Scott and Lauren Sterling Adopt Five Peruvian Siblings

Heroes Among Us

By Ken Lee

02/21/2013 at 01:45 PM EST

Left to right: Gershon, 15; Joel, 11; Lauren, 30; Scott, 43; Sibila, 9; Yhonson, 17; Betsi, 12; Laney, 3; and Logan, 19

Courtesy The Sterling Family

Two years ago, Scott and Lauren Sterling were sitting in their Blue Springs, Mo., home when an email landed in their inbox with an eye-catching subject line: "Hi, we need a daddy and mommy."

That email, sent a world away from a small orphanage in Pacasmayo, Peru – and written by a fellow member of the couple's church where Scott, 43, is an associate pastor – introduced them to five siblings, then ages 7 to 15, who had lost both parents to tuberculosis about eight years ago. Because the children refused to be split up, the kids' chances of finding new parents were slim.

"Our first thought was, someone rich ought to adopt these beautiful kids," says Lauren, 30, a job recruiter who was already a mom to daughter Laney, now 3, and stepmom to Logan, 19, Scott's daughter from a previous marriage. "But over the next few months, we realized, why not us?"

The Sterlings began a year-long process to legally adopt the five siblings, which involved Skype chats with the kids, reams of paperwork, and $20,000 raised by the Sterlings' church to help with adoption fees. "It's very unusual to find a family willing to take in so many siblings," says Pat Baldwin, director of international programs at Villa Hope, which oversaw the adoption. "What the Sterlings have done is a true act of love.

In Nov. 2012, the Sterlings flew down to the orphanage to meet Yhonson, now 17, Gerson, 15, Betsi, 12, Joel, 11, and Sibila, 9, in person for the first time and to bring them back to the States.

"The girls came running to us from a distance and jumped into Scott's arms," recalls Lauren. Adds Yhonson, who speaks limited English: "We were so happy. It was very emotional. We waited so long to be together."

The new family returned to Missouri just a few days after Christmas and were greeted by friends and neighbors who had stocked the Sterlings' kitchen with food, repainted their bedrooms, and set up a Christmas tree loaded with presents for the kids.

"Our home is now a mixture of Spanish, English and Spanglish thrown in and we use Google Translate a lot," says Lauren. "People say these kids are lucky to have us, but we're the ones who're lucky to have them."

Know a hero? Send suggestions to heroesamongus@peoplemag.com. For more inspiring stories, read the latest issue of PEOPLE magazine

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Flu shot did poor job against worst bug in seniors

ATLANTA (AP) — For those 65 and older, this season's flu shot is only 9 percent effective against the most common and dangerous flu bug, according to a startling new government report.

Flu vaccine tends to protect younger people better than older ones and never works as well as other kinds of vaccines. But experts say the preliminary results for seniors are disappointing and highlight the need for a better vaccine.

For all age groups, the vaccine's effectiveness is moderate at 56 percent, which is nearly as well as other flu seasons, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.

For those 65 and older, it is 27 percent effective against the three strains in the vaccine, the lowest in about a decade but not far below from what's expected. But the vaccine did a particularly poor job of protecting older people against the harshest flu strain, which is causing most of the illnesses this year. CDC officials say it's not clear why.

Vaccinations are now recommended for anyone over 6 months, and health officials stress that some vaccine protection is better than none at all. While it's likely that older people who were vaccinated are still getting sick, many of them may be getting less severe symptoms.

"Year in and year out, the vaccine is the best protection we have," said CDC flu expert Dr. Joseph Bresee.

To be sure, the preliminary data for seniors is less than definitive. It is based on fewer than 300 people scattered among five states.

But it will no doubt surprise many people that the effectiveness is that low, said Michael Osterholm, a University of Minnesota infectious disease expert who has tried to draw attention to the need for a more effective flu vaccine.

Among infectious diseases, flu is considered one of the nation's leading killers. On average, about 24,000 Americans die each flu season, according to the CDC.

This flu season started in early December, a month earlier than usual, and peaked by the end of year. Older people are most vulnerable to flu and its complications, and the nation has seen some of the highest hospitalization rates for people 65 and older in a decade.

Flu viruses tend to mutate more quickly than others, and it's not unusual for multiple strains to be spreading at the same time. A new vaccine is formulated each year targeting the three strains expected to be the major threats. But that involves guesswork.

Because of these challenges, scientists tend to set a lower bar for flu vaccine. While childhood vaccines against diseases like measles are expected to be 90 or 95 percent effective, a flu vaccine that's 60 to 70 percent effective in the U.S. is considered pretty good.

By that standard, this year's vaccine is OK. The 56 percent effectiveness figure means people have a 56 percent lower chance of winding up at the doctor for treatment of flu symptoms.

For seniors, a flu vaccine is considered pretty good if it's in the 30 to 40 percent range, said Dr. Arnold Monto, a University of Michigan flu expert.

Older people have weaker immune systems that don't respond as well to flu shots. That's why a high-dose version was recently made available for those 65 and older. The new study was too small to show whether that made a difference this year.

The CDC estimates are based on about 2,700 people who got sick in December and January. The researchers traced back to see who had gotten flu shots and who hadn't. An earlier study put the vaccine's overall effectiveness slightly higher, at 62 percent.

The CDC's Bresee said there's a danger in providing preliminary results because it may result in people doubting — or skipping — flu shots. But the data was released to warn older people who got shots that they may still get sick and shouldn't ignore any serious flu-like symptoms, he said.

The new data highlights an evolution in how experts are evaluating flu vaccine effectiveness. For years, it was believed that if the viruses in the vaccine matched the ones spreading around the country, then the vaccine would be effective. This year's shot was a good match to the bugs going around this winter, including the harsher H3N2 that tends to make people sicker.

But the season proved to be a moderately severe one, with many illnesses occurring in people who'd been vaccinated.

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Online:

CDC report: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr

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Wall Street drops again, data raises growth concerns

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell on Thursday and were on track for their biggest two-day decline since November as weak data suggested expectations for economic growth were overly optimistic.

The two-day decline marked the U.S. stock market's first sustained pullback this year. The Standard & Poor's 500 is up 5.2 percent so far this year. The benchmark index has climbed for seven straight weeks, putting it near five-year highs.

In the latest economic data, initial claims for unemployment benefits rose more than expected last week while the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said its index of business conditions in the U.S. mid-Atlantic region fell in February to minus 12.5, the lowest in eight months.

"The Philly Fed report was troublingly weak, and adds to concerns about whether growth will remain up," said Brad Sorensen, director of market and sector analysis at Charles Schwab in Denver. "The only growth we're seeing is sluggish."

On Wednesday, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq posted their worst daily declines of the year after the minutes from the Federal Reserve's most recent meeting sparked concerns that the central bank may rein in its economic stimulus measures.

"The upside momentum in markets appears to be coming to an end as we consolidate recent gains," said Adam Sarhan, chief executive at Sarhan Capital in New York. "If the S&P breaks under its 50-day moving average, something more serious could be in store."

The S&P 500 would need to fall 1.9 percent to reach that level of 1,473.58.

Other reports showed consumer prices were flat in January while existing-home sales edged higher and left the inventory of homes at the lowest level in 13 years.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc shares gained 2.5 percent to $70.94 and helped curb the Dow's decline after the world's largest retailer reported earnings that beat expectations, though early February sales were sluggish.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was down 70.03 points, or 0.50 percent, at 13,857.51. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> was down 11.23 points, or 0.74 percent, at 1,500.72. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was down 36.50 points, or 1.15 percent, at 3,127.92.

The benchmark S&P 500 index has dropped 1.9 percent over the past two sessions, the biggest two-day decline since November.

Wall Street will soon face another test with the upcoming debate in Washington over the automatic across-the-board spending cuts put in place as part of a larger congressional budget fight. Those cuts, set to kick in on March 1 unless lawmakers agree on an alternative, are expected to depress economic growth.

Semiconductor stocks ranked among the weakest of the day, pressuring the Nasdaq as the Philadelphia Semiconductor index <.sox> fell 1.8 percent. Intel Corp fell 2.2 percent to $20.27 while Advanced Micro Devices lost 4.8 percent to $2.57 as the S&P's biggest percentage decliner.

The semiconductor sector has performed well so far in 2013, rising 8.4 percent.

In company news, shares of supermarket operator Safeway Inc jumped 13.4 percent to $22.83 and ranked as the S&P 500's top percentage gainer after the company reported earnings that beat expectations.

In contrast, shares of VeriFone Systems Inc tumbled nearly 40 percent to $19.28 after the credit-card swipe machine maker forecast first- and second-quarter profits well below expectations.

Of the 427 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported results so far, 69.3 percent have exceeded analysts' expectations, compared with a 62 percent average since 1994 and 65 percent over the past four quarters, according to Thomson Reuters data through Thursday morning.

Fourth-quarter earnings for S&P 500 companies are estimated to have risen 5.9 percent, according to the data, above a 1.9 percent forecast at the start of the earnings season.

Berry Petroleum Co jumped 17.3 percent to $45.25 after oil and gas producer Linn Energy LLC said it would buy the company in an all-stock deal valued at $4.3 billion, including debt. Linn Energy shares advanced 1.9 percent to $37.33.

(Editing by Kenneth Barry and Jan Paschal)

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Tibetan Teenagers Die in Double Self-Immolation

Two Tibetan teenagers killed themselves by self-immolation on Tuesday to protest Chinese rule in Tibet, according to reports on Wednesday by a Tibet advocacy group and Radio Free Asia. The two were among the youngest Tibetans to kill themselves in protest, and the act was a rare instance in which Tibetans committed self-immolation together.

The teenagers were identified as Rinchen, 17, who went by only one name, and Sonam Dargye, 18. They had been elementary school classmates in Sichuan Province, in western China, according to Radio Free Asia, which is financed by the United States government. They killed themselves in Ngaba Prefecture, or Aba in Chinese, which has a large Tibetan population and has been at the epicenter of the self-immolation protests.

At least 104 Tibetans have self-immolated since 2009 in protests against China. Since a widespread Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule in 2008, tensions between Tibetans and Chinese officials have been high across the Tibetan plateau, and officials have deployed large numbers of security forces, mostly ethnic Han, who rule China, in the crucial areas of the region.

Twenty of the self-immolators have been 18 or younger, according to statistics compiled by the International Campaign for Tibet, an advocacy group based in Washington.

Free Tibet, an advocacy group based in London, said the two teenagers who killed themselves on Tuesday had died at the scene of their self-immolation at about 9:30 p.m., and that their families had retrieved the bodies.

On Sunday, a Tibetan man, Namlha Tsering, 49, set himself on fire in the main street of Labrang, an important monastery town in Gansu Province. A photograph released by Tibet advocacy groups shows a man aflame and sitting in the street. Another photo shows security troops in riot gear marching in a street in Labrang, known as Xiahe in Chinese. The reports said the man was from a nomadic area.

The self-immolations began with monks, mostly from Kirti Monastery, in Ngaba. Since then, the profile of Tibetans who have self-immolated has widened. They have included women, middle-aged parents and nomads. Tibetans have self-immolated together a handful of other times, including in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, and in Ngaba.

The Chinese government has blamed outside forces for the self-immolations, particularly the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of the Tibetans, who is regarded by China as a subversive. The Dalai Lama’s supporters have denied such accusations.

“Beijing should stop playing blame game,” Lobsang Sangay, the prime minister of the Tibetan government in exile, which is based in Dharamsala, India, said in an e-mail last week. “Instead, it should thoroughly overhaul its failed hard-line policies, which are the main cause of the self-immolations.”

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Scarlett Johansson Is Not Engaged to Romain Dauriac

Buzz

By Maggie Coughlan

02/20/2013 at 01:50 PM EST

Scarlett Johansson and Romain Dauriac

Elder Ordonez/INF

Is Scarlett Johansson headed down the aisle?

After the Hitchcock actress, 28, was spotted wearing a pear-shaped diamond ring in New York City on Monday, rumors began to swirl that Johansson and her French journalist beau, Romain Dauriac, may have taken their relationship to the next level.

But a rep for Johansson says she's not walking down the aisle.

"Scarlett is absolutely not engaged," her rep tells PEOPLE.

Even Johansson has said she isn't rushing to tie the knot, as she recently told ELLE UK that marriage is "really not important" to her.

"The only time I ever think about it is when people ask me, 'Would I get married again?' " she said at the time.

But Johansson – who was married to Ryan Reynolds for just over two years before divorcing in 2010 – recalled fond memories of her previous relationship.

She explained, "I got married when I was young and it was incredibly romantic and I liked being married, actually. But it is different. It's hard to put into words."

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Drug overdose deaths up for 11th consecutive year

CHICAGO (AP) — Drug overdose deaths rose for the 11th straight year, federal data show, and most of them were accidents involving addictive painkillers despite growing attention to risks from these medicines.

"The big picture is that this is a big problem that has gotten much worse quickly," said Dr. Thomas Frieden, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which gathered and analyzed the data.

In 2010, the CDC reported, there were 38,329 drug overdose deaths nationwide. Medicines, mostly prescription drugs, were involved in nearly 60 percent of overdose deaths that year, overshadowing deaths from illicit narcotics.

The report appears in Tuesday's Journal of the American Medical Association.

It details which drugs were at play in most of the fatalities. As in previous recent years, opioid drugs — which include OxyContin and Vicodin — were the biggest problem, contributing to 3 out of 4 medication overdose deaths.

Frieden said many doctors and patients don't realize how addictive these drugs can be, and that they're too often prescribed for pain that can be managed with less risky drugs.

They're useful for cancer, "but if you've got terrible back pain or terrible migraines," using these addictive drugs can be dangerous, he said.

Medication-related deaths accounted for 22,134 of the drug overdose deaths in 2010.

Anti-anxiety drugs including Valium were among common causes of medication-related deaths, involved in almost 30 percent of them. Among the medication-related deaths, 17 percent were suicides.

The report's data came from death certificates, which aren't always clear on whether a death was a suicide or a tragic attempt at getting high. But it does seem like most serious painkiller overdoses were accidental, said Dr. Rich Zane, chair of emergency medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.

The study's findings are no surprise, he added. "The results are consistent with what we experience" in ERs, he said, adding that the statistics no doubt have gotten worse since 2010.

Some experts believe these deaths will level off. "Right now, there's a general belief that because these are pharmaceutical drugs, they're safer than street drugs like heroin," said Don Des Jarlais, director of the chemical dependency institute at New York City's Beth Israel Medical Center.

"But at some point, people using these drugs are going to become more aware of the dangers," he said.

Frieden said the data show a need for more prescription drug monitoring programs at the state level, and more laws shutting down "pill mills" — doctor offices and pharmacies that over-prescribe addictive medicines.

Last month, a federal panel of drug safety specialists recommended that Vicodin and dozens of other medicines be subjected to the same restrictions as other narcotic drugs like oxycodone and morphine. Meanwhile, more and more hospitals have been establishing tougher restrictions on painkiller prescriptions and refills.

One example: The University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora is considering a rule that would ban emergency doctors from prescribing more medicine for patients who say they lost their pain meds, Zane said.

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Stobbe reported from Atlanta.

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Online:

JAMA: http://www.jama.ama-assn.org

CDC: http://www.cdc.gov

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

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Wall Street slips after rally, energy shares fall

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell on Wednesday, pressured by a drop in energy shares as investors found few reasons to buy equities following a rally that has held major indexes near five-year highs for around three weeks.

Equities have been strong recently, to the point that the day's modest decline was the largest for the S&P 500 since February 4. The index has jumped about 7 percent so far this year and is on track for its eighth straight week of gains.

However, many of those weekly gains have been slight, with equities trading within a narrow range for the past few weeks, suggesting valuations may be stretched at current levels.

"The market seems very tired and listless, and investors are prone to take profits now as they wait for the music to stop," said Matt McCormick, money manager at Bahl & Gaynor in Cincinnati.

Energy companies were among the weakest, hurt by disappointing results and a 2.2 percent drop in crude oil prices. The Energy Select Sector SPDR fell 0.9 percent, though it remains up 10.1 percent for the year.

Newfield Exploration tumbled 7.7 percent to $25.20 while Devon Energy Corp dropped 4 percent to $58.17. Both companies posted fourth-quarter losses, with Devon hurt as it wrote down the value of its assets by $896 million because of weak natural gas prices.

Housing shares also declined, pressured by weaker-than-expected results at Toll Brothers Inc and a drop in groundbreaking to build new U.S. homes, also known as housing starts, in January.

Toll Brothers' stock fell 5.4 percent to $34.91, but is up about 8 percent so far this year, building on a jump of nearly 60 percent in 2012. The Dow Jones U.S. Home Construction index <.djushb> lost 4 percent.

"Valuations appear a bit high at these levels, and if I was in a name that had seen a huge run, I'd want to take some chips off the table," said McCormick, who helps oversee about $8.2 billion in assets.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was down 12.13 points, or 0.09 percent, at 14,023.54. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> was down 6.20 points, or 0.40 percent, at 1,524.74. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was down 19.10 points, or 0.59 percent, at 3,194.49.

The Dow's losses were limited by Boeing Co , up 1.4 percent at $75.67 after a source told Reuters that the company had found a way to fix battery problems on its grounded 787 Dreamliner jets. Concerns over that line have weighed on Boeing recently, contributing to a 2 percent drop in the stock's price in January.

Investors are also waiting for the minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee's January meeting due at 2 p.m. (1900 GMT) for clues to the interest-rate outlook, as well as for any indication as to how long the Fed will keep buying bonds each month to bolster the U.S. economy and employment.

In other data released on Wednesday, permits for future home building rose in January to a 4 1/2-year high while a separate report showed wholesale prices rose last month for the first time in four months. The U.S. Producer Price Index rose in January for the first time in four months.

Shares of OfficeMax Inc fell 4.2 percent to $12.45 while Office Depot slid 14.3 percent to $4.30 as the companies announced a $1.2 billion merger agreement. The shares had surged in Tuesday's session after a source said a deal would be announced. Rival Staples Inc fell 7.6 percent to $13.53 and ranked as one of the S&P 500's biggest decliners.

SodaStream dropped 3.7 percent to $50.50 after the seller of home carbonated drink maker machines posted fourth-quarter earnings and provided a 2013 outlook.

According to Thomson Reuters data through Tuesday morning, of the 405 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported results so far, 71 percent have exceeded analysts' expectations, compared with a 62 percent average since 1994 and 65 percent over the past four quarters.

Fourth-quarter earnings for S&P 500 companies are estimated to have risen 5.7 percent, according to the data, exceeding a forecast for a 1.9 percent gain at the start of the earnings season.

(Editing by Kenneth Barry and Jan Paschal)

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U.S. General Picked for Top NATO Military Post Will Retire

WASHINGTON — General John R. Allen, who served until earlier this month as the top United States commander in Afghanistan, will retire from the military to focus on “health issues within his family,” President Obama said Tuesday.

In January, General Allen was officially cleared of misconduct by the Pentagon after an investigation into his exchange of e-mails with a socialite in Tampa, Fla., and Mr. Obama had nominated him to be the supreme commander of NATO.

“I told General Allen that he has my deep, personal appreciation for his extraordinary service over the last 19 months in Afghanistan, as well as his decades of service in the United States Marine Corps,” Mr. Obama said in a statement. “John Allen is one of America’s finest military leaders, a true patriot, and a man I have come to respect greatly.”

General Allen, a highly decorated officer, was caught up in the scandal that led to the resignation of David H. Petraeus as the director of the Central Intelligence Agency. General Allen had gotten to know the socialite, Jill Kelley, when he was head of the Central Command in Tampa.

General Joseph F. Dunford Jr. succeeded General Allen as commander of both the American and intermational military forces in Afghanistan in a ceremony in Kabul on Feb. 10.

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Jenna Bush Hager Honors Her Grandfather for President's Day

Caught in the Act

02/19/2013 at 01:35 PM EST

Henry Hager and Jenna Bush Hager

Courtesy Sea Island

Both Jenna Bush Hager's father and grandfather served as Presidents of the United States, so it comes as no surprise that President's Day weekend holds special meaning for her.

This year, the NBC news correspondent – who will become a first-time mom this spring – headed to Sea Island, a five-star resort on the coast of Georgia, with her husband of nearly five years, Henry Hager, to honor her grandfather George H.W. Bush and his wife Barbara, who honeymooned there in 1945.

George H.W. and Barbara Bush

George Bush Presidential Library and Museum

On Saturday night, the former First Daughter and her husband represented her grandparents at a special President's Day dinner, featuring favorite dishes of U.S. Presidents who have visited Sea Island – and they even cut a cake reminiscent of the one her grandparents served at their wedding.

For the rest of their stay, the Hagers turned the trip into a mini-babymoon: while Jenna relaxed at the spa – and took a prenatal yoga class with a pal – Henry and his friends played golf on the resort grounds.

– Lesley Messer

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UK patient dies from SARS-like coronavirus

LONDON (AP) — A patient being treated for a mysterious SARS-like virus has died, a British hospital said Tuesday.

Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, central England, said the coronavirus victim was also being treated for "a long-term, complex unrelated health problem" and already had a compromised immune system.

A total of 12 people worldwide have been diagnosed with the disease, six of whom have died.

The virus was first identified last year in the Middle East. Most of those infected had traveled to Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan or Pakistan, but the person who just died is believed to have caught it from a relative in Britain, where there have been four confirmed cases.

The new coronavirus is part of a family of viruses that cause ailments including the common cold and SARS. In 2003, a global outbreak of SARS killed about 800 people worldwide.

Health experts still aren't sure exactly how humans are being infected. The new coronavirus is most closely related to a bat virus and scientists are considering whether bats or other animals like goats or camels are a possible source of infection.

Britain's Health Protection Agency has said while it appears the virus can spread from person to person, "the risk of infection in contacts in most circumstances is still considered to be low."

Officials at the World Health Organization said the new virus has probably already spread between humans in some instances. In Saudi Arabia last year, four members of the same family fell ill and two died. And in a cluster of about a dozen people in Jordan, the virus may have spread at a hospital's intensive care unit.

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