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| Elderly, young to leave area near Australian mine fire burning for 3 weeks Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 11:39 PM PST Children, the elderly and pregnant women have been urged to leave a small Australian town because of health concerns from a fire that has been burning at a nearby coal mine for almost three weeks. Particulate pollution, which can damage the lungs and respiratory system, has been measured at more than 10 times the recommended daily threshold in the area around the fire near South Morwell, about 150 km (95 miles) east of the Victoria state capital of Melbourne. The fire at the nearby Hazelwood coal mine, co-owned by GDF SUEZ Australian Energy and Mitsui & Co Ltd, has been burning since February 9. State officials said on Friday that the elderly, young, pregnant women and those with respiratory problems should consider leaving the area because of the threat posed by smoke and ash. Full Story | Top |
| Chronically ill facing high drugs costs under U.S. health law Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 10:11 PM PST By David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's ban on discriminatory health insurance practices against the sick has not stopped insurers from increasing up-front charges for the expensive drugs needed to control chronic illnesses from leukemia to multiple sclerosis. Actuarial studies of plans sold through health insurance marketplaces in some states found that many make consumers responsible for as much as 50 percent of the price of specialty drugs, which can cost $8,000 or more a month. Long before the U.S. Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, became law in 2010, insurers began replacing fixed-dollar co-payments for the drugs with co-insurance rates that require consumers to pay a percentage of the cost of specialty medicines. Therefore, any discussion of prescription drug coverage must also include a focus on the direct link between rising prescription drug prices and consumer cost sharing," said Clare Krusing, spokeswoman for America's Health Insurance Plans, a trade and lobbying group. Full Story | Top |
| As Hillary Clinton soars, questions shadow lucrative speaking tour Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 10:10 PM PST  By Gabriel Debenedetti CORAL GABLES, Florida (Reuters) - Hillary Clinton has not announced whether she's running for president in 2016. But when she and the road show that inevitably follows her arrived at the University of Miami, an official declaration seemed a mere formality. In a scene with all the makings of a campaign appearance, a line of Miami students waiting to get into Clinton's speech snaked around the university's arena hours before her arrival on Wednesday. When she arrived, it was with the heavy protection she retains as a former secretary of state and the wife of a former president, Bill Clinton. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. House Republican unity tested on Obamacare alternative Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 10:08 PM PST  By Richard Cowan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A month after Republicans rallied around offering an alternative to "Obamacare" in an election-year move to broaden their appeal to voters, divisions are surfacing over the issue in the U.S. House of Representatives. The often-fractured Republicans, who hold a majority in the House, ended a retreat outside of Washington on January 31 delighted that they had settled on a positive agenda for 2014 that centered on replacing President Barack Obama's landmark healthcare law, which has had a troubled rollout. The new strategy was put together amid concerns within the Republican Party that simply voting to repeal Obamacare, as they have done more than 40 times, would not be enough to carry them through November's congressional elections. House Speaker John Boehner, the top U.S. Republican, told reporters on Thursday that it was important for Republicans to come up with "better solutions" on healthcare. Full Story | Top |
| China detains more than 1,000 in baby trafficking crackdown Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 09:02 PM PST Chinese police have detained 1,094 people and rescued 382 infants in a nationwide crackdown on four online baby trafficking rings, state media said on Friday, as criminals prey on citizens yearning to escape strict population curbs. Child trafficking is widespread in China, where population control rules have bolstered a traditional bias for sons, seen as the support of elderly parents and heirs to the family name, and led to the abortion, killing or abandonment of girls. The imbalance has created criminal demand for kidnapped or bought baby boys, as well as baby girls destined to be brides attracting rich dowries in sparsely populated regions. "Child traffickers have now taken the fight online, using 'unofficial adoption' as a front," state news agency Xinhua quoted an unidentified police official as saying. Full Story | Top |
| California Democrats avert move to oust convicted state senator Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 05:04 PM PST By Sharon Bernstein SACRAMENTO, California (Reuters) - Democratic lawmakers in California deflected a Republican resolution on Thursday calling for the expulsion of a state senator who was convicted of eight felonies, a move Republicans say was aimed at preserving Democrats' two-thirds majority. Democratic State Senator Roderick Wright, who represents parts of Los Angeles and the suburb of Inglewood, was convicted last month of voter fraud and perjury after prosecutors said he did not physically live in the district he represented. Earlier this week, Senate leader Darrell Steinberg granted him a paid leave of absence, saying that although a jury had found Wright guilty, the judge had not yet formally endorsed the verdict. After Knight and two other Republicans objected, Steinberg said he would hear their resolution to expel Wright if it came to the senate floor. Full Story | Top |
| Oklahoma House passes new abortion restrictions bill Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 03:49 PM PST By Heide Brandes OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - The Oklahoma House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill on Thursday to apply new restrictions on abortions that lawmakers said are aimed at protecting women's health but opponents say are designed to shut down clinics. The legislation includes a provision similar to one put in place in neighboring Texas that requires physicians who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at an appropriately equipped hospital within 30 miles of their practice. The Republican lawmaker who wrote the legislation, Mike Ritze, a physician, said his goal was to ensure women who experience complications like hemorrhaging, can have access to hospital care immediately. The bill also requires abortion clinics to meet heightened building standards, bans abortion after 20 weeks, and requires strict adherence to guidelines in prescribing abortion pills. Full Story | Top |
| October trial date set for accused Colorado theater gunman Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 03:30 PM PST  By Keith Coffman CENTENNIAL, Colo. (Reuters) - A Colorado judge on Thursday set a new trial date in October for James Holmes, the former neuroscience graduate student accused of killing 12 moviegoers in a shooting spree at a suburban Denver cinema in 2012. Arapahoe County District Court Judge Carlos Samour set the October 14 date after a previous February timeframe was vacated because of ongoing legal wrangling over Holmes' sanity and other issues. Holmes, 26, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to multiple counts of first-degree murder and attempted murder stemming from the July 2012 shooting spree that left 12 people dead and 70 others injured. The results have mostly been kept confidential, but prosecutors sought a second evaluation because they said the first had "numerous deficiencies." Last week, the judge ruled that the first examination of Holmes, a one-time University of Colorado doctoral candidate, was "incomplete and inadequate" and ordered a new evaluation. Full Story | Top |
| S&P 500 ends at record after Yellen's weather talk Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 02:40 PM PST  By Caroline Valetkevitch NEW YORK (Reuters) - The S&P 500 closed at a record on Thursday and ended in positive territory for the year after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said harsh weather seems to be to behind recent U.S. economic softness. That gave some relief to investors who supported the view that heavy snowstorms and unusually cold weather - and not worsening fundamentals - were to blame for weak U.S. employment, retail sales and other data. The advance lifted the S&P 500 above its 2013 year-end closing level of 1,848.36, which has served as resistance in recent sessions. She could have excluded weather and perhaps talked more about the soft patch," said Quincy Krosby, market strategist at Prudential Financial, which is based in Newark, New Jersey. Full Story | Top |
| Groups urge FDA to halt launch of Zohydro pain drug Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 02:24 PM PST By Susan Heavey WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A coalition of addiction experts, physicians and others is urging U.S. health officials to reverse course and block the launch of a powerful painkiller called Zohydro, expected to hit the market next month. The opioid drug, manufactured by Zogenix Inc, contains a potent amount of an active ingredient that could be lethal to new patients and children and is not safer than other current pain drugs, the groups told the Food and Drug Administration. A single capsule could be fatal if swallowed by a child," they wrote in a petition to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, dated Wednesday. In December, attorneys general from 28 states also urged the FDA to reconsider its approval of the drug. Full Story | Top |
| Spine surgery patients mostly unaware of costs, compensation Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 02:16 PM PST By Ronnie Cohen NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Orthopedic surgery patients go in and out of the operating room "blind" to the cost of their procedures, researchers say, but the patients often assume doctors are making much more than they really do. The misperceptions among spinal surgery patients are emblematic of a major barrier to controlling healthcare costs, according to the authors, which is that nobody knows what the costs are. "You're buying a service, and you don't know what you're getting," the study's lead author, Dr. K. Linnea Welton, told Reuters Health. "I think there's something to be said for a more black-and-white system so patients know what they're buying and they can make more educated decisions." Welton is an orthopedic surgery resident at the University of Michigan. Full Story | Top |
| Lawyers argue whether Kennedy's drug-driving error was criminal Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 02:12 PM PST  By Victoria Cavaliere WHITE PLAINS, New York (Reuters) - Attorneys in the drugged driving trial of the daughter of assassinated U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy on Thursday debated whether Kerry Kennedy made a criminal mistake when she crashed her car in 2012 after inadvertently taking a sleeping pill. Defense attorneys said in closing arguments that Kennedy, a 54-year-old author and activist, had intended to take a thyroid medication before driving her silver Lexus to the gym, but accidentally took the sleeping aid zolpidem, known by its brand name Ambien. Prosecutors conceded that Kennedy had not intended to take the sleeping pill but should have realized her error before sideswiping a tractor-trailer on a suburban New York highway and driving away. "Her mistake was a very serious one," Assistant District Attorney Doreen Lloyd said. Full Story | Top |
| TSX gains as Valeant, CIBC jump on results Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 01:50 PM PST  By John Tilak TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index climbed on Thursday, boosted by advances in shares of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce after the companies reported quarterly results. CIBC shares gained 1 percent after the lender's first-quarter profit jumped 50 percent, driven by stronger domestic lending profits and a gain on the sale of half of its Aeroplan credit card portfolio to Toronto-Dominion Bank . Separate figures indicated that the number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits gained last week. The market also took heart from comments from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, who said weather could have played a part in recent signs of weakness in the world's biggest economy. Full Story | Top |
| Indoor tanning tied to risky behaviors among teens Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 01:24 PM PST By Andrew M. Seaman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - U.S. teenagers who use indoor tanning devices are more likely to take part in other risky behaviors, according to a new government study. Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that using indoor tanning devices was linked to binge drinking, having sex and using unsafe methods to control weight among high school students. "I think it's important to understand the prevalence of indoor tanning and its relation to other risky behaviors," Gery Guy, Jr., the study's lead author from the CDC, told Reuters Health. Understanding the relationship between other behaviors and indoor tanning can help public health advocates to understand the tanners' motivations and better target campaigns to dissuade the practice. Full Story | Top |
| Supplement users are seeking wellness: study Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 01:22 PM PST By Shereen Jegtvig NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People who use multivitamins and other nutritional supplements tend to lead healthier lives overall, so taking supplements can be seen as a positive sign, suggests a new review of past research. More than half of American adults use supplements such as multivitamins, calcium, omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants and fiber, the researchers say. But the other things users are more likely to do - like exercise and maintaining a normal weight - are often downplayed in discussions of the value of dietary supplements. "This evidence is based on the fact that dietary supplement users tend to be health seekers in a broader sense, that is they tend to use supplements as part of several things they do to try to improve their health," said Annette Dickinson, the study's lead author. Full Story | Top |
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