them squirm:

And, finally, here is a cat using its feline agility to maneuver itself into a hammock. Yes, we are jealous: 

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Lance Armstrong Admits Doping, Says Oprah Winfrey

By Stephen M. Silverman

01/15/2013 at 08:30 AM EST

Oprah Winfrey and Lance Armstrong

Heather Wines/CBS; Sipa

After being stripped of his seven Tour de France titles last August – and apparently lying in interviews for more than a decade – Lance Armstrong has admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs to win his multiple cycling championships, CBS News confirmed.

Armstrong, 41, made the personal confession to Oprah Winfrey in an interview to air over two nights starting Thursday on her OWN network, Winfrey announced Tuesday morning.

Appearing on CBS This Morning in what was basically a tease for her interview, Winfrey called her sit-down with the disgraced athlete "the biggest interview I've ever done," adding, "I would say he didn't come clean in the manner I expected."

She did say, however, she "was satisfied" and "riveted by some of his answers" to her 112 prepared questions.

Winfrey offered no specifics of what he said, other than to say that after about 90 minutes, while they were taking a break, Armstrong asked her, "Will there be a point where you lighten up?"

Asked by Eary Show's Charlie Rose if she found Armstrong "contrite," Winfrey did say he was "forthcoming," but "I choose not to characterize. I would prefer people make their own decisions."

She did admit he was "truthful, serious [and] certainly had prepared himself for this moment."

As for "why now," Winfrey said, "He was just ready," and she cited the mounting pressure upon Armstrong in the past weeks, which had "just increased in intensity."

Immediately following her interview with Armstrong, which took place Monday at the Austin, Texas, Four Season Hotel, Winfrey Tweeted: "Just wrapped with @lancearmstrong More than 2 1/2 hours . He came READY!" On CBS This Morning, she said he came with a small group of people, but "we did not allow the lawyers in the room."

The interview reportedly followed Armstrong's appearance at his Livestrong cancer charity offices in Austin, where he was said to have apologized to the 100 people on the staff.

There are also reports that Armstrong is in talks to return a portion of the millions of dollars in taxpayer money received by his former team, U.S. Postal Service, and that he may be willing to name others who used performance-enhancers.

In addition, CBS News reports that senior Justice Department officials have suggested that the government join a lawsuit filed by a former Postal Team member accusing Armstrong of defrauding the federal government.

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Hospitals crack down on workers refusing flu shots

CHICAGO (AP) — Patients can refuse a flu shot. Should doctors and nurses have that right, too? That is the thorny question surfacing as U.S. hospitals increasingly crack down on employees who won't get flu shots, with some workers losing their jobs over their refusal.

"Where does it say that I am no longer a patient if I'm a nurse," wondered Carrie Calhoun, a longtime critical care nurse in suburban Chicago who was fired last month after she refused a flu shot.

Hospitals' get-tougher measures coincide with an earlier-than-usual flu season hitting harder than in recent mild seasons. Flu is widespread in most states, and at least 20 children have died.

Most doctors and nurses do get flu shots. But in the past two months, at least 15 nurses and other hospital staffers in four states have been fired for refusing, and several others have resigned, according to affected workers, hospital authorities and published reports.

In Rhode Island, one of three states with tough penalties behind a mandatory vaccine policy for health care workers, more than 1,000 workers recently signed a petition opposing the policy, according to a labor union that has filed suit to end the regulation.

Why would people whose job is to protect sick patients refuse a flu shot? The reasons vary: allergies to flu vaccine, which are rare; religious objections; and skepticism about whether vaccinating health workers will prevent flu in patients.

Dr. Carolyn Bridges, associate director for adult immunization at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says the strongest evidence is from studies in nursing homes, linking flu vaccination among health care workers with fewer patient deaths from all causes.

"We would all like to see stronger data," she said. But other evidence shows flu vaccination "significantly decreases" flu cases, she said. "It should work the same in a health care worker versus somebody out in the community."

Cancer nurse Joyce Gingerich is among the skeptics and says her decision to avoid the shot is mostly "a personal thing." She's among seven employees at IU Health Goshen Hospital in northern Indiana who were recently fired for refusing flu shots. Gingerich said she gets other vaccinations but thinks it should be a choice. She opposes "the injustice of being forced to put something in my body."

Medical ethicist Art Caplan says health care workers' ethical obligation to protect patients trumps their individual rights.

"If you don't want to do it, you shouldn't work in that environment," said Caplan, medical ethics chief at New York University's Langone Medical Center. "Patients should demand that their health care provider gets flu shots — and they should ask them."

For some people, flu causes only mild symptoms. But it can also lead to pneumonia, and there are thousands of hospitalizations and deaths each year. The number of deaths has varied in recent decades from about 3,000 to 49,000.

A survey by CDC researchers found that in 2011, more than 400 U.S. hospitals required flu vaccinations for their employees and 29 hospitals fired unvaccinated employees.

At Calhoun's hospital, Alexian Brothers Medical Center in Elk Grove Village, Ill., unvaccinated workers granted exemptions must wear masks and tell patients, "I'm wearing the mask for your safety," Calhoun says. She says that's discriminatory and may make patients want to avoid "the dirty nurse" with the mask.

The hospital justified its vaccination policy in an email, citing the CDC's warning that this year's flu outbreak was "expected to be among the worst in a decade" and noted that Illinois has already been hit especially hard. The mandatory vaccine policy "is consistent with our health system's mission to provide the safest environment possible."

The government recommends flu shots for nearly everyone, starting at age 6 months. Vaccination rates among the general public are generally lower than among health care workers.

According to the most recent federal data, about 63 percent of U.S. health care workers had flu shots as of November. That's up from previous years, but the government wants 90 percent coverage of health care workers by 2020.

The highest rate, about 88 percent, was among pharmacists, followed by doctors at 84 percent, and nurses, 82 percent. Fewer than half of nursing assistants and aides are vaccinated, Bridges said.

Some hospitals have achieved 90 percent but many fall short. A government health advisory panel has urged those below 90 percent to consider a mandatory program.

Also, the accreditation body over hospitals requires them to offer flu vaccines to workers, and those failing to do that and improve vaccination rates could lose accreditation.

Starting this year, the government's Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is requiring hospitals to report employees' flu vaccination rates as a means to boost the rates, the CDC's Bridges said. Eventually the data will be posted on the agency's "Hospital Compare" website.

Several leading doctor groups support mandatory flu shots for workers. And the American Medical Association in November endorsed mandatory shots for those with direct patient contact in nursing homes; elderly patients are particularly vulnerable to flu-related complications. The American Nurses Association supports mandates if they're adopted at the state level and affect all hospitals, but also says exceptions should be allowed for medical or religious reasons.

Mandates for vaccinating health care workers against other diseases, including measles, mumps and hepatitis, are widely accepted. But some workers have less faith that flu shots work — partly because there are several types of flu virus that often differ each season and manufacturers must reformulate vaccines to try and match the circulating strains.

While not 100 percent effective, this year's vaccine is a good match, the CDC's Bridges said.

Several states have laws or regulations requiring flu vaccination for health care workers but only three — Arkansas, Maine and Rhode Island — spell out penalties for those who refuse, according to Alexandra Stewart, a George Washington University expert in immunization policy and co-author of a study appearing this month in the journal Vaccine.

Rhode Island's regulation, enacted in December, may be the toughest and is being challenged in court by a health workers union. The rule allows exemptions for religious or medical reasons, but requires unvaccinated workers in contact with patients to wear face masks during flu season. Employees who refuse the masks can be fined $100 and may face a complaint or reprimand for unprofessional conduct that could result in losing their professional license.

Some Rhode Island hospitals post signs announcing that workers wearing masks have not received flu shots. Opponents say the masks violate their health privacy.

"We really strongly support the goal of increasing vaccination rates among health care workers and among the population as a whole," but it should be voluntary, said SEIU Healthcare Employees Union spokesman Chas Walker.

Supporters of health care worker mandates note that to protect public health, courts have endorsed forced vaccination laws affecting the general population during disease outbreaks, and have upheld vaccination requirements for schoolchildren.

Cases involving flu vaccine mandates for health workers have had less success. A 2009 New York state regulation mandating health care worker vaccinations for swine flu and seasonal flu was challenged in court but was later rescinded because of a vaccine shortage. And labor unions have challenged individual hospital mandates enacted without collective bargaining; an appeals court upheld that argument in 2007 in a widely cited case involving Virginia Mason Hospital in Seattle.

Calhoun, the Illinois nurse, says she is unsure of her options.

"Most of the hospitals in my area are all implementing these policies," she said. "This conflict could end the career I have dedicated myself to."

__

Online:

R.I. union lawsuit against mandatory vaccines: http://www.seiu1199ne.org/files/2013/01/FluLawsuitRI.pdf

CDC: http://www.cdc.gov

___

AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/LindseyTanner

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Stock futures fall amid debt limit, profit worries

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock index futures slipped on Tuesday as investors fretted over the debate brewing in Washington over raising the U.S. borrowing limit as well as what is expected to be a lackluster earnings season.

Economic reports include U.S. retail sales and producer prices for December as well as manufacturing activity in New York state for January, all due at 8:30 a.m. Business inventories for November will be released at 10 a.m.

On Monday, President Barack Obama rejected any negotiations with Republicans over raising the U.S. debt ceiling. The United States could default on its debt if Congress does not increase the borrowing limit.

Resolving the debt ceiling debate is more a question of how than if. Investors are wary of another last-minute agreement like the one in August 2011, said Rick Meckler, president of investment firm LibertyView Capital Management in Jersey City, New Jersey.

"Of course people expect the government will not default on its debt ... but there could be damage done in how it's resolved," said Meckler. "A long, dragged out fight over this damages the credibility of the government and can weaken the global market for U.S. debt."

Speaking separately on Monday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke urged lawmakers to raise the debt ceiling. The central bank chairman also gave a cautiously optimistic outlook for U.S. growth but no clear hints on when the Fed would curb its aggressive bond purchases.

Corporate earnings season picks up the pace this week and investors are bracing for disappointment. Analyst estimates for the quarter have fallen sharply since October. S&P 500 earnings growth is now seen up just 1.9 percent from a year ago, Thomson Reuters data showed.

Homebuilder Lennar on Tuesday reported profit that beat expectations amid a jump in new home orders. The stock edged down 0.9 percent to $40.66 in premarket trading.

S&P 500 futures fell 6.5 points and were below fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures were down 31 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures lost 9.25 points.

Shares of Dell rose 3.7 percent to $12.75 in premarket trade the day after sources said the company is in talks with private equity firms on a potential buyout.

Facebook added 1.2 percent to $31.32 ahead of a major news event at its headquarters. The secretive nature of the event has triggered a guessing game about what the company could unveil.

ConocoPhillips said it would sell its properties in the Cedar Creek Anticline in Montana and North Dakota to Denbury Resources Inc for $1.05 billion in cash.

QLogic , the networking products maker, surged 7.1 percent to $10.90 after it gave a third-quarter outlook.

(Editing by Kenneth Barry)

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French Say They ‘Blocked’ Rebel Advance in Mali

PARIS — The French defense ministry said on Monday that a town in central Mali had fallen to Islamist rebels from the north, hours after Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said his country’s dramatic intervention there had succeeded in blocking a rebel advance that could have had “appalling consequences.”

At the same time, an Islamist leader in Mali said France had “opened the gates of hell” for all its citizens by intervening, reinforcing concerns that the far-flung military operation in Africa could inspire vengeance in mainland France.

French forces, Mr. Fabius said in a radio interview late Sunday, were now “taking care” of rear bases used by Islamists who took control of much of the north of the country last year after a military coup in the capital, Bamako. The duration of the French operation was “a question of weeks,” Mr. Fabius said, unlike the American-led military campaign in Afghanistan.

But within hours, reports began to emerge of a rebel counterattack in the small town of Diabaly — the first indication that the insurgents had regrouped after a wave of French airstrikes. The fighting in the town pitted rebels against government forces.

Reuters quoted residents and Malian military officials as saying that Islamists counterattacked after the insurgents infiltrated overnight across a river in small groups. The French defense minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, said the rebels "took Diabaly after fierce fighting and resistance from the Malian Army that couldn’t hold them back.”

The setback for government forces seemed to embolden the rebels who had already struck a defiant postured on Monday.

Oumar Ould Hamaha, an insurgent leader, said the French intervention had “opened the gates of hell for all the French.”

He taunted French forces to launch a ground offensive, saying French warplanes had bombed from high altitude. “Let them come down onto the ground, if they are men,” he said. “We will greet them with open arms.”

France, he told Europe 1 radio, “has fallen into a trap which is much more dangerous than Iraq, Afghanistan or Somalia. And that is only the beginning.”

The French intervention began on Friday and continued over the weekend. French airstrikes appeared to have halted an Islamist rebel advance, as West African nations authorized what they said would be a faster deployment of troops in support of the weak government.

French aircraft dropped bombs and fired rockets from helicopter gunships and jet fighters after the Islamists, who already control the north of Mali, pressed southward and overran the village of Konna, which had been the de facto line of government control.

The French struck two columns of Islamist fighters, the French Defense Ministry said. The first was in and around Konna, driving out the rebels from the village, and the second was across a river, heading south toward the southern Mali town of Ségou, north of Bamako.

On Sunday evening, French jets attacked the northern town of Gao, an insurgent stronghold.

Abdheramane Oumarou, a local counselor in Gao reached late Sunday after a day of French airstrikes, said: “We are in the best of all possible worlds. The planes have been circling Gao since five this morning. All the of the sites they targeted, they hit. The airport. The warehouses, they destroyed them. These were all sites occupied by the Islamists, and they have been totally destroyed.”

“The Islamists are in hiding. There were many dead,” he said. For the first time since the insurgents overran the town last year, “the population of Gao will sleep soundly, and will even snore.”

Despite concerns that supporting France could provoke terrorist reprisals on its soil, Britain announced late on Saturday that it would help to transport foreign troops and equipment to Mali, though would not send its own soldiers to fight. Two British military transport planes were expected to head for Mali on Monday with equipment including French armored vehicles from a base in Normandy, the British Defense Ministry said.

“There is a very dangerous Islamist regime allied to Al Qaeda in control of the north of that country,” Prime Minister David Cameron said on Monday. “It was threatening the south of that country and we should support the action that the French have taken.”

“So we were first out of the blocks, as it were, to say to the French, ‘We’ll help you, we’ll work with you and we’ll share what intelligence we have with you and try to help you with what you are doing,’” Mr. Cameron told the BBC in a radio interview.

Foreign Minister Fabius said the military effort had three goals: to “block the advance of the terrorists, which is done,” to restore Mali’s territorial integrity “which will take more time,” and to secure the implementation of United Nations Security Council resolutions on the Mali crisis.

“If France had not intervened,” he said, the rebels “could have reached Bamako, with appalling consequences” not only for the Malian population but also for the 6,000 French and other Western citizens living in the capital of the former French colony.

Mr. Le Drian, the defense minister, said Sunday that the rebels could have reached Bamako in “three or four days” if France had not intervened.

"We will strengthen our operation depending on the situation," he said on a political talk show.

France now has more than 400 troops in Bamako, mainly to ensure the safety of French citizens and to send a signal to the Islamists, out of a total of 550 troops in Mali. The others, including some special forces, are in the town of Mopti in the south. It has also deployed Rafale jet fighters to attack rebel positions.

A French analyst, who is briefed on the situation but declined to be identified by name, said France believed the United States would deliver on promises of in-flight refueling the air campaign, logistical support and reconnaissance.

The analyst said the dilemma facing French forces is now whether to maintain a United Nations schedule for West African and Malian troops to seek to recapture the north in the fall after seasonal rains, “which given the current dynamic seems hard to imagine” or to “speed things up and try to clear the north in the next eight weeks” before the rainy season.

That could extend the duration of the French intervention, the analyst said.

Steven Erlanger reported from Paris, Adam Nossiter from Bamako, Mali, and Alan Cowell from London.

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BlackBerry service outage hits Europe [updated]

BlackBerry subscribers using Vodafone in Europe, the Middle East and Africa were hit with a service outage on Friday morning that left many with no access to data services. Vodafone confirmed the outage to ZDNet but did not indicate what might have caused the service interruption. “We are aware that some BlackBerry customers are experiencing issues,” Vodafone said in a statement. “Vodafone is working closely with Research in Motion (RIMM) to restore full service as soon as possible.” Email, BlackBerry Messenger and other key services were all impacted by the outage, and Vodafone has subsequently told TechCrunch that service is in the process of being restored.

[More from BGR: How computer scientists are trying to stop smartphones and tablets from breaking the Internet]

UPDATE: RIM has issued a statement confirming that the issue lies with Vodafone and it is supporting the carrier’s efforts to restore service:

[More from BGR: ‘Apple is done’ and Surface tablet is cool, according to teens]

All BlackBerry services are operating normally but we are aware that a wider Vodafone service issue is impacting some of our BlackBerry customers in Europe, Middle East and Africa. We are supporting Vodafone’s efforts to resolve the issue as soon as possible.

This article was originally published on BGR.com

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Jodie Foster Is 'Real,' Says Adoring Mel Gibson

By Melody Chiu

01/14/2013 at 08:35 AM EST

Mel Gibson and Jodie Foster

Jeff Vespa/Wireimage; Jason Merritt/Getty

After giving close friend Mel Gibson a shout-out in her moving speech at the Golden Globes on Sunday night, Jodie Foster's Beaver costar is returning the love.

"I kiss the ground she walks on," the actor, 57, told PEOPLE at the InStyle/Warner Brothers after party. "I adore her."

The double Oscar-winning actress, 50, who has supported Gibson through his dark times, brought many in the ballroom to tears with her emotional speech in which she opened up about her personal life, including her sexuality.

"If you had to fight for a life that felt real and honest and normal against all odds, than maybe you too would value privacy above all else," said Foster, who has been in the spotlight since she was 3.

"I thought [her speech] was great," he said. "I love her."

Gibson, who called his longtime friend's support of him "so flattering," shared why he thought Foster was so deserving of the Cecil B. DeMille Award and outpouring of support at her revelation.

"Because she's real," he said simply.

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Flu more widespread in US; eases off in some areas

NEW YORK (AP) — Flu is now widespread in all but three states as the nation grapples with an earlier-than-normal season. But there was one bit of good news Friday: The number of hard-hit areas declined.

The flu season in the U.S. got under way a month early, in December, driven by a strain that tends to make people sicker. That led to worries that it might be a bad season, following one of the mildest flu seasons in recent memory.

The latest numbers do show that the flu surpassed an "epidemic" threshold last week. That is based on deaths from pneumonia and influenza in 122 U.S. cities. However, it's not unusual — the epidemic level varies at different times of the year, and it was breached earlier this flu season, in October and November.

And there's a hint that the flu season may already have peaked in some spots, like in the South. Still, officials there and elsewhere are bracing for more sickness

In Ohio, administrators at Miami University are anxious that a bug that hit employees will spread to students when they return to the Oxford campus next week.

"Everybody's been sick. It's miserable," said Ritter Hoy, a spokeswoman for the 17,000-student school.

Despite the early start, health officials say it's not too late to get a flu shot. The vaccine is considered a good — though not perfect — protection against getting really sick from the flu.

Flu was widespread in 47 states last week, up from 41 the week before, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday. The only states without widespread flu were California, Mississippi and Hawaii.

The number of hard-hit states fell to 24 from 29, where larger numbers of people were treated for flu-like illness. Now off that list: Florida, Arkansas and South Carolina in the South, the first region hit this flu season.

Recent flu reports included holiday weeks when some doctor's offices were closed, so it will probably take a couple more weeks to get a better picture, CDC officials said Friday. Experts say so far say the season looks moderate.

"Only time will tell how moderate or severe this flu season will be," CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden said Friday in a teleconference with reporters.

The government doesn't keep a running tally of adult deaths from the flu, but estimates that it kills about 24,000 people in an average year. Nationally, 20 children have died from the flu this season.

Flu vaccinations are recommended for everyone 6 months or older. Since the swine flu epidemic in 2009, vaccination rates have increased in the U.S., but more than half of Americans haven't gotten this year's vaccine.

Nearly 130 million doses of flu vaccine were distributed this year, and at least 112 million have been used. Vaccine is still available, but supplies may have run low in some locations, officials said.

To find a shot, "you may have to call a couple places," said Dr. Patricia Quinlisk, who tracks the flu in Iowa.

In midtown Manhattan, Hyrmete Sciuto got a flu shot Friday at a drugstore. She skipped it in recent years, but news reports about the flu this week worried her.

During her commute from Edgewater, N.J., by ferry and bus, "I have people coughing in my face," she said. "I didn't want to risk it this year."

The vaccine is no guarantee, though, that you won't get sick. On Friday, CDC officials said a recent study of more than 1,100 people has concluded the current flu vaccine is 62 percent effective. That means the average vaccinated person is 62 percent less likely to get a case of flu that sends them to the doctor, compared to people who don't get the vaccine. That's in line with other years.

The vaccine is reformulated annually, and this year's is a good match to the viruses going around.

The flu's early arrival coincided with spikes in flu-like illnesses caused by other bugs, including a new norovirus that causes vomiting and diarrhea, or what is commonly known as "stomach flu." Those illnesses likely are part of the heavy traffic in hospital and clinic waiting rooms, CDC officials said.

Europeans also are suffering an early flu season, though a milder strain predominates there. China, Japan, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Algeria and the Republic of Congo have also reported increasing flu.

Flu usually peaks in midwinter. Symptoms can include fever, cough, runny nose, head and body aches and fatigue. Some people also suffer vomiting and diarrhea, and some develop pneumonia or other severe complications.

Most people with flu have a mild illness. But people with severe symptoms should see a doctor. They may be given antiviral drugs or other medications to ease symptoms.

Some shortages have been reported for children's liquid Tamiflu, a prescription medicine used to treat flu. But health officials say adult Tamiflu pills are available, and pharmacists can convert those to doses for children.

___

Associated Press writers Dan Sewell in Cincinnati, Catherine Lucey in Des Moines, and Malcolm Ritter in New York contributed to this report.

___

Online:

CDC flu: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/index.htm

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Apple drops on demand worries, leaving futures lower

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock index futures fell on Monday as shares of Apple were hit by demand concerns, while the corporate earnings season was set to pick up this week.

Apple slid more than 3 percent in premarket trade after a report that the tech company has cut orders for LCD screens and other parts for the iPhone 5 this quarter due to weak demand. The stock was down 3.8 percent at $500.80.

Earnings season picks up the pace this week with reports expected from companies including Goldman Sachs , Bank of America , Intel and General Electric .

Overall earnings are expected to grow by just 1.9 percent in this reporting period, according to Thomson Reuters data. Thirty-eight S&P 500 companies are due to report results this week.

"I think there's going to be more misses than hits in terms of revenue and margins. It's going to be a little bit light this earnings season compared to the last one," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital in New York.

"But the underlying factor is that there's economic growth and that the global economy is picking up."

Investors will also be watching a speech from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who will be speaking on monetary policy, recovery from the global financial crisis and long-term challenges facing the American economy at 4 p.m. (2100 GMT).

Top Fed official Charles Evans said earlier on Monday the U.S. economy is expected to grow by 2.5 percent in 2013, improving to 3.5 percent growth in 2014.

S&P 500 futures fell 1.1 points and were below fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 18 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures were down 13.25 points.

Transocean Ltd has disclosed that billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn has acquired a 1.56 percent stake in the offshore rig contractor and is looking to increase that holding. Its shares rose 3.3 percent to $55.89.

Hewlett-Packard rose 1.8 percent to $16.45 after JPMorgan raised its price target to $21 from $15.

Boeing could come under renewed pressure after Japan's transport ministry launched an investigation into what caused two fuel leaks on a 787 Dreamliner jet owned by Japan Airlines Co 9201.T.U.S. transportation officials have also said they will take a comprehensive look at the plane to ensure there were no flaws.

United Parcel Service Inc said it would drop its 5.2 billion euro ($7 billion) bid for Dutch delivery firm TNT Express on the expectation of an EU veto.

(Editing by Kenneth Barry)

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