Month: May 2013

Hanford Nuclear Waste Cleanup Plant May Be Too Dangerous

A 911 dispatcher in Miami Beach, Fla., who let 14 minutes go by before sending help to a dying man, says he made the mistake because he has a brain tumor. Now, he could lose his job – and his health insurance. “I’m not a…        

A 911 dispatcher in Miami Beach, Fla., who let 14 minutes go by before sending help to a dying man, says he made the mistake because he has a brain tumor. Now, he could lose his job – and his health insurance. “I’m not a…        

By Stephanie Nebehay and Mahmoud Habboush GENEVA/DUBAI (Reuters) – World Health Organization (WHO) experts and local officials will visit a Saudi hospital where the SARS-like coronavirus has spread, killing seven people, the U.N. agency said on Wednesday. France reported its first case on Wednesday in a 65-year-old Frenchman who had recently returned from Dubai with the virus that has emerged from the Gulf and has also spread to Britain and Germany as well as Jordan, Qatar and United Arab Emirates. The French case brings total known infections worldwide to 31, of which 18 have died. …

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A California law that created an agency to oversee national health care reforms granted it sweeping authority to conceal spending on the contractors that will perform most of its functions, creating a barrier from public disclosure that stands out nationwide.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Food and Drug Administration investigation into the safety of caffeine-added foods has prompted Wrigley to take its new caffeinated gum off the market for the time being.

By Deena Beasley (Reuters) – Patent expirations on big-name drugs such as Lipitor and Plavix has resulted in modestly less spending on medicines in the United States for the first time in at least 55 years, according to a report released on Thursday. Overall U.S. spending on medicines totaled $325.8 billion in 2012, down 1 percent from 2011, according to the report from the IMS Institute of Healthcare Informatics. Adjusting for population, per capita spending fell 3.5 percent to $898. …

BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese authorities have begun investigating reports that Zhang Yimou, one of China's best-known movie directors, has seven children in violation of strict family planning rules, which could result in a fine of 160 million yuan ($26.05 million), state media said on Thursday. Online reports have surfaced that Zhang, who dazzled the world in 2008 with his Beijing Olympic ceremonies, "has at least seven children and will face a 160 million yuan fine," said the website of the People's Daily, the Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece. …

(Reuters) – Wrigley temporarily halted production of its new Alert Energy Caffeine Gum in response to concerns expressed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration over the impact of caffeine on children and adolescents. The company said it had paused the production, sale and marketing of Alert to give the FDA time to develop a new regulatory framework for the addition of caffeine to food and drinks. The recently launched gum has about 40 milligrams of caffeine, as much as a half a cup of coffee, in each piece. …

By Sarah N. Lynch and Andy Sullivan WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Law firms, brokerages and other companies that analyze the U.S. government for investors could be forced to disclose client lists and other sensitive information under legislation that a top Republican lawmaker hopes to soon resurrect. Iowa Senator Charles Grassley is investigating what he calls a "political intelligence" firm and whether it engaged in insider trading last month. Grassley is also looking at other firms and trying to ensure greater transparency about how private firms use data they get from government officials. …