Month: July 2013

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — A 6-year-old girl has become the ninth person to die of bird flu in Cambodia this year, as the virus continues to pose a threat to the country, the health ministry said Tuesday.

GENEVA (Reuters) – Some 2,500 civilians are trapped in the Syrian town of Homs, the scene of heavy fighting, the spokesman for U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement on Tuesday. Ban called on the warring sides to do their utmost to avoid civilian casualties. He was also concerned about threats to seize two Shi’ite villages in the northern province of Aleppo, the statement said, without naming the villages. (Reporting by Tom Miles; Editing by Alison Williams)

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — A 6-year-old girl has become the ninth person in Cambodia to die of bird flu this year.

(Reuters) – Vivus Inc’s largest shareholder First Manhattan Co said it proposed a former senior executive of AstraZeneca Plc as chief executive of the obesity drug maker, a move that could swing shareholder support for the activist investor’s board slate ahead of a proxy vote. Anthony Zook, who was executive vice-president for global commercial operations at AstraZeneca until February, helped in launch some of the British drug giant’s biggest products, including the blockbuster heartburn drug Nexium and cholesterol medicine Crestor. First Manhattan, owner of 9. …

The Advantages of Not Saying You Are Sorry

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A 10-year-old girl who got adult lungs after her parents sued to change national transplant rules is set for more surgery to repair her diaphragm.

By Mark Felsenthal DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) – U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama and predecessor Laura Bush combined their star power to draw attention on Tuesday to efforts to improve women's health and welfare in east Africa. Michelle Obama is visiting Tanzania on the last day of President Barack Obama's eight-day tour of Africa. She helped Laura Bush open a summit of the wives of African leaders, saying Africa was "at the hub of global development". The summit aims to promote women's well-being on the continent. The unusual Obama-Bush combination spotlights U.S. …

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A prominent former Las Vegas doctor and endoscopy clinic owner was convicted Monday of all 27 criminal charges against him — including second-degree murder — in a 2007 hepatitis C outbreak that officials called one of the largest ever in the U.S.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Doctors Without Borders warned Tuesday that rising intellectual property rights are blocking the generic production of newer drugs to treat HIV and are keeping them out of reach for developing countries.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa's last white president, FW de Klerk, will undergo a procedure on Tuesday to install a pacemaker, his assistant said. De Klerk, 77, received the Nobel Peace Prize jointly with his successor, Nelson Mandela, in 1993 for overseeing South Africa's transition from white-minority apartheid rule. "He expects to be discharged from hospital within 24 hours. He's going to get a pacemaker and then coming out," de Klerk's personal assistant, Brenda Steyn, told Reuters. …

By Sharon Begley NEW YORK (Reuters) – About 550,000 people in Oregon do not have health insurance, and Aaron Karjala is confident the state's new online insurance exchange will be able to accommodate them when enrollment under President Barack Obama's healthcare reform begins on October 1. What Karjala, the chief information officer at "Cover Oregon," does worry about, however, is what will happen if the entire population of Oregon – 3.9 million – logs on that day "just to check it out," he said. …

ZURICH (Reuters) – – Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG is buying Constitution Medical Investors (CMI), the U.S. developer of a testing system for blood diseases like anemia and leukemia, for an upfront $220 million, plus further contingent payments. Roche, the world’s largest maker of cancer drugs, said on Tuesday the contingent payments depended on the achievement of certain milestones, without giving details. It said CMI would strengthen Roche’s position in the laboratory hematology testing business, with an estimated global market size of more than $2 billion. …