$100-million gift to cover costs for 30-plus UCLA medical students

More than 30 incoming medical school students will get a full ride to UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine thanks to a $100-million gift from the school's benefactor.

The donation by Geffen, a philanthropist and entertainment executive, will create a scholarship fund to cover the recipients' entire cost of medical school, including tuition, room and board, books and other expenses.

"It is a fantastic vote of confidence for higher education," said UCLA Chancellor Gene Block. "We're eternally grateful."

The gift, which will be announced Thursday, makes Geffen the largest individual donor to UCLA and to any single UC campus. In 2002, Geffen donated $200 million in unrestricted funds to the medical school. At the time, the campus was renamed in his honor.

Geffen, 69, declined to comment but said in a statement that students shouldn't be discouraged by the expense of medical school.

"The cost of a world-class medical education should not deter our future innovators, doctors and scientists from the path they hope to pursue," he said. "We need the students at this world-class institution to be driven by determination and the desire to do their best work and not by the fear of crushing debt. I hope in doing this that others will be inspired to do the same."

More than 85% of medical school students nationwide graduate with some debt. Among those, the average is $170,000, according to the Assn. of American Medical Colleges. That debt often influences graduates' career choices and has contributed to a shortage of primary care doctors, who often earn less than specialists. That shortage will be exacerbated by the aging of the population and the federal expansion of health coverage to the uninsured.

The UCLA scholarships are "unprecedented," said John Prescott, chief academic officer for the association. "My mouth dropped open when I saw this," he said. "It is going to create quite a legacy for the school."

The medical school's dean, A. Eugene Washington, said that he was thrilled by the donation and that it will free scholarship recipients from the tremendous burden of debt. The four-year tab for medical school students entering next fall could exceed $300,000 in tuition, housing, fees and other costs.

The scholarship will allow the school to free up some of the money it uses for financial aid and will enable students to follow their passions and become leading physicians and researchers without worrying about paying off loans, he said. "It is going to be for a group of the top students who will be freed up to pursue whatever their interests are," he said.

The David Geffen Medical Scholarship Fund will provide scholarships for up to 33 students beginning medical school in 2013. Up to three of the scholarships are available for students pursuing a joint doctorate and medical school degree. The students will be chosen based on merit, not financial need.

Block said the scholarships will help recruit more of the nation's top medical school applicants. Already, more than 7,500 applicants compete for 163 first-year slots at the school.

Emily Dubina, 25, a third-year medical school student at UCLA, received a partial scholarship from Geffen's original contribution. The new scholarships, she said, are an amazing opportunity that will take away a lot of the stress of day-to-day life. The recipients will be able to focus on becoming great physicians rather than on how much money they are spending on their education.

"I so wish they had that when I started," she said. "Life would have been much better."

Geffen began his career as a mail room worker at the William Morris Agency in Manhattan and later earned a fortune in the record and movie industries. He formed DreamWorks SKG in 1994 with Jeffrey Katzenberg and Steven Spielberg. He has also become a well-known benefactor, giving to such organizations as the Motion Picture and Television Fund and to the Geffen Playhouse.

anna.gorman@latimes.com

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In Cairo, Effort to Broaden Support for Charter

Hassan Ammar/Associated Press

Army tanks deployed Tuesday in Cairo during a protest outside the presidential palace against President Mohamed Morsi.

CAIRO — President Mohamed Morsi’s advisers struggled Tuesday to work with a panel of politicians and intellectuals in an effort to work out last-minute proposals that might broaden support for an Islamist-backed draft constitution that is set to go before Egypt’s voters on Saturday, participants said.

Just outside Mr. Morsi’s office, thousands of his opponents staged a seventh night of demonstrations. Many of those against the proposed charter chanted for the downfall of Mr. Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president.

Blocks away, crowds of Islamists denounced the secular opposition’s leaders as murderers for encouraging protests last week that led to deadly clashes with members of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The huge crowds of rivals underscored the animosity and distrust that have all but shut down political dialogue here just as Egypt is poised to complete its promised transition to a constitutional democracy.

Khaled al-Qazzaz, a spokesman for the president, said a “national dialogue” committee convened by Mr. Morsi was continuing to meet to try to come up with measures that might bridge the gap between the Islamists and their opponents over the proposed charter.

Mr. Qazzaz said the panel was discussing measures that the president could announce now but that would take effect after the referendum. “If a segment of society has concerns about some articles of the constitution, how are we going to bring them together?” he said, declining to provide more detail.

Separately, Egypt’s defense minister, Gen. Abdul Fattah el-Sisi, issued a formal invitation to Mr. Morsi, the leaders of all political factions and officials from across the institutions of government for what the invitation called “a meeting for humanitarian communication and national coherence in the love of Egypt.”

The invitation raised alarms that General Sisi intended to play a role in the constitutional debate and perhaps have the military resume the explicitly political role it had in managing the transition before Mr. Morsi took over. But a military spokesman later said in a statement that politics and policy were off the agenda.

Mr. Qazzaz called the event a display of unity at a military-run facility and said Mr. Morsi would attend. It is a “social event to show that society is in coherence, that we are one big family,” he said.

Liberals complain that the charter does not do enough to prevent a future Islamist majority from limiting individual freedoms or women’s rights.

But the Islamists’ political strength may only partly account for the expected approval of the draft constitution in Saturday’s scheduled referendum. (Egyptians abroad begin voting on Wednesday.) The charter also promises stability after two years of the country’s chaotic transition.

The secular opposition’s main coalition postponed for a third day on Tuesday a formal announcement of its decision on whether to advocate a boycott of the referendum or to urge Egyptians to vote no. A statement on Sunday had appeared to declare a boycott.

People involved said the coalition was struggling to overcome internal disagreements. “Every hour there is a change,” an aide to one opposition leader said Tuesday evening.

Also on Tuesday, the chief of the largest judicial professional association, Ahmed al-Zend, announced that 90 percent of its members would refuse to monitor the polls. Judicial supervision of elections is required by Egyptian tradition and law, but the judges said they would boycott to protest the charter and Mr. Morsi’s decree, since withdrawn, putting the president above judicial review.

Mr. Zend was a loyalist of former President Hosni Mubarak who is now more or less openly at war with Egypt’s new Islamist leaders. Some doubted that he spoke for all of his members, and advisers to Mr. Morsi insist that they have the cooperation of enough judges.

On Tuesday, Mr. Morsi’s government also put off until next month the signing of a badly needed $4.8 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund intended to help prevent an economic collapse. Officials said they wanted more time to discuss the related economic reform package with the public.

“The delay will have some economic impact, but we are discussing necessary measures” to address that until the loan can be finalized, Finance Minister Mumtaz al-Said told Reuters by telephone. “I am optimistic,” he added.

Mayy El Sheikh contributed reporting.

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Hugh Hefner's Engagement Ring to Crystal Harris Revealed

By Mike Fleeman

12/11/2012 at 07:00 PM EST

The wedding's back on – though it may be a good idea to save that gift receipt.

Hugh Hefner, 86, officially confirms that he is once again engaged to Crystal Harris, 26, telling his Twitter followers, "I've given Crystal Harris a ring. I love the girl."

And to prove it, Harris posted photos of the big diamond sparkler, calling it "my beautiful ring."

Neither announced a wedding date, though sources tell PEOPLE they're planning to tie the knot at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles on New Year's Eve.

Whether that still happens remains to be seen.

This is the plan they had in 2011 – a wedding at the mansion – except that Harris called it off just days before the nuptials were scheduled to happen in front of 300 invited guests.

Hugh Hefner and Crystal Harris

David Livingston / Getty

The onetime Playmate of the Month then ripped Hef's bedroom skills, calling him a two-second man, to which Hefner replied, "I missed a bullet" by not marrying her.

A year later, Hefner's "runaway bunny" bounded back to him.

• Reporting by JENNIFER GARCIA

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Preventing a tragedy for seniors at the wheel

When my dad's driving deteriorated, I called the California Department of Motor Vehicles and asked about the procedure for having his license revoked. I could fill out a form, I was told, and my dad would be called in to have his driving ability reevaluated.

I thought about it, but did nothing. My brother said we should remove the carburetor and tell our father the car was kaput, but we never did that either.

If you've been in this situation, you know the dance. My dad insisted he was driving just fine, but the evidence was not on his side. One-way signs became invisible, lane markers faded, speed and distance were wild guesses.

If we took away his keys, as my mother pointed out, we'd be stealing his last bit of independence and making him miserable. If we didn't, and he hurt himself or someone else, we'd be responsible.

My dad eventually got so sick that the driving issue was moot, and when he died in February, he hadn't driven in months. But still, I should have taken charge a couple of years earlier, and I'll always regret being so irresponsible. When loved ones get old, sometimes you have to take action, and judging by my mail lately, no one finds it easy.

"Ten years from now, this is going to be happening in epidemic proportions," said Craig Power, whose 90-year-old father died from injuries suffered in a 2010 car accident in Orange County. The car was driven by his father's 85-year-old girlfriend, who was being treated for dementia.

Power sued the driver's doctor for not reporting her to authorities, but a jury decided the physician had not violated state law. California requires doctors to notify county health officials about disorders "severe enough to impair a person's ability to operate a motor vehicle." The doctor in this case said he had reported other patients, but this particular patient wasn't disabled enough to report.

As the nation ages, this will come up more and more. We're expected to have 57 million drivers 65 and older by 2030, and while texting teenagers or drunk drivers may be more deadly behind the wheel, that's no reason to avoid dealing with a growing convoy of cognitive loss.

Some people have suggested that elderly drivers should be required to take driving tests at age 75 or older — in addition to the written tests and eye exams required after age 70 — rather than have their licenses automatically renewed. Recently, after I wrote about a 72-year-old legally blind doctor who had his license renewed by the DMV, I heard from readers saying they've been shocked to find that their parents' and friends' licenses were renewed into their 90s.

"A friend with early signs of dementia began calling me from her car and asking directions to places well-known to her," said Diane Portillo, of Redondo Beach, who notified her friend's doctor. The license was eventually revoked, but it took a couple of years.

"As a parish nurse and a hospice nurse, I am frequently asked how to stop 'Mom' or 'Dad' from driving," said Kate Reeves of the Idyllwild area. "Yes, the DMV can pull the license, but have you any idea how many folks drive with no driver's license? The only real solution is to remove the car (not just the keys)!"

Dr. Gene Dorio, who makes house calls to elderly folks in Santa Clarita, says he tries to be sensitive but honest in telling patients about the compromises that come with age. He said he's had patients using walkers who think they're going to keep driving forever, and relatives, afraid to disappoint or send their loved ones into deep states of depression haven't told them otherwise.

"People will go out there and end up driving through stop signs or on the wrong side of the road, or just getting lost," Dorio said. "Some of them, their reflexes are too slow. They can't get their foot from the accelerator to the brake fast enough, or they don't hear the sirens coming or the flashing lights."

Dr. Donald Iverson, a Eureka neurologist who has studied cognitive loss and its effect on driving, said it's not always easy to diagnose risk.

"We don't have a cut-and-dried answer as to whether a person with mild dementia is impaired or not," said Iverson, who found that 76% of people with mild dementia were able to pass on-road driving tests.

A person with dementia might be perfectly lucid at times, and one symptom of the disease is an inability to recognize that there's a problem, Iverson said. That's how my dad was, insisting the real danger on the road was all the other drivers.

Iverson said the person in the best position to determine if a driver is impaired is the passenger, whether it's a relative or caretaker. And statistically, he said, when drivers voluntarily reduce the number of miles they drive regularly, or stop driving at night or when it rains, they've entered a phase in which they have a five-fold increase in the risk of crashes.

A good list of warning signs for unsafe driving — does the person drive too fast or too slow, straddle lanes, seem nervous or oblivious — can be found at http://www.la4seniors.com.

No doubt, doctors can do a better job of starting the conversation, and more testing after a certain age could help, too. But when you find yourself in a position to do what's necessary and potentially save lives in the process, I hope you're better at stepping up to that responsibility than I was.

The last couple of years my dad drove, it was luck, and nothing more, that prevented a tragedy.

steve.lopez@latimes.com

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Euro Watch: Bonds in Spain and Italy Shaken by Italian Politics

ROME — Italian stock and bond prices fell on Monday after a weekend of political turmoil in Italy gave rise to fears that the country was headed for renewed instability.

Shares of Italian banks, which are big holders of the government’s bonds, were among the hardest hit.

The action occurred in the first day of trading after Prime Minister Mario Monti said over the weekend that he would soon step down after his predecessor, Silvio Berlusconi, withdrew his party’s support from Mr. Monti and said he would again seek election as prime minister.

Mr. Berlusconi, who was elected prime minister three times, left office a year ago as markets pushed Italy to the brink of financial collapse. Mr. Monti, an economist who was appointed as his temporary successor, has restored Italy’s credibility with investors, who have given the country a break on its borrowing costs. But those gains have come at the cost of painful austerity measures that have worsened the country’s economic situation and given Mr. Berlusconi an opening to attack.

The Milan benchmark index, MIB, fell more than 2 percent on Monday. Italian banks, which remain sensitive to declines in the country’s bond prices, were among the big losers. Intesa Sanpaolo, the most active stock, fell 5.2 percent, as did UniCredit.

Mr. Monti, who joined other leaders in Oslo on Monday to receive the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to the European Union, said at a news conference that the market reactions “need not be dramatized.”

“I am confident,” he said, that the Italian elections would result in a government “that will be responsible and oriented toward the E.U. and this will be in line with efforts the Italian government has made so far.”

The decline in bond prices sent their yields, or interest rates, higher — an indicator of the Italian government’s borrowing costs. The spread between interest rates on Italian 10-year sovereign bonds and equivalent German securities, the European benchmark for safety, grew to 3.5 percentage points on Monday. That was up from 3.25 percentage points late Friday, suggesting that investors were growing more wary of holding Italian debt.

The yield on Italian 10-year bonds, which breached 7 percent this year, ended trading on Monday at 4.8 percent, up 29 basis points. A basis point is one-hundredth of a percent.

Bonds of Spain, which is the other big economy of concern in the euro zone, also came under renewed pressure on Monday after Mr. Monti’s announcement.

The spread between Spanish 10-year bonds and equivalent German bonds widened to 4.27 percentage points from 4.16 points on Friday. The yield on the benchmark Spanish 10-year rose 10 basis points, to 5.5 percent; it reached 7.1 percent in July amid concerns that Spain would be forced into a full bailout after having to negotiate a 100 billion euro, or $129 billion, rescue package for its banks in June.

Luis de Guindos, the Spanish economy minister, warned that Italy’s political turmoil would affect his country.

“When doubts emerge over the stability of a neighboring country like Italy, which is also seen as vulnerable, there’s an immediate contagion for us,” he said Monday morning on Spanish national radio.

Asked whether Spain would itself seek further European rescue funding, he instead said, “The help that Spain needs is that the doubts over the future of the euro be removed.”

Speaking before the Nobel ceremony on Monday, the European Commission president, José Manuel Barroso, said Italy must “continue on the road of structural reforms.” The elections, Mr. Barroso said on Sky News, “must not be used to postpone reforms.”

A dismal economic report on Monday served as a reminder that despite Mr. Monti’s success with investors, the real economy continues to suffer. Italian industrial production fell a seasonally adjusted 1.1 percent in October from September, and by 6.2 percent from a year earlier, Istat, the national statistics agency, said.

Some analysts said they thought that Mr. Berlusconi’s re-emergence as a political leader was as responsible for unnerving investors as Mr. Monti’s unexpected decision to resign. Nicholas Spiro, managing director of Spiro Sovereign Strategy, a research firm, wrote on Monday in a note that Mr. Berlusconi remained “the boogeyman of investors,” who “epitomizes the dysfunctional nature of Italian politics.”

Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, was to meet on Monday with Mr. Monti on the sidelines of the Nobel ceremony, said Georg Streiter, a spokesman for the chancellor.

Ms. Merkel pushed to have Mr. Monti succeed Mr. Berlusconi. But she ended up facing Mr. Monti’s own ideas for economic change, which focused more on growth and job creation than on the austere fiscal discipline championed by Ms. Merkel.

As a rule, the German government does not comment on its partners’ domestic politics, but Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle warned that an attempt to scale back Italy’s reform push could result in further destabilization in the euro zone.

“Italy cannot remain stagnant on two-thirds of its reform process,” Mr. Westerwelle said through a spokesman. “This would throw not only Italy but the rest of Europe into turbulence.”

Elisabetta Povoledo reported from Rome and David Jolly from Paris. Raphael Minder contributed reporting from Madrid and Melissa Eddy from Berlin.

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Hayden Panettiere Splits with Scotty McKnight

12/10/2012 at 07:50 PM EST

Hayden Panettiere and Scotty McKnight

Splash News Online

Is there a tear in her beer?

Nashville star Hayden Panettiere has broken up with her boyfriend of more than a year, New York Jets wide receiver Scotty McKnight, a source confirms to PEOPLE.

But the split doesn't appear to be the stuff of a sad country song. The actress, 23, is still friends with McKnight, 24, and one source tells TMZ that their pals wouldn't be surprised if they got back together.

This is Panettiere's second go at a relationship with an athlete. Before dating McKnight she was with Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitschko for about two years.
– Julie Jordan

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Surprise: New insurance fee in health overhaul law

WASHINGTON (AP) — Your medical plan is facing an unexpected expense, so you probably are, too. It's a new, $63-per-head fee to cushion the cost of covering people with pre-existing conditions under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.

The charge, buried in a recent regulation, works out to tens of millions of dollars for the largest companies, employers say. Most of that is likely to be passed on to workers.

Employee benefits lawyer Chantel Sheaks calls it a "sleeper issue" with significant financial consequences, particularly for large employers.

"Especially at a time when we are facing economic uncertainty, (companies will) be hit with a multi-million dollar assessment without getting anything back for it," said Sheaks, a principal at Buck Consultants, a Xerox subsidiary.

Based on figures provided in the regulation, employer and individual health plans covering an estimated 190 million Americans could owe the per-person fee.

The Obama administration says it is a temporary assessment levied for three years starting in 2014, designed to raise $25 billion. It starts at $63 and then declines.

Most of the money will go into a fund administered by the Health and Human Services Department. It will be used to cushion health insurance companies from the initial hard-to-predict costs of covering uninsured people with medical problems. Under the law, insurers will be forbidden from turning away the sick as of Jan. 1, 2014.

The program "is intended to help millions of Americans purchase affordable health insurance, reduce unreimbursed usage of hospital and other medical facilities by the uninsured and thereby lower medical expenses and premiums for all," the Obama administration says in the regulation. An accompanying media fact sheet issued Nov. 30 referred to "contributions" without detailing the total cost and scope of the program.

Of the total pot, $5 billion will go directly to the U.S. Treasury, apparently to offset the cost of shoring up employer-sponsored coverage for early retirees.

The $25 billion fee is part of a bigger package of taxes and fees to finance Obama's expansion of coverage to the uninsured. It all comes to about $700 billion over 10 years, and includes higher Medicare taxes effective this Jan. 1 on individuals making more than $200,000 per year or couples making more than $250,000. People above those threshold amounts also face an additional 3.8 percent tax on their investment income.

But the insurance fee had been overlooked as employers focused on other costs in the law, including fines for medium and large firms that don't provide coverage.

"This kind of came out of the blue and was a surprisingly large amount," said Gretchen Young, senior vice president for health policy at the ERISA Industry Committee, a group that represents large employers on benefits issues.

Word started getting out in the spring, said Young, but hard cost estimates surfaced only recently with the new regulation. It set the per capita rate at $5.25 per month, which works out to $63 a year.

America's Health Insurance Plans, the major industry trade group for health insurers, says the fund is an important program that will help stabilize the market and mitigate cost increases for consumers as the changes in Obama's law take effect.

But employers already offering coverage to their workers don't see why they have to pony up for the stabilization fund, which mainly helps the individual insurance market. The redistribution puts the biggest companies on the hook for tens of millions of dollars.

"It just adds on to everything else that is expected to increase health care costs," said economist Paul Fronstin of the nonprofit Employee Benefit Research Institute.

The fee will be assessed on all "major medical" insurance plans, including those provided by employers and those purchased individually by consumers. Large employers will owe the fee directly. That's because major companies usually pay upfront for most of the health care costs of their employees. It may not be apparent to workers, but the insurance company they deal with is basically an agent administering the plan for their employer.

The fee will total $12 billion in 2014, $8 billion in 2015 and $5 billion in 2016. That means the per-head assessment would be smaller each year, around $40 in 2015 instead of $63.

It will phase out completely in 2017 — unless Congress, with lawmakers searching everywhere for revenue to reduce federal deficits — decides to extend it.

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Orange County Catholics welcome new bishop, Kevin W. Vann

Nearly 4,000 people gathered at UC Irvine on Monday to welcome the newest leader of Orange County's nearly 1.3 million Catholics.

A former medical lab technician with a penchant for the piano, Bishop Kevin W. Vann, 61, was welcomed with wild applause throughout much of the two-hour ceremony, particularly after he was led to the cathedra, or bishop's chair, by Los Angeles Archbishop Jose H. Gomez.

Greeting the crowd in Spanish, Vietnamese and Korean, Vann spoke of his Illinois upbringing near the Mississippi River and his journey out West.

"By the hand of God I believe we have been brought together to be, as the Scripture says, the stream that gladdens the city of God," said Vann, who also flashed an Anaheim Angels ball cap.

"Let us sing and keep going," he told the crowd. "What do I mean by keep going? Make progress."

Vann was chosen to lead the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange by Pope Benedict XVI in September, but Monday's installation made it official. Vann succeeds Tod Brown, who held the post through some of the diocese's most tumultuous times, including the priest sex abuse scandal.

Vann's arrival comes at a pivotal time for the diocese, which is the nation's 10th-largest, and also considered one of the fastest growing.

Brown said in a statement that though the diocese has made progress in the last 14 years, including last year's $57.5-million purchase of the Rev. Robert H. Schuller's Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, "much work remains to be done."

"This work will require an administrator with proven skills and a spiritual leader with an abundance of faith," he said, adding that Vann possesses those traits and more.

Vann is not unfamiliar with the challenges that a growing contingent of worshipers will provide. As the bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth, Texas, since 2005, he oversaw more than $135 million in capital improvements and helped oversee the opening of the nation's largest Vietnamese church.

Vann will face a $100-million capital campaign, which will go toward parish renovations, school funding and upgrades to the high-profile Crystal Cathedral for Catholic worship.

Monday's event was attended by bishops from across the country, as well as such local religious personalities as Rick Warren — pastor of the giant Saddleback Church — and Schuller.

After the ceremony, spectators said they were very excited about Vann's arrival.

Arthur Birtcher, a real estate developer who serves on the Orange Catholic Foundation, said he was impressed by Vann's enthusiasm and excitement.

"He's a grand salesman for the church," said Birtcher, as his wife, Gaye, chimed in.

"He's chitchatty," she said.

Others, such as Julie Stevens of Kansas City, were brought to tears by the ceremony.

"He's definitely by the people and for the people," she said. "He's one of us."

nicole.santacruz@latimes.com

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Sunni Muslim and Alawite Militias Clash in Lebanon

Omar Ibrahim/Reuters

Lebanese gunmen fired in Tripoli as bodies arrived from Syria.

TRIPOLI, Lebanon — Clashes between Sunni Muslim and Alawite militias have killed at least 17 people here recently in perhaps the worst spillover of violence from the civil war in neighboring Syria.

Tripoli, which is Lebanon’s second-largest city and is close to the northern border with Syria, has long been the scene of conflict between Sunni Muslims in the city’s Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhood and Alawites in the hilltop section of Jabal Mohsen, with each group maintaining militias.

But during the 21-month conflict in Syria, the web of religious and family ties and fault lines between the two countries has created new strains, especially in Tripoli. Lebanese Sunnis have increasingly supported and even joined the Sunni-led uprising against President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, who is Alawite and whose sect dominates the government. Refugees from both sects have flowed into the city.

As some Tripoli residents begin to see themselves as part of the Syrian conflict — to the dismay of the Lebanese government, which fears being dragged into the war — the intensity and frequency of fighting has increased dramatically, with clashes sometimes ignited by events in Syria. Scores have been killed here this year.

The latest conflict began after a number of Sunni fighters from northern Lebanon were killed in an ambush by pro-government forces as they tried to enter Syria to join opposition fighters. Sunnis in Tripoli, angry over videos that purported to show the men’s bodies being stabbed and kicked, attacked Alawites, starting days of clashes between militias wielding rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. Lebanese news media put the death toll at 17.

Lebanon is divided over Syria, with the parliamentary opposition bloc fiercely opposed to Mr. Assad, and as the Syrian conflict has become more sectarian, so has the Lebanese debate. Many Shiites and Alawites support Mr. Assad and fear that Syria’s Sunni majority will take revenge against minorities, while many Lebanese Sunnis, emboldened by the uprising, have struck an aggressive posture toward a government they see as dominated by the Syria-backed Islamist party Hezbollah and weakened by Mr. Assad’s troubles.

Sunni fighters from northern Lebanon, including the Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhood, now routinely cross into Syria to fight. Many link up with Islamist factions like Jabhet al-Nusra, a group that the United States is considering declaring a terrorist organization.

Militia leaders in Bab al-Tabbaneh say they frown on their men going to Syria because it leaves them short-handed for any conflict at home. But it is hard to stop fighters who feel a personal connection to the civil war.

Some of the young men from Bab al-Tabbaneh showed up as corpses in videos circulated on cellphones by rebel supporters. One video showed bodies being repeatedly stabbed with knives. In another, men shouted insults as they kicked and stomped on corpses’ heads.

A Sunni militia commander in Bab al-Tabbaneh who goes by the name Abu Bera identified one of the men as his friend Hussein Sorour, a 24-year-old baker and fighter.

Even during a lull in fighting on Saturday, snipers atop the hill of Jabal Mohsen made streets in Bab al-Tabbaneh unsafe. People traversed the neighborhood by passing through a maze of holes knocked out of walls and crossing alleys with huge tarps strung up to obstruct the view of snipers. One young boy walked down an alley carrying a Kalashnikov assault rifle. He said he was 11.

There is a fear that the clashes could spread to other parts of Tripoli. Violence has touched the affluent and usually quiet city center. Rockets and mortars have hit the area more than a dozen times over the past week, said Racha el-Halabi, 19, a university student and journalist.

“It’s the first time ever,” she said. “Everyone is worried.”

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In giant “garage sale”, Japan’s TV giants hawk $3 billion of assets

TOKYO (Reuters) – Panasonic Corp, Japan‘s struggling maker of Viera brand TVs, owns more than 10 million square meters of office and factory space, dormitories for its workers and sports facilities for its rugby, baseball and women’s athletics teams.

As it battles for Christmas shoppers’ wallets in the year-end holiday season, the sprawling electronics conglomerate is also seeking buyers for some of those properties to trim its fixed costs and improve cashflow at a time of intense competition, particularly from South Korean rivals such as Samsung Electronics Co.

Japan’s other troubled TV makers, Sony Corp and Sharp Corp, are also selling buildings and businesses in a giant ‘garage sale’ that could raise a combined $ 3 billion.

Panasonic plans to raise $ 1.34 billion from offloading property and shares in other Japanese companies by end-March, the group’s chief financial officer Hideaki Kawai told Reuters.

“We have a lot of land and buildings in Japan and overseas,” he said in an interview at the company’s head office in Osaka, in western Japan. He declined to list which properties would go on the block, but said most are in Japan.

Included is a 24-storey central Tokyo block – built in 2003 with more than 47,300 square meters and housing 2,000 Panasonic workers – a source familiar with the plan told Reuters.

Kawai added that Panasonic would raise about a quarter of the sell-off funds by getting rid of shares it owns in other companies – a common practice of cross-shareholdings in Japan.

The proceeds would help bolster free cashflow to 200 billion yen ($ 2.43 billion) for the business year to March, Kawai said, and allow Panasonic to reduce its debt and maintain its crucial research and development effort as it revamps its business portfolio.

It will sell more assets in the year starting in April if cashflow dips below 200 billion yen, Kawai added. Panasonic President Kazuhiro Tsuga has promised to shut or sell businesses operating at below a 5 percent margin. Those sales could start as soon as April.

Panasonic’s fixed assets of $ 21 billion are around 30 percent more than those of Apple Inc, and are almost double the company’s market value. The company, founded almost a century ago as a small electrical extension socket maker, trades at around half its book value – which includes intangible assets such as patents. Sony trades at 39 percent of book, Sharp at 30 percent.

The fixed assets – buildings, land and machinery – of the three companies that were not so long ago a byword for innovation in household gadgetry total around $ 42 billion, while their combined market value is $ 24 billion.

CASHFLOW IS KING

The three firms have been downgraded by credit ratings agencies, making it tougher to raise funding on capital markets, and making asset sales more urgent.

Selling assets “is good in terms of their credit ratings because, for all three, it will lower fixed costs and they can reduce their capex requirements. Eventually, this could improve operating margins and, more importantly, cashflow,” said Alvin Lim, an analyst at Fitch Ratings in Seoul.

Fitch, which makes its ratings without input from company management, last month cut Panasonic to BB and Sony to BB minus, the first time one of the major agencies has relegated either company to junk status. Sharp is ranked B minus, adding to its borrowing costs.

“We rate Panasonic as investment grade, and it should have various funding options. Selling assets it can do without, to avoid raising additional borrowing, can be an option,” said Osamu Kobayashi, an analyst at Standard & Poor’s.

While Korean rivals have also benefited from a weaker local currency, data from the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association shows that Japanese production of consumer electronic equipment fell to just above $ 15 billion last year from more than $ 19 billion a decade ago. Output in September was just $ 980 million, half last year’s level.

“The gap with Korean makers seems to be widening. It’s going to be very difficult for them to regain their top-tier position,” said Fitch’s Lim.

As the three Japanese firms, all under new leadership, have sketched out restructuring plans, the cost of insuring their debt against defaulting in 5 years has dropped from spikes just a month ago. Credit default swaps for Sharp and Sony are down to levels last seen 3 months ago, while Panasonic’s have dropped 40 percent in the past month.

THREE PATHS

While Panasonic is looking to revamp its business around batteries, auto parts and household appliances, Sony is doubling down on smartphones, gaming and cameras. Sharp, meanwhile, is focusing on display screens and is forging alliances with the likes of Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry and U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm Inc.

Sony may also take the real estate sale route to raise much-needed cash, with a possible sale of its 37-storey New York headquarters, dubbed by New Yorkers as the ‘Chippendale’ because of its design that is reminiscent of the period English furniture. Selling that jewel could raise $ 1 billion, media have reported.

The maker of Vaio laptops, PlayStation gaming consoles and Bravia TVs may also sell its battery business, which makes lithium ion power packs for tablets, PCs and mobile phones. The company has been approached by investment banks offering to sell the unit, which employs 2,700 people and has three factories in Japan and two overseas assembly plants. Sony values the business’s fixed assets at $ 636 million.

Potential buyers could include BYD Co Ltd, a Chinese carmaker backed by billionaire investor Warren Buffett, and Taiwan’s Hon Hai – which part owns Sharp’s advanced LCD panel plant in Sakai, western Japan, and is in talks to buy TV assembly plants in China, Malaysia and Mexico for $ 667 million, Japan’s Sankei newspaper has reported.

Sharp has mortgaged nearly all its properties to secure a $ 4.6 billion bailout from Japanese banks and so has few assets to offer in a grand garage sale.

Instead, it’s selling part of the garage.

Qualcomm has agreed to buy a 5 percent stake in Sharp, making it the largest shareholder. Hon Hai, which earlier this year agreed to invest in Sharp – before its stock slumped in the wake of record losses – has said it remains interested in taking a stake.

“Whatever they can get to get through this fiscal period by scaling down their operation is a critical step for them to remain afloat,” said Fitch’s Lim.

($ 1 = 82.4700 Japanese yen)

(Additional reporting by Reiji Murai; Editing by Ian Geoghegan)

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