Archives: Morning Breakouts

While approximately 17 million Asians fell into "extreme poverty" due to the global economic situation in 2009, another four million in the region "could this year slip into the same situation due to the effects of the slump," according to a report released by representatives from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP) in Manlia on Wednesday, Agence-France Presse reports.

The total cost of the destruction in Haiti, resulting from the major earthquake last month, could add up to twice the value of the country's annual economy, a three Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) economists said in a report on Tuesday, the Associated Press reports.

Agence France-Presse examines efforts to eradicate Guinea worm, a "painful water-borne parasite that can leave people weakened and sick for months every year" (2/17).

The New York Times reports that President Obama's appointment of a special panel to try to ease the nation's debt will come "(a)fter decades of warnings that budgetary profligacy, escalating health care costs and an aging population would lead to a day of fiscal reckoning."

A new database compares the health of the more than 3,000 counties in the U.S.

USA Today tracks the increased political donations of top health groups in 2009.

Today's early morning highlights from the major news organizations, including more about President Obama's upcoming health summit, as well as the budget deficit, the COBRA extension and party gridlock.

Eight Democratic Senators are now asking Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to use reconciliation to pass a health care overhaul with a public option after four more joined the cause Wednesday.

A poll released Tuesday by Zogby International and the University of Texas Health Science Center found that more than half of all Americans say Congress should start over on health care reforms, The Hill reports.

Democrats and Republicans "are pressing story lines on how the reform debate has played out that aren't as tidy or truthful as Democrats and Republicans would like voters to believe" ahead of next week's White House health care summit, Politico reports.

A decreased need for troops has led the U.S. military to reduce its troops from a high of about 20,000 after the earthquake to 13,000, General Douglas Fraser said on Saturday, Agence France-Presse reports. Fraser also said the Haitian government was resuming control of the Port-au-Prince airport during daylight, according to the AFP.