Smart Health Shop Forum Blog: April 2015

Thursday, April 30, 2015

UPDATE 4-Bird flu outbreak could set US record with 'probable' cases in Iowa - Reuters

(Adds company comment)

By P.J. Huffstutter and Tom Polansek

CHICAGO, April 30 (Reuters) - The highly pathogenic H5 avian flu turned up in initial tests at five more farms in Iowa, including a commercial egg operation housing up to 5.5 million birds, Iowa's agriculture department said on Thursday.

If the virus is confirmed at the farms in additional tests under way at a U.S. Department of Agriculture laboratory, the total number of American cases could surpass 20 million birds and result in the biggest death toll in a bird flu outbreak in U.S. history.

Avian flu at the egg farm in Buena Vista County, where workers saw an unexpected jump in bird deaths before the flock was tested, could be the largest single farm operation to be hit in the current outbreak.

The egg farm's owner, Rembrandt Foods, one of the top U.S. egg producers, confirmed the outbreak but disputed the number of birds affected. The state did not identify the affected farm by name.

"Rembrandt Foods takes biosecurity and food safety very seriously. Our focus over the past several weeks has been to diligently implement enhanced biosecurity procedures," the company said in a statement. "Notwithstanding our best efforts, one of our barns at the Rembrandt, Iowa, complex has become the latest ... to test presumptive positive for avian influenza."

The company said it is working with state and federal regulatory authorities to limit the spread of the virus. Its egg-laying facilities in Renville, Minnesota, and Thompson, Iowa, are not affected, according to the company statement.

Avian flu was "probable" at four other commercial farms in Buena Vista, Sioux and Clay counties, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship said. If the virus is confirmed at all five farms in the coming days, the number of sites where H5 has been found in Iowa would rise to 17.

BROILER FARM HIT

The news came only hours after state officials confirmed on Thursday that an Iowa-based chicken broiler breeding farm has initially tested positive for the virus.

The facility in Kossuth County, Iowa, houses an estimated 19,000 birds, the state agriculture department said.

Birds were dying in greater than normal numbers at the breeding farm, which is a typical sign of influenza infection in a flock.

This is thought to be first time the virus has affected a broiler breeding farm in this outbreak. Such breeding farms are traditionally known for having extremely tight biosecurity systems.

Though the operation is small compared with some of the other poultry farm sites in the Midwest that have been affected by the current outbreak, the probable breach of a chicken broiler breeder's biosecurity underscores the potential for the country's poultry meat industry supply chain to be affected.

Typically, such facilities' chickens lay fertile eggs, which are sent to a hatchery to produce chicks that are later raised and slaughtered for meat.

Infections with the H5N2 strain have picked up pace in the past few weeks. Only a million birds had been infected at the beginning of April after the strain was first found in January.

Two bird flu strains have been found in the United States this year. The H5N2 strain has been reported in Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington and Wisconsin. It has also been identified on farms in Ontario, Canada.

The H5N8 strain has been identified in California and also in Idaho, according to the Agriculture Department.

More than 15 million commercial birds nationwide have died or are expected to be killed in the current outbreak.

(Reporting by P.J. Huffstutter; Additional reporting by Tom Polansek and Julie Ingwersen; Editing by Toni Reinhold, Jonathan Oatis and Lisa Shumaker)

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US FDA approves Glaxo, Theravance's Breo Ellipta asthma drug - Reuters

April 30 (Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved the sale of Breo Ellipta as a once-daily treatment for asthma in patients aged 18 and older, GlaxoSmithKline and Theravance Inc said.

The FDA declined to approve Breo for younger asthma sufferers. The agency, in a so-called complete response letter, told the companies that additional data would be required to further demonstrate Breo's safety and efficacy in that population.

The FDA's decision came after an FDA advisory panel of experts had voted 16-4 that Breo Ellipta should be approved for use by adults. It voted 19-1 that available data did not support approval for use in children aged 12 to 17.

Breo Ellipta should not be used for the relief of acute bronchospasm, the companies said.

Bernstein analyst Tim Anderson had forecast Breo sales reaching $750 million in 2020.

The drug consists of a corticosteroid, which reduces inflammation, and a long-acting beta-agonist called vilanterol, which is designed to open the airways.

Glaxo licensed the drug from Theravance in 2002.

The inhaled treatment was previously approved to treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, a condition that includes emphysema, chronic bronchitis or both. (Reporting by Bill Berkrot in New York; Editing by Leslie Adler)

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HPV: Young women less likely to test positive for cervical cancer precursors ... - ABC Online

<div class="subcolumns"> Young Australian women are becoming less likely to test positive for precursors to cervical cancer as more receive the human papillomavirus (HPV) shots in their teens, data shows.

The latest analysis of cervical screening data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) showed high grade abnormality detection in women below the age of 24 was progressively decreasing.

The report explained high-grade cervical abnormalities were potential precursors to cervical cancer, and early detection through screening provided an opportunity for treatment before cancer could develop.

AIHW spokesperson Justin Harvey said the figures showed that over time, the HPV vaccine given to schoolgirls since 2007 would help keep Australia's cervical cancer mortality rate low.

"The detection of high grade abnormalities reached historically low rates in 2013 for women aged under 20 and for those aged 20 to 24," he said.

"This is largely due to the introduction of the HPV vaccination program in schools."

Conversely, the data showed high-grade abnormality detections were increasing over time for women in high age brackets.

Change in high-grade abnormalities detection per 1000 women Age Group2007200820092010201120122013

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Dolphins grab Louisville wideout with 14th pick - Comcast SportsNet New England

With the 14th pick in the first round Thursday night the Miami Dolphins took Louisville wide receiver DeVante Parker. At 6-3, 209 pounds with vine-like arms, Parker represents another long target in the AFC East.

The Dolphins are suddenly pretty potent on paper at the wide receiver position with second-year man Jarvis Landry, former Saints wideout Kenny Stills, veteran Greg Jennings and now Parker.

There will be a learning curve for that group to conquer in working with Ryan Tannehill, whose top targets last year included Mike Williams, Brian Hartline and Charles Clay. But there’s some bona fide talent for Tannehill – the most promising quarterback in the AFC East from a fleet of young ones.

Parker has terrific hands and while he missed the first seven games of the season he did come on strong at the end with 43 catches for 855 yards and five touchdowns.

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McIlroy sets up do-or-die Match Play clash with Horschel

(Reuters) - World number one and top seed Rory McIlroy beat Brandt Snedeker on Thursday, setting up a showdown with FedExCup champion Billy Horschel for a place in the last-16 at the WGC-Match Play Championship.

McIlroy prevailed 2up against Snedeker in day two action and Horschel was a 3&2 winner over Jason Dufner to leave both men 2-0 in group play heading into Friday's head-to-head clash at TPC Harding Park.

The Northern Irishman seemed comfortably in control of the match at 2up through 10 holes but Snedeker rallied with birdies on 11 and 12 to square the match.

McIlroy wrestled the lead back with a birdie on the 15th before closing it out on the 18th hole.

"I did what I needed to do against Brandt today. I felt like I played very solid tee to green and made a few birdies so that's nice," said McIlroy.

"The match tomorrow, it's win or go home so it's back to the usual format and I'm looking forward to it.

“Billy seems like he's playing well. So it's basically a chance to get into the last 16. It's do or die tomorrow."

Horschel took charge early against Dufner with a birdie on the opening hole and was never headed, effectively cruising to victory.

World number four Bubba Watson made light work of fellow major winner Keegan Bradley 4&2 to set up another win-and-you're-in scenario with the man he conquered in a playoff to win the 2012 Masters, South African Louis Oosthuizen.

Oosthuizen, a former British Open champion won 2up against Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez.

American Rickie Fowler and Australian John Senden clinched spots in the round of 16 ahead of day three matches thanks to other results in their pools.

Fowler was a 1up winner over Ireland's Shane Lowry while Senden took down former FedExCup champion Bill Haas 4&3 a day after upsetting world number three Henrik Stenson in 19 holes.

Among the big-name casualties with no chance to advance are former world number one Adam Scott, as England's Paul Casey beat the Australian 1up to leave him winless.

Former U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell and match play specialist Ian Poulter were also knocked out of contention with their second losses of the tournament.


 (Editing by Frank Pingue)

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US FDA approves Glaxo, Theravance's Breo Ellipta asthma drug - Reuters

April 30 (Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administrationon Thursday approved the sale of Breo Ellipta as a once-dailytreatment for asthma in patients aged 18 and older,GlaxoSmithKline and Theravance Inc said.

The FDA declined to approve Breo for younger asthmasufferers. The agency, in a so-called complete response letter,told the companies that additional data would be required tofurther demonstrate Breo's safety and efficacy in thatpopulation.

The FDA's decision came after an FDA advisory panel ofexperts had voted 16-4 that Breo Ellipta should be approved foruse by adults. It voted 19-1 that available data did not supportapproval for use in children aged 12 to 17.

Breo Ellipta should not be used for the relief of acutebronchospasm, the companies said.

Bernstein analyst Tim Anderson had forecast Breo salesreaching $750 million in 2020.

The drug consists of a corticosteroid, which reducesinflammation, and a long-acting beta-agonist called vilanterol,which is designed to open the airways.

Glaxo licensed the drug from Theravance in 2002.

The inhaled treatment was previously approved to treatchronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, a condition thatincludes emphysema, chronic bronchitis or both. (Reporting by Bill Berkrot in New York; Editing by LeslieAdler)

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HPV: Young women less likely to test positive for cervical cancer precursors ... - ABC Online

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Ranking the top 100 NFL draft prospects - USA TODAY

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Time to Prove Hospital Disinfectants Work, FDA Says - NBCNews.com

Hospital workers wash their hands hundreds of times a day. Nurses are constantly using alcohol gels, chemical wipes and iodine washes on themselves and on patients.

Now that there's a hand sanitizer dispenser at every hospital room door, it's time to check that they actually do work as well as everyone assumes and that they are safe, the Food and Drug Administration says.

Up until now, FDA's just accepted that these products work as intended and are safe. But now, FDA says, there are tests available to actually prove they do. And because of the emphasis on hospital infections, institutions are using the products far more frequently than even 10 years ago and in many different ways.

So FDA issued a proposed plan Thursday for reclassifying some of the products, and for requiring makers to show they are safe and effective.

"We're not asking for any of these products to come off the market at this time."

In the meantime. FDA says, there's nothing for consumers to worry about and hospitals should continue using the products as they have been.

"What it seems they are doing is good due diligence," says Dr. Susan Dolan of Children's Hospital Colorado and the Association of Professionals in Infection Control.

"They are trying to look at the products, look at how they are being used today, how things have changed," she added.

The FDA proposes new rules making companies submit new studies looking at safety issues such as whether heavy, chronic use of the some of the products may cause them to soak in through the skin, or cause resistant bacteria to evolve.

Products that are not shown to be safe and effective by 2018 would have to be reformulated or taken off the market.

"We're not asking for any of these products to come off the market at this time. We're just asking for additional data," Theresa Michele, a director in FDA's drug center, said in an interview with The Associated Press. "And we're likewise not suggesting that people stop using these products."

Alcohol, iodine benzalkonium chloride and other germ-killers have been used for decades. But not to the degree that they are now.

"Twenty years ago you didn't find people using antiseptic gels 100 times a day. It just didn't happen," Michele said.

FDA points to studies that show some of the products might be absorbed into the body at higher levels than previously thought, showing up in blood and urine. Dolan says not all the studies show this, but it's worthwhile doing more checks.

"It's timely and it makes sense," Dolan said. "I do think consumers should not be worried. These are very effective products."

The FDA last updated its review of health care hand cleaners in 1994.

"They are trying to look at the products, look at how they are being used today, how things have changed."

"We emphasize that our proposal for more safety and effectiveness data for health care antiseptic active ingredients does not mean that we believe that health care antiseptic products containing these ingredients are ineffective or unsafe, or that their use should be discontinued," FDA said in its announcement.

The agency agreed to complete its review after a three-year legal battle with the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group that accused the FDA of delaying action on potentially dangerous chemicals. In 2013 the FDA agreed to a legal settlement that included timetables for completing the review of various chemicals, including health care cleaners.

Environmentalists are mainly concerned about an ingredient called triclosan, which is used in most antibacterial soaps marketed to consumers. The agency issued a separate review of triclosan-containing consumer products in late 2013, saying more data are needed to establish their safety and effectiveness.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

First published April 30 2015, 2:46 PM

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HPV: Young women less likely to test positive for cervical cancer precursors ... - ABC Online

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US House Republicans pass budget plan, set sights on Obamacare - Reuters

WASHINGTON, April 30 (Reuters) - Republicans in U.S. Houseof Representatives passed the first joint House-Senate budgetplan in six years on Thursday, a measure that aids the party'sgoal of dismantling President Barack Obama's signaturehealthcare reform law this year.

The Republican-authored plan would eliminate deficits by2024 through deep cuts to social programs while increasingmilitary spending by nearly $40 billion next year. It passed226-197 largely on party lines.

The Republican-controlled Senate is expected to pass thebudget plan next week. Because it is a non-binding resolution,Obama does not sign it into law. (Reporting By David Lawder; Editing by Sandra Maler)

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NASA's Messenger ends 4-year tour of Mercury with planned crash landing - Washington Post

SPACE SCIENCE

Planned crash ends 4-year Mercury orbit

The only spacecraft to orbit Mercury ended its four-year tour with a crash landing Thursday.

NASA’s Messenger plunged from orbit as planned and slammed into the sun’s closest planet at about 8,750 mph, creating a crater an estimated 52 feet across.

Messenger became the first spacecraft to orbit hot, little Mercury, in 2011. It circled the solar system’s innermost planet 4,105 times and collected more than 277,000 images.

Until Messenger, the only spacecraft to visit Mercury was NASA’s Mariner 10 back in the 1970s. That was only a fly-by mission.

Lead scientist Sean Solomon, director of Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, said that Messenger set a record for planetary fly-bys — once past Earth, twice past Venus and three times past Mercury before entering Mercury’s orbit — and survived “both punishing heat and extreme doses of radiation” to surpass expectations.

Flight controllers managed to keep the spacecraft going a few extra weeks by using helium gas not originally intended as fuel. But the gas tank finally emptied, and gravity’s relentless tug did Messenger in.

— Associated Press

MICHIGAN

Governor details Detroit school plan

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) on Thursday outlined a sweeping overhaul of Detroit’s troubled state-run school district, proposing to divide its operations to address the “crushing” debt he said is hurting education in a city just months removed from bankruptcy.

The plan, which needs approval from bailout-fatigued lawmakers and prompted Detroit teachers to skip school on the day it was being unveiled, would create the new City of Detroit Education District to handle the academic operations of all public schools under what initially would be a board appointed by the governor and mayor.

Detroit Public Schools would remain intact for tax-collection purposes, tasked with paying off $483 million in debt over about seven years.

Because existing local school taxes would go toward the debt, Snyder will ask the Republican-controlled Legislature to direct $72 million more a year to the new district’s operations during those seven years— a tough sell less than a year after legislators committed $195 million to help end Detroit’s bankruptcy.

An education manager would determine whether low-performing schools should be closed, all traditional and charter schools would be put under an umbrella group, and a centralized enrollment system would be established so parents could enroll their children in a wider variety of schools.

— Associated Press

OKLAHOMA

Reserve deputies’ duties reduced

The Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday that it will limit the duties of reserve deputies, including no longer allowing them to patrol alone after a white volunteer deputy was charged with manslaughter in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black suspect.

The office has faced questions about whether these deputies have been properly trained since the April 2 incident in which a reserve deputy, Robert Bates, killed Eric Harris, saying he meant to draw a stun gun but instead used a handgun.

Bates, a 73-year-old insurance agent, has pleaded not guilty in Harris’s death.

— Reuters

U.S. settles radiation dispute with New Mexico: The U.S. Energy Department has agreed to fund more than $73 million in infrastructure projects across New Mexico to settle a dispute stemming from a radiation leak at the federal government’s troubled nuclear-waste dump there. The agreement, announced Thursday after months of negotiations., is the largest settlement in DOE’s history.

Ariz. law blocks plastic-bag bans: Efforts by a few cities in Arizona to ban plastic bags are in limbo after lawmakers voted to make the bans illegal, angering municipalities over what they see as heavy-handed action by a conservative state against local governments. The state bill, which was approved in early May and takes effect in July, outlaws bans of single-use plastic bags and applies similar restrictions on foam containers and other disposable products.

— From news services

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Baltimore protesters march again after police file sealed report on Gray - USA TODAY

Baltimore protesters march again after police file sealed report on Gray

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These Online Dating Profiles Get the Most Dates

Single ladies: What if you could outsource your online dating profile to an omniscient dating guru (who just happened to know all your charming quirks) and have her spit out the most impeccably worded, authentic profile ever? Oh, and what if this guru also guaranteed an inbox full of messages from dozens of eligible guys?

OK, so maybe that’s a dream world—and if you meet this fantasy chick, pass us her number. (She may have also been inspired by Hitch.) But what we have instead might just be just as good (or better): a comprehensive city-by-city breakdown of what’s trending with singles across various dating sites. Whether you’re in L.A. or Dallas, we’ll tell you what keywords are on fire and which activities will increase your response rate. And once you’ve nailed down that date, here’s a list of hot (read: non-lame) date night restaurants.

No need to thank us for your shiny new profile now—but we do expect an invitation to the wedding.

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Time to Prove Hospital Disinfectants Work, FDA Says - NBCNews.com

"We're not asking for any of these products to come off the market at this time."

"They are trying to look at the products, look at how they are being used today, how things have changed."

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HPV: Young women less likely to test positive for cervical cancer precursors ... - ABC Online

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Tom Cotton's Latest Attempt To Kill The Iran Bill - Huffington Post

WASHINGTON -- An unexpected procedural maneuver by hawkish freshman Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) on Thursday threatened to torpedo the delicate effort to pass a bill granting Congress oversight of the nuclear agreement with Iran.

The Arkansas Republican invoked an obscure parliamentary procedure to compel a vote on a package of amendments widely considered to be "poison pills" that would destroy the bill's chances of passing. The measures include language that further limits the president’s ability to provide sanctions relief to Iran and cements "anytime, anywhere" inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities. The package also includes an amendment pushed by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) that requires Iran to recognize Israel as a Jewish state -- a condition that Iran is unlikely to accept.

"It’s fine if you want to vote no," Cotton said on the Senate floor Thursday, harshly criticizing his colleagues for blocking previous efforts to introduce similar amendments. "But we need to vote. If you don’t want to vote, you shouldn’t have come to the Senate. If you’re in the Senate and you don’t want to vote, you should leave."

As parliamentary moves go, this was a bold one, seeming to catch lawmakers off guard. Senators had been expecting a carefully managed floor process on a bill that would give Congress a 52-day window to voice its approval on the lifting of economic sanctions against Iran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program. Cotton's gambit seems designed to disrupt that.

If passed, the "poison pill" amendments would likely sabotage the bipartisan coalition in favor of the bill, which is being pushed by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and Ben Cardin (D-Md.), the ranking member on the committee. That's because President Barack Obama would likely veto the revised bill, viewing it as irreparably damaging to ongoing negotiations with Iran. At that point, the Senate would need to muster up 67 votes to override his veto.

And while some Senate Democrats may be reluctant to oppose the amendments -- in particular, voting for Rubio's would be seen as a show of support for Israel -- they are unlikely to want to undermine their own president's diplomatic agenda.

"Our stance is we are not going to shoulder the burden of defeating poison pills," said one senior Senate Democratic aide.

It may not get to that point. By Thursday afternoon, Corker was telling reporters he expected Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to squash the Cotton amendments and bring his bill straight to the floor. McConnell has a few days to weigh that decision, and it's unclear how he will proceed. Since assuming the majority leader role, he has advocated for an open amendment process, often criticizing Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) for restricting the amendment process when his party held the majority in the Senate. To keep the Iran oversight bill alive, however, McConnell may end up having to restrict amendments through a process known as "filling the tree."

There is certainly support in the chamber for leaving the bill as is. Earlier this month, it sailed through the committee with a 19-0 vote. And though Republican members have since tried to tack on amendments that will further constrain Iran's actions, Democrats, along with a handful of other Republicans led by Corker, have urged their colleagues to not meddle with the language.

Nonetheless, Republicans had still filed over 60 amendments as of Thursday. Of these, only two have come up for a vote, and both have failed. One of the failed amendments would have deemed the nuclear agreement to be a treaty, subject to the approval of 67 senators. The other would have reinserted previous language requiring the president to certify that Iran is not supporting acts of terror against Americans.

What made Cotton's gambit different is that it seems to have gone around his own party's leadership.

On Thursday, Corker expressed disappointment with the junior senator's effort to disrupt the ongoing bipartisan process of determining which amendments to bring up for votes. “I’ve been working with numbers of senators on some really controversial votes that we’re willing to make, as we already have," Corker said. "Matter of fact, the only two votes we’ve had thus far were considered poison pill votes. I have the sense that the context of this has just changed. So I regret that.”

The turn of events didn't just leave Republican leadership in a tough bind. Democrats, too, were forced to frantically plan for an unexpected legislative outcome. While some in the party have remained committed to voting down controversial amendments, several have balked at being put in a situation in which they are forced to vote against pro-Israel language simply for procedural reasons. Earlier this week, Reid accused Republican presidential hopefuls of “want[ing] to use this good, bipartisan piece of legislation as a platform for their political ambitions."

By Thursday afternoon, however, there was suspicion that far from being a last-ditch effort, Cotton's maneuver was a well-orchestrated attempt to put the party in a bind.

"No one knows where McConnell actually stands on this," said the senior Senate Democratic aide. "His long-term goal may actually be to scuttle the talks, in which case he doesn't give a hoot if the bill fails and may in fact want it to."

While the majority leader has repeatedly spoken in support of passing the bill, he voted for the two amendments that failed earlier this week -- both of which were known deal-breakers for Democrats.

Don Stewart, a spokesman for McConnell, rejected the suggestion that his boss secretly aimed to sabotage the bill.

"Apparently that shy aide hasn’t seen any of the leader’s speeches this week. They’re on his website. Nice try by that kid, though," he said.

Michael McAuliff contributed reporting.

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An unlikely contender, Sanders takes on 'billionaire class' in 2016 bid - Washington Post

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US Navy to accompany US-flagged ships in Persian Gulf after Iran seizes vessel - Fox News

U.S. Navy ships will begin to accompany U.S. flagged commercial ships as they travel the Strait of Hormuz, a defense official confirmed to Fox News, on the heels of Iran seizing a cargo ship.

The Obama administration is closely monitoring Iran's takeover of the ship, as it involved a Marshall Islands-flagged vessel. The Marshall Islands and the U.S. have a longstanding security agreement, and officials said Thursday the two nations are in contact.

But, in a clear response to that incident, a defense official said the U.S. Navy will now accompany all U.S.-flagged ships going through the area. The move is the latest development in a high-stakes chess match in the region, with the Iran nuclear talks continuing to play out in the background.

The Navy makes a distinction between accompanying ships and escorting them. Officials told the AP the Navy won't technically escort these ships but will let them know in advance that they will monitor the situation as they transit the narrow Strait from the Persian Gulf toward the Arabian Sea.

The Navy already has dispatched a guided-missile destroyer, the USS Farragut, to the region. Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren said Wednesday the destroyer is "keeping an eye on things," and in close enough proximity to the seized ship that they "will be able to respond if a response is required."

When pressed on what kind of incident aboard the ship would elicit a U.S. Navy response, he was vague, saying: "These [U.S. military] assets give commanders options." He said he didn't know "what the possibilities are," and the U.S. government is "in discussions with the Marshall Islands on the way ahead."

Earlier this week Iranian naval vessels reportedly fired warning shots near the Marshall Islands-flagged cargo ship and detained it and its crew. Iranian officials say the Maersk shipping line owes it money.

Maersk Line, the Danish shipper that chartered the cargo vessel, acknowledged in a written statement that the reason for stopping the ship could be related to a 2005 cargo case.

Maersk Line spokesman Michael Storgaard said the company learned Thursday that an Iranian appeals court had ruled Maersk must pay $3.6 million for a 10-container cargo delivered a decade ago on behalf of an Iranian company in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. However, the cargo never was collected, according to Storgaard, adding it eventually was disposed of by local authorities.

"As we do not have the details of the ruling, we are not able to comment hereon, nor at this point speculate on our options," Maersk Line said of the latest ruling.

"Our paramount concern remains the safety of the crew and the safe release of the vessel. We will continue to do everything we can to resolve this matter with the relevant Iranian authorities."

Storgaard told The Associated Press that the ship and crew aren't theirs. MV Maersk Tigris, operated by Rickmers Ship Management in Singapore, was boarded on Tuesday.

Cors Radings, a spokesman for Rickmers, told Fox News that as of Thursday, there has been no change in the status of the ship and her crew, and that the company has not spoken with the crew in the past 24 hours.

The Marshall Islands -- officially known as the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and a former U.S. trust -- enjoy "associate state" status with the United States, meaning the U.S. agrees to defend the islands, and provide economic subsidies and access to federally funded social services. The U.S. initially gained military control of the Marshall Islands from Japan in 1944.

According to the State Department, "The security compact between the United States and the Republic of the Marshall Islands gives the U.S. authority and responsibility for security and defense matters that relate to the Marshall Islands, including matters related to vessels flying the Marshallese flag."

Fox News' Lucas Tomlinson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Vegas & Henderson Receive F Grade For Ozone - CBS Local

(Las Vegas, NV) — Las Vegas and Henderson received an F grade for ozone levels according to a new report out by the American Lung Association. The “State of The Air” report for 2015 shows that air quality not only received a bad grade, but it’s actually worsened compared to the last report.

Christian Stumpf of the American Lung Association in Nevada says we can all do little things to help, like go inside a fast food restaurant and order, instead of sitting idle at a drive through. He says carpooling always helps too!

Nationwide, more than 4 in 10 Americans – nearly 138.5 million people – live in counties where ozone or particle pollution levels make the air unhealthy to breathe.

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FDA approves new injection to get rid of double chins - Miami Herald

Q.I just heard that there are some shots that were just approved by the FDA to get rid of a fat neck and double chins. Does this really work?

A. It’s true! The Food and Drug Administration just approved Kybella, an injection, according to the FDA, that is “for improvement in the appearance of moderate to severe convexity or fullness associated with submental fat in adults.” Basically, that means an adult who has a fatty neck can get injected with Kybella, or deoxycholic acid, a substance that the company says dissolves fat under the chin.

This is great news for patients who do not want surgery. While this sounds fantastic, and it probably is for some patients, my antenna always goes up and says buyer beware. It appears that Kybella’s manufacturer, Kythera Biopharmaceuticals, will initially train dermatologists, facial plastic surgeons and plastic surgeons. The company is also planning a slow rollout so that doctors may be trained effectively.

In the original studies, patients were noted to have some redness, swelling and hardness at the injection site, which eventually went away. Naturally, this product will not be for everybody. Patients will have to have good or moderate skin tone so that after the fat is dissolved, the skin may retract.

Because this is a new product, physicians will have to gain some experience using it. The procedure will not be perfected until doctors understand what this product can and cannot do. While this is good news, anybody interested in doing these injections should be cautious and should ask their physician what their training was and what their expectation should be.

Dr. Carlos Wolf is a partner in Miami Plastic Surgery and is board certified. Email your questions to him at Cwolf@miamiplasticsurgery.com.

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HPV: Young women less likely to test positive for cervical cancer precursors ... - ABC Online

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Gators' Billy Donovan bolts for NBA's Thunder - Tampabay.com

GAINESVILLE — Billy Donovan, the coach who took over a fledgling Florida basketball program in 1996 and turned it into a national power, is leaving to become the coach of the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder, walking away after 19 seasons and two national titles at Florida.

Donovan, 49, becomes the third head coach for the Oklahoma City franchise. Although the Thunder did not release terms of his contract per team policy, Donovan agreed to a five-year deal worth $30 million, ESPN and Yahoo Sports reported.

"I am honored and humbled to be named the head coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder. I knew that it would take a unique opportunity to leave the University of Florida and that is clearly how I look at this situation …" Donovan said. "It is of course bittersweet as the University of Florida will always hold a very special place in my heart and in my family's. … I have a deep appreciation for what the University of Florida will always mean to me and I'll forever be a Gator."

Last year, he turned down opportunities from both the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Minnesota Timberwolves, but when Oklahoma City came calling last week, Florida athletic officials knew the situation might not end in their favor.

Donovan has a prior relationship with Thunder general manager Sam Presti, and inherits a team with two of the league's best players — Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. Because of that, the job comes with huge expectations. Durant can become a free agent at the end of the 2016 season, and championship expectations are high.

"While we created a comprehensive analysis regarding the qualities we were looking for, it became quite evident that Billy was the ideal fit for the Thunder as we look to transition our team into the future," Presti said.

But the Thunder's gain is Florida's loss.

Before Donovan's arrival, Florida had one SEC title in 77 seasons of play. He led the Gators to six in his 19 seasons, including three over his final five seasons.

"While we are certainly extremely sad to see Billy go, the primary feeling I have is one of gratitude for what he has done here at Florida," Gators athletic director Jeremy Foley said. "Billy and Florida basketball have been synonymous for a long time now, and our program would not have reached the heights it has without him. The legacy he leaves here is one of personal and professional excellence. … There is no better person than Billy Donovan. He will truly be missed."

This past February, Donovan won his 500th career game, joining Bob Knight as the only coaches to reach that milestone before their 50th birthday.

A three-time SEC Coach of the Year (2011, 2013, 2014), Donovan led the Gators to the No. 1 ranking in the nation five different seasons, including starting and finishing the 2006-07 in the top position. His 2013-14 team set school records of 36 wins and a 30-game winning streak. He had 16 consecutive 20-win seasons and 17 postseason appearances in a row, both streaks which ended with a 16-17 record this past season.

Among the possible replacements for Donovan are Dayton's Archie Miller, Minnesota coach Richard Pitino and Xavier's Chris Mack. Pitino is a former Gators assistant under Donovan and the son of Donovan's mentor Rick Pitino. Foley will now discover whether coaches consider Florida a highly-coveted job, or whether it was Donovan that made the job special.

"Like we have with other recent searches, we will have an internal working group that will identify candidates to be our next head coach," Foley said. "I don't intend to put a timeline on our hire, but we will work hard to have the right person in place over the coming weeks."

Contact Antonya English at aenglish@tampabay.com. Follow @TBTimes_Gators.

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Survivors rescued five days after quake - Sky News Australia

Rescuers have pulled a teenage boy and a woman in her thirties alive from the rubble of Nepal's earthquake, in rare moments of joy five days after a disaster that killed nearly 6000 people.

The rescue of 15-year-old Pemba Tamang was hailed as a miracle and greeted with cheers from crowds of bystanders who watched the drama unfold at a ruined guesthouse in Kathmandu on Thursday.

Just hours later, a team pulled a kitchen worker in her thirties named Krishna Devi Khadka from the rubble of another hotel just streets away to loud cheers from the multinational team of rescuers who had worked into the night to save her.

Pemba was fitted with a neck brace and raced to a field hospital where he was found to have only minor cuts and bruises.

'I never thought I would make it out alive,' the teenager told AFP at the Israeli military-run facility.

Pemba, who worked at the guesthouse as a bellboy, said he had been eating lunch next to reception when the ground started shaking.

'I tried to run but ... something fell on my head and I lost consciousness - I've no idea for how long,' he said.

The recovery of another teenager's body from the same area underlined how the prospects of finding further survivors of Saturday's 7.8-magnitude quake were becoming more remote.

Libby Weiss, a spokeswoman at the Israeli field hospital, said Pemba was doing 'remarkably well', saying it was the longest she'd heard of someone trapped under rubble surviving.

'I don't have any logical explanation. It is miraculous. It is a wonderful thing to see in all this destruction.'

Emergency workers from France, Norway and Israel operating with the Nepal army and using listening devices to find survivors took 10 hours to free Khadka once they had discovered her.

'She was injured but she was conscious and talking,' a Nepal army major said.

Launching an appeal for $US415 million ($A518 million) in aid, the UN has said it will take a marathon effort to help the people of one of Asia's poorest countries.

Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund said it was ready to extend aid to Nepal and would send a team to assess the situation 'as soon as possible'.

Although the number of aftershocks since Saturday's quake has subsided, fresh tremors were felt in Kathmandu overnight.

The latest official toll put the number of dead at 5844 and more than 10,000 are known to have been injured. More than 100 people were also killed in neighbouring countries such as India and China.

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Americas has eliminated rubella, virus that can cause congenital defects - The Province

TORONTO - A 15-year campaign has stopped the spread of endemic rubella in the countries of the Americas, the Pan-American Health Organization announced Wednesday.

The Americas is the first of the World Health Organization's six regions to eliminate transmission of the virus, which used to be known as the German measles or the three-day measles. Like measles, it triggers a diffuse red rash over the bodies of those who contract it.

Here are five things you should know about rubella, and about Wednesday's announcement:

IT LOOKS LIKE MEASLES BUT....

Rubella infection produces a widespread red rash similar to measles and is also spread when infected people cough and sneeze.

The disease in children is usually mild, with a low fever — typically under 38.3 Celsius. Symptoms last two or three days and are milder in younger children than in older kids and adults.

Like measles, it can be preventable by vaccination. The rubella vaccine is bundled into one shot that also protects against measles and mumps.

Rubella is contagious, but not as contagious as measles, which is one of the most infectious diseases known. In the days before vaccine use, one person with measles would, on average, infect between 12 and 18 others. For rubella, the estimate was five to seven.

THIS VIRUS IS DANGEROUS FOR PREGNANT WOMEN AND THEIR FETUSES

A woman who contracts rubella during the early stages of pregnancy may miscarry or give birth to a stillborn. If she carries to term, the risk is high that her baby will be born with multiple birth defects.

Birth defects seen in cases of congenital rubella syndrome — the name for the condition these children suffer from — include deafness, blindness, intellectual disabilities and heart defects.

The Public Health Agency of Canada says as many as 85 per cent of babies born to women who had rubella in the first trimester of their pregnancy will have a birth defect. The risk does not completely disappear after the first trimester, but it diminishes over time.

THIS VIRUS IS TRICKY

People with rubella are most contagious when they have the accompanying rash. But people who are infected can spread the virus for seven days before they develop a rash.

And here's the thing: About half of the people who are infected don't develop evident symptoms. Yet those people can still transmit rubella, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control says.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF WEDNESDAY'S ANNOUNCEMENT

Officials of PAHO announced that ongoing spread of rubella has been stopped in the countries of the Americas. The official process to certify that accomplishment takes several years.

In fact, the region's last known cases of endemic rubella and congenital rubella syndrome occurred in 2009 in Argentina and Brazil respectively.

Canada used to have tens of thousands of rubella cases a year, before the vaccine went into wide use. There are still occasional cases, sparked when viruses are imported into the country in sick people.

Last year, there was only one case of rubella reported in Canada.

STOPPING ENDEMIC SPREAD DOESN'T MEAN NO MORE RUBELLA

When public health authorities say they've stopped endemic spread of a virus, it means that ongoing person-to-person spread in a country or a region has been halted.

When spread is stopped in a country or region, authorities say the virus has officially been "eliminated."

But that's not the same as eradicated; that term is reserved for describing the complete wiping out of a pathogen.

Smallpox was declared eradicated in 1980, and remains the only human disease to have been completely obliterated. Work is underway to eradicate several others, most notably polio.

Until rubella has been eliminated in other parts of the world, the Americas could still experience cases.

An infected traveller could bring the virus to one of the PAHO countries, or someone from the region could contract it overseas. But if vaccination rates remain high, rubella is unlikely to spread far.

Short-term spread from an imported rubella case would not erase the region's elimination status.

Follow @HelenBranswell on Twitter.

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Billy Donovan headed to Oklahoma City - Fox News

Oklahoma City, OK (SportsNetwork.com) - Billy Donovan has decided to leave the University of Florida to become the new head coach for the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Terms were not disclosed, but Yahoo! Sports has reported it to be a five-year contract.

Donovan will replace Scott Brooks, who was fired last week after a seven-year run that included three visits to the Western Conference finals and a 2012 trip to the NBA Finals.

"When we began the process of identifying the next head coach of the Thunder, we started with a vision and the identifiable qualities that we felt were necessary for our organization as well as the ever evolving role of the head coach in today's NBA," said Thunder general manager Sam Presti in a statement Thursday. "While we created a comprehensive analysis regarding the qualities we were looking for, it became quite evident that Billy was the ideal fit for the Thunder as we look to transition our team into the future."

Donovan spent 19 seasons at Florida, guiding the Gators to a record of 467-186 with back-to-back national championships in 2006 and 2007. This year's squad finished 16-17, marking his first losing season since his second year with the Gators in 1997-98.

This will be Donovan's first foray into the NBA, although he nearly made the move eight years ago.

In June 2007, Donovan agreed to become the head coach of the Orlando Magic. He backed out a few days after signing a five-year deal and went back to Florida.

"I knew that it would take a unique opportunity to leave the University of Florida and that is clearly how I look at this situation," said Donovan. "The Thunder represents so many of the values that I embrace as a head coach; the commitment to the team above oneself, the dedicated pursuit of excellence, the commitment to organizational culture, the identity they have established and the fact that the Thunder and the community are so intricately woven into the fabric of one another. To have the ability to work with such a talented and high character group of players is also rare, and I am excited to forge ahead creating those relationships."

Donovan, 49, played one season in the NBA, averaging 2.4 points in 44 games during the 1987-88 season with the New York Knicks. He entered the coaching ranks in 1989 as a graduate assistant under his former Providence head coach, Rick Pitino, at Kentucky.

Following five years with the Wildcats, Donovan became the head coach at Marshall in 1994 and spent two seasons with the Thundering Herd before moving on to Florida.

In 21 seasons as a collegiate head coach, Donovan has a record of 502-206 with 14 NCAA Tournament appearances and four visits to the Final Four. In addition to his two national championships, the Gators also reached the Final Four in 2000 and 2014.

"Billy has achieved an incredible level of success and experience within his 21 years as a head coach and has shown the unique ability to not only create but sustain an elite program," Presti added. "Billy's core values and alignment with our culture and community, as well as his proven tactical abilities, make him an ideal addition to the Thunder organization."

During his tenure at Florida, Donovan led the program to 16 straight 20-win seasons, three 30-win seasons, 17 consecutive trips to the postseason and six SEC championships.

"It is of course bittersweet as the University of Florida will always hold a very special place in my heart and in my family's," Donovan said. "I've had the good fortune of working with the best athletic director in the country in Jeremy Foley over the last 19 years, and I'll be forever grateful and thankful for the opportunity and his friendship."

The Thunder made a coaching change after missing the playoffs on the final day of an injury-ravaged season. Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant were both sidelined to start the campaign and Durant also missed most of the last two months because of a foot injury.

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PRESS DIGEST-New Zealand newspapers - May 1

May 1 (Reuters) - Following are some of the leadstories from New Zealand metropolitan newspapers on Friday.

Stories may be taken from either the paper or Interneteditions of the papers.

Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouchfor their accuracy.


DOMINION POST(www.stuff.co.nz)

New law protecting migrant workers passes in Parliament: Anew law designed to crack down on exploitation of migrantworkers has narrowly passed in Parliament, as the Governmenttakes fire over the handling of a case of Chinese rail engineersin Lower Hutt.

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Summerset Retirement looking for Wellington CBD site:Retirement village and aged-care operator Summerset wants to build in Wellington CBD.

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SkyCity Auckland convention centre design delay: The finaldesign of an international convention centre to be built incentral Auckland has been delayed by a month. On Thursday,casino operator SkyCity and Economic DevelopmentMinister Steven Joyce confirmed that the deadline agreed by thetwo sides had been pushed back.

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NEW ZEALAND HERALD (www.nzherald.co.nz)

Flag poll message clear: Leave it alone: Support forchanging the flag has dropped with only a quarter of thosepolled in the latest Herald-Digipoll survey wanting a change,compared to 40 per cent a year ago.

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Mayor's casting vote seals compromise on port company'sextension plans for Bledisloe: Auckland Mayor Len Brown says hehad to use his casting vote for a compromise over the portcompany's wharf extension dispute, in the absence of fivecouncillors.

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Fonterra move blow to farmers: Fonterra has fallen into linewith market expectations after oversupply and extreme volatilityon world dairy markets prompted the co-operative to once againlower its farmgate milk price forecast for 2014/15.

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OceanaGold to buy Waihi mine: OceanaGold Corp,which operates the Macraes gold mine in Otago, reported a 58 percent drop in first-quarter profit with sales down from a yearearlier, and announced plans to buy the Waihi Gold Mine forUS$101 million.

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Trainers engage in verbal sparring ahead of megabout

(Reuters) - While trash-talking by the two fighters has been at a bare minimum ahead of Saturday's welterweight showdown between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao, their trainers engaged in a war of words on Thursday.

Pacquiao's corner man, Freddie Roach, complained that the Mayweather camp had not yet submitted gloves for testing before his opposite number, Floyd Mayweather Sr., countered by saying that the Pacquiao camp was simply running scared.

Roach and Mayweather Sr. have got on like oil and water over the years and, hardly surprisingly, there was no eye contact between them as Roach ended his news conference and passed by Mayweather Sr. on the media center stage at the MGM Grand.

"I don't hate Floyd Mayweather Sr, I just hate his poems," Roach said of his fellow American, who frequently recites pithy poems about his fighters' opponents. "But he doesn't get under my skin."

Roach, who declared that he and Pacquiao had developed "a winning formula" to beat Mayweather Jr., was unhappy that their opponent's gloves had not yet been tested.

"I just asked the (Nevada Athletic) Commission if both gloves will be weighed," said Roach. "Their gloves are hand-made. I just want to make sure the weight is fair, but his gloves haven't showed up yet."

Mayweather Sr. scoffed when asked why his fighter's gloves had not been submitted.

"The gloves are not an issue because Manny has put on the same kind of gloves," said the 62-year-old trainer. "Fear, that's all it is.

"(The Pacquiao camp) keep talking about how scared Floyd was for five years, but they were scared. We weren't scared."

Mayweather Jr. will put a 47-0 professional record on the line against Pacquiao, an eight-division world champion, and his father claimed the fight was as good as over.

"I don't think it's going to be much of a fight, the fight is already won, trust me," he said, before adding that a knockout was on the cards. "It ain't going to be no sucker punch. It's going to be the real shot."

Roach predicted that Pacquiao would win on a 12-round decision.

"That's what my game plan is," said Roach. "If (Mayweather) stays in the pocket too long, he will get hit. If he wants to run, we will cut the ring off.

"I've been studying (Mayweather) for five years. I know a lot about him. I think we have a winning formula."


 (Editing by Frank Pingue)

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Many patients unaware of risks that go with some medical scans - Reuters UK

(Reuters Health) – Over half of people receiving medical scans such as X-rays do not know if they are exposed to radiation and many have unanswered questions even as they are waiting to undergo the test, a small U.S. survey found.

Previous studies have shown that when patients have more information and can share in the decision-making process, they have less anxiety and more satisfaction with their treatment, the study authors write in the Journal of the American College of Radiology.

Dr. Andrew Rosenkrantz, lead author, told Reuters Health that while the United States performs a high volume of medical scans, many patients are not informed about what the tests entail.

“We did this study seeking to gain insights into just how well patients understood their own tests that they were about to undergo,” Rosenkrantz, an associate professor of Radiology at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City, said in an email.

The study team recruited 176 patients who were waiting to have medical imaging scans, including CT and nuclear medicine scans, which involve radiation, and MRI and ultrasounds, which do not.

The participants completed surveys asking about their knowledge regarding their procedures, and what the tests were for. They also reported on whether their doctor had explained the exam, how well it was explained and whether they still had unanswered questions.

The researchers found that only about 46 percent of people correctly identified whether the test they were about to undergo employed radiation. Among people who would be drinking a radioactive contrast agent for their test, just over half knew it, while among those who would be getting the contrast agent by injection, just over 70 percent knew it.

Patients had the greatest understanding of CT scans, a powerful type of X-ray that shows cross-sections of the body. Patients reported the least understanding of nuclear medicine, in which the radioactive liquid contrast agents are used to enhance the image.

About 78 percent of participants said their doctor explained the exam in advance and 72 percent were satisfied with the explanation. However, nearly one in five still had unanswered questions while awaiting the test.

For each kind of exam, those who had not had the test before had less understanding of it.

One in five patients had used the Internet to learn about the exam, while the same proportion consulted friends and family.

In addition, over half of patients said they would be interested in discussing the exam with a radiologist in advance.

Although the benefits of medical testing generally outweigh the risks, being exposed to radiation can increase a person’s risk of getting cancer later in life, according the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Dr. Michael Zwank, a physician at Regions Hospital in Saint Paul, Minnesota, who studies physician-patient communication, said patients should be more aware of the risks of these exams.

“It is concerning that there is a big group of patients that seem to not have the awareness of radiation exposure that they are or are not experiencing with this imaging,” Zwank, who was not involved in the study, said in an email.

Rosenkrantz noted that the results may be skewed, since people who knew the answers to the survey questions may have been more likely to complete the survey. For this reason, the study results may show a higher level of awareness than is actually true for most people, he pointed out.

“Patients should also feel comfortable asking about logistics of the exam, ranging from what exam is being performed, which body part is being evaluated, the reason for the exam,” Rosenkrantz said.

Zwank added that he encourages all patients to ask their doctors: “1. Is the test necessary? 2. What are the risks? 3. Are there alternatives?”

SOURCE: bit.ly/1GmrTqH Journal of the American College of Radiology, online April 10, 2015.

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Ex-FBI agent charged with lying during 'Whitey' Bulger trial - Lewistown Sentinel

BOSTON (AP) — A former FBI agent lied to jurors during mobster James "Whitey" Bulger's trial and overstated his professional accomplishments, including falsely claiming to be the first officer who recovered the rifle used to assassinate Martin Luther King Jr., federal officials said Thursday in announcing a perjury case against him.

Robert Fitzpatrick, who was once second in command of the Boston FBI division, surrendered to U.S. marshals with his lawyer after learning there was a warrant for his arrest.

Fitzpatrick, the first witness called by Bulger's attorneys during his 2013 racketeering trial, said he tried to persuade the FBI to terminate Bulger as an informant because the mobster didn't appear to be helping its mission to gather information on the Mafia. Fitzpatrick said his bosses didn't agree with him.

Prosecutors suggested he exaggerated that claim to sell copies of a book he wrote about Bulger.

Fitzpatrick was due to appear in federal court Thursday afternoon on six counts of perjury and six counts of obstruction of justice. His lawyer, Robert Goldstein, did not immediately return a call seeking comment on the accusations.

During Bulger's trial, prosecutor Brian Kelly started his cross-examination of Fitzpatrick by asking him if he was a man who likes to make up stories. Fitzpatrick denied that.

Kelly went on to press Fitzpatrick about a claim he had made previously that he was the first officer at the scene who recovered the weapon used to kill King.

"I was the first FBI agent at the scene, and I found a rifle coming down the stairs, having just missed James Earl Ray, the shooter," Fitzpatrick said. "The rifle was in the alcove, and there's a report to that."

Kelly pressed him further: "Isn't it true that three Memphis police officers found the rifle that was used to kill Martin Luther King, not Bob Fitzpatrick?" Kelly asked.

"I found the rifle along with them. They could have been there ... but I'm the one that took the rifle," Fitzpatrick said.

Kelly then told Fitzpatrick that a report says someone else took the rifle from police officers and turned the bundle over to the FBI three hours later. "I took the bundle from the scene," Fitzpatrick explained.

Fitzpatrick also told jurors that in 1981, about six years after Bulger began working an informant, he was given the task of assessing whether the mobster was providing the FBI with useful information. The ex-agent insisted that he repeatedly sought to end the FBI's relationship with Bulger, particularly after Bulger was considered a suspect in two 1982 killings.

During the trial, prosecutors suggested that Fitzpatrick also exaggerated that claim.

The 85-year-old Bulger is serving two life sentences after his 2013 racketeering conviction tying him to 11 murders and other gangland crimes in the 1970s and '80s.

The indictment alleges that since 1998, Fitzpatrick "has falsely held himself out as a whistleblower who tried to end the FBI's relationship with Bulger." He was accused of making false statements "designed to aid Bulger's defense."

Bulger's lawyers argued during his trial that he was not an informant, and Fitzpatrick testified that Bulger denied being an FBI informant to him.

The indictment says Bulger never made that denial.

Fitzpatrick, 75, of Charlestown, Rhode Island, worked for the FBI from 1965 to 1986. In 1980, he was assigned as an assistant special agent-in-charge of the FBI's Boston division. In that position, he supervised the division's organized crime squad.

Prosecutors say Bulger was an informant for the squad from approximately 1975 through 1990.

The indictment says that in May 1986, Fitzpatrick was demoted and reassigned to the Providence, Rhode Island, field office. He left the FBI shortly after that, in December 1986.

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German police thwart Boston-style plot to bomb cycle race, source says - CNN

Story highlights

German police say they think they "have thwarted an Islamist attack," interior minister for Hesse state says
German terrorism researcher: Couple accused of planning bomb attack on bicycle race near Frankfurt

German prosecutors and police said Thursday that a man and a woman had been arrested in the Frankfurt-area town of Oberursel on suspicion of planning a Boston-style attack, but the authorities did not explicitly reveal the target.

The suspected target, according to Florian Flade, the terrorism researcher, was a race planned for Friday. The race loops around Eshborn and Frankfurt on May Day each year, attracting large crowds of spectators along the cycle route.

Prosecutor Albrecht Schreiber said police recovered a pipe bomb ready to be used, 100 rounds of 9mm ammunition, a gun, the essential parts of a G-3 assault rifle and 3 liters of hydrogen peroxide, which becomes explosive at high concentrations and has been used in multiple terror plots in the West, including the 2005 London bombings.

Earlier Thursday Andreas Hemmes, a spokesman for the police of West Hesse, told CNN that the house and car of two individuals in Oberursel, in the forested hills west of Frankfurt, had been searched. As a result of what had been found, police had expanded their search along the L3004 road on the bike race route, Hemmes said.

"We suspect that there was a Salafist background," said Peter Beuth, the interior minister for Hesse, referring to ultra-fundamentalist interpretations of Islam. "Police investigations at this stage indicate that we have thwarted an Islamist attack."

Couple identified as being of Turkish descent

Flade, a journalist at Die Welt and terrorism researcher who first broke the story of the police raids, told CNN that a German couple of Turkish descent -- Halil and Senay D. -- were under arrest.

He said the couple had ties to radical Islamist circles in the Frankfurt area. Neither is suspected of having direct links to the leadership of a terrorist group.

Last week German police observed Halil D. moving in and out of a small forest near where he was living. They suspect he was looking for a good place to hide a bomb along the bike race route, according to Flade.

Flade said that according to German police documents, German police first became aware of the couple at the end of March when they went to a garden center near Frankfurt to purchase hydrogen peroxide. He said the store employee contacted police after becoming suspicious for several reasons. The first was that the woman was covered in a full veil. The second was that the couple claimed they wanted to buy hydrogen peroxide to clean their fish pond in their garden, but the amount they were ordering would have been enough to clean dozens of such ponds.

Furthermore, after police thwarted a bomb plot by German extremists trained in the tribal areas of Pakistan to kill American servicemen in Germany in September 2007 with hydrogen peroxide-based bombs -- the so-called "Sauerland" plot -- German law had required such stores to report to police significant purchases of hydrogen peroxide.

Surveillance in Spain

According to Flade, after the tip-off, German investigators began trying to figure out who the couple were. All they had to go on was the surveillance footage. But the woman was fully veiled and her male companion was blurry in the tape, so they did not immediately know who they were. But in early to mid-April they were able to identify them and start surveillance to investigate the couple's radical ties.

According to Flade, German police established that the couple had recently traveled to Spain, where they met with members of Sharia4Spain, a radical pro-Jihadist group linked to Al Muhajiroun in the United Kingdom. Spanish police had monitored the meeting in Spain. They also established that the couple had links to radicals who had gone to fight with AQIM, al Qaeda's North African affiliate. And they found the couple were in contact with a young radical Islamist from Frankfurt who had gone to fight in Syria at the end of last year and was recently killed.

The pipe bomb that was recovered by police appears to have similarities to devices built by Boston Marathon bombers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Flade said the device recovered near Frankfurt included nails as shrapnel. The Boston bombers downloaded instructions from a recipe in Inspire magazine, an online Engish language magazine put out by al Qaeda in Yemen, which has also been translated into German and other languages.

In August 2013 the British security agency MI5 revealed to Parliament's intelligence and security committee that "Inspire" has been "read by those involved in at least seven out of the 10 attacks planned within the UK since its first issue (in 2010). We judge that it significantly enhanced the capability of individuals in four of these 10 attack plots."

Elevated threat in Germany

Like other European countries, Germany is grappling with an unprecedented terrorist threat because of the high number of its citizens who have traveled to Syria and Iraq.

In recent years there has been growing concern over radicalization in Germany's large Turkish diaspora community. Travel to Syria is particularly easy for individuals of Turkish descent because Turkey is the entry point for most foreign fighters traveling to Syria.

According to Flade, almost 700 Germans are believed to have traveled to Syria and Iraq, with up to 90% joining ISIS. One-third of these have returned to Germany and 70 to 80 have been killed in the fighting in Syria and Iraq.

There has only been one fatal terrorist attack in Germany since 9/11 -- the shooting death of two U.S. airmen outside Frankfurt Airport by a lone-wolf radicalized Islamist in March 2011.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen contributed to this report.

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Protesters, police clash at Ethiopian Israeli demo against police brutality - Haaretz

Around 1,000 protesters, most of them from the country's Ethiopian Jewish community, demonstrated in Jerusalem on Thursday against police violence. The demonstration continued into the evening, with violent clashes between protesters and police. The protesters are currently blocking the intersection between King George St. and Jaffa St..

Medical teams 10 protesters and three police officers for injuries. Two police officers and seven protesters were rushed to Jerusalem hospitals for further treatment.

The demonstration in front of the national Israel Police headquarters was prompted by a video of an incident on Sunday in the Tel Aviv suburb of Holon in which a policeman is seen pushing an Israeli soldier of Ethiopian descent, Demas Fekadeh, to the ground after he didn't initially move at the policeman's request. (Police were attempting to clear the area due to a suspicious object.) Another policeman is then shown in the video pummeling Fekadeh.

The protest, which started with a few hundred protesters, grew to around 1,000 by the evening, moving from the police HQ to the center of the city, a short distance from the Prime Minister's Residence.

Jerusalem Police Chief Chico Edri told the protester leaders that he understood their rage and that the police was going to investigate the grievances raised by the protesters, and work tirelessly to assure that its ranks are not involved in any unethical deeds. Edri called on the protesters to not let the protest get out of hand.

Israel Police tweeted that forces were trying to disperse the protesters, who they said threw stones and bottles at police. Three police officers were wounded by stones, and two of them were taken to hospital. At least three wounded protesters were also treated at the scene. Two protesters were detained. At least three wounded protesters were also treated at the scene,m and two protesters who tried to attack police were detained.

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At the police headquarters, the police tried to hold back the protesters to keep open Route 1, a major thoroughfare in Jerusalem, but the demonstrators managed to block the road and also to disrupt movement of the city's light rail line. Periodic confrontations erupted between protesters and motorist who were unable to make their way through the area.

Police earlier approached leaders from the Ethiopian community in an effort to diffuse the situation. Earlier in the afternoon, they used mounted officers in an effort to disperse the crowd of demonstrators.

The demonstrators protested what they labeled racist conduct on the part of police and called for the police officers suspected of violence to be put on trial. Officials at the Justice Ministry's police investigation division said they have opened an investigation into the incident in Holon.

The most extreme recent incident involving a confrontation between police and Ethiopians took place in the northern town of Binyamina last year. In that incident, police used a Taser gun against a 22-year-old Ethiopian Israeli, whom they reportedly suspected of breaking into a house. He was taken to the police station in nearby Zichron Yaakov and was found by his family unconscious and manacled. He died several months later in what police ruled a suicide.

Zionist Union Knesset Shelly Yacimovich condemned the conduct of the police in Holon, and in a Facebook post said the darker one's skin is the greater the racism is. "It wouldn't be far-fetched to expect that if [Fekadeh], the soldier who was hit, was a light-skin soldier, preferably with an Ashkenazi appearance, he would not have sustained harsh blows without consideration from police."

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10 Jailed For 2012 Malala Attack - RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty

A Pakistani court has announced life sentences for 10 people convicted of involvement in the 2012 shooting of teenage activist Malala Yousafzai.

However, the AFP news agency reports that Ataullah Khan, the man suspected of firing the gun at Malala, is thought to be on the run in Afghanistan.

The antiterrorism court in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province announced the sentences on April 30.

In Pakistan, those receiving a life sentence must serve a minimum of 25 years in prison before becoming eligible for parole.

Authorities said those who were sentenced on April 30 were all associated with the Pakistani Taliban, Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

They were arrested in September 2014 during an joint operation involving Pakistan's army, police, and intelligence agencies.

Major General Asim Bajwa also has said that the current leader of the Pakistani Taliban, Maulana Fazlullah, was behind the attempt to kill Malala.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a court official told the German news agency dpa that the 10 convicted men confessed they had planned and helped carry out the attack on behalf of Fazlullah.

Fazlullah also claimed responsibility for a massacre in December 2014 at an army-run school in Peshawar, which killed 150 people, mostly children.

In January 2015, the U.S. State Department designated the Taliban commander as a global terrorist.

Fazlullah became the group's new leader in November 2013, after the previous leader Hakimullah Mehsud was killed by a U.S. drone strike.

Striving For Girls' Education

Malala was shot in the head on October 9, 2012, while she was sitting in a school bus in her hometown of Mingora in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province's volatile Swat Valley.

Two armed men stopped the school bus, and then one of them asked for Malala by name and opened fire at her from close range.

Two other girls from Malala's school were wounded in the attack.

Malala was airlifted to Britain for treatment and recovered after undergoing several operations.

Before the attack, Malala was known for her blog for the BBC's Urdu service about Taliban atrocities in the Swat Valley.

She also had become known as a human rights activist and an activist for the rights of girls to receive an education.

Malala's blog described how Taliban militants who controlled the Swat Valley from 2007 until 2009 prevented girls from attending school.

Since her recovery, Malala has won international praise for her fight for the right of all children, including girls, to an education.

Malala, now 17, was jointly awarded the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize with Indian child-rights campaigner Kailash Satyarthi.

She is the youngest-ever recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.

She was also awarded the 2013 Sakharov Prize For Freedom of Thought at the European Parliament in Strasbourg and other awards.

Malala now attends a school in Birmingham, England, where she lives with her family.

With reporting by dpa and AFP

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30th April 2015 – Dying younger on average just because you are a man and living longer because you are a woman might one day be a thing of the past. A new analysis suggests that the gender gap for life expectancy in England and Wales is closing.

The study, published in The Lancet, also finds that how long we live has much to do with which part of the two countries we live in.

Lifespans by 2030

Using official figures from the last 3 decades, researchers from Imperial College London (ICL) applied a tool for predicting probable outcomes to reach their conclusions about future life expectancy.

They predict that by 2030, men's life expectancy at the time they are born will be 85.7 years and women can expect to live until they are 87.6.|

That means that the gap will have closed from 6 years in 1981 to just 1.9 years by 2030.

Between 1981 and 2012, national life expectancy in England and Wales increased by 8.2 years in men and 6 years in women.

Pensions, health and social care

Using official figures from the last 3 decades, researchers from Imperial College London (ICL) applied a tool for predicting probable outcomes to reach their conclusions about future life expectancy.

They predict that by 2030, men's life expectancy at the time they are born will be 85.7 years and women can expect to live until they are 87.6.

That means that the gap will have closed from 6 years in 1981 to just 1.9 years by 2030.

Between 1981 and 2012, national life expectancy in England and Wales increased by 8.2 years in men and 6 years in women.

Pensions, health and social care

Senior author Professor Majid Ezzati from ICL says in a statement: "Our national forecasts of life expectancy in 2030 are higher than official figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), by 2.4 years for men and 1.0 years for women, meaning that pensions will have larger pay-outs than planned, and health and social services will have to serve an even older population than currently planned.

"The discrepancies found between our estimates and earlier figures are likely to be because previous estimates have extrapolated from past trends in death rates, an approach that may underestimate gains in life expectancy."

While the ONS takes a national approach, the ICL researchers drilled down to individual local authority areas. This could prove invaluable for those authorities when they plan future health and social care services.

Regional inequalities

The researchers say that although living longer should be regarded as a national success, it comes at the expense of rising inequalities between affluent and deprived areas.

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UPDATE 1-Bird flu infection "probable" in Iowa chicken broiler breeding farm - Reuters

(Adds details about testing, background)

By P.J. Huffstutter

CHICAGO, April 30 (Reuters) - An Iowa-based chicken broilerbreeding farm has initially tested positive for the highlypathogenic H5 bird flu, the Iowa Department of Agriculture andLand Stewardship confirmed on Thursday.

The facility in Kossuth County, Iowa, houses an estimated19,000 birds, state officials said. Birds were dying in greaterthan normal numbers at the breeding farm, which is a typicalsign of influenza infection in a flock.

This is thought to be first time the avian influenza virushas affected a broiler breeding farm in this outbreak. Suchbreeding farms are traditionally known for having extremelytight biosecurity systems.

Though the operation is small compared to some of the otherpoultry farm sites in the Midwest that have been affected by thecurrent outbreak, the probable breach of a chicken broilerbreeder's biosecurity underscores the potential for thecountry's poultry meat industry supply chain to be affected.

Typically, such facilities' chickens lay fertile eggs, whichare sent to a hatchery to produce chicks that are later raisedand slaughtered for meat.

Additional testing to confirm the finding is underway at thefederal Agriculture Department of Animal and Plant HealthInspection Services' (APHIS) National Veterinary ServicesLaboratories in Ames, Iowa.

Two bird flu strains have been found in the United Statesthis year. The H5N2 strain has been reported in Arkansas, Idaho,Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, NorthDakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington and Wisconsin. It hasalso been identified on farms in Ontario, Canada.

The H5N8 strain has been identified in California and alsoin Idaho, according to the Agriculture Department. (Reporting By P.J. Huffstutter; Editing by Toni Reinhold)

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UPDATE 1-Bird flu infection "probable" in Iowa chicken broiler breeding farm - Reuters

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Smart Health Shop Forum Blog

Thursday, April 30, 2015

UPDATE 4-Bird flu outbreak could set US record with 'probable' cases in Iowa - Reuters

US FDA approves Glaxo, Theravance's Breo Ellipta asthma drug - Reuters

HPV: Young women less likely to test positive for cervical cancer precursors ... - ABC Online

Dolphins grab Louisville wideout with 14th pick - Comcast SportsNet New England

McIlroy sets up do-or-die Match Play clash with Horschel

US FDA approves Glaxo, Theravance's Breo Ellipta asthma drug - Reuters

HPV: Young women less likely to test positive for cervical cancer precursors ... - ABC Online

Ranking the top 100 NFL draft prospects - USA TODAY

Time to Prove Hospital Disinfectants Work, FDA Says - NBCNews.com

HPV: Young women less likely to test positive for cervical cancer precursors ... - ABC Online

US House Republicans pass budget plan, set sights on Obamacare - Reuters

NASA's Messenger ends 4-year tour of Mercury with planned crash landing - Washington Post

Baltimore protesters march again after police file sealed report on Gray - USA TODAY

These Online Dating Profiles Get the Most Dates

Time to Prove Hospital Disinfectants Work, FDA Says - NBCNews.com

HPV: Young women less likely to test positive for cervical cancer precursors ... - ABC Online

Tom Cotton's Latest Attempt To Kill The Iran Bill - Huffington Post

An unlikely contender, Sanders takes on 'billionaire class' in 2016 bid - Washington Post

US Navy to accompany US-flagged ships in Persian Gulf after Iran seizes vessel - Fox News

Vegas & Henderson Receive F Grade For Ozone - CBS Local

FDA approves new injection to get rid of double chins - Miami Herald

HPV: Young women less likely to test positive for cervical cancer precursors ... - ABC Online

Gators' Billy Donovan bolts for NBA's Thunder - Tampabay.com

Survivors rescued five days after quake - Sky News Australia

Americas has eliminated rubella, virus that can cause congenital defects - The Province

Billy Donovan headed to Oklahoma City - Fox News

PRESS DIGEST-New Zealand newspapers - May 1

Trainers engage in verbal sparring ahead of megabout

Many patients unaware of risks that go with some medical scans - Reuters UK

Ex-FBI agent charged with lying during 'Whitey' Bulger trial - Lewistown Sentinel

German police thwart Boston-style plot to bomb cycle race, source says - CNN

Protesters, police clash at Ethiopian Israeli demo against police brutality - Haaretz

10 Jailed For 2012 Malala Attack - RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty

Article Link: http://ift.tt/1JDIh9W ... - WebMD.Boots.com

UPDATE 1-Bird flu infection "probable" in Iowa chicken broiler breeding farm - Reuters

UPDATE 1-Bird flu infection "probable" in Iowa chicken broiler breeding farm - Reuters

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