California residents support soda tax to fight obesity, health study shows

Soft drink cups sized (L-R) at 32 ounces and 64 ounces are displayed at a news conference at City Hall in New York, May 31, 2012.

(Reuters) - Fighting obesity by taxing sugary drinks and restricting junk food advertisements aimed at children has support from a wide majority of residents surveyed in a Southern California public health study released on Thursday. The findings from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health come as friction mounts between the beverage industry and health advocates over the best way to fight obesity and diabetes, tied by studies to over-consumption of soda, sweets and junk food. “There have been a lot of arguments against this sort of policy," including claims it will cost the poor more to buy food, said Paul Simon, head of chronic disease prevention for the county and lead author of the study. But Simon said nearly two-thirds of those surveyed by the county in a broad 2011 assessment of public attitudes toward health issues, said they supported a soda tax, and three-quarters favored limiting junk food advertising. Public health advocates across the country have clamored for ways to reduce consumption of sugary drinks and junk food, but lawmakers and voters have generally opposed enacting taxes or other regulations. Lawmakers in Illinois rejected a measure in late May that would have taxed soda purchases at one cent per ounce, and a tax proposed for California failed in the state Legislature last year. On Wednesday, an attorney for New York City asked the state's top court to revive the city's ban on large sugary drinks, which was overturned by a lower court last year. In California, a measure to require warning labels on sodas passed the state Senate last week. The industry association CalBev downplayed the Los Angeles survey and other polls showing support for such restrictions. "A polling question asked in a vacuum without any context often gives the impression that voters support these types of taxes, but the reality is when you put it directly to the voters they always go down in defeat," the association said Thursday. Simon and his colleagues analyzed data from a survey of about 1,000 Los Angeles County adults called randomly by telephone. They found support for such restrictions to be highest among low-income residents, whose obesity and diabetes rates are highest. "It's described as regressive, that it would discriminate against poorer people because they have less money," Simon said. "Nonetheless we found in our study that there is more support among those groups." (Reporting by Jennifer Chaussee in Berkeley, Calif; Editing by Sharon Bernstein and Peter Cooney)

Black taxis challenge U.S. car service Uber for streets of London

A taxi driver drinks a tea opposite a roadside snack cafe along the A3216 in central London September 4, 2013.

(Reuters) - They have been the kings of the British capital's roads for over a century but now the often opinionated drivers of London's iconic black taxi cabs are battling a high-technology rival that threatens their dominance. In their sights is Uber Technologies Inc., a San Francisco-based company whose application lets people summon rides at the touch of a smartphone button and uses satellite navigation to calculate the distance for fares. The drivers of black taxis say Uber, backed by investors such as Goldman Sachs and Google, is being used as a taximeter and thus contravenes a 1998 British law reserving the right to use a meter for licensed black taxis. Uber says the application used by their drivers complies with all local regulations and that they are being targeted because of their success in winning customers. A variety of apps are available for summoning both black cabs - bulbous, purpose-built vehicles which offer a roomier passenger compartment than most normal cars - and unmetered private-hire taxis known as minicabs. But the power of Uber and the growing popularity of its app have so rattled the black cab drivers that they have pushed London's transport regulator to ask the High Court to rule on the legality of such applications. They also plan to converge near Trafalgar Square on June 11 for a protest that could paralyze central London, following strikes and other actions by drivers in cities such as Paris and Milan. "We understand it's a competitive market place, but they're not playing by the rules," Jim Thompson, a taxi driver of 30 years, told Reuters during a coffee and cigarette break in the financial district. "We're fighting for our livelihoods here. No one's going to take it lying down." Since Uber's foundation in 2009 by two U.S. technology entrepreneurs, Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp, the darling of Silicon Valley has entered over 70 cities, expanding from California to Washington, Tokyo and now London. Colleagues in the U.S. capital are suffering, said Thompson. "I was over in Washington last year and it slaughtered them," he said. "You just can't compete." Behind the debate over what constitutes a taximeter, Uber has touched a raw nerve in London because it brings home the threat to one of the city's most visible trades from technological advances. To win the coveted green badge giving the right to drive a black taxi, drivers have to study for up to five years to pass the "the Knowledge". This is a rigorous test requiring encyclopedic knowledge of London's roads and its landmarks - from the Tower of London to the site of Karl Marx's grave - although many drivers now use satellite-navigation devices. First introduced as motorized competitors to the horse-drawn carriage in 1897 under Queen Victoria, there are now over 25,000 hackney carriage taxis in London making more than 300,000 trips each day. The cabs, which are now made by China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group [GEELY.UL], can be flagged down on the street and use a meter to calculate fares while London's 44,000 minicabs must be pre-booked with a set fare and destination. TAXI WARS? Uber says its minicabs arrive in five minutes in central London and it offers numerous incentives, including a free first journey to attract new users and allowing customers to see the driver's name and photo before they arrive. "You really feel you are the customer and not someone who's just getting a lift," said David Wetherill, an Uber customer in London. "It's like the difference between staying in a budget hotel and a five-star." But Uber also provides an application for its drivers to calculate the cost of each journey by monitoring the distance and time traveled. The London taxi-drivers' union says this amounts to a taximeter and that the regulator, Transport for London (TfL), is failing to enforce its own rules with a firm that has powerful investors. "TfL is scared by Uber’s big-money backers like Goldman ‘Government’ Sachs and Google," said Steve McNamara, general secretary of the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association. "Something is very, very wrong here." Tfl says its provisional view is that the use of smart phones does not constitute a taximeter but has invited the High Court to rule on the issue. Uber is being targeted because of its success and out of fear of its technological strength, said Jo Bertram, Uber general manager for Britain and Ireland. "We're bringing more competition and we think that's good for everyone," she told Reuters at the company's new offices in north London. "There's Uber being incredibly successful and there's also the march of technology," she said. "We're seen as one and the same." But Uber isn't to everyone's taste. There have already been protests against Uber in both the United States and continental Europe, and one of its cars was attacked near Paris earlier this year. Not all appear to have helped the drivers' cause: when the Milan taxi union staged a strike in March, Uber enticed stranded customers by offering a 20 percent discount. The company has also faced complaints from rival taxi firms in the United States while in France a law requiring all its drivers to wait 15 minutes before responding to a booking was briefly introduced and then suspended. In London, about 10,000 taxis are expected to cause gridlock at next week's protest. "What else are we meant to do?" said cabbie Thompson, sheltering from the rain in the back of a taxi, drinking instant coffee from polystyrene cups with three colleagues who between them have over 150 years' experience driving taxis in London. "It's do or die in this world." (Additional reporting by Dominic Elliot. Editing by Guy Faulconbridge and David Stamp)

Days before World Cup, much of Brazil just not in the mood

A boy rides his bicycle along a street painted with the Brazilian flag and national colours, at the Turano slum in Rio de Janeiro June 4, 2014.

(Reuters) - The upcoming soccer World Cup in Brazil was supposed to be the party to end all parties. What more could a fan want? The home of Carnival and "the beautiful game," as Pelé once famously called it, finally had the economic, political and social stability to host the tournament for the first time since 1950 and any of Brazil's subsequent five World Cup titles, more than for any other nation. After a half-century in which its soccer prowess outdribbled its development, Latin America's biggest country could at last flout its success both on and off the pitch. But less than a week before kickoff on June 12, Brazil feels anything but festive. An economic boom that catapulted 40 million people out of poverty in the last decade, and motivated Brazil to host the world's most popular sports event, has waned. With rising inflation, urban gridlock and soaring crime as a backdrop, protesters over the past year have rallied against $11 billion in World Cup spending and alleged corruption that drove up the cost of building stadiums and other infrastructure projects, some of which were never delivered. Sportscasts on team strategy, prevalent before previous World Cups, are splitting air time with news reports featuring soldiers and police deployed in 12 host cities to ensure that labor strikes, demonstrations and crime don't disrupt the tournament. At its most telling, the lack of enthusiasm is evident on sidewalks, squares and corner cafes. Absent the riot of yellow and green that normally erupts every four years, many public areas remain remarkably staid even as Brazil prepares to host an event that it always celebrated from afar. "People are disgusted," says Mariana Faria, the owner of a party supply store in central Rio de Janeiro, where sales are 40 percent lower than when the last World Cup took place in South Africa four years ago. "Nobody wants to spend money on something now associated with waste and corruption." The pall over Brazil counters what global soccer fans expect to be a month of sheer sporting extravaganza. And it could be that Brazilians will perk up if their team starts to dazzle. The tournament, the first in which all previous Cup winners have qualified, will feature almost every major star in the game – from Neymar, Brazil's young hope, to Lionel Messi, the Argentine considered by many to be the era's best player, to Cristiano Ronaldo, the cocksure Portuguese who would argue otherwise. The dour mood is also a far cry from what most envisioned when Brazil secured hosting rights in 2007. Back then, organizers hoped the prevailing narrative would be that of a resurgent country with a national team poised to exorcise Brazil's historic loss to Uruguay in the final stages of the 1950 tournament at Rio's Maracanã stadium, also the venue for this Cup's final. GO BY DONKEY Former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, whose folksy charisma helped Brazil get awarded the tournament, recently betrayed the surprise he and other leaders feel amid so many complaints. Dismissing questions about the lack of metro service to stadiums and problems with other infrastructure that has fallen far short of early promises, he told Brazilians to make do. "We never had problems walking," Lula said, suggesting spectators go to games "on foot, barefoot, by bike, by donkey." President Dilma Rousseff, Lula's successor and protegee, has urged Brazilians to put their frustrations aside and peacefully welcome the more than 800,000 foreign visitors expected. Roiled by mass demonstrations that disrupted a warmup tournament last June, and a wave of ongoing strikes in several host cities, Rousseff authorized 57,000 troops to complement state police forces with tasks ranging from security perimeters around stadiums to armed escorts for team buses. "We are a people that will welcome the tourist not with violence, but with affection," she said last week in a speech at Rio's international airport, where repairs continue despite her presence there to inaugurate the renovation. Rousseff is still favored to get re-elected in October. But recent polls show increasing traction for rival candidates, unease about the economy, which barely grew in the first quarter, and growing distaste towards the World Cup. The Washington-based Pew Research Center this week reported that 72 percent of Brazilians in a recent survey expressed a general sense of dissatisfaction, compared with 55 percent a year ago. Sixty-one percent of those polled disapprove of hosting the World Cup. [ID:nL1N0OJ135] So where did Brazil go wrong? To many, the Cup symbolizes the gulf between what Brazil's leaders' promises and what they deliver, be it good schools and hospitals or an offshore oil bonanza, discovered just as Brazil won the rights to the tournament, that has failed to blossom because of high costs and bureaucracy. [ID:nL1N0O115A] So slow were the World Cup preparations, including seats still being installed at the opening stadium, that the secretary general of FIFA, soccer's governing body, as early as 2012 said Brazil needed "a kick up the backside." Most major global sports events, of course, are fraught with criticism and handwringing ahead of showtime. And more often than not, there is a sigh of relief once the opening ceremony is over and the games begin. That's why some in Brazil's upper crust have sought to get people excited about the tournament. In what many read as a tone-deaf scold, supermarket magnate Abilio Diniz wrote in a recent op-ed piece that "we should take advantage of global attention to show the grandiosity and opportunities of Brazil, not our problems." In the northern Rio neighborhood of Tijuca, Ricardo Ferreira, a parking garage owner, last weekend worked with friends to decorate an intersection where an impromptu sidewalk viewing of the 1978 tournament has since blossomed into the "Alzirão," one of the city's biggest World Cup street parties. Under overhead cables where Ferreira strung more than 10 miles worth of plastic ribbon and other decorations, demonstrators had painted a protest message of "SOS" for the creaky public health system. Neighbors have been asking whether Rio would still flock to the party. "I hope so," he says. "We're not the government. We're not FIFA. We still like soccer here, don't we?" (Editing by Todd Benson, Martin Howell)

Miss Nevada wins Miss USA beauty pageant

(Reuters) - Nia Sanchez, 24-year-old 4th degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do from Nevada, was crowned Miss USA on Sunday during the 63rd telecast of the annual beauty pageant. Sanchez, who wore an intricate red gown during the latter part of the three-hour nationally broadcast contest, addressed the issue of sexual assault on college campuses during a question-and-answer session faced by all six finalists. Sanchez said she felt some colleges, fearing a bad reputation, might sweep the problem under the rug, and that "More awareness (of the issue) is very important so that women can learn to protect themselves." She added that as a 4th degree black belt, she learned "you need to be confident and be able to defend yourself ... That's something we need to start to implement for a lot of women." The pageant, co-hosted by Giuliana Rancic of "E! News" and MSNBC's morning news show "Way Too Early" host Thomas Roberts, was broadcast live on NBC from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The first runner-up was Audra Mari, 20, from North Dakota. Other finalists included contestants from Georgia, Louisiana and Florida. Iowa's representative became a sixth finalist based on fan voting on Twitter, but placed as the fifth runner-up. The competition featured contestants from all 50 states and the District of Columbia who were judged in three traditional beauty pageant categories: swimsuit, evening gown and interview. Erin Brady, Miss USA 2013, crowned her successor, who will go on to compete at the international Miss Universe competition. (Reporting by Chris Michaud; Editing by Robert Birsel)

Actor Tracy Morgan critical but 'more responsive' after crash

Writer and executive producer Tracy Morgan participates in the panel for the comedy special ''Tracy Morgan: Black and Blue'' during the HBO summer Television Critics Association press tour in Beverly Hills, California August 7, 2010.

(Reuters) - Actor-comedian Tracy Morgan is in critical condition in hospital but was more responsive a day after he was badly hurt in a deadly New Jersey highway crash, his spokesman said on Sunday. Morgan, who gained fame as a member of the "Saturday Night Live" ensemble before co-starring on the hit NBC television comedy "30 Rock," was injured when a tractor-trailer rear-ended the limousine bus he was riding in early on Saturday with four other passengers. Fellow comedian James McNair was killed in the wreck. Two other comics - Ardie Fuqua and Harris Stanton - were also in hospital with severe injuries, while a fifth passenger, Morgan's assistant, Jeff Millea, was treated for minor injuries and released, police and hospital officials said. The group was returning from a performance in Delaware at around 1 a.m. when the big rig slammed into the back of their chauffeured Mercedes bus near Cranbury Township, New Jersey, flipping it over. The impact caused a chain-reaction crash involving a second truck, a sport utility vehicle and two other cars, said New Jersey State Police spokesman Gregory Williams. McNair, 62, known by his stage name Jimmy Mack, of Peekskill, New York, was pronounced dead at the scene, according to New Jersey State Police. Nobody but the four other passengers from the limo bus were taken to the hospital, authorities said. Morgan's spokesman, Lewis Kay, said the 45-year-old performer suffered several injuries, including a broken leg, a broken nose and several broken ribs and had undergone surgery on his injured leg. "While Tracy remains in critical condition, he has been more responsive today, which is an incredibly encouraging sign," Kay, said in a statement. "We expect him to remain in the hospital for several weeks. His family is tremendously overwhelmed and appreciative of the outpouring of love and support from his fans." DRIVER CHARGED Williams said the tractor-trailer rammed into the rear of the limo bus after the truck driver failed to realize in time that the traffic in front of him was slowing down. The truck driver, Kevin Roper, 35, of Jonesboro, Georgia, turned himself in to authorities and was charged with death by auto and four counts of assault by auto, a Middlesex County Corrections official said. He was released from jail on Sunday after posting $50,000 bail, the official said. He is expected to face arraignment in New Jersey early this week. The limo driver, Tyrone Gale, said on Facebook there was nothing he could do to prevent the crash. "I can only say feeling helpless on the highway was very hard to take," he wrote. "There was nothing I could do but scream at times." Wal-Mart Stores Inc said on Saturday one of its trucks was the tractor-trailer involved in the collision, which is under investigation by police and the National Transportation Safety Board. "We are working quickly to understand what happened and are cooperating fully with law enforcement to aid their investigation," said Bill Simon, chief executive of Walmart U.S. Morgan, a native New Yorker known for his comedic commentary on racial stereotypes, left the "Saturday Night Live" cast in 2003 after seven years on the show and went on to play a parodied version of himself as the character named Tracy Jordan on "30 Rock" for seven seasons. He earned an Emmy nomination as outstanding supporting actor for his role on the show, which starred Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin, in 2009, the same year his book, "I Am the New Black," was published. Morgan has three sons by his previous wife, Sabina Morgan, and is engaged to Megan Wollover, with whom he had a daughter in 2013. Sabina Morgan told the New York Daily News she and Morgan's sons were shaken by the accident. "It's like I'm in a nightmare," she said. Word of the crash prompted an outpouring of sentiment on social media. "Get better fast ... You have most positive thoughts," tweeted actor and director Henry Winkler. (Additional reporting by Victoria Cavaliere in New York; Editing by Steve Gorman and Clarence Fernandez)

Americans split on prisoner swap of Taliban for U.S. soldier

U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl waits in a pick-up truck before he is freed at the Afghan border, in this still image from video released June 4, 2014.

(Reuters) - Americans are deeply divided over whether the Obama administration did the right thing by swapping five Taliban leaders to win the freedom of Afghanistan prisoner of war Bowe Bergdahl, according to Reuters/Ipsos survey released on Friday. Americans strongly agree the United States should make every effort to free prisoners of war like Bergdahl, an Army Sergeant who was captured in eastern Afghanistan in 2009. But they also think the prisoner swap deal set a dangerous precedent. The Reuters/Ipsos poll of 958 Americans interviewed online found that 44 percent disagreed with the statement that trading Taliban prisoners for Bergdahl was "the right thing to do," with 26 percent of them strongly disagreeing. Twenty-nine percent of those polled said they thought the prisoner swap was the right thing to do and 27 percent said they were not sure, the poll found. Bergdahl was handed over to U.S. special operations forces in Afghanistan last Saturday after the Obama administration agreed to send five Taliban leaders held at Guantanamo prison to Qatar, where they must remain for a year. After an initial wave of euphoria over the release, the deal triggered a backlash among U.S. lawmakers angry because they were not given 30 days notice before the transfer of the Guantanamo prisoners, as required by law. Some of Bergdahl's former Army comrades said they believe he deserted his post. White House counselor John Podesta on Friday told a Christian Science Monitor breakfast that President Barack Obama knew the prisoner swap would be a “controversial decision.” The president said he acted quickly because he was faced with a "delicate situation that required no publicity" and that he had no regrets about the action. "This is something that I would do again and I will continue to do wherever I have an opportunity, if I have a member of our military who's in captivity," he told NBC Nightly News. "We're going to try to get 'em out." Obama decided to personally announce the exchange in the White House Rose Garden, accompanied by Bergdahl's parents, in order to explain to the public the reasons behind the decision, Podesta told a breakfast meeting. The uproar over the prisoner swap has left Americans with conflicted views of the events, the Reuters/Ipsos poll showed. Asked whether they thought Bergdahl was a patriot or a traitor/deserter, 65 percent said they did not know. Only 13 percent said they viewed Bergdahl as a patriot and 22 percent saw him as a traitor/deserter. The respondents overwhelmingly agreed the United States should make every effort to recover prisoners of war, with 78 percent agreeing with that statement, including 48 percent strongly agreeing. At the same time, they also thought trading five Taliban leaders for Bergdahl set a "dangerous precedent for future kidnapping or hostage-taking," with 66 percent agreeing with the statement, including 43 percent strongly agreeing. The poll has a credibility interval of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points. White House officials have said they were concerned about Bergdahl's health and felt they had to move secretly and quickly to secure his release once the exchange was decided. Bergdahl was taken to a U.S. military hospital in Germany, where he was in stable condition and continuing to improve daily, according to an update by his doctors on Friday. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Bergdahl still had not called his parents "because he hasn't chosen to yet." The official said Bergdahl had no physical issues preventing him from traveling but that there was no imminent plan to move the Idaho native back to the United States. Officials have declined to discuss his health issues, citing privacy concerns. (Additional reporting by Laura Zuckerman in Idaho, Roberta Rampton in Paris, and Mark Felsenthal; Editing by David Storey, Grant McCool and Diane Craft)

Kerry says freed Taliban inmates would target U.S. at 'enormous risk': CNN

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry gestures as he speaks during a news conference after meeting with Lebanon's Prime Minister Tammam Salam at the government palace in Beirut June 4, 2014.

(Reuters) - If the five Taliban inmates released from Guantanamo Bay prison in exchange for a captive American soldier rejoined the fight against the United States, they would do so at great risk, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday. "I'm not telling you they don't have some ability at some point to go back and get involved," Kerry said in an interview with CNN's "State of the Union" program. "But they also have the ability to get killed doing that. "These guys pick a fight with us, in the future or now or at any time, at enormous risk." Concern that the five former inmates might return to fight has been a factor in controversy in the United States over the deal, under which Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl was handed over to U.S. troops in Afghanistan on May 31 after nearly five years in captivity and the five Taliban members were flown from Guantanamo to Qatar. Kerry said the United States has proven its ability to target al Qaeda fighters in western Pakistan and Afghanistan in the war on terrorism and that nobody should doubt the capacity of the United States to protect Americans. U.S. officials have referred to release of the Islamist militants in exchange for Bergdahl as a transfer. They said the men would be subject to certain restrictions in Qatar, which brokered the deal. One official said that would include a minimum one-year ban on travel outside of Qatar as well as monitoring of their activities. "They're not the only ones keeping an eye on them," Kerry told CNN. The five had been held at the U.S. Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba since 2002. Their release drew criticism from members of the U.S. Congress, who complained they were not notified in advance by the Obama administration. Adding to the controversy, some of Bergdahl's former comrades have alleged he was captured by the Taliban after deserting his post. Kerry said there was time to sort through exactly what happened in Afghanistan but he fiercely defended the rescue of Bergdahl. "It would have been offensive and incomprehensible to consciously leave an American behind. No matter what," said Kerry, a Vietnam War veteran.