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| Insight: Starvation in Syria: a war tactic Tuesday, Oct 29, 2013 11:53 PM PDT  DAMASCUS (Reuters) - One Syrian security official called it the "Starvation Until Submission Campaign", blocking food and medicine from entering and people from leaving besieged areas of Syria. Forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have used partial sieges to root out rebel forces from residential areas during the civil war. But a recent tightening of blockades around areas near the capital is causing starvation and death, residents and medical staff say. ... Full Story | Top |
| Japan Fukushima panel proposals include Tepco breakup: source Tuesday, Oct 29, 2013 10:45 PM PDT  TOKYO (Reuters) - A Japanese ruling party panel will recommend proposals for handling the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant that include breaking up the facility's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co, a person familiar with the process said on Wednesday. The task force of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party favors reorganizing Tokyo Electric, known as Tepco, by creating a unit within the company to handle the key functions of decommissioning the reactors and cleaning up massive amounts of toxic water, the source told Reuters. ... Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: Merck works toward bringing Zilmax back to the U.S., Canada market Tuesday, Oct 29, 2013 07:48 PM PDT  By P.J. Huffstutter CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. drugmaker Merck & Co told Reuters on Tuesday that it plans to bring its Zilmax animal feed additive back for sale in the United States and Canada, after it completes an audit of how the muscle-building cattle feed product is used in the agriculture sector. A spokeswoman for the company's Merck Animal Health unit said that while "it is too early to speculate on when we will resume sales for Zilmax in the U.S. and Canada," Merck was pushing forward with its quality control program to ensure the weight-adding drug is being properly used. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. Obamacare data hub 'experiencing an outage', Connecticut says Tuesday, Oct 29, 2013 07:17 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government's Obamacare data hub was "experiencing an outage" on Tuesday evening, the Connecticut state healthcare exchange, "Access Health CT", announced. It was the second such outage in three days. The data hub operator, Verizon, said it was doing maintenance on the system. "Access Health CT was informed by CMS (Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services) that the Federal Data Services Hub is currently experiencing an outage," a statement from the Connecticut state exchange said. A similar outage on Sunday halted online enrollment on the federal Healthcare. ... Full Story | Top |
| In Boston speech, Obama seeks to reset ideas about his health law Tuesday, Oct 29, 2013 06:10 PM PDT  By Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - After four rocky weeks while his landmark health insurance law has been disparaged as poorly managed, expensive and disappointing, President Barack Obama will travel to Boston on Wednesday to try to reset expectations about Obamacare. Obama is scheduled to deliver a speech in 271-year-old Faneuil Hall, where some of the seeds of the American revolution took root - and where on April 12, 2006, the start of another historic shift began. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: On healthcare, spying, questions on what Obama knew and when Tuesday, Oct 29, 2013 05:48 PM PDT  By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - To his critics, President Barack Obama often has seemed to be conveniently distant when trouble has hit his administration. But on Tuesday, Obama was hit with a public-relations crisis that struck at the core of his domestic and foreign policy - one that raised questions about whether he had misled Americans on his signature healthcare overhaul, and whether he really was unaware of the U.S. government's alleged spying on its allies. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama under fire as Americans lose prior health plans Tuesday, Oct 29, 2013 05:43 PM PDT  By Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama is facing fresh attacks for his pledge that Americans who like their current healthcare plans can keep them under Obamacare after reports that thousands of Americans facing cancellation notices. Accusations that the pledge was misleading are potentially a deeper threat to Obama than the website glitches that have plagued Healthcare.gov since its October 1 launch and allowed only a trickle of people to sign up on new federal insurance exchanges. ... Full Story | Top |
| China's anti-pollution drive risks running out of gas Tuesday, Oct 29, 2013 05:39 PM PDT  By Adam Rose and David Stanway BEIJING (Reuters) - A chronic shortage of natural gas is hurting China's plan to move away from burning coal to heat homes and offices, raising the prospect of more choking air pollution this winter and beyond. The problem is worst in northern China, where air pollution mainly caused by decades of reliance on coal has lowered life expectancy by an estimated 5.5 years compared to the south, Chinese and international researchers said in July. ... Full Story | Top |
| Connecticut says Obamacare data hub 'experiencing an outage' Tuesday, Oct 29, 2013 05:28 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Connecticut's healthcare exchange "Access Health CT" said the U.S. government's Obamacare data hub was 'experiencing an outage' on Tuesday evening, the second time in three days. "Access Health CT was informed by CMS (Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services) that the Federal Data Services Hub is currently experiencing an outage," a statement from the state exchange said. A similar outage on Sunday also halted online enrollment on the federal Healthcare.gov website. (Reporting By Susan Cornwell; Editing by Sandra Maler) Full Story | Top |
| San Francisco joins sugary drinks fray with tax proposal Tuesday, Oct 29, 2013 04:16 PM PDT By Laila Kearney SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - San Francisco may become the latest U.S. city to try to curb the consumption of sugary drinks with a proposed ballot measure to impose a tax on beverages seen as a culprit in rising rates of childhood obesity and diabetes. Supervisor Scott Wiener on Tuesday formally proposed asking voters in November 2014 to impose a 2-cents-per-ounce tax on soda and other drinks with added sugar sold in the famously liberal northern California city. No other U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| Oklahoma high court says drug-induced abortion law unconstitutional Tuesday, Oct 29, 2013 03:49 PM PDT By Heide Brandes OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that a state law meant to restrict the use of abortion-inducing drugs instead bans them altogether, rendering the law unconstitutional and paving the way for the measure to reach the U.S. Supreme Court. The state had argued that the 2011 law was written to force abortion providers to use federal guidelines when administering the RU-486 drug, the so-called "abortion pill. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. passes up firms' offers to help healthcare website: committee Tuesday, Oct 29, 2013 03:30 PM PDT  By Susan Cornwell WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration appears to have passed up offers from Amazon and Microsoft to help fix the federal government's troubled healthcare enrollment website, according to documents released on Tuesday by a Republican-led congressional investigating committee. An October 7 inquiry from Amazon's subsidiary Amazon Web Services Inc. ... Full Story | Top |
| Pfizer third-quarter profit beats estimates, oncology drugs shine Tuesday, Oct 29, 2013 02:44 PM PDT  By Ransdell Pierson (Reuters) - Pfizer Inc reported better-than-expected third-quarter earnings on Tuesday, helped by cuts in costs and growing sales of cancer medicines approved over the past two years. The largest U.S. drugmaker, whose shares rose 1.7 percent, earned $2.59 billion, or 39 cents per share. That compared with $3.21 billion, or 43 cents per share, in last year's quarter. Excluding special charges of $572 million related to restructurings, asset writedowns and other costs, Pfizer earned 58 cents per share. ... Full Story | Top |
| Florida death row inmates challenge execution drug Tuesday, Oct 29, 2013 02:34 PM PDT MIAMI (Reuters) - Seven Florida death row inmates on Tuesday sued the state, saying a new three-step lethal injection procedure could inflict "cruel and unusual punishment" and called on a court to halt executions until the procedure is reviewed. Florida is the latest of several states facing a shortage of pentobarbital, a barbiturate that has long been the first of three drugs administered in executions. Supplies of pentobarbital have fallen because its manufacturer has clamped down on sales of the drug for executions, prison officials said. ... Full Story | Top |
| In new U.S. budget talks, Republican proposal has flipped the script Tuesday, Oct 29, 2013 02:15 PM PDT  By Andy Sullivan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republicans in the Congress are taking a new tack in the budget wars that have convulsed Washington for the past three years: They want to soak the rich, or at least get them a little damp. As Democrats and Republicans kick off another round of budget talks on Wednesday, a proposal by House of Representatives Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan appears to have flipped the usual script. ... Full Story | Top |
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