Oliver Stone, Benicio del Toro visit Puerto Rico

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Benicio Del Toro didn’t wait long to collect on a favor that Oliver Stone owed him for working extra hours on the set of his most recent movie, “Savages”, released this year.

The favor? A trip to Del Toro‘s native Puerto Rico, which Stone hadn’t visited since the early 1960s.

“I told him, you owe me one,” Del Toro said with a smile as he recalled the conversation during a press conference Friday in the U.S. territory, where he and Stone are helping raise money for one of the island’s largest art museums.

Del Toro, wearing jeans, a black jacket and a black T-shirt emblazoned with the name of local reggaeton singer Tego Calderon, waved to the press as he was introduced.

“Hello, greetings. Is this a press conference?” he quipped as he and Stone awaited questions.

Both men praised each other’s work, saying they would like to work with each other again.

“I deeply admire him as an actor, the way he thinks, the way he expresses himself,” Stone said. “Of all the actors I’ve worked with, he’s the most interesting.”

Stone said Del Toro always delivers surprises while acting, even when it’s as something as subtle as certain gestures between dialogue.

“I think Benicio is the master of keeping you watching,” he said.

Stone said he enjoys meeting up with Del Toro off-set because he’s one of the few actors in Hollywood who can talk about something other than movies.

“He is very interested in the world around him,” Stone said, adding that the conversations sometimes center around politics and other topics.

Del Toro declined to answer when asked what he thought about Puerto Rico’s referendum earlier this month, which aimed to determine the future of the island’s political status. He said the results did not seem to point to a clear-cut outcome.

Del Toro then said he would like the island’s movie business to grow, especially in a way that would encourage learning.

“I’m talking about movies in an educational sense, as a way to discover other parts of the world,” he said. “Create a film class. You’ll see, kids won’t skip it.”

Del Toro also shared his thoughts on being a father after having a daughter with Kimberly Stewart in August 2011.

He said the girl is learning how to swim and is discovering the world around her.

“She has her own personality,” Del Toro said. “She’s not her mother. She’s not me.”

Both Del Toro and Stone are expected to remain in Puerto Rico through the weekend to raise money for the Art Museum of Puerto Rico, which is hosting its annual movie festival and will honor Stone’s movies.

Museum curator Juan Carlos Lopez Quintero said the money raised will be used to enhance the museum’s permanent collection, especially with Puerto Rican paintings from the 19th century and early 20th century.

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Act of kindness turns New York cop into media darling

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.S. national media just got the perfect holiday gift: a feel-good tale about a young police officer who dug into his own pocket to put boots on a barefoot panhandler on a freezing city sidewalk.

Even better was the way the story of New York City Police Officer Larry DePrimo‘s kindness unfolded.

Thanks to a blurry Facebook photo snapped on a cell phone by a tourist who happened the incident in Times Square, DePrimo, 25, went from anonymous Good Samaritan to national media celebrity in less than 72 hours.

The photo of the officer crouching with the new pair of boots next to the bedraggled man was featured on the front pages of New York‘s two popular tabloids, the New York Post and the New York Daily News, on Friday. An article describing the good deed was the most viewed story of The New York Times’s website on Friday morning.

DePrimo told and retold the story of his labor of love in interviews Friday on a half dozen national TV morning shows, including NBC’s “Today” show, ABC’s “Good Morning America,” CBS’s “Morning Show,” CNN’s “Starting Point” and Fox News’s “Fox & Friends.”

“We’ve been speaking a lot the last couple of days about who should be the ‘Time’ person of the year — Time magazine. I’d like to nominate you,” “Fox & Friends” host Gretchen Carlson told DePrimo.

Little was known about the man to whom DePrimo gave the boots. He is said to be a veteran who was at one time homeless and was placed in veterans’ housing sometime in the past year, according to NBC 4 New York.

DePrimo’s story has been particularly appealing because most pictures and video civilians take of police officers expose cruelty, not generosity, said Roy Peter Clark, a senior scholar at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida.

In contrast, “everything about this feels good and right and worthy,” Clark said, adding that the way the story came to the media’s attention contributed to its poignancy.

Squeezed into the spotlight was Jennifer Foster, the tourist who quietly snapped the photo of DePrimo that was posted to the New York Police Department’s Facebook page on Tuesday afternoon. She was flown to New York from Arizona for a Friday morning appearance on “Today” with DePrimo – meeting him for the first time.

“We decided that we were best friends now,” Foster said on the program.

Back in Times Square, television trucks and their crews swarmed the Skechers store where DePrimo bought the boots with the help of a worker who rang up the purchase with his employee discount. Even the small kindness of the discount triggered a wave of thank you calls and emails to the store, including from a retired detective from Arizona, said assistant manager Holli Barton.

(Reporting by Peter Rudegeair; Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Leslie Adler)

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Korean pop rides “Gangnam Style” into U.S. music scene

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – “Gangnam Style,” the catchy Korean song by rapper Psy, may have danced its way into the American charts but the Korean pop industry isn’t horsing around when it comes to capitalizing on the singer’s phenomenal U.S. success.

With “Gangnam Style” topping the current Billboard Digital Songs chart and becoming the most-watched video on YouTube ever with more than 800 million views, fellow Korean pop, or K-pop, artists are positioning themselves for similar U.S. breakthroughs.

Korea’s pop music industry is thriving. Over the past two years, a handful of K-pop acts including girl group 2NE1, boy band Super Junior and nine-piece band Girls Generation have embarked on mini-promotional tours around the United States to build their audience.

“Psy has opened doors and is shining a spotlight on K-pop. People are paying attention to what’s being done there,” Alina Moffat, general manager at YG Entertainment group, which manages Psy, told a recent entertainment industry conference in Los Angeles.

Psy’s vibrant music video, featuring his invisible pony-riding dance, also featured K-pop artists Kim Hyun-a of girl band 4Minute, and Deasung and Seungri of boy band Big Bang, all of whom are attempting to crack the U.S. market.

“YouTube has really changed the awareness of K-pop. Both American kids and second-generation Korean American kids are discovering it,” Kye Kyoungbon Koo, director of the Korea Creative Content Agency, told a panel at a Billboard and Hollywood Reporter conference in Los Angeles in October.

MARKETING THE NEXT BIG THING

For U.S. companies looking to invest, K-pop is being marketed as the next big thing, boasting young, stylish and influential artists who command devoted fan followings.

Moffat said car companies and mobile phone brands were among those being courted at KCON, a convention held in October in Irvine in Southern California that showcased K-pop artists.

“Kids are coming, they’re engaged, they want to spend money and sponsors saw that,” Moffat said.

Whether Psy or other K-pop artists can command a global following to rival Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber or Rihanna remains to be seen, but John Shim, senior producer at MTV World, believes it is the right genre to compete with pop music’s biggest names.

“K-pop admittedly is a very niche genre but I also think it’s the best equipped of Asian pop to cater to the U.S. audience,” Shim told Reuters.

Psy has helped to break down language barriers, keeping “Gangnam Style” in its original Korean form instead of adapting it to English when it became an international hit.

The singer told Reuters he was persuaded to keep it that way by his manager Scooter Braun, the talent scout responsible for Justin Bieber’s success, who signed Psy to his record label.

“I thought, ‘Should I translate this or not?’ because (the fans) have got to know what I’m talking about, and lyrics are a huge part,” Psy said.

CHATTING IN ENGLISH

But industry executives say at least one member of each K-Pop group is usually taught to be fluent in conversational English.

“The investment in language is costly, but effective,” said Ted Kim, president of South Korean music television channel Mnet. “It really matters that Psy can go on the Ellen DeGeneres TV show and have a conversation.”

Psy said he was proud his song succeeded in Korean, but he now wants to branch out into English.

“‘Gangnam Style’ is not the sort of thing that’s going to happen twice. I’ve definitely got to make something in English so I can communicate with my fans right now,” the singer said.

In Korea, bands such as SM Entertainment’s Super Junior and Girls Generation have became branding powerhouses, scoring endorsements ranging from cosmetics, fashion, video games, electronics and beverages.

In the United States, companies such as Samsung have already jumped on the K-pop train, sponsoring Korean boy band Big Bang’s U.S. tour.

But while the genre is gaining steam in the charts, it has yet to spill into ticket sales for tours, according to Gary Bongiovanni, editor in chief at Pollstar.com, which tracks concert sales.

“Psy may be able to sell out arenas in Asia, but not yet here. For the American audience, he has to prove that he’s more than a novelty act,” Bongiovanni said.

“K-pop has to prove itself before large companies spend money on it,” he added.

(Editing by Jill Serjeant and Eric Walsh)

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New Jersey bridge collapse derails freight train; chemical leaks

PAULSBORO, New Jersey (Reuters) – A railroad bridge collapsed on Friday over a creek in southern New Jersey, causing a Conrail freight train to derail and spill hazardous chemicals into the air and water, authorities said.

Seven of the 82 cars derailed, and a tanker car that fell into Mantua Creek leaked vinyl chloride into the waterway, which feeds into the Delaware River near Philadelphia, said Deborah Hersman, chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board.

More than 12,000 gallons (45,425 liters) of the highly toxic and flammable industrial chemical leaked from a gash in the car’s side, local officials said.

Twenty-two people were examined at a nearby hospital as a precaution and were doing fine, said Larry Ragonese, a spokesman for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.

Ragonese said the health danger and environmental impact were minimal.

“Initially there was a release of gas into the air that affected some nearby residents and people working right in that area,” he said.

Air quality monitors in the area did not register any problem, said Lawrence Hajna, also with the DEP. “All the levels are coming in within our safety range.”

Exposure to vinyl chloride can cause a burning sensation in the eyes or respiratory discomfort, the DEP said.

The accident took place at about 7 a.m. EST (1200 GMT) in Paulsboro. Area residents initially were told to stay indoors, with windows shut, and local schools were closed.

The leak was contained and no longer posed a threat, and authorities were using booms to trap the chemical in the water, Ragonese said.

At the scene, one of the freight cars was nearly vertical, nose-down and partly submerged in the creek. Other cars lay jumbled on the collapsed bridge and the embankment.

“It’s part of living in Paulsboro, with refineries and trains. We accept it,” said resident John Diamond, 53, who was taking photographs.

The area is thick with chemical plants, and two refineries, PBF Energy’s Paulsboro and NuStar’s Asphalt, are nearby.

TANK “BREACHED”

The head of the Gloucester County, New Jersey, Office of Emergency Management, Tom Butts, said the leaking tanker car in the water had a tear in it, and the tank was “breached.”

About half of its contents leaked out, he said.

The tank was carrying some 25,000 gallons (94,635 liters) of the chemical, said John Burzichelli, a state assemblyman and former mayor of Paulsboro.

“When you live between two oil refineries, you have a sense that these things can happen,” he said.

Locals fish and go crabbing and jet-ski in the creek in the warm months, Diamond said.

Jeff Tittel, director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, said improved safety procedures, inspection, enforcement and oversight are needed to help prevent such accidents.

“This time it was … vinyl chloride. What if it was chlorine?” he said, referring to a chemical that is extremely dangerous if inhaled and has the potential to explode.

Also, he said there is no mechanism to alert communities to what kinds of chemicals trains are carrying through the states.

He questioned the integrity of the bridge, which is owned and operated by Conrail, since Superstorm Sandy slammed into New Jersey on October 29, causing surges in area waterways.

The cause of the accident was undetermined. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating, and members of the agency arrived at the scene mid-afternoon.

NTSB’s chairwoman said four out of the five train cars that were on the bridge when it collapsed landed in the creek, and two other cars rolled onto the embankment.

“We have requested a great deal of information from the railroad” as part of the investigation, Hersman said.

Conrail said the train consisted of two locomotives, 82 rail cars and one caboose.

“We very much regret the impact on the local community,” said Conrail spokesman John Enright, who was at the scene. “We will be working very closely with federal investigators to determine the cause.”

The bridge underwent extensive repairs after getting damaged in a 2009 derailment of a coal freight train, Burzichelli said.

“That bridge is very old. It’s not a good day for Conrail,” Burzichelli said, adding that the bridge carries three major freight trains daily.

New Jersey State Senate President Steve Sweeney, also on the scene, said a nearby homeowner reported hearing a “loud bang” from the bridge about two days ago. Burzichelli said Conrail had come out to examine it in response.

Conrail is jointly owned by rail operators CSX Corp and Norfolk Southern Corp.

(Additional reporting by Edith Honan and Ellen Wulfhorst; Writing by Ellen Wulfhorst; Editing by Vicki Allen and Xavier Briand)

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Boehner sees no progress in fiscal cliff talks

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner said on Thursday that “fiscal cliff” talks with the White House had made no substantive progress and criticized President Barack Obama and Democrats for failing to get serious about including spending cuts in a final deal.

Boehner said he was “disappointed” after a phone call with Obama on Wednesday night and a meeting with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Thursday moved the two sides no closer to an agreement to avert the tax hikes and spending cuts that will be triggered at the start of 2013 unless Congress intervenes.

“I’m disappointed in where we are and disappointed in what’s happened over the last couple of weeks,” Boehner, of Ohio, told reporters after a private session with Geithner at the Capitol.

“No substantive progress has been made in the talks between the White House and the House over the last two weeks,” he said. “There’s been no serious discussion of spending cuts so far, and unless there is, there’s a real danger of going off the fiscal cliff.”

Markets dipped briefly into negative territory on Boehner’s comments, continuing a pattern of gyration based on the latest utterance or headline about the outlook for an agreement to avert the fiscal cliff.

The tone was in sharp contrast to the one expressed on November 16, the last time Obama met with congressional leaders. Boehner then stood next to Democratic leaders and voiced optimism they could find common ground in fiscal cliff negotiations.

Complicating the debate on Thursday was a renewed fight over raising the U.S. debt ceiling. That explosive issue, which could have been handled separately in the spring, was thrust into the fiscal cliff fray on Thursday in an exchange between Republicans and Democrats.

Boehner said any debt limit increase needed to be matched or exceeded by spending cuts to be proposed by Obama as part of the cliff negotiations.

‘DEEPLY IRRESPONSIBLE’

White House spokesman Jay Carney responded by demanding that Congress go ahead and raise the debt ceiling as part of any year-end deal to avoid the cliff. To do otherwise, he said, would be “deeply irresponsible.”

The last partisan fight over the nation’s borrowing limit in 2011 was settled by a law that led directly to the fiscal cliff and to a downgrade of the government’s credit rating.

Geithner, Obama’s top negotiator in the talks, met with congressional leaders from both parties at the Capitol as the end-of-year deadline approaches to avoid the onset of $ 600 billion in tax hikes and spending cuts that analysts warn could push the U.S. economy back into recession.

The immediate issue is whether the tax cuts that originated in the administration of former President George W. Bush should be extended beyond December 31 for all taxpayers including the wealthy, as Republicans want, or just for taxpayers with income under $ 250,000, as Obama and his fellow Democrats want.

Republicans have said they are willing to consider new ways to raise revenue as long as Democrats and Obama agree to accompany it with significant spending cuts, particularly to entitlement programs like the government-sponsored Medicare and Medicaid healthcare plans.

“Without spending cuts and entitlement reform, it’s going to be impossible to address our country’s debt crisis. Right now, all eyes are on the White House,” Boehner said.

Boehner said Geithner and the administration had not offered any new plans during the meeting to break the impasse, while Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said Democrats were still waiting for a “reasonable” proposal from Republicans.

Carney said the president had put forward “very specific spending cuts,” including some in the entitlement healthcare programs, but had not seen any movement from Republicans.

CRACKS IN REPUBLICAN RANKS

Despite a few cracks in Republican ranks, most notably from Republican Representative Tom Cole of Oklahoma, neither side has budged significantly in recent weeks from its position, leaving the markets and political analysts alike to grasp at wording nuances.

“I think unfortunately it seems pretty clear that the market is trading very much off the reading of the tea leaves on how these fiscal cliff negotiations are going,” said Eric Kuby, chief investment officer at North Star Investment Management Corp in Chicago.

In the absence of progress, or any realistic understanding as to when or if Republicans and Democrats might avert the cliff or come up with some deficit reduction agreement, prodding has started to come on a regular basis from business leaders as well as Federal Reserve officials.

New York Fed President William Dudley and Richard Fisher of the Dallas Fed, highlighted the problems that U.S. lawmakers were causing for both hiring and the economy with each day they fail to strike a deal to avoid a pending fiscal crisis.

Dudley said on Thursday that if it is not addressed, the economic contraction is likely to be larger than normal because interest rates are so low.

The post-election lame-duck session of Congress also has made clear that until the two sides get over the immediate tax issue, they will not be able to move forward on the serious discussions they desire on longer-term deficit reduction and tax reform.

Keeping the nation in suspense down to a white-knuckled deadline has become the rule rather than the exception for Congress in recent years.

Whether the risk has been a government shutdown or, as in the events that led to the fiscal cliff, default for failure to raise the U.S. government’s borrowing power, Republicans and Democrats have needed the pressure of time and possible disaster to bring them together.

(Additional reporting by Rachelle Younglai, Thomas Ferarro and Kim Dixon; Writing by John Whitesides and Fred Barbash; Editing by Peter Cooney)

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Noisy city: Cacophony in Caracas sparks complaints

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — This metropolis of 6 million people may be one of the world’s most intense, overwhelming cities, with tremendous levels of crime, traffic and social strife. The sounds of Caracas‘ streets live up to its reputation.

Stand on any downtown corner, and the cacophony can be overpowering: Deafening horns blast from oncoming buses, traffic police shrilly blow their whistles and sirens shriek atop ambulances stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic.

Air horns routinely used by bus drivers are so powerful they make pedestrians on crosswalks recoil, and can even leave their ears ringing. Loud salsa music blares from the windows of buses, trucks with old mufflers rumble past belching exhaust, and “moto-taxis” weave through traffic beeping high-pitched horns.

Growing numbers of Venezuelans are saying they’re fed up with the noise that they say is getting worse, and the numbers of complaints to the authorities have risen in recent years.

One affluent district, Chacao, put up signs along a main avenue reading: “A honk won’t make the traffic light change.”

“The noise is terrible. Sometimes it seems like it’s never going to end,” said Jose Santander, a street vendor who stands in the middle of a highway selling fried pork rinds and potato chips to commuters in traffic.

Prosecutor General Luisa Ortega recently told a news conference that officials have started “putting an increased emphasis on promoting peaceful coexistence” by punishing misdemeanors such as violations of anti-noise regulations and other minor crimes. That effort has translated into hundreds of noise-related cases in recent years.

Some violators are ordered to perform community service. For instance, two young musicians who were recently caught playing loud music near a subway station were sentenced to 120 hours of community service giving music lessons to students in public schools.

Others caught playing loud music on the street have been charged with disturbing the peace after complaints from neighbors. Fines can run as high as 9,000 bolivars, or $ 2,093.

On the streets of their capital, however, Venezuelans have grown used to living loudly. The noisescape adds to a general sense of anarchy, with many drivers ignoring red lights and blocking intersections along potholed streets strewn with trash.

“This is something that everybody does. Nobody should be complaining,” said Gregorio Hernandez, a 23-year-old college student, as he listened to Latin rock songs booming from his car stereo on a Saturday night in downtown Caracas. “We’re just having fun. We’re not hurting anybody.”

Adding to the mess is the country’s notoriously divisive politics, which regularly fill the streets with marches and demonstrations.

On many days, the shouts of protesters streaming through downtown can be heard from blocks away, demanding pay hikes or unpaid benefits.

And the sporadic crackling of gunfire in the slums can be confused for firecrackers tossed by boisterous partygoers.

It’s difficult to rank the world’s noisiest cities because many, including Venezuela’s capital, don’t take measurements of sound pollution, said Victor Rastelli, a mechanical engineering professor and sound pollution expert at Simon Bolivar University in Caracas. But Rastelli said he suspects Caracas is right up there among the noisiest, along with Sao Paulo, Mexico City and Mumbai.

Excessive noise can be more than simply an annoyance, Rastelli said. “This is a public health problem.”

Dr. Carmen Mijares, an audiologist at a private Caracas hospital, said she treats at least a dozen patients every month for hearing damage caused by prolonged exposure to loud noises.

“Many of them work in bars or night clubs, and their maladies usually include temporary hearing loss and headaches,” Mijares said. For others, she said, the day-to-day noise of traffic, car horns and loud music can exacerbate stress and sleeping disorders.

Several cities have successfully reduced noise pollution, said Stephen Stansfeld, a London psychiatry professor and coordinator of the European Network on Noise and Health.

One of the most noteworthy initiatives, Stansfeld said, was in Copenhagen, Denmark, where officials used sound walls, noise-reducing asphalt and other infrastructure as well as public awareness campaigns to fight noise pollution.

But such high-tech solutions seem like a remote possibility in Caracas, where streets are literally falling apart and aging overpasses regularly lack portions of their guard rails. Prosecutors, angry neighbors and others hoping to fight the noise will have to persuade Venezuelans to do nothing less than change their loud behavior.

For Carlos Pinto, however, making noise is practically a political right.

The 26-year-old law student and his friends danced at a recent street party to house music booming from woofers in his car’s open trunk, with neon lights on the speakers that pulsed to the beat.

When asked about the noise, he answered: “We will be heard.”

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AP freelance video journalist Ricardo Nunes contributed to this report.

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Christopher Toothaker on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ctoothaker

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Zynga slides after updated agreement with Facebook

NEW YORK (AP) — Zynga shares tumbled nearly 12 percent in after-hours trading Thursday after the online game company and Facebook disclosed that they changed their relationship status to become less attached to each other.

Zynga Inc. said in a regulatory filing Thursday that it will no longer have to display Facebook ads or use Facebook payments on its own properties — such as Zynga.com. In addition Zynga will no longer be required to use Facebook as the exclusive social site for its games, or to grant Facebook exclusive games.

Facebook Inc., which filed a similar disclosure, will also be able to develop its own games after the end of March. Its deal with Zynga previously prohibited that.

The amendments change the companies’ 2010 contract that gave Zynga special status among Facebook game developers. San Francisco-based Zynga relies on Facebook for most of the revenue it generates, but the company has been working to establish its independence — while also maintaining ties with Facebook.

Zynga’s titles range from “FarmVille” to “CityVille” to “Words With Friends,” the Scrabble-like game made popular on mobile devices.

Zynga shares fell 31 cents, or 11.8 percent, to $ 2.31 in after-hours trading. The stock closed up 11 cents, or 4.4 percent, at $ 2.62 in the regular session.

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“Homeland” in, “Boardwalk Empire” out in PGA TV nominations

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Emmy-winning dramas “Homeland”, “Mad Men” and British period piece “Downton Abbey” will compete for the annual Producers Guild Awards for the top shows on U.S. television, organizers announced on Wednesday.

But last year’s winner – HBO’s lavish Prohibition-era gangster drama “Boardwalk Empire” – failed to make the cut this year with the Producers Guild of America, one of the leading professional guilds in Hollywood.

Instead, the producers of popular fantasy drama “Game of Thrones” and drug underworld show “Breaking Bad” round out the nominees for the top PGA prize in television.

The PGA also nominated the producers of comedies “Modern Family”, “The Big Bang Theory”, “Louie”, “30 Rock” and Larry David’s wry “Curb Your Enthusiasm” as contenders for its 2013 awards on the small screen.

In the reality genre, singing contest “The Voice” will go head to head with fashion show “Project Runway”, “Top Chef”, “Dancing with the Stars” and Emmy darling “The Amazing Race”.

Hollywood‘s guilds represent professionals in their respective industries, and recognition by peers can go a long way toward boosting a producer’s career.

The PGA will announce nominees in its closely watched movie category in early January, and hand out its awards for film and television at a ceremony in Hollywood on January 26.

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Dale Hudson)

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Health officials tell Greece to act fast to control HIV

LONDON (Reuters) – A spiraling outbreak of HIV in debt-stricken Greece could run out of control if urgent action is not taken, European health officials said on Friday.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said infections with the AIDS-causing virus among drug users and other high-risk groups were rising fast, and that a failure to act would mean far higher costs in future.

ECDC director Marc Sprenger will meet Greek officials this week to say that free needles, syringes and opioid substitution projects must be stepped up, and testing and treatment for the human immunodeficiency virus made available to all.

“Immediate concerted action is needed in order to curb and eventually stop the current outbreak,” he told Reuters as the ECDC published a report on Greece’s HIV problem.

Since 2009, recession in Greece has reduced economic output by a fifth and sent unemployment to a record high.

The healthcare system is under extreme pressure, making it harder for the poor, unemployed or homeless to get treatment.

While Greece has only 7.4 HIV infections per 100,000 people, compared to 10 per 100,000 in Britain or 27.3 in Estonia, rates have soared since 2011 in high-risk groups such as drug users.

From 2007 to 2010, there were only 10 to 15 cases a year of HIV infection in injecting drug users.

But during 2011, there were 256 such cases – or 27 percent of the total. Another 314 were reported between January and August 2012, most of them in the capital.

Combination drugs can give patients with HIV near-normal life expectancy, but the drugs must be taken for life, and cost 10,000 to 22,000 euros ($ 13,000 to $ 28,500) a year. Sprenger said Greece’s costs were at risk of running out of control.

“If a scale-up (in prevention and testing) is not achieved, it’s likely that HIV transmission among people who inject drugs in Athens will continue and even accelerate – and could eventually spread,” he said.

“The cost of prevention … will be significantly less than the provision of treatment to those who become infected.”

The ECDC said it was unclear how much Greece’s debt crisis has contributed to HIV outbreak.

Rates of other health problems such as depression and suicide have been rising in Greece, which is also battling the re-emergence of mosquito-borne diseases such West Nile Virus and malaria.

(Reporting by Kate Kelland; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

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The Needless Tragedy of Student Loan Defaults

For the first time on record, the delinquency rate on student loans has jumped above the rate for credit cards, car loans, or any other kind of consumer loan. The tragedy? Many of those loans will default, with stunningly harsh consequences, even though there are many good options for debt relief—deferment, forebearance, or reductions in monthly payments.

“There is actually no rational reason for a borrower to be delinquent or default on their loans,” says Mark Kantrowitz, president of MK Consulting in Cranberry Township, Pa., and operator of the FinAid.org website.

Borrowers who are unemployed, in the military, or back in school can ask for up to three years or full or partial deferment on repayment of a federal loan. For those who have a job but don’t earn enough to cover the monthly payment, there are six options: graduated repayment, extended repayment, income-based repayment, income-contingent repayment, income-sensitive repayment, and pay-as-you-earn repayment. In other words, the federal government will do just about anything to keep borrowers from giving up and walking away completely.

If that’s the carrot, here’s the stick: Defaulting is “like a trip through hell with no light at the end of tunnel,” says Kantrowitz. The federal government can garnish up to 15 percent of a borrower’s wages, Social Security disability, and Social Security retirement income without a court order. Unlike other debt, student loans can’t be discharged in bankruptcy. Collection charges of up to 20 percent can be skimmed off the top of payments—enough to turn a 10-year loan into a 19-year loan. To say nothing of the lasting damage to a borrower’s credit score, which will make it hard or impossible to get a credit card, auto loan, or mortgage.

And, oh, by the way, if you win the lottery, the first winner from your windfall is the Education Department.

With that kind of downside, why do so many people default on their student loans? Some may not understand their options, or put off dealing with the problem. Also, research shows that many borrowers consider their student loans illegitimate and don’t feel they should have to pay them back. In fact, default rates are four times as high for dropouts, who presumably feel they didn’t get their money’s worth.

There’s a cyclical factor, too. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported on Nov. 27 that the percentage of student loan balances that were 90 or more days delinquent rose to 11 percent in the July-September quarter, higher than the delinquency rate on credit cards since the survey began in 2003. The spike comes at a time when youth unemployment remains historically high. Even for those with jobs, people are paying ever more money for educations that don’t equip them for jobs that pay them enough to cover their debts, as I wrote earlier this year in “Debt for Life.”

At the same time, delinquency rates on credit cards, auto loans, and mortgages have been falling because bad credit has been washed out of the system. There’s no such cleansing mechanism for student debt, which now totals $ 956 billion in outstanding loans, according to the New York Fed. The federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, using different methodologies, says student loan debt passed the $ 1 trillion mark sometime last winter.

Then there’s the fact that some of these student borrowers were probably lousy bets for repayment in the first place. The federal government, which holds 85 percent of outstanding student debt, doesn’t make loans to students based on their ability to repay them. That may sound crazy, but it is designed to ensure that students of all backgrounds and income levels get a shot at a college degree.

That willful blindness also sets up the government for huge losses. The purpose of the draconian punishment for defaulters is to make up for the lack of sound underwriting on the original lending. Clearly, though, the threats aren’t working—and neither are the multiple repayment options the government offers.

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