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| Judge rejects ABC News bid to throw out 'pink slime' lawsuit Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 07:15 PM PDT  ABC News has failed to persuade a South Dakota state judge to dismiss a $1.2 billion defamation lawsuit by a meat processor complaining about a series of reports that referred to its signature product as "pink slime." Judge Cheryle Gering of the Union County Circuit Court ruled on Thursday that Beef Products Inc may pursue most of its case against ABC, a unit of Walt Disney Co, and others including news anchor Diane Sawyer and reporter Jim Avila. BPI claimed that ABC harmed its reputation and cost sales by mischaracterizing its "lean finely textured beef" as "pink slime" in reports aired in March and April 2012. "For example, the use of the term 'pink slime' with a food product can be reasonably interpreted as implying that the food product is not meat and is not fit to eat, which are objective facts which can be proven," the judge wrote. Full Story | Top |
| Team to re-enter New Mexico nuclear waste site after radiation leak Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 06:23 PM PDT An investigative team plans to re-enter an underground nuclear waste site in New Mexico next week for the first time since an accidental release of unsafe levels of radiation there last month, a U.S. Energy Department official said Thursday. U.S. authorities now say that 21 workers at the Carlsbad-area "waste isolation pilot project" (WIPP) were exposed to radiation after the accidental leak from the site, which stores waste from U.S. nuclear labs and weapons production facilities. Eight workers will test air for contamination as they seek to make their way into an ancient salt formation half a mile below ground where radioactive waste is stored, Energy Department spokesman Bradley Bugger said in a statement. Testing of surface air in and around the Energy Department complex has shown elevated levels of radiation since the mishap, but those have steadily decreased. Full Story | Top |
| California case challenges teacher job protection laws Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 06:10 PM PDT By Dana Feldman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Incompetent teachers in California are holding back poor and minority children, an attorney for several students said on Thursday in closing arguments for a closely watched trial that could change the way public school teachers are hired and fired in the most populous U.S. state. The lawsuit, opposed by teacher union leaders and the state, comes at a time of bitter political wrangling over how best to reinvigorate a U.S. public school system that leaves American children lagging counterparts in countries such as Finland and South Korea. The two-month trial has focused on whether five laws meant to protect teachers' jobs are unfair to poor and minority students by putting them at a disproportionately greater risk of being taught by less effective teachers. "We know that grossly ineffective teachers harm students," plaintiffs' attorney Ted Boutros said before a Los Angeles Superior Court judge. Full Story | Top |
| Texas executes man who killed food delivery woman with bat Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 05:54 PM PDT  By Jon Herskovitz AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Texas executed convicted murderer Anthony Doyle on Thursday as it kept the pace of executions steady while other states have had to postpone capital punishments because they cannot obtain drugs used in lethal injections. Doyle was pronounced dead at 6:49 p.m. CDT (2349 GMT) at the state's death chamber in Huntsville after receiving a lethal injection. He did not make a last statement, a Department of Criminal Justice spokesman said. Texas, which has executed more people than any other state since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, has obtained a fresh batch of its execution drug pentobarbital, the Department of Criminal Justice said this month, without revealing the source. Full Story | Top |
| Syria refugee crisis poses major threat to Lebanese stability: U.N. Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 05:45 PM PDT  By Missy Ryan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An influx of almost 1 million refugees from Syria into neighboring Lebanon poses a serious threat to the already fragile country, but donor nations may not grasp the potential impact of further destabilization, a U.N. official said on Thursday. "There is not a single country in the world today that is shouldering as much in proportion to its size as Lebanon," said Ninette Kelley, regional representative for Lebanon for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. "If this country is not bolstered, then the very real prospect of it collapsing and the conflict of Syria spreading full force to Lebanon becomes much more likely," she said during a visit to Washington. Last month, top U.N. officials said that as Syria's grinding conflict enters its fourth bloody year, Syrians are set to replace Afghans as the world's largest refugee population. Full Story | Top |
| A string of mega deals drives global M&A recovery in first quarter Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 05:13 PM PDT  By Sophie Sassard and Anjuli Davies LONDON (Reuters) - A string of large transactions drove the value of global mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity up by 54 percent in the first quarter compared to the same period last year, reflecting greater deal-making confidence among chief executives. The value of worldwide announced deals totaled $710 billion in the first three months of the year, according to Thomson Reuters data, which includes competing bids for Time Warner Cable and SFR. I'm hopeful that we'll see more of this in 2014.", said Hernan Cristerna, co-head of global M&A at JP Morgan. "We've seen something of a return of animal spirits." Comcast Corp trumped Charter Communications with a bid valuing Time Warner Cable at $70.6 billion in enterprise value, the largest transaction in the works since January. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. appeals court upholds restrictive Texas abortion law Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 05:10 PM PDT By Jon Herskovitz and Lisa Maria Garza AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court upheld a Texas law on Thursday that places restrictions on abortions, saying a provision requiring abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital was a reasonable regulation. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit found on Thursday that a federal judge erred last year in blocking the law. The U.S. Supreme Court allowed it to go into effect but had sent parts of the case back to the appeals court for review. The law requires doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges, the ability to admit a patient for treatment at a hospital usually by being recognized as a doctor who can use hospital facilities, at an adequately equipped hospital within 30 miles of their practice. Full Story | Top |
| Smoking bans cut premature births and child asthma attacks Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 05:02 PM PDT By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) - Banning smoking in public places has helped to cut premature births by 10 percent, according to new research from the United States and Europe. A study in The Lancet medical journal found that while the impact of anti-smoking laws varies between countries, the overall effect on child health around the world is positive. "Our research shows that smoking bans are an effective way to protect the health of our children," said Jasper Been of the University of Edinburgh's Centre for Population Health Sciences, who led the study. Laws banning smoking in public places such as bars, restaurants, offices and other workplaces have already been proven in previous studies to protect adults from the health threats associated with passive smoking. Full Story | Top |
| House backs one-year delay to doctor pay cuts under Medicare Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 03:55 PM PDT By Susan Cornwell and Susan Heavey WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives approved legislation on Thursday to avert looming pay cuts for doctors under the government's Medicare health insurance program for older Americans and the disabled. The measure to postpone the cuts was approved in a voice vote after an earlier delay signaled potential trouble mustering support for the bill, which halts the pay cuts for one year. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, said the bill would be brought up for a vote in that chamber on Monday, with no opportunity to amend it, meaning that if it passes it will go straight to President Barack Obama to sign into law. The Senate has 100 members. Full Story | Top |
| Oklahoma doctor charged with molesting patients during exams Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 03:51 PM PDT An Oklahoma City doctor suspected of molesting two female patients during examinations has been charged with sexual assault, the Oklahoma District Attorney's office said on Thursday. Dr. John Fuller, a 60-year-old pain specialist, has been charged with one count of sexual battery and one count of rape by instrumentation, it said. Fuller's attorney, Scott Adams, was not immediately available to comment on Thursday. Full Story | Top |
| As many as one in 68 U.S. kids may have autism: CDC Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 03:42 PM PDT By Julie Steenhuysen CHICAGO (Reuters) - As many as one in 68 U.S. children have autism, a 30 percent increase in just two years, U.S. health officials said on Thursday, but experts think the rise may simply reflect that parents and doctors are getting better at recognizing and diagnosing the disorder. "It's not that surprising because as people get more aware, the prevalence has always increased in a psychiatric disorder," Dr Thomas Frazier, director of Cleveland Clinic Children's Center for Autism, said in a telephone interview. The latest report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which looks at data from 2010, estimates that 14.7 per 1,000 8-year-olds in 11 U.S. communities have autism. That compares with the prior estimate of 1 in 88 children, or 11.3 of 1,000 8-year-olds, in 2008, and 1 in 150 children in 2000. Full Story | Top |
| Obamacare enrollment tops six million as deadline looms: White House Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 02:33 PM PDT  By Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than 6 million people have now signed up for private insurance plans under President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law known as Obamacare, reflecting a surge in enrollments days before the March 31 deadline, the White House said on Thursday. The milestone gives the White House some ammunition to counter Republican critics, who have described the program as an expensive flop in the build-up to midterm congressional campaigns in November, when Democratic control of the U.S. Senate is at stake. Only 10 days ago, the administration had pegged enrollment at more than 5 million people, and enlisted celebrities and top government officials to try to persuade more uninsured people, particularly the young and healthy, to sign up. The last-minute boost has exceeded the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office's estimate that 6 million people would sign up in the program's first year, down from earlier expectations of 7 million enrollees because of problems with websites used for shopping for insurance. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. advisers back DNA-based colon cancer test Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 02:15 PM PDT (Reuters) - A colon cancer screening method that analyzes DNA from stool samples won the unanimous backing of a U.S. advisory panel on Thursday, paving the way for potential regulatory approval of the non-invasive test. A panel of outside experts advising the Food and Drug Administration voted 10-0 to recommend approval of the Cologuard screening test made by Exact Sciences Corp. The company said a large clinical trial found that its test detected 92.3 percent of colorectal cancers in average-risk patients based on a combination of DNA and hemoglobin markers. While a colonoscopy is considered the most accurate method of detecting colon cancer and polyps, many people avoid the test, which involves inserting a flexible tube into the colon. If Cologuard is approved by the FDA, patients who have a positive cancer finding with the test, which identifies abnormal cells shed in the stool, would then undergo a colonoscopy. Full Story | Top |
| FDA panel votes against Novartis drug for acute heart failure Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 02:08 PM PDT A drug made by Novartis AG to treat acute heart failure should not be approved because there is insufficient evidence it improves symptoms, a panel of advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration concluded on Thursday. The FDA is not obliged to follow the advice of its advisory panels but typically does so. Novartis filed for approval of the drug, serelaxin, based on a single study that showed that when given alongside standard treatment it alleviated shortness of breath by slowing the rate of worsening heart failure following hospitalization. Panelists said that while the drug may have reduced worsening heart failure, additional study would be needed to determine the magnitude of the effect. Full Story | Top |
| Massachusetts declares heroin emergency, looks to anti-overdose drug Thursday, Mar 27, 2014 01:57 PM PDT By Richard Valdmanis BOSTON (Reuters) - Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick on Thursday declared a public health emergency over rising heroin and opioid addiction in the state, and announced measures to make overdose reversal medication more widely available. The move comes as states across America report sharp increases in heroin use, a trend the Obama administration this month called an "urgent public health crisis." "We have an epidemic of opiate abuse in Massachusetts, so we will treat it like the public health crisis it is," Patrick said in a statement. Patrick said his administration would permit first responders to carry and administer overdose reversal medication naloxone, also known as narcan, and will make the drug available in pharmacies for those "who fear a loved one might overdose." He said he would also temporarily prohibit hydrocodone-only formulation pain killers in the state, which he said pose "a significant risk to individuals already addicted to opiates and to the public at large." U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said this month that heroin overdoses had become "an urgent public health crisis," and reiterated the Obama administration's call for more law enforcement to train and equip personnel with naxolone. Full Story | Top |
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