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| South Korea expands poultry cull on bird flu fears Sunday, Jan 26, 2014 06:37 PM PST By Jane Chung SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea is expanding a poultry cull in a bid to contain the spread of bird flu that has been found on an increasing number of farms around the country and in migratory birds. The country's agriculture ministry said the H5N8 strain of bird flu had been detected on six poultry farms and that there had been 13 cases in migratory birds since the first outbreak earlier this month. No human infection has been reported, while the ministry is looking into four additional reports from poultry farms and more than 50 other suspected cases in migratory birds, it said in a statement on Monday. Asia's fourth-largest economy has had four bird flu outbreaks in the past 10 years, without any cases of human infection reported. Full Story | Top |
| Texas hospital ends life support for brain-dead pregnant woman Sunday, Jan 26, 2014 05:22 PM PST By Jana J. Pruet FORT WORTH, Texas (Reuters) - A Texas hospital removed a pregnant brain-dead woman from life support on Sunday in line with a court order obtained by her husband who argued the fetus she was carrying was withering inside her lifeless body, the family's lawyers said. Marlise Munoz, who was about 22 weeks pregnant, had been on life support in the hospital in Fort Worth since November 26 after suffering what her husband believes was a pulmonary embolism. Erick Munoz had sought to remove his wife from life support, with the support of her parents, but the hospital had refused, citing a Texas law that says life-sustaining treatment cannot be withdrawn or withheld from a pregnant woman despite a "do not resuscitate" order or a request from the family. A judge on Friday agreed with Erick Munoz in finding that Marlise Munoz was already legally dead and ordering the John Peter Smith Hospital to remove her ventilator, setting a Monday deadline. Full Story | Top |
| More than 300 fall ill on Royal Caribbean cruise ship Sunday, Jan 26, 2014 04:16 PM PST (Reuters) - More than 300 passengers and crew members fell ill aboard a Royal Caribbean cruise ship, many with vomiting and diarrhea, the Centers for Disease Control said on Sunday. The CDC said in a statement that 281 passengers and 22 crew members aboard the Explorer of the Seas reported becoming sick during a voyage. The ship was carrying 3,050 passengers and a crew of 1,165. The CDC said the cause of the sickness was unknown but that an environmental safety officer and an epidemiologist would board the ship in St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands to determine the cause of the outbreak and the proper response. Full Story | Top |
| Britain unveils ban on e-cigarettes for under-18s Sunday, Jan 26, 2014 11:01 AM PST  Britain said on Sunday it would ban the sale of electronic cigarettes to children aged under 18, citing possible adverse health effects and outlining a need for further medical research. E-cigarettes, which are puffed like a regular cigarette but deliver nicotine by vaporizing liquid rather than burning tobacco, have grown in popularity and some analysts predict the market could outpace conventional cigarettes within a decade. Under-18s are already banned from buying conventional cigarettes in Britain. Sunday's announcement included plans to make it illegal for adults to buy regular cigarettes for consumption by under 18s. Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Replay of energetic deal-making seen for drugmakers in 2014 Sunday, Jan 26, 2014 09:21 AM PST The torrid pace of deals in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors through 2013 is not expected to let up this year, thanks to new technologies to address unmet medical needs. Between 2011 and 2016, patents in developed markets will expire on brand-name drugs that would otherwise have generated sales of $127 billion, according to data firm IMS Health. To replace some of the lost revenue, larger drugmakers are looking to bring in new products, often in areas of significant scientific advancement such as treatments for cancer, rare diseases and drugs designed to turn off the activity of rogue genes. There were 10 major M&A deals involving publicly traded biotech companies last year, led by Amgen Inc's $10 billion buyout of Onyx Pharmaceuticals. Full Story | Top |
| Analysis: Emerging markets rout a reality check for Davos elite Sunday, Jan 26, 2014 04:10 AM PST  By Paul Carrel and Ben Hirschler DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) - Just as they were getting their swagger back, the global elite stumbled last week on an emerging market sell-off that served as a reminder of the risks the global economy still faces. Veterans of the annual World Economic Forum in Davos seized on the wobble as a warning that expectations for a smooth upswing were misplaced, and that recovery would likely be volatile and uneven. The euro zone crisis is out of its acute phase and growth is returning across the developed world but a revival fuelled largely by vast amounts of new central bank money is a capricious one. The prospect of the U.S. Federal Reserve turning off its money taps this year, combined with political troubles in several emerging markets, drove last week's sell-off and exposed some of the unresolved problems in both developing and advanced economies. Full Story | Top |
| Italy's Berlusconi opts for wrinkles in new image switch Sunday, Jan 26, 2014 03:43 AM PST  Former premier Silvio Berlusconi, famed for his face lifts and hair implants, has opted for a sharp image change in reaction to the rise of younger rival Matteo Renzi, agreeing to be shown wrinkled and without make-up by a UK newspaper on Sunday. The Sunday Times carried a portrait of 77-year-old center-right leader entitled "Silvio Berlusconi after the fall" by photographer Paul Stuart on the front page of its colour supplement. "Il Cavaliere proud of his age", said Il Giornale, a paper owned by Berlusconi's family, using the widely-used nickname for the media billionaire who was decorated with the title "Cavaliere del Lavoro" for his services to industry in 1977. Other Italian newspapers minutely dissected the portrait and concluded that the rise of Renzi, the 39-year-old mayor of Florence who has shaken up Italian politics since winning the leadership of the center-left Democratic Party, had persuaded Berlusconi to make a virtue of his own age. Full Story | Top |
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