Archives: Morning Breakouts

Politico reports that Democratic attorneys general are emerging as major players in with their refusal to join Republican counterparts in other states in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the new health reform law.

Pfizer, the world's largest drug maker, disclosed 35 million in payments during the second half of 2009, to doctors who spoke on behalf of drugs or consulted with the company, and to medical centers that tested the pharmaceuticals.

The new health care law contains "a renewal of $50 million per year for five years for abstinence-focused education," CNN reports.

A new U.N. report (.pdf) finds that "the majority of Afghans live in dire poverty, despite an estimated $35 billion in aid being poured into the country between 2002 to 2009," the Associated Press reports.

Newsweek examines how the U.S. farm bill influences food aid by tracking the efforts of U.S. entrepreneur Navyn Salem as she worked to launch a nonprofit capable of providing ready-to-use therapeutic (RUTF) food aid known as Plumpy'nut

Experts meeting in Montpellier, France for the Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development (GCARD) are calling for restructuring agriculture "to focus as much on new seed varieties as on good governance, women's empowerment and things like curbing commodities speculation," Reuters/Independent Online reports. According to the news service, the conference aims to formulate "a road map to reform agricultural research to meet development goals" (Goering, 3/31). VOA News reports that the plan will be presented to G8 leaders (DeCapua, 3/29).

Following a two-day meeting of foreign ministers from G8 countries in Quebec on Tuesday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton "appeared at odds

As donors from more than 100 countries gather at the U.N. in New York Wednesday to discuss the rebuilding of earthquake-ravaged Haiti, Cheryl Mills, an advisor to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, said that the U.S. "will be focusing on agriculture, energy, health and security. Also (on) support to the government in holding elections," Agence France-Presse reports (3/30).

President Obama signed the last piece of a health care reform law Tuesday, even as he scaled back expectations for the law and continued his hard sell pushing Americans to see the benefits.

A week after the health overhaul cleared Congress, a business lobby that opposed the plan is now regrouping to shape its implementation and exact political retribution on supporters.

A judicial ruling that threw out parts of two gene patents has the biotechnology industry wondering if a new precedent has been set in DNA patenting.