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| India's Rajasthan state bars entry of foreign supermarkets Friday, Jan 31, 2014 11:20 PM PST  The government of India's western state of Rajasthan has barred foreign direct investment in the multi-brand retail sector, newspapers said, becoming the second state to block foreign supermarkets from setting up shop. Last month, the newly-elected Aam Aadmi (Common Man) Party government in the capital, New Delhi barred foreign supermarkets, opposing the efforts of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to attract overseas investment and revive the economy. Singh had thrown open the country's $500-billion retail industry to foreign investors late in 2012, allowing companies such as Wal-Mart Stores and TESCO Plc to own majority stakes in Indian chains for the first time. So far, fewer than half of India's 28 states have agreed to roll out the policy. Full Story | Top |
| Republicans, eyeing elections, paper over divisions Friday, Jan 31, 2014 10:03 PM PST  By Susan Cornwell and Richard Cowan CAMBRIDGE, Maryland (Reuters) - Republican lawmakers, hoping to ride the disastrous rollout of President Barack Obama's healthcare law to victory in the November congressional elections, are trying to put internal fights behind them and unify around a proposed Obamacare replacement. During a two-day retreat on Maryland's frozen eastern shore, Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives also sought to shed the image they acquired during last October's government shutdown as a cantankerous opposition party. The smaller-government Tea Party faction and more moderate "establishment" House Republicans are linking arms around a strategy for the first time since they took control of the chamber in early 2011 - if all goes according to plans hatched during the closed-door retreat 85 miles east of Washington. Republicans have seized on "Obamacare" as a way of turning around their image. Full Story | Top |
| Lawyers to renew push for reporter's sources in Colorado shooting case Friday, Jan 31, 2014 08:01 PM PST  By Keith Coffman DENVER (Reuters) - An attorney for accused Colorado movie theater gunman James Holmes said on Friday that the defense will petition the U.S. Supreme Court to force a reporter to divulge confidential sources she used for a story about the massacre. The move comes in response to a ruling in December by the New York State Court of Appeals that a state shield law for journalists protected the New York-based reporter for Fox News, Jana Winter, from revealing her confidential sources. Holmes has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, and prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty if he is convicted. Days after the massacre, Fox News published an online story from Winter that said a notebook Holmes sent to a psychiatrist contained his plans to commit mass murder. Full Story | Top |
| California sees high rate of flu deaths in unusually severe season Friday, Jan 31, 2014 06:10 PM PST By Sharon Bernstein SACRAMENTO, California (Reuters) - An unusually severe flu season has claimed the lives of at least 147 young and middle-aged people in California - 10 times the number killed by influenza viruses by the same time last year, public health officials said on Friday. The California deaths were caused by a strain of the influenza virus that is sending sufferers across the nation to the doctor for flu-like symptoms at rates that are 50 percent higher than normal, said Lyn Finelli, head of the influenza surveillance and outbreak response team at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "That's way above the norm for flu," Finelli said. "It tells us we're still in the middle of flu season, and in the Northeast and California it's going up, up, up." The flu strain responsible for the California deaths, H1N1, also predominates nationwide this year. Full Story | Top |
| California college to offer non-approved meningitis vaccine Friday, Jan 31, 2014 05:44 PM PST By Sharon Bernstein SACRAMENTO, California (Reuters) - Students at a California public university where meningococcal disease broke out in the fall will be offered a vaccine not approved for use in the United States, public health officials said on Friday. The outbreak, which resulted in a student having his feet amputated, is similar to the one that struck eight students at Princeton University in New Jersey, where students won approval to use the same foreign vaccine in the fall. Bexsero, made by the Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis AG, is the only vaccine to protect against serotype B of the meningococcal bacteria, which can attack the nervous system as meningitis or cause a deadly blood condition. California health officials sought access to the vaccine for the Santa Barbara students in December amid renewed concern about meningococcal disease, which is highly contagious among people who live in close quarters, such as college students. Full Story | Top |
| Two Obamacare exchanges see more health insurer competition Friday, Jan 31, 2014 05:36 PM PST  By David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - At least two U.S. states running their own Obamacare health insurance exchanges expect new insurers to enter their marketplaces and bolster competition in 2015, officials said on Friday. Kynect, which is Kentucky's marketplace, and the Rhode Island Health Benefits Exchange have had separate talks about 2015 with health insurers that could opt to join the online marketplaces set up under President Barack Obama's healthcare reform law. Kentucky also expects an expansion of physician networks available within current plans. Increased competition would increase consumer choices and tend to put downward pressure on health insurance cost trends. Full Story | Top |
| Bieber friend rapper Lil Za charged with drug possession Friday, Jan 31, 2014 05:07 PM PST A friend of Justin Bieber's has been charged with drug crimes in connection with a raid on the teen pop star's home this month, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office said on Friday. Xavier Smith, 20, better known as rapper Lil Za, was charged with possession of MDMA and oxycodone and vandalizing the Los Angeles County Sheriff's jail where he was held, said Ricardo Santiago, a spokesman for the district attorney. Smith was arrested on January 14 during a Sheriff's Department raid on Bieber's home in Calabasas, about 30 miles northeast of Los Angeles. He is due to be arraigned in Los Angeles on February 4. Full Story | Top |
| Ill cruise passengers 'felt like prisoners' ahead of Texas docking Friday, Jan 31, 2014 04:28 PM PST By Andrea Lorenz HOUSTON (Reuters) - Several ill passengers who disembarked from a Princess Cruises ship in Houston on Friday said they felt like prisoners forced to their cabins for days when the vessel suffered the second outbreak of a stomach illness to hit a cruise ship in a week. It was terrible," passenger Steve Juneau told local ABC broadcaster KTRK. Julie Benson, a spokeswoman for the cruise line, said it is policy to ask passengers suffering from stomach and digestive problems to stay in their rooms to prevent problems from becoming worse. Those in cabins are provided with room service. Full Story | Top |
| All alcohol, even wine, raises risk of gout flare-ups: study Friday, Jan 31, 2014 02:15 PM PST By Ronnie Cohen NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Bad news for gout sufferers who enjoy drinking the fruit of the vine - new research finds that all types of alcohol, even previously exempt wine, can bring on attacks of the painful condition. "I don't want to sound too dogmatic and say, 'You must stop drinking,'" lead author Dr. Tuhina Neogi told Reuters Health. Gout is a potentially debilitating form of arthritis that afflicts more than 8 million American adults, and the number is rising, Neogi's team writes in The American Journal of Medicine. A link between intoxicating beverages and gout has been suspected since ancient times. Full Story | Top |
| Syria talks end first round, government not committed to return Friday, Jan 31, 2014 02:06 PM PST By Khaled Yacoub Oweis and Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - A contentious week-long first round of Syrian peace talks ended on Friday with no progress towards ending the civil war and the government delegation unable to say whether it will return for the next round in 10 days. Darkening the atmosphere further, the United States and Russia clashed over the pace of Syria's handover of chemical arms for destruction. Washington accused Damascus of foot-dragging that put the plan weeks behind schedule, and Moscow - President Bashar al-Assad's big power ally - rejected this. The Obama administration said it was working with partners to ratchet up pressure on Syria to accelerate the process, but stopped short of threatening any action if Damascus did not get the chemical weapons deliveries back on track. Full Story | Top |
| Goodell confident concussion settlement will be approved Friday, Jan 31, 2014 01:37 PM PST By Steve Keating NEW YORK (Reuters) - NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said on Friday he is confident the proposed concussion settlement between the league and players will be approved despite a U.S. judge's hesitation to sign off on the deal. The $760 million settlement between the National Football League and thousands of former players, who contend the league downplayed the risk of concussions, was rejected earlier this month by U.S. District Judge Anita Brody who was worried it might not be enough to pay all of the affected players. Brody called on the NFL and plaintiffs to submit documentation that they believed showed the money set aside was adequate to meet the potential need. "She (Brody) is taking her time making sure the settlement that was agreed to between the plaintiffs and our attorneys...is going to work the way we intend it to work," Goodell told a large group of reporters during his annual state of the league address ahead of Sunday's Super Bowl between the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks. Full Story | Top |
| NFL-Goodell confident concussion settlement will be approved Friday, Jan 31, 2014 01:33 PM PST By Steve Keating NEW YORK, Jan 31 (Reuters) - NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said on Friday he is confident the proposed concussion settlement between the league and players will be approved despite a U.S. judge's hesitation to sign off on the deal. The $760 million settlement between the National Football League and thousands of former players, who contend the league downplayed the risk of concussions, was rejected earlier this month by U.S. District Judge Anita Brody who was worried it might not be enough to pay all of the affected players. Brody called on the NFL and plaintiffs to submit documentation that they believed showed the money set aside was adequate to meet the potential need. "She (Brody) is taking her time making sure the settlement that was agreed to between the plaintiffs and our attorneys...is going to work the way we intend it to work," Goodell told a large group of reporters during his annual state of the league address ahead of Sunday's Super Bowl between the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks. Full Story | Top |
| British nuclear plant says radiation alert caused by natural radon gas Friday, Jan 31, 2014 12:56 PM PST  By Belinda Goldsmith SELLAFIELD, England (Reuters) - Sellafield, the largest nuclear site in Europe, declared an alert on Friday after discovering higher than usual levels of radioactivity, but later called it off, saying naturally occurring radon gas had triggered the alarm. The fuel reprocessing plant in northwest England, the site of Britain's worst nuclear accident in 1957 and once the producer of plutonium for nuclear bombs, told non-essential staff to stay away after the abnormality was detected overnight. Before midday, the operating company, Sellafield Ltd, said it had found that radon, a naturally occurring radioactive gas that comes from rocks and soil, was the cause. Full Story | Top |
| Lawyers argue evidence in Colorado movie theater shooting case Friday, Jan 31, 2014 12:40 PM PST By Keith Coffman DENVER (Reuters) - Attorneys for accused Colorado movie theater gunman James Holmes questioned an FBI forensic examiner in court on Friday as they sought to have expert crime scene reconstruction testimony excluded from the upcoming trial. Holmes has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, and prosecutors said they will seek the death penalty if he is convicted. The hearing in Arapahoe County District Court on Friday centers on proposed testimony by crime scene experts who prosecutors intend to call at trial. Defense lawyers object to crime scene reconstruction testimony through expert witnesses, on the grounds that it is unreliable, and on Friday cross-examined FBI forensic examiner Brett Mills over his findings. Full Story | Top |
| Anti-VEGF drugs making a difference in vision, longterm care Friday, Jan 31, 2014 12:15 PM PST Two Duke University economists looked at Medicare beneficiaries with so-called "wet" macular degeneration and found those diagnosed after the introduction of anti-VEGF drugs were less likely to go blind and less likely to move into long-term care. "At last we have found a way of managing this horrible and very common disease among the oldest of the old," said Frank Sloan, who led the new study. Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the number one cause of blindness in the U.S. affecting older adults, usually after age 65. Most AMD patients have the dry form of the disease, but about 10 percent have wet AMD, which progresses more quickly than the dry form. Full Story | Top |
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