Published: December 31, 2011
Ken George ?Stars and Stripes
Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, November 16, 1990: NBC-TV weatherman Willard Scott broadcasts from Dhahran Air Base during Operation Desert Shield.
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The Alabama Department of Insurance said insurers have paid at least $2.2 billion in claims arising from the April tornado outbreak in Alabama, and more than 2,500 claims are still pending eight months after the storms.
According to the Birmingham News, the figures include amounts that insurance companies regulated by the state have paid for homes, cars, businesses and other property damaged on April 27.
The figures do not include claims paid by companies such as Lloyd's of London, which insure some Alabama property but are not regulated by the state.
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TUESDAY, Dec. 27 (HealthDay News) -- Racial and cultural factors still affect the diagnosis and treatment of depression in elderly Americans, despite improvements to diagnostic tools and therapies in recent decades, according to a new study.
Researchers found that elderly blacks are less likely to be diagnosed -- and therefore treated -- than whites or Hispanics.
About 6.6 percent of elderly people in the United States have an episode of major depression each year, making it a significant public health issue for older Americans, the Rutgers University researchers pointed out in a university news release.
If it's left untreated or undertreated, depression can have a major negative impact on quality of life and can also complicate medical conditions that are common in elderly people, including congestive heart failure, arthritis and diabetes, Ayse Akincigil, an assistant professor in Rutgers' School of Social Work, and colleagues explained.
The investigators analyzed data collected from nearly 34,000 Medicare beneficiaries between 2001 and 2005, and found that rates of depression diagnosis were 6.4 percent for whites, 4.2 percent for blacks, 7.2 percent for Hispanics, and 3.8 percent for other groups.
"Efforts are needed to reduce the burden of undetected and untreated depression and to identify the barriers that generate disparities in detection and treatment," the researchers concluded.
"Promising approaches include providing universal depression screening and ensuring access to care in low-income and minority neighborhoods," they added. "An increase in the reimbursement of case management services for the treatment of depression also may be effective."
The study was released online in advance of publication in an upcoming print issue of the American Journal of Public Health.
More information
The U.S. National Institute of Mental Health has more about older adults and depression.
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The Philadelphia Phillies were ousted by the eventual World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Division series. Since then, they have added a top-rated closer and have modestly tweaked their roster.
Will a basic shuffling of their aging baseball cards help the Phillies to make progress in 2012?
Being realistic
The Phillies were widely picked as World Series favorites after signing Texas Rangers free agent pitcher, Cliff Lee to a long-term deal last December. On paper they looked invincible. Reality proved that they were beatable.
The game of baseball involves pitching, defense and hitting. Last season, the Phillies only offered two thirds of that pie on their table. Yes, their offense was good at times. But, it wasn't in the playoffs and that was the main reason why they went home early.
So, general manager Ruben Amaro, Jr. looked at his aging baseball cards and knew that he had to do something before next spring arrived. He picked the option of reshuffling the deck.
Contractual limitations
As of late December, the Phillies had 16 players with guaranteed contracts that totaled $138.5 million. While Citizens Bank Park is a cash cow, it can only offer so much money milk each season.
With that in mind, there are only so many moves that Amaro could make without tearing apart the team. As a result, he completed one necessary acquisition, when he filled the closer's role, added some complimentary guys and re-signed Jimmy Rollins.
New expectations
Inking former Boston Red Sox reliever Jonathan Papelbon isn't a significant risk from a sabermetric standpoint, as he should continue to generate 30 to 40 saves per season. As far as his $50 million+ salary goes, $11 million of it is included in the $138.5 million tally noted above.
This time around, the Phillies didn't need to offer Jim Thome a monster deal to refit his old red pinstriped suit. His $1.25 million deal reincorporates a great baseball guy into a group that will benefit from his positive nature and will also hopefully yield some left-handed lightning in a pinch.
Ty Wigginton ($4 million), Laynce Nix ($1.15 million) and Dontrelle Willis ($850,000) all offer cost-effective roster support. Wigginton may play the role of a utility man around the field, particularly spelling Placido Polanco at third base.
John Mayberry, Jr. has shown promise, but isn't a proven commodity. His 2011 statistical spike may lead to continued growth in 2012, but the production sample size is small and thus Nix was signed as a left-handed compliment for their left-field slot.
In keeping with the theme of versatility, the Phillies now have retooled their bench so that a variety of players can perform at various locations around the field. The undated return of Ryan Howard to the first base area and to the cleanup slot will also allow some of the other names mentioned above to fill-in for him during his absence.
The bottom line
In the end, these moves represent a belief that the core of this team can produce stronger playoff results if it can avoid the injury problems that affected the roster last season.
The amount of currently guaranteed money doesn't include pending 2012 contracts for Cole Hamels and Hunter Pence. These previously created financial obligations have limited what Amaro could have done without moving someone like Victorino who is entering the final year of his contract.
Sean was born in the Philadelphia region and has written professionally for over two decades. Read his Sports Blog: Insight and follow him on Twitter @ SeanyOB
More from Sean O'Brien and the Yahoo Contributor Network:
When Baseball Cards were King
Rounding out the Phillies 2012 lineup
The story behind Mike Schmidt's 1980 baseball card
Jim Thome's impact on the Phillies now and then
When Phillies' legend Richie Ashburn played the game
Source: http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?r5668407316
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The Palestinian Authority in Bethlehem, and Israel, which controls Jerusalem's Old City, adopted the delicate status quo in operation since the British mandate, under which no changes, however minor, can be made without the approval of all three denominations.
The result has been that the Church of the Nativity has fallen into a dangerous state of disrepair.
Last month, after years of arguments, the sects finally reached agreement to replace the church's leaking roof. The renovations, planned for next year, will mark the first major repairs in 150 years.
In a separate development, the Jerusalem municipality has approved the construction of another 130 homes in the Jerusalem neighbourhood of Gilo, built over the Green line, on land captured by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day Arab-Israeli war. The move is likely to anger the Palestinians, who insist that Israel must halt all settlement construction before direct peace talks can resume.
An announcement by Israel earlier this month that it intended to build more than a thousand new homes in West Bank settlements and east Jerusalem was condemned by Britain, , which along with the other EU members of the United Nations Security Council -France, Germany and Portugal ? issued a statement saying they were "dismayed by these wholly negative developments."
They said Israel's move to accelerate the construction of settlements in the West Bank "sends a devastating message" and they called on the Israeli government to cancel the construction.
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PARIS ? France's government says it will not arrest the former spokeswoman for the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal, convicted for revealing confidential decisions during the trial of Slobodan Milosevic.
Florence Hartmann, a French national, was convicted of contempt of court in July and fined in the case, which involved disclosures she made in a 2007 book.
The U.N. court's appeals panel last month converted the fine into a seven-day prison term, and asked French authorites to find and arrest Hartmann.
French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said Monday that it would be impossible to fulfill the court's request.
He said judicial agreements between France and the court apply only to "the serious crimes that the tribunal is charged with prosecuting" ? and not with such offenses as contempt of court.
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