The Latest: Dramatic scenes as 11 hit by lightning treated
PARIS (AP) — The Latest on the lightning strike that struck 11 people at a park in Paris. (all times local):
Valeant rejected joint takeover bid from Takeda, TPG in spring: source
Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc received a joint takeover offer from Japan's Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd and TPG Capital Management LP [TPG.UL] this spring that the Canadian drugmaker rejected, according to a source familiar with the matter. The offer was made a few weeks before Joseph Papa took over as Valeant's new chief executive in April last week, the source told Reuters. Takeda and private equity firm TPG were ready to offer a substantial premium to Valeant, whose stock had fallen about 65 percent this year up to the close of trade on April 22 as the drugmaker was not just seeking a new head but was also hit by an accounting scandal, the source added.
U.S. Congress moves to revamp toxic chemical law
Legislation with bipartisan support that would revamp U.S. chemical safety law for the first time in decades is advancing in Congress, winning overwhelming passage in the House of Representatives as backers sought quick Senate action. Senate leadership aides said the timing was still being worked out for a Senate vote on the first update of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) in about 40 years. The House’s 403-12 vote to pass the measure updating the regulation of toxic chemicals aided the bill’s chances, with the Senate also expected to strongly embrace the bill, according to leadership aides.
World Humanitarian Summit: ‘The way we respond to crisis is itself a crisis’
Governments, aid organizations and U.N. agencies are meeting in Istanbul this week to develop a better response to what has been called the worst humanitarian crisis since World War Two, as conflicts and natural disasters have left some 130 million people in need of aid. On Monday, celebrities who work on humanitarian issues set out their concerns and hopes for the two-day U.N. summit: FOREST WHITAKER, U.S. ACTOR AND FILMMAKER “Around the world 250,000 boys and girls are serving as soldiers.
As humanitarian needs grow, USAID chief says the world must act
More complex humanitarian disasters such as the war in Syria and the Ebola epidemic threaten to overwhelm the international community's ability to respond, the head of the leading U.S. aid agency told Reuters in an interview. Gayle Smith, the administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), described a global humanitarian system stretched to the limit by the number of disasters and a growing funding gap compounded by emergency responses that cost more than traditional relief methods. “This is not the time to cut resources,” Smith said.
Costa Rica confirms microcephaly birth, possible Zika link
A Salvadoran woman suspected of being infected with the Zika virus has given birth in Costa Rica to a baby girl that tested positive for microcephaly, a rare birth defect, authorities said on Friday. If confirmed, the case would mark the sixth instance of microcephaly linked to a Zika infection in Central America and the first in Costa Rica. According to the World Health Organization, there is a strong scientific consensus that Zika can cause microcephaly as well as Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare neurological disorder that can result in paralysis, though conclusive proof may take months or years.
UK court rejects Big Tobacco’s appeal against plain packaging
Britain got the go-ahead on Thursday to make plain packaging compulsory on cigarettes when a UK court rejected a legal challenge brought by the world's top four tobacco companies. Philip Morris International, British American Tobacco, Japan Tobacco International and Imperial Brands had argued the law, due to come into force on Friday, unlawfully took away their intellectual property.
Senate easily advances $1.1 billion in Zika funding
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate voted decisively on Tuesday in favor of a bipartisan $1.1 billion measure to combat the Zika virus this year and next, cutting back President Barack Obama's request but offering significantly more money to fight Zika than would House GOP conservatives.
Bid to raise California tobacco tax nears November ballot
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Officials from a well-financed campaign whose backers include billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer, medical groups and organized labor say it has collected enough signatures for a ballot measure to raise California’s cigarette tax by $2 per pack.
Italian fertility doctor under arrest for eggs ‘theft’
A controversial Italian gynaecologist famed for helping women in their 60s to have children is under house arrest in Rome on suspicion of removing eggs from a patient's ovaries without her consent. Lawyers for Severino Antinori, who has been nicknamed the “grandmothers' obstetrician,” dismissed the charges as absurd and claimed Saturday that their client had been the victim of attempted extortion. Antinori, 70, was arrested at Rome's Fiumicino airport on Friday following a complaint filed by a 24-year-old woman who was treated for an ovarian cyst at the clinic, police said.