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Linda Young – AHN News Writer
Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – Initial jobless claims for the week ending Jan. 21 rose by 21,000 to 377,000, compared with the previous week’s revised figure of 356,000, the U.S. Department of Labor said. The less volatile four-week moving average was 377,500, a drop of 2,500 from the previous week’s revised average of 380,000. DOL figures show that the total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending Jan. 7, the most recent week for which such data is available, was 7,638,233, down by 188,612 people from the previous week. The largest increases in initial claims for the week ending Jan. 14 were: Florida (+2,711) California (+1,682) Iowa (+596) West Virginia (+571) District of Columbia (+115)

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Niamey, Niger (IRIN) – Nearly half Niger’s population does not have enough to eat and the government says it is facing a grain shortfall of 692,501 tons, following another severe drought across the Sahel. The government says it needs 3.8 million tons of cereals to feed six million people spread across 6,981 villages, equating to 49.4 percent of the affected zones. In a survey conducted in November 2011, the government’s Early Warning System projected the 2011-2012 “winter” gross cereal production for millet, sorghum, rice, wheat and fonio (one of West Africa’s most ancient cereals) at 3.8 million tons – 27 percent down on 2010-2011. Grain production last season was about 3.2 million tons. The Early Warning System, which monitors and forecasts food security needs, has identified three major areas as reporting deficits: Tillabéry in the west; Agadez in the north; and Diffa in the east; with [...] Continue Reading…

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Washington, DC, United States (KaiserHealth) – The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is promising a legal challenge to federal rules the Obama administration reaffirmed Friday requiring health insurers to provide women with a range of preventive health services, including birth control, without charging a co-payment, co-insurance or deductible. The Department of Health and Human Services made no changes to a rule released in August that exempted some religious organizations, like those that employ or serve people who follow its religion, from the requirement. But religious organizations that do not meet those qualifications would be required to provide contraceptive coverage to employees. While churches are exempt, for example, religious universities and hospitals are not. The rule goes into effect Aug. 1. Religious institutions that aren’t exempt get an additional year, until August 1, 2013, to comply with the regulation. Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said she believed Friday’s [...] Continue Reading…

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Linda Young – AHN News Writer
Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – Initial unemployment claims dropped to 352,000 during the week ending Jan. 14, their lowest level in nearly four years. First time claims for jobless benefits dropped by 50,000 from the previous week’s revised tally of 402,000, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The less volatile four-week moving average was 379,000, a decrease of 3,500 from the previous week’s revised average of 382,500. However, the advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate also dropped. Only 2.7 percent of jobless workers were covered by unemployment insurance for the week ending Jan. 7, a decrease of 0.2 percentage point from the prior week’s unrevised rate. The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending Dec. 31, the most recent week for which data is available, was 7,826,665, an increase of 493,566 from [...] Continue Reading…

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Tom Ramstack – AHN News Legal Correspondent
Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial marked its first holiday named for the slain civil rights leader Monday with a controversy. Shortly after the memorial was dedicated in August, it became obvious that an inscription at the base of the 9.1-meter high statue inaccurately quotes King. It says, “I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness.” A columnist for The Washington Post researched King’s speeches just after the dedication ceremony to discover the true statement. During his sermon titled “The Drum Major Instinct” two months before he was assassinated in November 1968, King said, “Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness.” [...] Continue Reading…

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Linda Young – AHN News Writer
New York, NY, United States (AHN) – Swiss drugmaker Novartis says it will cut nearly 2,000 jobs in the United States in anticipation of loss of revenue as its patent protection expires on its blockbuster drug Diovan. Diovan is a blood pressure medication. It is the company’s top products and brought in more than $6 billion in revenue in 2010, the most recent year for sales data. However, Novartis (NVS) will lose its patent protection on Diovan in September. That will open the market for cheaper generic production of the drug by competing drug makers, which will cause the price of the drug to drop. Although Novartis has many other popular drugs that bring in billions, including cancer drugs Femara, Gleevec, Glivec and Zometa and vision drug Lucentis, none of them alone brings in the kind of revenue that Diovan does. [...] Continue Reading…

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Diane Alter – AHN News Reporter
Trenton, MI, United States (AHN) – Kathleen Edward, the sick 9-year old girl who made national headlines after being taunted by a neighbor on Facebook, has lost her battle with Huntington’s Disease. Kathleen’s father told Fox2 News Detroit that his daughter passed away at 10:07 p.m. Wednesday. Kathleen suffered from the degenerative brain disorder Huntington’s Disease, the same ailment that took her mother and grandfather. Kathleen made national news in October 2010 after her grandmother’s neighbor, Jennifer Petkov, posted lurid images on her Facebook page that poked fun at Kathleen and her mother Laura. One picture was of Kathleen’s face with her eyes closed and a pair of crossed bones beneath it. Another was a photo of Laura in the arms of the Grim Reaper. Petkov admitted to reporters that she posted the pictures. The open display and acknowledgment [...] Continue Reading…

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Kris Alingod – AHN News Contributor
Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to close 259 offices nationwide as part of a program to cut costs and improve service. In a statement that coincided with the American Farm Bureau Federation’s annual meeting, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced changes to his agency worth about $150 million in savings every year. The measures, which had been expected, will reduce the agency’s workforce by more than 7,000 employees. Apart from the domestic closures, seven international offices will be shuttered. The restructuring follows a department-wide review of operations that recommended consolidating 700 cell phone contracts into about 10. Since 2010, Congress has cut the USDA’s discretionary spending by $3 billion, or 12 percent. “The USDA, like families and businesses across the country, cannot continue to operate like we did 50 years ago,” Vilsack [...] Continue Reading…

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Diane Alter – AHN News Reporter
London, England, United Kingdom (AHN) – Age related memory loss is widely believed to begin around the age of 60, but new research shows that memory and other mental declines may often begin years earlier. A new British study is the first to attempt to track cognitive skills among people in their 40s and 50s. Participants in the study were subjected to a battery of tests designed to assess brain functioning that showed evidence of declines in memory, language and comprehensive skills as early as 45. While the researchers did find declines, most were modest, but they were quite real. Roughly 5,200 men and 2,200 women, between the ages of 45 and 70, were tested on three separate occasions over the course of a decade to assess memory, vocabulary and cognitive skills. After taking into account participants levels of [...] Continue Reading…

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Linda Young – AHN News Writer
Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – First time claims for unemployment compensation benefits during the week ending Dec. 31 dropped by 15,000 from the previous week to 372,000, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The less volatile 4-week moving average also fell, registering a decrease of 3,250 to 373,250 initial claims. However, the advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate also fell. It dropped by 0.1 percentage point to 2.8 percent for the week ending Dec. 24, the most recent week for which such data is available. Analysts say the decrease in filing for jobless benefits is a move in the right direction. The total number of people claiming benefits in all unemployment programs for the week ending Dec. 17 dropped by 8,311 from the previous week to 7,223,203. The unemployment rate for December was 8.5 percent. The [...] Continue Reading…

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