California governor treated for early-stage prostate cancer

SACRAMENTO (Reuters) – California Governor Jerry Brown is undergoing treatment for early-stage prostate cancer with an excellent prognosis for recovery, and the 74-year-old Democrat is expected to keep up a full work schedule, his office said on Wednesday.“Fortunately, this is early-stage localized prostate cancer, which is being treated with a short course of conventional radiotherapy,” Dr. Eric...

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Fed ties rates to jobs recovery, adds to stimulus

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Reserve, announcing a new round of monetary stimulus, took the unprecedented step on Wednesday of indicating interest rates would remain near zero until unemployment falls to at least 6.5 percent.It was the latest in a series of unorthodox measures taken by central banks around the world to battle erratic, sub-par recoveries from the financial crisis and recession...

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The Hobbit: Richard Armitage Talks Preparations For Playing Thorin Oakenshield

British actor Richard Armitage admitted it wasn’t a walk in the park to play a J.R.R. Tolkien character in Peter Jackson’s reimagining of “The Hobbit,” the first installment of which is on its way into theaters.Upon touching down in New Zealand, where the trilogy was shot, the cast had a lot of character preparation to do.PLAY IT NOW: Martin Freeman Discusses The Hobbit’s ‘Good Chemistry’ & Playing...

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Panasonic may sell Sanyo digital camera business: source

TOKYO (Reuters) – Panasonic Corp may sell its Sanyo digital camera business to Japanese private equity fund Advantage Partners by the end of March, a source familiar with the plan said.A final decision on the sale will be made by the end of the year, the source said on condition he was not identified.Advantage Partners will pay several hundreds of millions of yen for the business, which makes digital...

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QLT’s experimental eye drug could be worth “hundreds of millions”

(Reuters) – Canadian eye drug developer QLT Inc’s synthetic retinoid program, an experimental treatment for some inherited eye diseases that can cause blindness, could be worth “hundreds of millions” of dollars, the company‘s chairman said.Several potential buyers have approached QLT for the program — its only remaining product after it sold its eye drug, Visudyne, to Valeant Pharmaceuticals International...

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Oil price rises on Fed stimulus hopes

BANGKOK (AP) — The price of oil rose Wednesday as investors anticipated that new measures to perk up the U.S. economy will be announced at the end of the Federal Reserve‘s policy meeting.Benchmark crude for January delivery was up 8 cents to $ 85.87 per barrel at midday Bangkok time on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 23 cents to finish at $ 85.79 per barrel in New York on Tuesday....

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Corruption probe shrouds Quebec in new darkness

MONTREAL (Reuters) – Half a century ago, a new crop of Quebec leaders sparked the so-called Quiet Revolution to eradicate the “Great Darkness” – decades of corruption that kept Canada‘s French-speaking province under the dominance of one party and the Catholic church.The revolution’s reforms, including cleaning up the way lawmakers were elected and secularizing the education system, seemed to work,...

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Google’s Gmail service suffers disruption

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Several Google Inc Web products, including the popular Gmail service, appeared to go dark for users on several continents on Monday.Google confirmed that “service disruptions” had affected Gmail and Google Drive, its online storage service. The two products are part of Google’s Apps suite, a Microsoft Office rival that caters to both consumers and businesses.By 10:10 a.m....

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Jenni Rivera’s family hopes Mexican-American singer still alive

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The family of Mexican-American singer Jenni Rivera said on Monday they are holding onto hope that she may still be alive, although U.S. officials said earlier that she died on Sunday in a plane crash in Mexico.“In our eyes, we still have faith that our sister will be OK,” Rivera’s brother Juan told reporters outside the family house near Long Beach, California.“We thank God...

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FDA OKs J&J prostate cancer drug for pre-chemo use

(Reuters) – U.S. health regulators on Monday expanded the approval of Johnson & Johnson‘s drug Zytiga for advanced prostate cancer to allow its use prior to treatment with chemotherapy.The widely-expected, expanded Food and Drug Administration approval, which came after the company demonstrated that Zytiga could extend survival if used prior to chemotherapy, is likely to significantly boost sales...

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