Month: January 2014

By Lacey Johnson WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Thousands of U.S. anti-abortion activists braved frigid temperatures to rally at the annual March for Life on Wednesday, and a top Republican lawmaker vowed that the House of Representatives would vote soon to end taxpayer-funded abortions. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor told the rally, one of the key yearly events for the anti-abortion movement, that the Republican-controlled chamber would approve the measure halting taxpayer funding for the procedure next week. But Cantor acknowledged that the House Republican measure might ultimately be a symbolic one, saying that passage in the Democrat controlled Senate and acceptance by President Barack Obama "will be a much tougher task." Opponents of the procedure failed in their attempts to attach new anti-abortion provisions to the $1.1 trillion spending bill Congress approved last week. I love my life" and "Stop abortion now." Groups of Catholic high school students chanted: "We love babies, yes we do! We love babies, how about you?" From Vatican City, Pope Francis used Twitter to back the rally.

Two women died within weeks of one another after giving birth at South Shore Hospital.        

(Reuters) – U.S. orthopedic implant maker Stryker Corp said on Wednesday quarterly net profit rose 43 percent, driven by increased sales in its reconstructive and neurotechnology divisions as well as lower taxes. Excluding items such as product recall and acquisition charges, Stryker earned $1.23 per share, just ahead of the $1.22 per-share forecast, on average, by Wall Street analysts, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Stryker said its effective tax rate in the latest quarter was 10.3 percent, compared with 24.6 percent in fourth quarter 2012. Shares of Stryker, which closed nearly unchanged at $78.58 on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, were up about 0.5 percent at $79.00 in after-hours trading.

By Ryan Vlastelica NEW YORK (Reuters) – The S&P 500 closed flat on Wednesday as a mixed bag of corporate earnings failed to give investors the confidence to push equities higher with the index near record levels. For the second day in a row, the Dow posted outsized losses following weak results from one of its components while the Nasdaq climbed, with BlackBerry one of its biggest boosts. International Business Machines Corp lost 3.3 percent to $182.25, the biggest drag on the Dow after the tech giant missed revenue expectations for a fourth straight quarter amid weakening demand, particularly in growth markets like China. The results followed disappointments from Verizon , Travelers and Johnson & Johnson , which weighed on the blue-chip index on Tuesday.

The findings run up against the realities of the global truck freight industry, where irregular schedules and incentive-based payment systems enticing drivers to the next load are still common, said Mark Stevenson. He led the study from the Monash University Accident Research Centre in Melbourne.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled in favor of medical devices maker Medtronic Inc in its dispute with privately owned Mirowski Family Ventures LLC over whether the larger company infringed on Mirowski’s patents in making certain pacemakers. The case stems from Medtronic’s decision to ask a judge to rule that some of its pacemakers do not infringe on technology patented by Mirowski and licensed to Boston Scientific as well as Guidant Corp, part of Boston Scientific and Abbott Laboratories. A court in Delaware ruled for Medtronic, saying that even though Medtronic requested the ruling, or declaratory judgment, it was up to Mirowski to prove infringement.