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| Britain's Asda says finds horse drug in corned beef Tuesday, Apr 09, 2013 12:19 PM PDT  LONDON (Reuters) - British supermarket chain Asda said on Tuesday very low levels of the horse pain-killing drug phenylbutazone, also known as bute, had been found in horsemeat discovered in tins of corned beef in the first such case in Britain. Britain's Food Standards Agency (FSA) said the level of the drug, which is banned from entering the human food chain, posed a low risk to human health, as results showed it contained 4 parts per billion. Asda, the British arm of the U.S. ... Full Story | Top |
| FBI probes trading as KPMG quits as Herbalife, Skechers auditor Tuesday, Apr 09, 2013 12:17 PM PDT  By Martinne Geller and Emily Flitter (Reuters) - In a blow to one of the world's largest accounting firms, KPMG said it resigned as auditor of two U.S. companies amid an FBI investigation into insider trading allegations involving a former senior partner. The companies - nutritional products group Herbalife Ltd and footwear maker Skechers USA Inc - said separately on Tuesday that KPMG had quit as their auditor in connection with alleged leaks of nonpublic information. The FBI's Los Angeles office is investigating the matter, according to a source familiar with the situation. ... Full Story | Top |
| Roche immune therapy cancer drug shows promise in early study Tuesday, Apr 09, 2013 12:03 PM PDT  By Bill Berkrot (Reuters) - An experimental drug that spurs the immune system to fight cancer appeared to be safe and demonstrated anti-tumor activity against a variety of cancers in a small early stage study, researchers said on Tuesday. The drug, called MPDL320A, was discovered and is being developed by Roche's Genentech unit. The Phase 1 trial of the drug in 30 patients with advanced cancer was designed as a dose escalation study to test for toxicity at higher doses. But researchers were also pleased to find early signs of effectiveness of the drug. ... Full Story | Top |
| Obama nominee vows to run Medicare agency as a "business" Tuesday, Apr 09, 2013 10:33 AM PDT  By Toni Clarke WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's nominee to lead the huge agency that runs Medicare and Medicaid got rare bipartisan praise on Tuesday, but faced tough questions about healthcare reform and a recent controversial decision on Medicare Advantage payment rates. Testifying before the Senate Finance Committee, which will decide whether to advance her nomination, Marilyn Tavenner said her role would be to run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as a business, and as a partner with many healthcare entities for the benefit of all. ... Full Story | Top |
| Alabama governor signs law tightening rules for abortion clinics Tuesday, Apr 09, 2013 10:31 AM PDT  By Verna Gates BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (Reuters) - Doctors who provide abortions will face stricter standards in Alabama starting in July under a law signed on Tuesday that requires them to have admitting privileges at hospitals in the state. Proponents say the legislation, the latest salvo in the national debate over abortion, will make pregnancy terminations safer, while critics say it will unnecessarily restrict a woman's right under the U.S. Constitution to choose an abortion. ... Full Story | Top |
| South Sudan ambush kills five U.N. peacekeepers, seven civilians Tuesday, Apr 09, 2013 09:59 AM PDT By Andrew Green JUBA (Reuters) - Five U.N. peacekeepers and seven civilians working for the U.N. mission in South Sudan were killed in an ambush by unidentified attackers in the restive eastern state of Jonglei on Tuesday, the United Nations said. "At least nine additional peacekeepers and civilians were injured in the attack and some remain unaccounted for," the U.N. Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) said in a statement. India's foreign ministry said the peacekeepers killed were Indian. ... Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Public doubt on bird flu a ghost of China's past Tuesday, Apr 09, 2013 09:50 AM PDT  By Michael Martina and Kate Kelland BEIJING/LONDON (Reuters) - China has earned praise from international scientists for its handling of an outbreak of a deadly new bird flu in humans, but a history of public health cover-ups means the Chinese public is harder to win over. Even as global authorities have said the new H7N9 bird flu strain that has killed eight and infected 28 is no cause for panic, memories of past health scandals continue to undermine the government's credibility at home in dealing with outbreaks. ... Full Story | Top |
| Bird flu found on South Africa ostrich farm, no Chinese link seen Tuesday, Apr 09, 2013 09:41 AM PDT  CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - An outbreak of bird flu has hit an ostrich farm in South Africa, but authorities said it was unlikely to pose a threat to humans, though additional tests were being carried out after another strain killed eight people in China. The outbreak has prompted restrictions on the movement of the big birds and their products in the Western Cape province, the Western Cape ministry of agriculture said in a statement on Tuesday. ... Full Story | Top |
| U.S. agency to investigate possible leak of Medicare rate move Tuesday, Apr 09, 2013 09:24 AM PDT  By Toni Clarke WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The nominee to lead a key healthcare agency said on Tuesday that the agency was investigating events surrounding a decision on Medicare Advantage payment rates that sent shares of insurance companies soaring. Marilyn Tavenner was asked about the April 1 rate decision at a Senate confirmation hearing by Republican Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa, who has said the rate decision might have been leaked to Height Securities, an investment research firm. "We have initiated an internal review. And it will be extensive," Tavenner said. ... Full Story | Top |
| Two senators key to Obama's push for broader checks of gun buyers Tuesday, Apr 09, 2013 09:10 AM PDT  By Thomas Ferraro WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The fate of one of President Barack Obama's key gun-control proposals appeared on Monday night to be in the hands of two senators: one Democrat, the other Republican, both of them longtime opponents of restrictions on guns. Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Republican Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania are seeking a compromise on expanding background checks for prospective gun buyers. ... Full Story | Top |
| South Sudan ambush kills 5 U.N. peacekeepers, 7 civilians Tuesday, Apr 09, 2013 07:43 AM PDT JUBA (Reuters) - Five U.N. peacekeepers and seven civilians working for the U.N. mission in South Sudan were killed in an ambush by unidentified attackers in the restive eastern state of Jonglei on Tuesday, the United Nations said. "At least nine additional peacekeepers and civilians were injured in the attack and some remain unaccounted for," the U.N. Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) said in a statement. India's foreign ministry said the peacekeepers killed were Indian. The nationalities of the civilians killed were not immediately available. The soldiers were escorting a U.N. ... Full Story | Top |
| Insight: Insurers see promise in pay-for-performance health plans Tuesday, Apr 09, 2013 05:29 AM PDT  By Caroline Humer (Reuters) - Insurers and doctors are testing a way to pay for healthcare that has been more common in the corporate suite than the emergency room - paying for better performance, betting it is the key to controlling runaway costs. Both private insurance plans and Medicare plans in hundreds of locations around the country are using incentives to try to cut healthcare spending and still keep Americans healthy. After a few years of pilot programs and studies, companies as large as Intel Corp. are offering these plans to employees this year. ... Full Story | Top |
| China reports another bird flu death, total now 8 Tuesday, Apr 09, 2013 03:59 AM PDT  BEIJING (Reuters) - Another person died in China from a new strain of bird flu on Tuesday, state media said, bringing to eight the number of deaths from the H7N9 virus since it was confirmed in humans for the first time last month. The 83-year-old victim, from the eastern province of Jiangsu, was admitted to hospital with a fever on March 20 and confirmed as having H7N9 on April 2, the official Xinhua news agency reported. The H7N9 strain has infected 24 people, all of them in eastern China, of whom eight have died. ... Full Story | Top |
| Japan's quake-crippled nuclear plant "losing faith" in leaking water pits Tuesday, Apr 09, 2013 02:29 AM PDT  TOKYO (Reuters) - The company that runs a Japanese nuclear power plant destroyed by a tsunami two years ago said on Tuesday it was losing faith in temporary storage pits for radioactive water - but it doesn't have anywhere else to put it. Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) said it had found a new leak at one of the pits at the Fukushima Daiichi plant. Three out of seven storage pits are now leaking, compounding clean-up difficulties after the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years. ... Full Story | Top |
| FDA advisers say Bausch & Lomb implantable lens safe, effective Monday, Apr 08, 2013 05:13 PM PDT (Reuters) - An implantable lens designed by Bausch & Lomb Inc to reduce vision distortion as well as allow patients to focus on near and distant objects was safe and effective, advisers to the U.S. health regulator said. The Ophthalmic Devices Panel of the Medical Devices Advisory Committee voted 10-to-none that the company's Trulign Toric Accommodating Posterior Chamber Intraocular Lens was safe. The lens — designed to move inside the eye — allows patient to focus on near, intermediate and distant objects without using spectacles after cataract surgeries. ... Full Story | Top |
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