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| With new leader for Obamacare, White House shifts to election mode Friday, Apr 11, 2014 08:06 PM PDT  By Steve Holland, Roberta Rampton and David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Kathleen Sebelius' departure as President Barack Obama's health secretary signals a new chapter in the White House's efforts to defend Obama's signature healthcare law and help Senate Democrats who face tough battles for re-election in conservative states this fall. In the tightly orchestrated transition that included Sebelius' resignation late Thursday and Obama's quick appointment of well-regarded budget director Sylvia Mathews Burwell as Sebelius' replacement, the political calculus was clear: Having stood by Sebelius during a painful few months when Obamacare's rollout was marred by a balky enrollment web site, stinging criticism from Republicans and falling popularity ratings for Obama, the White House saw a chance to reset the national conversation over Obamacare amid good news, and with a new face in charge of the program. Full Story | Top |
| Stocks face earnings blues after tech selloff Friday, Apr 11, 2014 06:26 PM PDT  "There's skepticism among investors about the outlook, and we're getting into the first-quarter earnings season, so you're going to see some positioning," said Brian Jacobsen, chief portfolio strategist at Wells Fargo Funds Management in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. Profit growth for Standard & Poor's 500 companies now is expected to have increased just 0.9 percent in the first quarter from a year ago, down from a January 1 forecast for 6.5 percent growth, Thomson Reuters data showed. Wall Street will get more readings on the U.S. economy in the coming week, with retail sales on Monday, the Consumer Price Index on Tuesday, U.S. housing starts and industrial output on Wednesday and the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia's business activity index on Thursday. The U.S. stock market will be closed for Good Friday. Full Story | Top |
| Illinois man with infectious TB must stay home alone: judge Friday, Apr 11, 2014 05:41 PM PDT By Barbara Goldberg CHICAGO (Reuters) - An Illinois judge on Friday ordered a disobedient patient with infectious tuberculosis to wear an ankle bracelet and stay home alone or be taken into custody. Christian Mbemba Ibanda, of Champaign, Illinois, failed to appear at a hearing for which Judge Chase Leonhard and his entire courtroom had been fitted with protective masks to guard against the highly contagious disease. Authorities later found Ibanda, who is in his 20s, and he is now wearing an ankle bracelet, said Champaign-Urbana Public Health District Administrator Julie Pryde. However, when a team of health officials arrived at his apartment in Champaign, about 140 miles south of Chicago, it was vacant. Full Story | Top |
| Parents of Texas 'affluenza' teen to pay part of state treatment Friday, Apr 11, 2014 05:09 PM PDT By Marice Richter FORT WORTH, Texas (Reuters) - A Texas judge, who was criticized for sentencing a wealthy Texas teen to probation after he killed four people while driving drunk, on Friday ordered his parents to pay a small part of the cost of his treatment at a state-run facility. Judge Jean Boyd, whose sentence of 10 years probation and no jail time set off a backlash of criticism in December, ordered the youth's parents to pay about $1,100 a month. His parents had offered to pay for private treatment at a private out-of-state facility. The case set off an emotional debate after a psychologist for the teenager testified that his family's wealth had impaired the teenager's ability to take responsibility for his actions, saying he suffered from "affluenza." The American Psychiatric Association does not recognize "affluenza" as a diagnosis. Full Story | Top |
| FBI conducting a probe into Herbalife: sources Friday, Apr 11, 2014 04:58 PM PDT  By Emily Flitter and Svea Herbst-Bayliss NEW YORK/BOSTON (Reuters) - The FBI is probing Herbalife Ltd, the nutrition and weight loss company that hedge fund manager William Ackman has called a pyramid scheme, sources familiar with the investigation said on Friday. The news, first reported by the Financial Times, sparked a sharp sell-off that sent the stock price down nearly 14 percent. A spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Boston declined to confirm or deny the investigation. Former Herbalife distributors reached by Reuters said they had been contacted by agents who were interested in finding out more about the multilevel marketing company's business practices, including how it recruits new members into its distribution scheme. Full Story | Top |
| Arkansas to appeal ruling on abortion restriction law Friday, Apr 11, 2014 04:00 PM PDT By Lisa Bose McDermott TEXARKANA, Arkansas (Reuters) - Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel said on Friday he would appeal a federal judge's decision striking down a state law that bans most abortions starting at 12 weeks of pregnancy, one of the most stringent such statutes in the United States. U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright ruled last month that the Arkansas law violated the U.S. Supreme Court decision that a woman has the right to an abortion until the fetus is viable outside the womb, which medical experts say is around the 23-to-24-week mark A number of states have recently enacted restrictive bans on abortion, including North Dakota, Arizona and Texas, setting off a round of court battles. Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe, a Democrat, vetoed the law after it was passed by the Republican-controlled state legislature in March 2013, citing its conflict with Supreme Court doctrine, but his veto was overridden. As enacted, the Arkansas Human Heartbeat Protection Act would have banned most abortions at or after 12 weeks of pregnancy, if a fetal heartbeat could be detected by standard ultrasound. Full Story | Top |
| J&J says halting development of Botox rival Friday, Apr 11, 2014 03:22 PM PDT (Reuters) - Johnson & Johnson said on Friday it was ending its efforts to bring to market a rival drug to Allergan Inc's popular Botox anti-wrinkle treatment. J&J had acquired the drug, PurTox, with its 2009 purchase of Mentor, a leading maker of breast implants for cosmetic augmentation and reconstructive surgery. "After careful consideration, our Mentor business has decided to discontinue its neurotoxin program, commonly known as PurTox, in order to focus on its core breast surgery business, where we are an established leader and see greater opportunities to benefit patients and grow our business," J&J spokesman Thomas Sanford said in an emailed statement. Ending the PurTox development program will result in the elimination of a small number of jobs in the United States, the company said. Full Story | Top |
| Study ties breathing problems, asthma to bone loss Friday, Apr 11, 2014 01:53 PM PDT By Ronnie Cohen NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People with asthma-related breathing problems may be at increased risk for bone loss, according to a new study. The study examined the records of more than 7,000 adults in Seoul, Korea, and found those with a certain characteristic of asthma had significantly lower bone density in a region of their spine than those without asthma symptoms. The characteristic, called airway hyperresponsiveness, means the airways in the lungs are particularly sensitive, and it doesn't take much to trigger an asthma attack. However, both men and women with airway hyperresponsiveness were still in the normal range for overall bone density, on average. Full Story | Top |
| Nasdaq ends below 4,000 for first time since early February Friday, Apr 11, 2014 01:37 PM PDT  By Angela Moon NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks slid in a volatile session on Friday, with the Nasdaq closing below the 4,000 mark for the first time since early February. Selling accelerated late in the afternoon, with the biotech and other momentum stocks again leading the Nasdaq sharply lower. JPMorgan's disappointing earnings also gave investors a reason to sell some bank stocks. For the week, the S&P 500 fell 2.6 percent and the Nasdaq lost 3.1 percent, the biggest weekly decline for both indexes since June 2012. Full Story | Top |
| Nestle says chairman has curable illness, will stay on in role Friday, Apr 11, 2014 12:35 PM PDT  The chairman of Nestle , the world's largest food group, will undergo treatment for a curable illness but this will not affect his ability to carry out his job, the company said. The Vevey-based firm said the board of directors had been informed of Brabeck-Letmathe's illness on Thursday. A spokesman declined to give further details on what the illness was. Full Story | Top |
| Look out, romantics: Half of all sexts are lies Friday, Apr 11, 2014 11:55 AM PDT  By Kathryn Doyle NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In a survey of college students, nearly half of those who had ever sent a sexy text had lied while doing so. "This already exists in face-to-face interactions, like with orgasms it's common," lead author Michelle Drouin told Reuters Health. "I expected people would also be 'faking it' in sexts." Drouin worked on the study at Indiana University - Purdue University in Fort Wayne. She and her coauthors gave 155 college students who had been in at least one committed relationship an anonymous online survey about their sexting histories. Full Story | Top |
| Texas Medicaid holds off on proposed limits for Gilead hepatitis drug Friday, Apr 11, 2014 11:49 AM PDT Texas is reconsidering whether to impose strict limits on Gilead Sciences' $84,000 hepatitis C treatment for patients on the state's Medicaid health plan for the poor, at the urging of outside advisers, a state official said on Friday. The Texas Health and Human Services Commission, which oversees Medicaid, had proposed a policy to allow the drug, Sovaldi, to be used mainly for sicker patients such as those whose hepatitis C had developed into advanced liver disease, according to state documents reviewed by Reuters. As with most state Medicaid programs, an outside committee of pharmacists and doctors in Texas meets quarterly to review new drugs and recommend policies to the program's director. "The board asked state staff to meet with stakeholders, including gastroenterologists, about the criteria, whether it was too strict, and the prior authorization process," Texas Health and Human Services Commission spokeswoman Stephanie Goodman said. Full Story | Top |
| Minor foot wounds a major threat for diabetics Friday, Apr 11, 2014 11:28 AM PDT By Krystnell Storr NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - For people with diabetes, one foot ulcer is very likely to lead to another, according to a new study that finds even minor lesions create a major risk of more severe foot wounds. "I hope medical specialists, and other health care practitioners will use this knowledge and implement it in clinical practice," said senior author Sicco Bus, staff scientist with the Academic Medical Center at the University of Amsterdam. People with diabetes often lose feeling in their feet as a result of nerve damage, known as myelopathy. The lack of sensation makes diabetics prone to injure their feet without realizing it, and allows small wounds to grow into serious ulcers that can eventually lead to infection or gangrene. Full Story | Top |
| Militias in Central African Republic block Muslims exit to Cameroon: U.N. Friday, Apr 11, 2014 10:21 AM PDT  By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - Christian militia forces are blocking the main roads used by Muslim civilians trying to flee Central African Republic to Cameroon and attacking the refugees, the United Nations said on Friday, citing accounts from "traumatized" victims. Some refugees have suffered serious machete and gunshot wounds and many are severely malnourished after walking for months, having to detour and enter Cameroon via remote entry points, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said. "New arrivals have told our colleagues the militias have blocked main roads to Cameroon, forcing people to wade through the bush for two to three months before reaching the border. The refugees also said that the anti-balaka attacked them during the flight," UNHCR spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said. Full Story | Top |
| Chinese rush for bottled drinks after benzene pollutes tapwater Friday, Apr 11, 2014 09:50 AM PDT  BEIJING/PARIS (Reuters) - Residents in the Chinese city of Lanzhou rushed to buy bottled drinks on Friday after authorities said benzene, a cancer-inducing chemical, had been found in tapwater at 20 times above national safety levels. The water supply was turned off in one district, and officials warned citizens not to drink tapwater for the next 24 hours. "Lanzhou has shut down the contaminated water supply pipe and deployed activated carbon to absorb the benzene," local authorities said in a statement. The water supply company, Lanzhou Veolia Water Co, is majority-owned by the city government, with Veolia China, a unit of French firm Veolia Environnement, holding a 45-percent stake. Full Story | Top |
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