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| Bolivia says re-admitted to U.N. drug convention on its own terms Friday, Jan 11, 2013 07:30 PM PST  LA PAZ (Reuters) - Bolivia on Friday said it had been re-admitted to the U.N. anti-narcotics convention after persuading member states to recognize the right of its indigenous people to chew raw coca leaf, which is used in making cocaine. President Evo Morales had faced opposition from Washington in his campaign against the classification of coca as an illicit drug. "The coca leaf has accompanied indigenous peoples for 6,000 years," said Dionisio Nunez, Bolivia's deputy minister of coca and integrated development. "Coca leaf was never used to hurt people. It was used as medicine. ... Full Story | Top |
| Canadian PM agrees to pay more heed to native demands Friday, Jan 11, 2013 05:24 PM PST  OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper agreed in a meeting with native leaders on Friday to pay more attention to their demands, trying to mollify an aboriginal protest movement that has threatened to blockade roads and railways across the country. Faced with a seemingly intractable situation that has confronted successive governments, Harper agreed to a high-level dialogue with the natives and to have his office take increased responsibility for their issues, Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Judge keeps Planned Parenthood out of Texas program Friday, Jan 11, 2013 04:50 PM PST AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - A Texas judge on Friday denied a Planned Parenthood request to be allowed to offer health services to low-income women through a state program. Texas now excludes abortion providers and affiliates from the program and Planned Parenthood has been fighting to become a provider again. State District Judge Stephen Yelenosky, who issued a temporary ruling in favor of Planned Parenthood in November, said on Friday it was unlikely Planned Parenthood would succeed at trial. ... Full Story | Top |
| Senior Obama aide DeParle leaving White House: source Friday, Jan 11, 2013 03:58 PM PST  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nancy-Anne DeParle, a top aide to President Barack Obama, is leaving the White House, a source familiar with the matter said on Friday, marking the latest departure of a woman from a senior post in the administration. DeParle, 56, a White House deputy chief of staff, was Obama's point person on his signature healthcare overhaul in 2010. She was also a healthcare adviser to former President Bill Clinton and headed the agency that administers Medicare and Medicaid from 1997-2000. DeParle's departure is for personal reasons after nearly four years at the White House. ... Full Story | Top |
| Canada natives block Harper's office, threaten unrest Friday, Jan 11, 2013 03:24 PM PST OTTAWA (Reuters) - Aboriginal protesters blocked the main entrance to a building where Canada's prime minister was preparing to meet some native leaders on Friday, highlighting a deep divide within the country's First Nations on how to push Ottawa to heed their demands. The noisy blockade, which lasted about an hour, ended just before Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his aides met with about 20 native chiefs, even as other leaders opted to boycott the session. ... Full Story | Top |
| Judge keeps Planned Parenthood out of Texas health program Friday, Jan 11, 2013 03:12 PM PST AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - A Texas judge on Friday denied a Planned Parenthood request to be allowed to offer health services to low income women under a state program. Texas decided to enforce a law already on the books that bars funding for abortion providers and affiliates, and Planned Parenthood has been fighting its exclusion. State District Judge Stephen Yelenosky said it was unlikely that Planned Parenthood would succeed at trial, though a trial may still occur. The Women's Health Program provides family planning services and preventive health care. ... Full Story | Top |
| Flu reaches epidemic level in U.S., says CDC Friday, Jan 11, 2013 02:57 PM PST  (Reuters) - Influenza has officially reached epidemic proportions in the United States, with 7.3 percent of deaths last week caused by pneumonia and the flu, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday. The early start and fast spread of flu this season - especially after 2011-2012's very mild outbreak - has overwhelmed doctors' offices and hospitals, forcing some patients to wait through the night to be seen in emergency departments. Nine of the 10 U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Venezuela's Maduro to visit Chavez again in Cuba Friday, Jan 11, 2013 02:23 PM PST  CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's Vice President Nicolas Maduro will fly to Cuba on Friday to visit cancer-stricken Hugo Chavez, a month after the socialist leader underwent his fourth operation in 18 months. The 58-year-old president has neither been seen nor heard from since the surgery, and he has suffered multiple post-operative complications including a severe lung infection. He missed his own inauguration on Thursday, but the Supreme Court said he could be sworn in later - in theory meaning he could remain in office for weeks or months from a Havana hospital. ... Full Story | Top |
| Supreme Court to review free speech of HIV/AIDS groups Friday, Jan 11, 2013 02:20 PM PST  (Reuters) - The Supreme Court agreed to consider whether the government can require groups that receive federal funding for overseas HIV/AIDS programs to have explicit policies that oppose prostitution and sex trafficking. The case is one of six that the court on Friday agreed to hear in its current term, with oral arguments most likely in April. Among the other cases is one examining the reach of the court's landmark 1966 Miranda v. Arizona decision on the right to remain silent when questioned by the police. ... Full Story | Top |
| Patients rarely told about medication errors Friday, Jan 11, 2013 01:58 PM PST NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Patients and their families are rarely told when hospitals make mistakes with their medicines, according to a new study. Most medication mistakes did not harm patients, the researchers found, but those that did were more likely to happen in intensive care units (ICUs). And ICU patients and families were less likely to be told about errors than patients in other hospital units. "For the most part, our findings were in keeping with what the existing literature tells us about the where and how of medication errors in a hospital," wrote Dr. ... Full Story | Top |
| France will ask EU to curb use of newer birth control pills Friday, Jan 11, 2013 01:51 PM PST PARIS (Reuters) - French health authorities will ask the European Union to restrict the use of newer types of contraceptive pills over concerns they might carry health risks. France's health minister Marisol Touraine said on Friday the newer pills, which have caught on because they reduce side effects from earlier versions such as weight gain and acne, should only be prescribed by specialist doctors to women who cannot use other types of contraception. ... Full Story | Top |
| Massachusetts governor seeks to revamp retiree health care Friday, Jan 11, 2013 01:30 PM PST  (Reuters) - Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick said on Friday that he will file legislation to overhaul benefits for public retirees, including a proposal to double the number of years an employee would have to serve to be eligible. The bill would require most current employees of the state and its cities, towns and school districts to work for 20 years instead of 10 years to become eligible for health benefits when they retire. Retirees would also have to pay a higher percentage of their health insurance premiums, leaving the employer responsible for a smaller share. ... Full Story | Top |
| Horses to the rescue of Korea's Internet-addicted teens Friday, Jan 11, 2013 01:24 PM PST  INCHEON, South Korea (Reuters) - Four months ago, the parents of a teenage South Korean girl were at their wits' end over her addiction to surfing the Internet for pornography. But now, thanks to a horse riding therapy program, their daughter appears to be back in control of her life. In South Korea, the world's most wired country and where almost two-thirds of the population owns a smartphone, addiction to the Internet has become a major problem. Government data says 680,000 children aged between 10 and 19 are Internet addicts, or around 10 percent of the age group. ... Full Story | Top |
| Almost one in six couples face infertility: study Friday, Jan 11, 2013 01:01 PM PST NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Close to one in six U.S. couples don't get pregnant despite a year of trying - after which doctors typically recommend evaluation for infertility, according to a new study. Those data are based on a nationally-representative survey of more than 7,600 women - including 288 who were trying to become pregnant - but don't provide an explanation for what may be causing the couples' infertility. Researchers analyzed information from in-person and computer interviews conducted across the country in 2002 with women ages 15 through 44. ... Full Story | Top |
| EMS strategy change gets heart patients faster care Friday, Jan 11, 2013 01:00 PM PST NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People with a certain type of heart attack get better care when paramedics take them directly to a medical center that can perform stent procedures - even if it's not the closest hospital, according to new research from North Carolina. In a so-called ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction, or STEMI, blood is blocked for an extended period of time and a patient needs artery-opening surgery as quickly as possible - ideally within two hours or less. ... Full Story | Top |
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