IHT Rendezvous: Damien Hirst Leaves Gagosian

Less than a year after the Gagosian Gallery gave Damien Hirst all 11 of its spaces around the world to show his spot paintings, word comes that the bad-boy British artist will no longer be represented by Gagosian, where he has shown on and off for 17 years.

“We wish him continued success for the future,’’ a statement issued by the gallery, confirming his sudden departure, said.

On Thursday, Science Ltd., Mr. Hirst’s company, told the Financial Times that the gallery owner  “Larry Gagosian and Damien have reached an amicable decision to part company,” adding that the artist would continue his relationship with the White Cube Gallery in London.  But the question remains whether Mr. Hirst will look for another gallery to show his work in New York, where he has a large number of big collectors.

Mr. Hirst has never been known for being monogamous, at least not when it comes to gallery representation. White Cube in London has also handled his work for years. In 2008 he snubbed both galleries, when Sotheby’s in London sold 223 of his new artworks. The sale, which was held just as the financial markets were heading for disaster, included dead animals – sharks, zebras, piglets and even a calf – floating in giant glass tanks of formaldehyde; cabinets filled with diamonds; and cigarette butts.  And paintings – spin paintings, dot paintings, paintings with butterflies pinned under glass. More than 21,000 visitors flocked to Sotheby’s on New Bond Street to see the work before the sale, which brought $200.7 million.

Ever the showman, he caused a sensation in 2007 at White Cube’s gallery in Mayfair when he showed a human skull cast in platinum and covered with 8,601 diamonds.  At the time the gallery said the artwork cost $23.5 million to make. During the five weeks that summer when it was on display in a small, blackened room at White Cube’s Mason’s Yard Space, crowds lined up with free timed tickets in hand to ogle the piece.  A nearby shop was doing a brisk business selling skull T-shirts and other Hirstian memorabilia. The skull was reportedly bought by a consortium of investors that included the artist himself. (It isn’t the first time he has invested in his own work.  Mr. Hirst and Jay Jopling, the owner of White Cube, bought about 12 works from Charles Saatchi, former advertising magnate, in 2003 for around $15 million.)

Over the years Mr. Hirst has amassed a large fortune.  The Sunday Times of London has called him the world’s richest artist, with a fortune estimated at about $346 million.

He is not the only artist to stray from Gagosian.  Last week while the contemporary art world converged on Miami Beach for the giant art fair there, David Zwirner, the Chelsea dealer, confirmed that in May he is planning to do a show of new paintings and sculptures by Jeff Koons, another superstar artist represented by Mr. Gagosian. Like Mr. Hirst, Mr. Koons has never shown any gallery loyalty. For decades he has also exhibited his work at the Sonnabend Gallery in Chelsea. Last week Rebecca Sternthal, a director of Gagosian who works with Mr. Koons said that Gagosian “still represents Jeff Koons.  He works closely with us and with Sonnabend.  In the past he has had shows in different galleries but we are still actively working with him and with his studio.’’

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The X Factor Reveals Season 2 Finalists

TV Watch

The X Factor

12/13/2012 at 09:10 PM EST

Carly Rose Sonenclar, Emblem3, Tate Stevens and Fifth Harmony

Ray Mickshaw/FOX (4)

Sparks will fly at the finale!

On Thursday, The X Factor revealed its top three acts, who will perform next week in the final night of competition – in hopes of taking home the $5 million recording contract.

Simon Cowell said it would take a miracle to get his girl group, Fifth Harmony, to the finale after they performed Shontelle's "Impossible" and Ellie Goulding's "Anything Could Happen" on Wednesday. Keep reading to find out if their dream came true ...

Apparently, miracles do happen! Fifth Harmony was the first act to be sent through to the finale.

They will compete against departing judge L.A. Reid's country singer, Tate Stevens, and Britney Spears's only remaining contestant, Carly Rose Sonenclar.

That means Simon's promising boy band, Emblem3, are out of the running for the big prize.

"This is the way it goes on competitions," Simon said. "I'm gutted really for them ... But it happens."

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Fewer health care options for illegal immigrants

ALAMO, Texas (AP) — For years, Sonia Limas would drag her daughters to the emergency room whenever they fell sick. As an illegal immigrant, she had no health insurance, and the only place she knew to seek treatment was the hospital — the most expensive setting for those covering the cost.

The family's options improved somewhat a decade ago with the expansion of community health clinics, which offered free or low-cost care with help from the federal government. But President Barack Obama's health care overhaul threatens to roll back some of those services if clinics and hospitals are overwhelmed with newly insured patients and can't afford to care for as many poor families.

To be clear, Obama's law was never intended to help Limas and an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants like her. Instead, it envisions that 32 million uninsured Americans will get access to coverage by 2019. Because that should mean fewer uninsured patients showing up at hospitals, the Obama program slashed the federal reimbursement for uncompensated care.

But in states with large illegal immigrant populations, the math may not work, especially if lawmakers don't expand Medicaid, the joint state-federal health program for the poor and disabled.

When the reform has been fully implemented, illegal immigrants will make up the nation's second-largest population of uninsured, or about 25 percent. The only larger group will be people who qualify for insurance but fail to enroll, according to a 2012 study by the Washington-based Urban Institute.

And since about two-thirds of illegal immigrants live in just eight states, those areas will have a disproportionate share of the uninsured to care for.

In communities "where the number of undocumented immigrants is greatest, the strain has reached the breaking point," Rich Umbdenstock, president of the American Hospital Association, wrote last year in a letter to Obama, asking him to keep in mind the uncompensated care hospitals gave to that group. "In response, many hospitals have had to curtail services, delay implementing services, or close beds."

The federal government has offered to expand Medicaid, but states must decide whether to take the deal. And in some of those eight states — including Texas, Florida and New Jersey — hospitals are scrambling to determine whether they will still have enough money to treat the remaining uninsured.

Without a Medicaid expansion, the influx of new patients and the looming cuts in federal funding could inflict "a double whammy" in Texas, said David Lopez, CEO of the Harris Health System in Houston, which spends 10 to 15 percent of its $1.2 billion annual budget to care for illegal immigrants.

Realistically, taxpayers are already paying for some of the treatment provided to illegal immigrants because hospitals are required by law to stabilize and treat any patients that arrive in an emergency room, regardless of their ability to pay. The money to cover the costs typically comes from federal, state and local taxes.

A solid accounting of money spent treating illegal immigrants is elusive because most hospitals do not ask for immigration status. But some states have tried.

California, which is home to the nation's largest population of illegal immigrants, spent an estimated $1.2 billion last year through Medicaid to care for 822,500 illegal immigrants.

The New Jersey Hospital Association in 2010 estimated that it cost between $600 million and $650 million annually to treat 550,000 illegal immigrants.

And in Texas, a 2010 analysis by the Health and Human Services Commission found that the agency had provided $96 million in benefits to illegal immigrants, up from $81 million two years earlier. The state's public hospital districts spent an additional $717 million in uncompensated care to treat that population.

If large states such as Florida and Texas make good on their intention to forgo federal money to expand Medicaid, the decision "basically eviscerates" the effects of the health care overhaul in those areas because of "who lives there and what they're eligible for," said Lisa Clemans-Cope, a senior researcher at the Urban Institute.

Seeking to curb expenses, hospitals might change what qualifies as an emergency or cap the number of uninsured patients they treat. And although it's believed states with the most illegal immigrants will face a smaller cut, they will still lose money.

The potential impacts of reform are a hot topic at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. In addition to offering its own charity care, some MD Anderson oncologists volunteer at a county-funded clinic at Lyndon B. Johnson General Hospital that largely treats the uninsured.

"In a sense we've been in the worst-case scenario in Texas for a long time," said Lewis Foxhall, MD Anderson's vice president of health policy in Houston. "The large number of uninsured and the large low-income population creates a very difficult problem for us."

Community clinics are a key part of the reform plan and were supposed to take up some of the slack for hospitals. Clinics received $11 billion in new funding over five years so they could expand to help care for a swell of newly insured who might otherwise overwhelm doctors' offices. But in the first year, $600 million was cut from the centers' usual allocation, leaving many to use the money to fill gaps rather than expand.

There is concern that clinics could themselves be inundated with newly insured patients, forcing many illegal immigrants back to emergency rooms.

Limas, 44, moved to the border town of Alamo 13 years ago with her husband and three daughters. Now single, she supports the family by teaching a citizenship class in Spanish at the local community center and selling cookies and cakes she whips up in her trailer. Soon, she hopes to seek a work permit of her own.

For now, the clinic helps with basic health care needs. If necessary, Limas will return to the emergency room, where the attendants help her fill out paperwork to ensure the government covers the bills she cannot afford.

"They always attended to me," she said, "even though it's slow."

___

Sherman can be followed on Twitter at https://twitter.com/chrisshermanAP .

Plushnick-Masti can be followed on Twitter at https://twitter.com/RamitMastiAP .

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Stock futures signal early gains

PARIS (Reuters) - Stock futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Friday, with futures for the S&P 500 up 0.23 percent, Dow Jones futures 0.24 percent higher and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.12 percent at 5:44 a.m. ET.

* European stocks were steady on Friday morning, with the FTSEurofirst 300 <.fteu3> index sitting a few points below an 18-month high hit earlier this week, as lower-than-expected German manufacturing sector figures eclipsed strong Chinese economic data.

* Markit's index tracking German manufacturing activity slipped to 46.3 in December from 46.8 the previous month, remaining well below the 50 threshold that divides growth from contraction and missing the consensus forecast in a Reuters poll for 47.2.

* China's HSBC flash purchasing managers' index for December rose to 50.9, a 14-month high and the fifth straight monthly gain, underlining a brighter outlook for the world's second-biggest economy.

* Apple Inc releases the iPhone 5 in China on Friday, which should give it some respite after a recent slide in its share of what is already the world's biggest smartphone market. But the company's longer-term hopes may depend on new technology being tested by China's top telecoms carrier.

* Sprint Nextel Corp's $2.1 billion offer to buy out Clearwire Corp appeared to be running into trouble on Thursday, as some shareholders said they wanted more money while Softbank Corp set a cap on how much Sprint could pay.

* Pfizer Inc's planned U.S. initial public offering (IPO) of its animal health unit Zoetis Inc is likely by January or February and raise about $4 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the discussions.

* KKR & Co LP has jumped into the auction for the fiber-optics business being sold by Australian contractor Leighton Holdings Ltd , a source familiar with the process told Reuters, eyeing a business that analysts say could fetch as much as A$870 million ($918 million).

* Adobe Systems Inc , maker of Photoshop and Acrobat software, forecast full-year results below analysts' estimates but expects profit and earnings to grow from 2013 onwards. The company forecast adjusted earnings of about $1.40 a share on revenue of about $4.1 billion for 2013.

* Dutch chemicals group AkzoNobel is selling its struggling North American decorative paints arm to U.S. rival PPG Industries for $1.1 billion to focus on its larger European and faster-growing businesses.

* Bank of America Corp raised the stakes in its legal battle with bond insurer MBIA Inc on Thursday, saying MBIA was in default on some of its debt and filing a lawsuit related to changes in that debt.

* On the macro front, investors awaited a batch of U.S. indicators, including November industrial production, due at 9:15 a.m. ET, and Markit's flash manufacturing PMI for December, due at 8:58 a.m. ET.

* The S&P 500 ended a six-day winning streak on Thursday, retreating as worries intensified that Washington's "fiscal cliff" negotiations were dragging on with little progress.

* The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> tumbled 74.73 points, or 0.56 percent, to 13,170.72 at the close. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> fell 9.03 points, or 0.63 percent, to 1,419.45. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> slid 21.65 points, or 0.72 percent, to end at 2,992.16.

(Reporting by Blaise Robinson; Editing by Susan Fenton)

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Google Maps finally comes to iOS. Again [updated]

Apple has had quite a bumpy car ride so far with it’s mapping product. That all ends in just a couple hours, however, because late Wednesday evening Google is planning on bringing Maps back to iOS with the release of the company’s own software. AllThingsD is reporting that Google’s app will be available for download in the App Store shortly, and we’ll provide some initial thoughts on it soon after.

UPDATE: Google Maps is now available on Apple’s App Store for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

Get more from BGR.com: Follow us on Twitter, Facebook

Gadgets News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Japan Scrambles Jets in Island Dispute With China

TOKYO — Japan scrambled fighter jets on Thursday after a Chinese surveillance plane entered what Japan considers its airspace above disputed islands that have become a source of heightened tension between the Asian powers.

Though Japan routinely sends jets to head off Chinese aircraft skirting its territory, the Japanese Defense Ministry said the incident was the first known violation of Japanese airspace by a Chinese plane in more than 50 years. Tokyo lodged a formal protest with Beijing, which swiftly retorted that it was the Japanese who had encroached.

The incident threatens to escalate a maritime standoff over the uninhabited islands in the East China Sea, which Japan controls and calls the Senkakus. China calls the same islands the Diaoyus. For months, patrol ships from the two countries have sporadically faced off in waters around the islets, exchanging protests over loudspeakers and, on some occasions, sparring with water cannons.

The incident also comes just days ahead of national elections in Japan on Sunday that are expected to result in a change in government.

In an embarrassment for the current administration, Japan’s radar systems failed to detect the Chinese surveillance plane Thursday morning, and Tokyo became aware of its presence only after a Japanese Coast Guard ship spotted it near the islands. By the time fighter jets were dispatched to the area from their base in Naha, on the island of Okinawa, the Chinese plane was nowhere to be seen, a Defense Ministry official said.

With the Japanese jets yet to arrive, the Coast Guard was left on its own to confront the Chinese plane. “Do not intrude into Japanese airspace,” the crew of one of its ships radioed the plane, according to the public broadcaster NHK.

“This is Chinese airspace,” the plane’s crew radioed back, according to NHK.

In Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura called the Chinese actions “extremely regrettable” and said that Japan had lodged an official complaint with Beijing.

Gen. Shigeru Iwasaki, chief of joint staff of Japan’s Self-Defense Forces, said it was regrettable that the plane had slipped into Japanese airspace unnoticed. “We are going to make sure this does not happen again,” General Iwasaki said.

In Beijing, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said:“I want to stress that these activities are completely normal.”

“China requires the Japanese side stop illegal activities in the waters and airspace of the Diaoyu islands,” the spokesman said.

The Japanese Defense Ministry said it was only the third time foreign aircraft were known to have violated Japanese airspace since 1958, when Tokyo started keeping records of intrusions. A Soviet military jet entered Japanese territory in 1979 and a Taiwanese private plane in 1994, though neither incident led to confrontation.

With the Japanese elections just days away, public unease over China’s growing military shadow could provide a further boost for the opposition Liberal Democratic Party, which has promised to strengthen Japan’s military and is leading the governing Democratic Party in the polls. Public jitters here have also been enhanced by the fact that a rocket launched by North Korea on Wednesday traveled over Japanese territory.

Shinzo Abe, the Liberal Democrats’ conservative leader, supports an amendment to Japan’s pacifist Constitution that would allow it to establish a military beyond the self-defense forces that it currently maintains. Also running is a fringe party led by the nationalist politician Shintaro Ishihara, whose bid to purchase the disputed islands earlier this year triggered the current flare-up.

Hisako Ueno contributed reporting from Tokyo, and Bree Feng from Beijing.

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Zac Efron Keeps It Casually Cool in N.Y.C.

Caught in the Act

12/13/2012 at 06:00 AM EST

Zac Efron was in a New York state of mind when he dined at BLT Prime recently.

The Paperboy actor and six friends enjoyed dinner together, with Efron eating a rib eye steak and drinking Johnnie Walker Blue.

Dressed casually in a black T-shirt and jeans, Efron and his friends were at the restaurant for two hours, just "catching up," an onlooker tells PEOPLE.

Efron's next film, Are We Officially Dating?, follows three New York bachelors who make a pact to have as much fun as possible.

– Kate Hogan

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Stock futures point to flat-to-lower start

LONDON (Reuters) - Stock futures pointed to a flat-to-lower open on Wall Street on Thursday, with futures for the S&P 500 down 0.1 percent at 0950 GMT (4.50 a.m. ET).

Contracts on the Dow Jones and the Nasdaq 100 were flat in percentage terms.

Japan's Nikkei <.n225> average surged above 9,700 for the first time in eight months, led by exporters, as the yen fell to a multi-month low on mounting expectations of aggressive monetary easing by the Bank of Japan after a general election at the weekend.

European shares slipped on Thursday after persistent concern about U.S. austerity measures that could hit growth in the world's largest economy overshadowed fresh stimulus steps from the Federal Reserve.

Google's navigation tool has returned to the iPhone, months after Apple's home-grown mapping service flopped, prompting user complaints, the firing of an executive and a public apology from Apple's CEO. [ID:nL1E8ND0P2]

Adobe Systems , the maker of Photoshop software, reports results, expected to show earnings per share fell to $0.57 in its fourth quarter, from $0.67 one year earlier.

GrainCorp Ltd on Thursday rejected a sweetened $2.9 billion bid from Archer Daniels Midland , putting pressure on the U.S. agribusiness giant to boost its offer for Australia's last major independent grains handler.

Knight Capital Group Inc expects to make a decision on its future ownership by early next week, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The U.S. unit of Britain's BAE Systems Plc said it has won a contract valued at up to $400 million to maintain and service more than 300 U.S. Navy trainer aircraft, beating out incumbent Sikorsky Aircraft, a unit of United Technologies , and L-3 Communications .

The Pentagon will pay about 4 percent less for each new Lockheed Martin Corp F-35A fighter jet when it signs a deal worth $3.8 billion with the No. 1 U.S. defense contractor on Friday, according to sources familiar with the deal.

American Airlines creditors want a potential merger with US Airways Group Inc to be an all-stock deal rather than one that pays some claims in cash, three people familiar with the matter said, in a move that underscores confidence in a merged airline.

Solar installer SolarCity is set to begin trading on the Nasdaq after halving the value of its initial public offering. The deal has been highly anticipated in clean tech and venture capital circles as alternative energy startups have had a difficult time attracting investor interest.

The U.S. Labor Dept releases first-time claims for jobless benefits for the week ended December 8 at 1330 GMT (8.30 a.m. ET). They were expected to show 370,000 new filings, a repeat of the previous weeks figure.

The U.S. Commerce Dept's November retail sales, also due out 1330 GMT (8.30 a.m. ET), were forecast to show a 0.5 percent rise, compared with a 0.3 percent decrease in October. Excluding automobiles, sales are expected to be unchanged, a repeat of the October level.

Producer prices were forecast to show a 0.5 percent decrease compared with a 0.2 percent drop in October. Excluding volatile food and energy items, PPI is expected to rise 0.2 percent versus with a 0.2 percent decrease in October.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> slipped 2.99 points, or 0.02 percent, to 13,245.45 on Wednesday. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> inched up just 0.64 of a point, or 0.04 percent, to 1,428.48. But the Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> shed 8.49 points, or 0.28 percent, to end at 3,013.81.

(Reporting By Francesco Canepa. Editing by Jeremy Gaunt.)

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Pope Benedict offers blessings with his first tweet

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – After weeks of anticipation, Pope Benedict sent his first tweet on Wednesday.

“Dear friends, I am pleased to get in touch with you through Twitter. Thank you for your generous response. I bless all of you from my heart.”

The tweet was sent when the 85-year-old pope tapped on a touch screen at the end of his weekly general audience in the Vatican before thousands of people.

(Reporting By Philip Pullella, editing by Paul Casciato)

Internet News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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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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