The number of UK homes watching TV on black and white sets has dropped below 12,000, according to new stats by the TV licensing body.TV Licensing said that the figure marked a 12% year-on-year drop, with demand for black and white licenses “in steady decline.”At the turn of the century, 212,000 black and white licences were issued. This shrank to 93,000 in 2003, was less than 50,00 in 2006 and now stands at 11,550, according to TV Licensing.“Today’s figures show, even in the digital age, more than 11,000 homes still watch their favourite programmes on black and white televisions. We may be on the brink of losing black and white sets to the history books, but older technology will always be replaced by exciting new ways of watching live,” said TV Licensing spokesperson Stephen Farmer.In the UK a colour TV Licence currently costs £145.50 (€175), while a black and white licence is priced at £49.00. Viewing television without a licence in the UK risks prosecution and a fine of up to £1,000. read more

How to Get There and Where to StayWhen I visited Cuba in 2013, it took me 23 hours to get there from Florida. First, I flew to Cancun. I went to the Cubana airline travel counter to buy a ticket from there to Havana, but the flight was full. I had to buy a ticket to Panama, and then another ticket to Havana.This trip was much easier. I flew from Tampa, Florida to Havana on Southwest Airlines in under an hour. The flight cost me about $200. I booked it right on the Southwest website with my credit card. I even collected frequent flyer points for the flight. None of this was possible five years ago.When you buy your ticket, Southwest will send you a scary email warning you about traveling to Cuba. Don’t worry about this. As long as you adhere to the rules—which are intentionally confusing—you’ll be fine.The first thing you need is a visa. I bought one at a Cuban travel store in West Tampa for $80. You can also get them at most Florida airports that offer flights. The problem is that they sometimes run out, so it’s safer to get one ahead of time. A handwritten Cuban travel visa cost me $80When you arrive in Cuba, you’ll need local currency. They use a two-tier currency system. The locals use pesos. The gringos use CUC, or Cuban convertible pesos. The CUC is par with the U.S. dollar, but you’ll lose 13% on the conversion.Keep in mind that it’s technically illegal to change money outside of a licensed vendor. You’ll find people offering change around the airport, and you might have to take it because U.S. dollars are useless to the taxi drivers. Line of taxis for hire in Old HavanaOnce in town, ask your host for directions to a casa de cambio, where you can change money with your passport. Remember your credit cards, debit cards, ATM cards, checks, and traveler’s checks are all useless in Cuba. Make sure you bring new, crisp, blue $100 bills with you. They want nothing to do with mangy bank notes.During this trip, I stayed at a magnificent B&B called Hotel Le Petit Mistinguett. The owner Pilar is Spanish. She has every room decked out with beautiful art, photographs, rugs, and ashtrays (because you can smoke freely, 24 hours a day). In fact, I had a Montecristo Petit #2 with breakfast every day, which is something I can’t do at home.Pilar’s home is about a 15-minute cab ride from downtown Old Havana. She can tell you how to get there and what it should cost. She’ll also call you a cab and tell the driver where to take you. I had the benefit of a set of wheels since my friend Fadi from the picture above is a local.Getting around is a big hassle in Havana. In fact, everything in Havana is a hassle. If you decide to make the trip, which I strongly encourage, you’ll need to completely abandon any hope of keeping a schedule. Since your U.S. cell phone won’t work, it’s pretty easy to acclimate.The right trip for a beginner is three nights with two full days in Havana. Of course, there’s more to see, but the first trip tackling Havana is enough. Once you know what you’re getting into, you can set up a longer trip in the future. Recommended Link Visit Cuba… Just Don’t Tell Anyone You’re GoingI did take off for Havana the next morning. Fidelity eventually managed to fix the settlement problem that it created. When I got home, I had to visit its local office in person with my passport. Once the compliance department was satisfied that I was physically in the U.S., it unfroze my accounts.I’m still not sure why my mention of traveling to Havana triggered such an overreaction. I have no idea how a terrorist group or rogue regime could possibly benefit from anything I do in my brokerage account.To me, this whole incident is more proof that the U.S. is a full-scale police state. We have hundreds of thousands of mindless enforcers—from TSA officers to overzealous call center supervisors at Fidelity. They follow orders without ever questioning them. They’re as dangerous as Nazi railroad engineers who never questioned why the trains were only full on the outbound trips.Traveling to Cuba is actually not against the law. However, the law is extremely complicated. You can visit, but you can’t stay in hotels, for instance. Americans can only transact business with Cuban people. This means staying in a casa particular (private home) and dining at privately owned restaurants… of which there aren’t many. I’ll give you the details on the B&B I stayed in which qualifies.This was my second trip to Havana. The first was in late 2013. My local Cuban friends told me I missed the boom.After my last trip, cash flooded into Cuba, expecting things to open up. 2015 and 2016 were boom years in Havana. I saw several buildings that were dilapidated on my first trip that were fully refurbished this time.One of them went from ruins to a brand-new, five-star, Kempinski-brand hotel. We stopped in for a cigar and were the only two people in the entire lounge. We were outnumbered by staff five-to-one. E.B. with good Cuban friend Fadi Garcia overlooking Parque Central and The CapitolI attended a friend’s birthday dinner and sat next to a guy named Jose who is president of Spanish bank Banco Sabadell’s Cuban joint venture. He told me that his friend manages the Kempinski property in Old Havana. He said that getting supplies to run a hotel is a nightmare. Sometimes, there’s just no lettuce… for a week. That’s how things go in Cuba.From what I hear, the Cuban military owns some of these new luxury hotels in Old Havana. They negotiate long-term operating leases with companies like Kempinski. Americans can’t stay there because allegedly, it’s a backdoor way of funneling money to the military sector. Day 4 – Departure day. The airport is a nightmare. There’s a 1% chance that your flight leaves on time. Plan to sit around for a while. On the way, have your taxi driver take you by La Casa del Habano, a store in the lobby of the Meliá Hotel on 3rd Avenue, if you need to stock up on cigars. If you can manage it, ask him to drive you through the Cubanacán neighborhood on the way to the airport. Specifically, check out the U.S. Ambassador’s residence. It’s a mansion on five acres. You won’t believe it. The neighborhood was Country Club Park before the revolution. Day 3 – Taxi to the El Morro Castle on the east bank of the entrance to the Havana harbor. Make sure to pay for a round trip. If you don’t, you’ll have a hard time getting back to the city. Once there, walk around the grounds and enjoy the view. On the way back, stop for a drink at the Hotel Nacional de Cuba, which opened in 1930. It’s where Lansky, Luciano, Trafficante, and Costello met in 1946. Have dinner at El Cocinero on Calle 26. The restaurant looks like an old power plant with a brick smokestack, so it’s easy to locate. The food meets Miami or New York City standards. Have your B&B host make a reservation. Recommended Link Day 2 – Taxi to Old Havana. Ask the driver to take you down the Malecón, which hugs the water and passes the strange, empty U.S. Embassy. Visit El Floridita, which has a statue of Hemingway at the end of the bar. Have a cigar at the Kempinski’s second-floor lounge. — Day 1 – Arrive, change money, relax. Announcing The $250,000 Challenge. Do you have the courage to accept it?Here’s the Challenge: This simple stock selection system – to be revealed on June 14th – produced a track record that will show you how to make $250,000 in profits. It’s straightforward, simple, and audacious. Here’s how to accept The $250,000 Challenge right now… Justin’s note: Today, I’m sharing a special piece from Strategic Investor editor E.B. Tucker, who just got back from a trip to Havana, Cuba. Below, E.B. shares what he learned and explains why you should plan a trip there soon. He even lays out a helpful guide for beginners.While this is different from our usual fare, I think you’ll find it enjoyable… By E.B. Tucker, editor, Strategic InvestorLast week, I managed to trigger a U.S. Treasury Department OFAC “complete freeze” of my brokerage account. The push of one button blocked me from any action in all four accounts I hold at Fidelity.OFAC is the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. Its mission is to prevent funds from flowing to any entity under U.S. sanctions. That means terrorist groups and rogue regimes like North Korea, Iran, and Cuba.My problem started when a Fidelity supervisor called me to say they’d made an error in my account the prior day. I participate in a lot of private placement and off-market transactions. Most of the stock I end up with in these deals carry a date restriction. That means I can’t sell it before a certain date. It’s essentially restricted stock.Fidelity has a special department that deals with restricted stock. The day before the U.S. Treasury freeze, I got an email from Fidelity’s restricted stock department saying that it had cleared one of my holdings and I was free to trade it. I sold it later that day.Turns out they jumped the gun. Some of their internal back-office paper shuffling hadn’t finished processing. This isn’t really my problem, but according to the supervisor, I needed to wire them funds equivalent to the value of my trade immediately. They’d hold these cleared funds separate from my account and release them when the paperwork tied to their mistake settled.I sent the wire. It bounced back… internal error was the reason code. When they called to ask for another wire, I mistakenly told the supervisor, “Look, man… I’m taking off for Cuba tomorrow, and I won’t be able to—”He cut me off. — Here’s a List of Companies Doomed by Rising Interest RatesThe Fed has hiked rates six times since 2008 — and during an expected August 1st meeting, we believe they’ll try to do it again. That’s why you’ve got to exit high-debt, interest-rate sensitive stocks now. Check this list of 277 companies to see if you own any and the steps you need to take to secure your retirement. Click here for all the details. Regarding cigars, don’t just buy them anywhere. Fake cigars are big business in Havana. Don’t buy any from people on the street. Make sure you visit a licensed store. I like the shop at the Meliá Hotel. The prices are great and the staff is helpful. If you’re not an aficionado, feel free to buy cheap cigars in the market. They’re actually great. They’re also dirt cheap. The name brands are what people take the time to fake.You can bring back two boxes of cigars (50 cigars total) right now. Make sure you declare them with customs, or you’ll be sent to secondary screening and lose the cigars.I hope you’ll take a trip to Cuba while you can. Things appear to be getting worse. The tail end of Obama’s term offered some hope of opening up, but that’s over now. Things are back to crumbling.While Cuba is a complicated place, life there is simple. That’s why I enjoy visiting.Regards,E.B. Tucker Editor, Strategic InvestorJustin’s note: E.B. says “What happens away from the desk has a big effect on the quality of your thinking. It’s what separates the excellent from the average…” It’s why he writes about his travels every month—and other stories outside the stock market—at the end of every Strategic Investor issue.As a subscriber to Strategic Investor, you’ll also have access to E.B.’s top recommendations… from world-class companies trading at bargain prices to the tiny, explosive resource speculations most people are completely overlooking right now. You can take a risk-free trial right here.In Case You Missed It…Who is the “Billionaire Broker”?For years, he was a high-profile Wall Street executive. He handled massive trades for billionaires and sovereign wealth funds. But now, he’s left all that behind.On Thursday, he’ll reveal one of Wall Street’s best-kept secrets: why the insiders always seem to be in the right place at the right time just before a stock soars. And he’ll show how you can be, too. Details here. read more

Updated at 1 p.m. ETAmid one of the largest measles outbreaks in the U.S. in recent history, vaccines are on the minds of many Americans.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported this week that the number of measles cases this year has climbed to 839 in 23 states, affecting mostly unvaccinated people. Most people in the U.S. are vaccinated against measles when they’re children as part of the routine immunizations they get in primary care.We’re used to kids needing lots of shots to ward off lots of illnesses, but what about adults? The CDC recommends that adults get multiple vaccines for conditions ranging from tetanus to influenza to cervical cancer. The shots can be a bit trickier to keep track of, as many adults go to the doctor less frequently than kids do, but those vaccinations are equally important for staying healthy.”Many adults are not aware of what vaccines they actually need,” says Dr. Pamela Rockwell, an associate professor of family medicine at the University of Michigan who works with the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. “That is also balanced by physician unawareness of what vaccines they should be recommending. It’s gotten very complicated, and it is difficult to keep up with all the changes.”So we’re here to answer some common questions about adult vaccines. Click on each topic to go to that section.1. Measles 2. Shingles 3. Tetanus 4. Vaccines during pregnancy 5. Before meeting a newborn baby 6. Before visiting the elderly 7. Chickenpox 8. Hepatitis B, A and C 9. HPV I was vaccinated against measles as a child, but the measles outbreak makes me worry that I’m no longer immune. Do I need to be revaccinated as an adult? If you received the standard two doses of the modern measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine, you’re all set. You shouldn’t need to be revaccinated, because you’re considered immune for life.And if you were born before 1957, doctors assume you were exposed to measles as a child and are already immune.However, a version of the vaccine produced in the mid-to-late 1960s wasn’t as effective as the current regimen, so if you were vaccinated before 1968, you should talk to your doctor about whether you need another shot. If you were born after 1957 but for some reason never got immunized, you should also get the MMR vaccine. I’ve heard there’s an effective vaccine for shingles, but my doctor’s office doesn’t have it and it’s out of stock at the pharmacy. What’s going on? Shingrix is a two-dose vaccine that is upward of 95 percent effective at preventing shingles, a painful rash that tends to affect older adults and immunocompromised people. The vaccine was approved in 2017 and requires two injections. It’s more effective than Zostavax, an older shingles vaccine, so doctors will recommend Shingrix over Zostavax to most patients over age 50.There has been a shortage of Shingrix for almost as long as it has been available because demand for the vaccine has outpaced the supply. Its manufacturer, GlaxoSmithKline, told the CDC that it’s working to step up its production schedule. But because every dose of Shingrix needs to undergo safety checks, GSK expects that shortages will continue at least through the end of the year.”The demand was so great they literally couldn’t keep up,” Rockwell says.If you get the first dose, do your best to get the second one within two to six months. If your local pharmacies don’t have Shingrix in stock, don’t worry — you can use the HealthMap Vaccine Finder to find out where it is available. If you wait more than six months to get the second dose, you don’t need to repeat the first one, but it’s possible the vaccine won’t be quite as effective in preventing shingles. What’s the deal with tetanus shots? How often do I need them? Tetanus is a life-threatening disease of the nervous system that’s caused by a toxin-producing bacterium usually found in soil. It can be prevented by a series of five childhood shots, including a booster between ages 11 and 12. Adults then need a booster shot every 10 years. It can be hard to keep track of this if you move or change doctors, so make a note in your calendar and don’t be afraid to ask about it. If you get it early or a year or two late, it isn’t harmful.If you ever have an injury that might expose you to tetanus — such as stepping on a nail — your doctor will ask when your latest tetanus booster was and may give you another booster shot on the spot. If you’re not up to date on your tetanus vaccines, you may need additional treatment to prevent the disease.Childhood tetanus shots are combined with a vaccine for diphtheria, a dangerous infection that can affect kids, and one for pertussis, which is known as whooping cough. Your every-10-year tetanus and diphtheria boosters won’t include pertussis, unless you’re pregnant. But when you turn 65, you should again get the shot that protects against all three, which is known as Tdap. I’m thinking about having a baby. What vaccines do I need? Make sure you and everyone around you is up to date on standard childhood and adolescent vaccines, including pertussis, since babies are vulnerable to this disease. You should also get a dose of Tdap during prenatal care, since it’s safe in pregnancy.Everyone also should get an annual flu shot, because pregnant women, who have weakened immune systems, are particularly susceptible to influenza and can get very sick or die from an infection.Even if you got all the recommended vaccines as a kid, it’s possible your immunity has waned when it comes to some of the vaccine-preventable diseases that can be passed from mom to baby. This is why prenatal doctors and midwives check to make sure pregnant women are immune to hepatitis B, varicella (chickenpox) and rubella.If you find out you’re not immune before you get pregnant, you should get vaccinated again. The hepatitis B vaccine is safe during pregnancy. But the varicella and MMR (which includes rubella protection) vaccines are not safe for pregnant patients, so your doctor is likely to recommend that you get them after delivery. I’m planning to visit my newborn nephew. What vaccines do I need? If you’ve gotten all your recommended vaccines and boosters, you’re almost ready to meet the baby. Babies, like pregnant women, have weak immune systems, so an annual flu shot is important before interacting with a newborn. Adults over 65 should have gotten a pertussis booster (included in the Tdap shot). What about if I’m visiting my hospitalized, elderly grandmother? Older, hospitalized adults are similar to newborns in that their immune systems are weak and particularly vulnerable to infections. Follow the same advice as if you’re going to meet a new baby. I was born before the varicella (chickenpox) vaccine existed. Do I need it now?The varicella vaccine was approved in 1995, so if you were born before then, there’s a good chance you weren’t vaccinated.But even if you weren’t vaccinated, you’re probably already immune because there’s a high likelihood you’ve had chickenpox. The CDC says adults born before 1980 don’t need the vaccine and don’t need testing to prove their immunity.There are some occasions when doctors will want to order blood tests to make sure their patients are actually immune to varicella — for pregnant women and health care workers, for example. If you get tested and the blood test shows you’re still susceptible, your doctor will recommend that you get the vaccine. But because the vaccine is so effective and the blood test isn’t always accurate, getting tested isn’t necessary for everyone. What do I need to know about all the different hepatitis shots? Hepatitis means inflammation of the liver, but when we’re talking about vaccines, we’re referring to several types of viruses that infect liver cells and can cause lots of different and potentially life-threatening problems, ranging from diarrhea to liver failure to cancer. Routine childhood immunizations include vaccines for hepatitis A and hepatitis B, meaning virtually all kids in the U.S. are vaccinated against them.Hepatitis B is transmitted through blood or sex. A vaccine for it has been available since the 1980s, but it’s common for immunity to hepatitis B to decrease over time. If you work in health care or are thinking about becoming pregnant, your doctor might order a blood test that shows if you’re still immune. If you’re not, your doctor may recommend you get revaccinated as an adult.Hepatitis A is transmitted through the fecal-oral route, meaning that if you eat something that has been contaminated with the feces of an infected person, you can get it. The vaccine for hepatitis A was approved in 1995. If you’re not yet vaccinated and you fall into one of a few groups — including if you’re a man who has sex with other men, you’re traveling to a country where the virus is endemic, you live with a person who has had hepatitis A — you should get the shots.Hepatitis C is another common viral infection that affects the liver. It’s so common, in fact, that doctors routinely test people born between 1945 and 1965 for the virus. Unfortunately, there’s no vaccine available for it, but it can be treated with an oral medication. If you haven’t been screened for it, ask your doctor if you need to be. Who should get the HPV vaccine? What’s it for? This is essentially a cancer vaccine.The Food and Drug Administration initially approved the HPV vaccine for girls and young women in the early 2000s, but the range of people who should get it has since grown. The FDA recently approved its use for people up to age 45. FDA approval is different from CDC guidelines, however. The CDC still officially recommends that both boys and girls get their first shot by 11 or 12, up until age 26 for women and 21 for men. The CDC adds that men up to age 26 “may be vaccinated” based on a consult with a doctor. If you’re older than 26 and haven’t been vaccinated, again, talk to your doctor about whether you need it.HPV stands for the human papillomaviruses, which cause a wide variety of conditions, ranging from common warts on hands and feet to cervical and anal cancer. The vaccine helps prevent infection from certain types of HPV, including the strains that are the most likely to cause cancer.It’s a series of two shots, six to 12 months apart, which is a change from when the vaccine was first approved — it used to require three shots. Children who are late getting the HPV vaccine and receive their first dose after age 15 will still need three doses.And there’s more.You may also need vaccines for conditions such as pneumonia or meningitis. Ask your doctor. What your doctor recommends will depend on your medical history and your risk factors, so don’t be afraid to speak up at your next appointment. You can use this CDC quiz to see what might be right for you.Mara Gordon is a family physician in Washington, D.C., and a health and media fellow at NPR and Georgetown University School of Medicine. Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. read more