The United Nations refugee agency on Tuesday voiced alarm at the upsurge of attacks against civilians by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) insurgents in north-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. According to the spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Melissa Fleming, dozens of people have been killed and thousands more have been [...]
AirTran flight attendants on Tuesday gathered and protested at Orlando International Airport, demanding new contracts after three years of unsuccessful negotiation, local media reported. Union flight attendants vice president Travis Bruce told WDBO that their last contractual raise was on November 30, 2008, keeping them in limbo for too long. Dozens of flight attendants chanting [...]
Indonesia’s former Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari on Monday was questioned in a corruption case involving Rp 500 million ($56,500) in traveler’s checks related to the alleged procurement of portable X-ray machines within the country’s Health Ministry in 2007, local media reported. The case involves several traveler’s checks being handed out to legislators and comedians [...]
Australia’s Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Thursday unveiled a new tax as part of the government’s strategy to fund rebuilding of flood-affected regions. Gillard said that following consultation with the Queensland Government, it was determined that $5.6 billion are needed to rebuild the flood-affected regions that are mainly in need of essential infrastructure. Two-thirds of [...]
Global healthcare supplier Perrigo Company on Thursday announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire substantially all of the assets of Paddock Laboratories, Inc. for approximately $540 million in cash. With the acquisition of Paddock, a privately-held, Minneapolis-based manufacturer and marketer of generic pharmaceutical products, Perrigo expects to receive a significant tax benefit [...]
A Philadelphia, Pennsylvania doctor in charge of an abortion clinic on Wednesday was arrested and charged for the murder of one patient and 7 babies, who were born alive, local media reported. Dr. Kermit B. Gosnell, 69, head of the Women’s Medical Society clinic, which is located in West Philadelphia and opened in 1979, was [...]
The condition of U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was upgraded from critical to serious on Sunday, the hospital said, a day after she was freed from a ventilator. University Medical Center in Tucson said Giffords is continuing to ‘do well’ and is breathing on her own, allowing her status to be upgraded to serious. On Saturday [...]
The Health Protection Agency (HPA) on Thursday confirmed the seasonal flu has killed at least 50 people so far as the disease is starting to peak in England, Wales and Scotland. Influenza A H1N1 (2009) swine flu and Influenza B remain the predominant strains circulating in the United Kingdom. However, sporadic cases of H3N2 have [...]
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and South Africa’s International Relations and Cooperation Minister Maite Nkoana Mashabane on Tuesday signed a Partnership Framework that will guide future efforts to combat HIV/AIDS in South Africa. The Partnership Framework under U.S. President Barack Obama’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) provides a five-year joint strategic plan of [...]
Oregon Public Health on Tuesday issued a health advisory for water contact at Seaside Beach due to high levels of bacteria in ocean waters. Higher-than normal levels of pathogen and fecal bacteria in ocean waters were detected in Clatsop County. Such bacteria can come from shore and inland sources like animal waste, storm water runoff, [...]
