MILAN (Reuters) – Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi sent a video message to his Forza Italia party on Saturday in his first appearance since being hospitalised a month ago, saying he is ready to return to work. Wearing a blue shirt and suit and heavy make-up, Berlusconi, 86, appeared sitting at a desk with…
By Ahmed Aboulenein and Julie Steenhuysen WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, a top health official who oversaw the agency’s contentious response to the COVID-19 pandemic, is leaving the institution at the end of June, the CDC said on Friday. Walensky led the institution for two years…
By Ahmed Aboulenein WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Friday it would stop reporting or monitoring COVID-19 case data and transmission rates after the government ends the pandemic’s public health emergency designation next week. The agency will stop using its color-coded COVID-19 Community Levels (CCL) system, which…
By Leroy Leo and Khushi Mandowara (Reuters) -Cigna Group on Friday raised its annual profit forecast after lower medical costs at the company’s health insurance business helped it beat estimates in the first quarter, lifting shares 7.5% in morning trade. The health insurer also cut the midpoint of its 2023 medical cost ratio – or…
By Natalie Grover LONDON (Reuters) – Buoyed by the success of its diabetes and obesity drugs, Novo Nordisk is on the prowl for partnerships and deals to beef up its pipeline, a senior company executive said on Thursday. John McDonald, corporate vice president of global R&D business development, said the Danish drugmaker aims to shed…
By Gram Slattery HENNIKER, New Hampshire (Reuters) – While other Republicans running for president assiduously avoid discussing abortion, Nikki Haley, a former U.N. ambassador with 20 years in American politics, is trying a novel approach: talking about it. Days ago, Haley, the only woman in the 2024 White House race, gave a lengthy speech stating…
By Brendan Pierson (Reuters) -The Kroger Co has agreed to pay West Virginia $68 million to settle claims that it fueled the opioid epidemic through lax oversight of its pill sales, bringing the state’s years-long litigation over the opioid crisis to a close. The deal, announced Thursday by West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, comes…
(Reuters) – North Carolina’s Republican-dominated House on Wednesday passed and sent to the state Senate a controversial bill limiting most abortions to the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, a sharp drop from the state’s current limit of 20 weeks’ gestation. The bill passed 71-46 along party lines, with one Republican and two Democratic lawmakers not…
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – Denmark’s central bank raised its key interest rate by 0.25 percentage points to 2.85% on Thursday, following a rate hike earlier in the day by the European Central Bank. “The interest rate increase is a consequence of the increase by the European Central Bank of its main monetary policy rate, the deposit…
By Jennifer Rigby and Emma Farge LONDON (Reuters) -A panel of global health experts will meet on Thursday to decide if COVID-19 is still an emergency under the World Health Organization’s rules, a status that helps maintain international focus on the pandemic. The WHO first gave COVID its highest level of alert on Jan. 30,…
