Pregnant nurse fired
after refusing flu shot - (www.freep.com) Dreonna
Breton has an 18-month-old son and another child on the way. But the
29-year-old Pennsylvania woman has also suffered three miscarriages. And so
when her employers at Horizons Healthcare Services in Lancaster informed its
entire staff that a flu shot was necessary, Breton refused. Though she
acknowledged that the CDC recommends it for pregnant women, she cited a dearth
of research on how the vaccine actually affects pregnant women. "I'm not
gonna be the 1% of people that has a problem," she told CNN on Saturday. But
her decision led to a different sort of problem: She was fired. Breton did
submit letters from both her midwife and her primary care doctor backing her
choice, with the latter saying that while the vaccine is safe, her health would
be damaged because of the anxiety it would cause, reports WGAL.
Loan
Sharks Smell Blood in China Waters - (online.wsj.com) Sitting
in an empty Papa John's pizza restaurant, real-estate developer Yang Boqun said
he would somehow catch up on loan payments for 150 million yuan ($24.7 million)
he borrowed to finish a five-story shopping mall in the eastern Chinese city of
Jinhua. But the mall's only tenants are a Bentley car dealership, movie theater
and the restaurant—and the loan's interest rate is a steep 40%. The reason:
When construction costs on the two billion-yuan project soared surprisingly
high, traditional banks couldn't lend more to Mr. Yang. So he turned to Credit China Holdings Ltd., one of the thousands of so-called
shadow lenders in China. Mr. Yang got the money—and now Credit China wants it
back. "I am a loan shark but a legal one," said Raymond Ting,
chairman and executive director of Credit China, in an interview about 750
miles away at a wine store he owns in Hong Kong. He made a fist and said he is
"squeezing" Mr. Yang by threatening to seize a piece of the shopping
mall.
China’s
Local Debt Swells to 17.9 Trillion Yuan in Audit - (www.bloomberg.com) China’s local-government debt swelled to 17.9
trillion yuan ($2.95
trillion), underscoring risks to the financial system as President Xi Jinping
rolls out economic reforms. Debt including contingent liabilities rose about 13
percent in the six months through June, based on figures in a report by the
National Audit Office, posted on its website yesterday. That followed a 48
percent increase over the previous two years. China’s borrowing spree in recent
years has evoked comparisons to debt surges that tipped Asian nations into
crisis in the late 1990s and preceded Japan’s lost decades. The audit result adds pressure
for Xi, yesterday named head of a Communist Party leading group for reform, to
repair a fiscal system that starves local governments of tax revenue.
Americans
on Wrong Side of Pay Gap Run Out of Means to Cope - (www.bloomberg.com) Rising
income inequality is starting to hit home for many American households as they
run short of places to reach for a few extra bucks. As the gap between the rich
and poor widened over the last three decades, families at the bottom found ways
to deal with the squeeze on earnings. Housewives joined the workforce. Husbands
took second jobs and labored longer hours. Homeowners tapped into the rising value of
their properties to borrow money to spend. Those strategies finally may have
run their course as women’s participation in the labor force has peaked and the
bursting of the house-price bubble has left many Americans underwater on their
mortgages.
Unemployment
Benefits Lapse Severs Lifeline for Longtime Jobless - (www.bloomberg.com) Laura
Walker, a 63-year-old paralegal, has been looking for work since January, when
she was laid off from a California law firm. Until today, she could count on $450
a week in federal unemployment benefits for help. Now, those checks will
disappear, just as they will for 1.3 million other Americans whose emergency
aid ran out Dec. 28. “Not all of us have savings and a lot of us have to take
care of family because of what happened in the economy,” said Walker, of Santa
Clarita, who said she has applied for at least three jobs a week and shares an
apartment with her unemployed son, his wife and two children. “It’s going to
put my family and me out on the streets.”
Report:
70 journalists died on the job in 2013 - (www.finance.yahoo.com)
China Says Abe Closed Door to New Meetings After Visiting Shrine - (www.bloomberg.com)
How to Prevent a War Between China and Japan - (www.bloomberg.com)
China Says Abe Closed Door to New Meetings After Visiting Shrine - (www.bloomberg.com)
How to Prevent a War Between China and Japan - (www.bloomberg.com)
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