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| Republican Party wins Florida congressional seat in special election Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 08:01 PM PDT  By Barbara Liston ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - Republican David Jolly won an expensive battle to fill a vacant U.S. Congressional seat in a special election watched by both major parties for what it portends for November when all 435 congressional seats will be up for grabs. Jolly, 41, defeated Democrat challenger Alex Sink, 65, a former state chief financial officer, by 3,500 votes or a 1.87 percent margin - 48.43 percent to 46.56 percent, according to the Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections website. Libertarian candidate Lucas Overby took 4.83 percent of the votes. Republicans were quick to declare the result a repudiation of President Obama's Affordable Healthcare Act, known as Obamacare. Full Story | Top |
| Louisiana man fined $600 after drunken fight with wife aboard flight Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 06:06 PM PDT A judge in the Cayman Islands fined a Louisiana man $600 on Tuesday for forcing a Delta Air Lines flight to make an emergency landing after he got into a drunken argument with his wife aboard the plane on their anniversary. Michael Foret, 33, was escorted from a Delta Air Lines plane by police when it landed in the Cayman Islands on Sunday night. On Tuesday, Foret, who had been held in police custody, appeared before a Cayman Islands judge, his lawyer, Ben Tonner, said. Foret was fined for disruptive behavior aboard a commercial flight, he said. Full Story | Top |
| Obamacare enrollment in private coverage rises to 4.2 million people Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 03:39 PM PDT  By David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration said on Tuesday that 4.2 million people have signed up for private health insurance under Obamacare, and indicated that total enrollment could surpass a 6 million-enrollee forecast by the end of March. New enrollment data for a five-month period from October 1 through March 1 came out as the administration threw its public relations campaign into overdrive, with President Barack Obama appearing for an interview on the comedy website, "Funny or Die," in a direct appeal to the site's audience of young adults. ... Full Story | Top |
| Insurers wary of Obamacare unknowns as they plan for 2015 Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 02:40 PM PDT  By Caroline Humer NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. health insurers are struggling to set prices for their Obamacare plans in 2015 and decide which regions to return to before the deadlines for submitting those plans to regulators. Some insurers already expect to lose money this year following the rocky launch of President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act, which aims to provide coverage to millions of uninsured Americans with the help of government subsidies. ... Full Story | Top |
| When Zach met Barack: pitching Obamacare online Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 02:23 PM PDT  By Mark Felsenthal WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama took his quest to sign young people up for health insurance to an edgy comedy website on Tuesday, where he traded insults with host Zach Galifianakis while plugging his signature Obamacare health program. Obama sat for an interview on "Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis," on the Funny or Die website. The actor, who starred in "The Hangover" films, is known for his cringe-inducing banter on the program. ... Full Story | Top |
| Especially for women, hearing loss linked to depression Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 01:57 PM PDT Higher rates of depression were most common among women and among the middle aged, compared to people over 70, researchers found. A few smaller studies have shown a connection between hearing loss and depression, but they were not based on nation-wide samples and the results were conflicting, Dr. Chuan-Ming Li said. Full Story | Top |
| Profit-taking drags Wall Street lower Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 01:54 PM PDT  By Rodrigo Campos NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell on Tuesday, with selling picking up late in the session, as investors cashed in some of the recent market gains, but the S&P 500 finished less than 1 percent away from a record high set last week. Indexes had swung between gains and losses in the first half of the session, as the lack of major corporate earnings or market-affecting data kept trading directionless, but they closed near the day's lows. Shares of retailers American Eagle and Urban Outfitters fell sharply after disappointing outlooks. ... Full Story | Top |
| Judge in Colorado theater massacre case appoints new sanity evaluator Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 01:38 PM PDT  By Keith Coffman DENVER (Reuters) - A judge overseeing the Colorado movie theater massacre case appointed an evaluator on Tuesday to conduct a second sanity examination of accused gunman James Holmes after earlier ruling a first evaluation to be "incomplete and inadequate." Arapahoe County District Court Judge Carlos Samour, in a written ruling, approved the selection by the state mental hospital of the new examiner, whose name was redacted in the order. Holmes has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to murder and attempted murder charges linked to the 2012 shooting during a viewing of a Batman film in a suburban Denver cinema that killed 12 moviegoers and injured 70 others. Full Story | Top |
| Oxigene Inc says drug meets main goal of ovarian cancer trial Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 01:36 PM PDT (Reuters) - Oxigene Inc said on Tuesday that its experimental drug Zybrestat combined with Roche's big selling cancer drug Avastin significantly slowed progression of recurrent ovarian cancer better than Avastin alone in a midstage clinical trial. Shares of tiny Oxigene, which had been halted prior to announcement of the trial results, more than doubled in extended trading. The drugs, which use different mechanisms to deprive tumors of blood supply and oxygen needed to grow, met the primary goal of the study by demonstrating a statistically significant increase in progression-free survival (PFS), or the time it takes before the cancer begins to worsen. "This promising combination warrants further evaluation particularly given the significant need for new treatment options in relapsed ovarian cancer," Dr. Bradley Monk, lead investigator of the study, said in a statement. Full Story | Top |
| Challenges remain before docs use whole-genome sequencing Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 01:33 PM PDT Researchers found that sequencing a person's whole genome - all three billion or so DNA nucleotides in the chromosomes - required a significant amount of manpower for a small payoff. One of the study's authors said the cost of sequencing a person's entire genome has dropped in recent years, but the technology has been mostly used for research. "We thought the time had come to do a small pilot study of patients in the clinical setting," Dr. Euan Ashley told Reuters Health. For the new study published in JAMA, he and his colleagues recruited 12 unrelated people between November 2011 and March 2012 to have their full genomes sequenced. Full Story | Top |
| Carnival passengers sue for damages over disrupted 2013 cruise Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 01:32 PM PDT  (This March 10 story's headline and 1st paragraph have been corrected to show passengers are not seeking $5,000 per month for life and corrects 11th paragraph quote to two hours from five hours) By David Quiñones MIAMI (Reuters) - Three passengers suing Carnival cruise lines for damages after an engine fire left their ship adrift for days are asking the company to pay $5,000 per year for life while the rest are seeking $2,500 to $5,000 for four to five years. A lawsuit brought by 33 passengers of the ill-fated 2013 voyage could change how cruise lines insulate themselves from legal actions, according to maritime legal experts. A second pending lawsuit with three-times as many plaintiffs has the potential to further undo the advantageous legal position cruise lines have long enjoyed. Stalled in the Gulf of Mexico for five days, passengers described human waste seeping into hallways, and being forced to sleep on deck under makeshift tarps with no cooked food. Full Story | Top |
| Caring for a spouse tied to older women's wellbeing Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 12:24 PM PDT In the survey of middle-aged and older Americans, husbands did not seem to experience any improvement in wellbeing when they were acting in the role of caregiver for their wife. "A lot of studies have focused on the burden of caregiving, especially for women, so we expected to see worse wellbeing for wives caring for a husband," Vicki Freedman told Reuters Health in an email. Freedman led the study at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Participants were also asked about their spouse's level of disability, if any, and the types of household chores like shopping, cooking and cleaning they had performed the day before. Full Story | Top |
| Rouhani has not increased freedoms in Iran, U.N. chief says Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 12:09 PM PDT  By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has failed to fulfil campaign promises to allow greater freedom of expression and there has been a sharp rise in executions since his election, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Tuesday. Rouhani, who won a landslide in June, led Iran to an initial nuclear deal with world powers. In a report to the U.N. Human Rights Council, Ban highlighted the prevalent use of capital punishment in Iran and called for the release of activists, lawyers and journalists as well as political prisoners that he said were in custody for exercising their rights to free speech and assembly. "The new administration has not made any significant improvement in the promotion and protection of freedom of expression and opinion, despite pledges made by the president during his campaign and after his swearing in," Ban said. Full Story | Top |
| Justin Bieber faces May 5 trial date in Florida drunken driving case Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 10:13 AM PDT  A Miami judge has set a May 5 trial date for pop singer Justin Bieber, who faces charges of driving under the influence, resisting arrest and using an expired license after police say he was caught drag racing in Miami Beach. The 20-year-old Bieber has pleaded not guilty to the charges. He did not attend the hearing on Tuesday in a Miami-Dade county court. The initial March trial date was postponed after lawyers for Bieber and several news organizations argued in court over whether the media should have access to video images of the singer while he was in police custody following his arrest on January 23. Full Story | Top |
| Teva settles Medicaid false billing case tied to Chicago doctor Tuesday, Mar 11, 2014 09:47 AM PDT Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd agreed to pay $27.6 million to settle charges that it paid kickbacks to a Chicago psychiatrist to induce him to prescribe an anti-schizophrenia drug to patients, resulting in more than 100,000 false Medicaid and Medicare claims. The world's largest generic drug manufacturer will pay about $15.5 million to the federal government and $12.1 million to the state of Illinois, according to statements from the U.S. Department of Justice and Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan. Tuesday's settlement resolves charges that two Teva units, Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc and IVAX LLC, violated the federal False Claims Act by making payments to the psychiatrist, Michael Reinstein, for nine years starting in August 2003. Full Story | Top |
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