| | |
| 'Good Morning America' host Robin Roberts reveals same-sex relationship Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 03:03 PM PST  By Andrea Burzynski NEW YORK (Reuters) - "Good Morning America" co-anchor Robin Roberts publicly acknowledged a same-sex relationship for the first time on Sunday afternoon in a Facebook post reflecting on her recovery from a blood disorder. Roberts, 53, included the information alongside a picture of her and her dog in a post marking a milestone in her recovery from the bone marrow transplant she underwent in 2012. This is the first time Roberts has publicly mentioned a relationship with a woman. In 2012 Roberts was diagnosed with the blood disorder myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and took a medical leave of absence from "Good Morning America." She returned to the show in February 2013 and won a Peabody Award the same year for "Robin's Journey," a series of TV reports that chronicled her battle against MDS. Full Story | Top |
| Japan mid-tier camera makers face shakeout as smartphones shatter mirrorless hopes Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 01:20 PM PST  By Sophie Knight and Reiji Murai TOKYO (Reuters) - Panasonic Corp and Japan's other mid-tier camera makers have a battle on their hands to win over a smartphone "selfie" generation to mirrorless cameras that held such promise when they were launched around five years ago. Panasonic, like peers Fujifilm Holdings and Olympus Corp, has been losing money on its cameras since mobile phones that take high-quality photos ate into the compact camera business. Full Story | Top |
| Straumann to cut prices of some dental implants Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 07:43 AM PST The world's largest dental implant maker, Straumann, will cut the price of its standard titanium implants by around 15 percent next year in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the firm's chief executive told a Swiss newspaper on Sunday. The Swiss company said its price gap with rivals must be reduced, and that it may adjust prices in other parts of Europe at a later date. Premium implant makers like Straumann and local rival Nobel Biocare have been hit by weak consumer confidence in Europe, as cash-strapped consumers cut back on non-essential dental treatment or trade down to cheaper brands. "If we don't adapt prices to the market situation, then in a few years we'll be selling a third less in price-sensitive markets such as Germany than we do today," Chief Executive Marco Gadola told the NZZ am Sonntag. Full Story | Top |
| Patient doing well with French company's artificial heart: report Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 07:36 AM PST A 75-year-old Frenchman was feeding himself and chatting to his family, more than a week after becoming the first person to be fitted with an artificial heart made by French biomedical company Carmat, one of his surgeons said. We are thinking of getting him up on his feet soon, probably as early as this weekend," Professor Daniel Duveau, who saw the patient on Thursday, told Le Journal du Dimanche newspaper. Heart-assistance devices have been used for decades as a temporary solution for patients awaiting transplants, but Carmat's bioprosthetic product is designed to replace the real heart over the long run, mimicking nature using biological materials and sensors. It aims to extend life for patients suffering from terminal heart failure who cannot hope for a heart transplant, often because they are too old and donors too scarce. Full Story | Top |
| Italian woman defies animal rights militants after online abuse Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 07:19 AM PST An Italian woman who declared in an internet posting that she owed her life to medicines developed from testing on laboratory mice has gone on national television to answer abuse from animal rights militants. Caterina Simonsen, 25, received insults and abuse, which politicians rushed to condemn, after posting a defense of animal testing on Facebook. "Without it, I would have died when I was nine," wrote Simonsen, whose story has dominated Italian newspapers and television reports. Full Story | Top |
| After troubled rollout, Obamacare's new test starts on New Year's Day Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 05:06 AM PST  New Year's Day will bring a fresh test for President Barack Obama's healthcare overhaul, as hundreds of thousands of Americans will begin to use the program's new medical coverage for the first time. For the nation's healthcare system as well as its politics, the stakes are huge in Wednesday's launch of the program known as Obamacare. For anxious Democrats with an eye on the 2014 congressional elections, it is a chance for the Obama administration to rebound from the disastrous rollout of the website that enrolls people in private coverage through the program - and show that the White House's effort to help millions of uninsured and underinsured Americans is finally gaining its footing. Or, as Republican congressman Fred Upton and other critics of Obamacare warned in recent days, Wednesday could represent the beginning of another debacle that fuels Republicans' push to make dissatisfaction with Obamacare the chief issue in the November elections. Full Story | Top |
| Exclusive: U.S. government urged to name CEO to run Obamacare market Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 04:11 AM PST  By David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House is coming under pressure from some of its closest allies on healthcare reform to name a chief executive to run its federal health insurance marketplace and allay the concerns of insurers after the rocky rollout of Obamacare. Advocates have been quietly pushing the idea of a CEO who would set marketplace rules, coordinate with insurers and state regulators on the health plans offered for sale, supervise enrollment campaigns and oversee technology, according to several sources familiar with discussions between advocates and the Obama administration. Supporters of the idea say it could help regain the trust of insurers and others whose confidence in the healthcare overhaul has been shaken by the technological woes that crippled the federal HealthCare.gov insurance shopping website and the flurry of sometimes-confusing administration rule changes that followed. The advocates include former White House adviser Ezekiel Emanuel, the brother of President Barack Obama's former chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, and the Center for American Progress, the Washington think tank founded by John Podesta, the president's newly appointed senior counselor. Full Story | Top |
| Croatia charges doctors, pharmacists in huge drugs bribery case Sunday, Dec 29, 2013 03:38 AM PST Some 300 doctors and pharmacists are among 364 suspects who have been charged in Croatia with offering and taking bribes in exchange for prescribing certain drugs. The main indictees in the case are the managers of a local pharmaceutical company who are accused of planning the scheme, state prosecutors said on their website on Saturday. They did not name the company, in line with standard legal practice in Croatia, which joined the European Union in July, after stepping up its fight against widespread corruption. The managers are accused of creating a network of doctors and pharmacists and offering them money, valuable gifts and paid trips with the aim of boosting the sales of their drugs, the state prosecutors said. Full Story | Top |
| Insight: Small-town squabbles blamed for stalling Philippine storm aid Saturday, Dec 28, 2013 10:04 PM PST  By Nathan Layne and Manuel Mogato PALO, Philippines (Reuters) - Nena Obrero and her family survived without government aid for three weeks after Super Typhoon Haiyan churned across the central Philippines and reduced much of her hometown to rubble. Obrero lives in Guindapunan, a barangay, or district, of the city of Palo, on the east of Leyte island, where more than 1,000 people were killed on November 8. But they missed out on the initial shipments of rice from the municipal office, the main channel for redistributing aid in the disaster-prone Southeast Asian archipelago, due to political squabbling, Obrero said. Even in a tiny barangay, residents say the biggest loyalties are at play - in this case to the clan of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos's widow, whose supporters belong to a collection of opposition parties, and to rival assassinated politician Benigno Aquino, whose son is now president. Full Story | Top |
|
No comments:
Post a Comment