Yahoo! News: Health News

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• Wall Street flat as euro-zone concerns weigh
• Jobless claims fall to lowest since 2008
• March sales brighten retailers' profit prospects
• Analysis: Too slowly, euro zone laggards start to shape up
• BoE holds steady course as UK stumbles towards growth
• Facebook e-commerce: the next big thing?
• Peugeot and Ford end cooperation on larger diesels
• Exclusive: China ship insurer deals new blow to Iran oil exports
• Viacom video lawsuit vs Google's YouTube revived
• Greece extends bond swap deadline again for holdouts
• Analysis: Cautious Wal-Mart missing out on Russia's retail boom
• Peugeot and Ford to end some diesel cooperation
• Volvo to spend $11 billion over coming years
• Asian banks warm to bond market innovation
• HSBC veteran Flockhart retires from executive role
• Insight: Valentine's Day mission gives BOJ new personality
• Iran cuts oil to Greek firms over payment: Press TV
• Americans brace for next foreclosure wave
• Insight: In Bangalore, a remake to avoid being "Bangalored"
• Madoff wives to face trustee claims in Ponzi case
• BoE to sit tight on policy despite shock manufacturing data
• Exclusive: Falcone mulls voluntary bankruptcy for LightSquared
• BHP coal mines to be hit by new stoppages April 12: union
• Google takes wraps off Web-based digital glasses
• Apple, two publishers hold out against settlement: report
• Yahoo to lay off 2,000 employees
• Obama signs insider trading bill, wants more curbs on Congress
• Court picks terms in Apple/Samsung patent case
• Penney cuts 600 workers, 13 percent of HQ staff
• Coca-Cola halts ties to conservative law drafters
• Spain becomes focus as euro debt fears return
• Impact report to be released on LA NFL stadium
• Pilgrims: Stove Top is only for Thanksgiving
• IMF: Portugal is on track but big risks remain
• Ferdinand Porsche, sports car designer, dies at 76
• Summary Box: Support for hemp growing in Kentucky
• European markets soft heading into Easter break
• US stocks turn mixed, erasing early losses

Wall Street flat as euro-zone concerns weigh Posted: NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks were little changed on Thursday despite data showing ongoing improvement in the labor market, as a rise in Spanish bond yields renewed concerns about the euro zone's financial health. The number of Americans submitting claims for new jobless benefits fell to the lowest in nearly four years last week, according to government data, as a separate report showed the number of planned layoffs at U.S. firms fell to its lowest level in 10 months. ...

Jobless claims fall to lowest since 2008 Posted: WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of Americans lining up for new jobless benefits dropped to the lowest level in nearly four years last week, according to a government report that showed ongoing healing in the labor market. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 357,000, the lowest level since April 2008, the Labor Department said on Thursday. New claims have fallen sharply in recent months, boosting expectations the end of a long cycle of heavy layoffs will lead to more hiring. ...

March sales brighten retailers' profit prospects Posted: (Reuters) - Summery weather and an earlier Easter prompted shoppers to buy bright-colored clothing, with many boosting retailers' profits by paying closer to full price than in recent years. Of the 20 retailers tracked by Thomson Reuters, 10 percent beat Wall Street sales estimates, with the biggest increases coming from clothing sellers. ...

Analysis: Too slowly, euro zone laggards start to shape up Posted: LONDON (Reuters) - It may be cold comfort for countries on the euro zone's southern periphery mired in recession, but they are making clear strides by some measures towards putting their economies on a sounder long-term footing. After years of excessive debt-fuelled consumption at home, Spain and Portugal are seeing a big increase in exports, while Italy's budget deficit is now comfortably below Europe's mandated ceiling of 3 percent of national output. ...

BoE holds steady course as UK stumbles towards growth Posted: LONDON (Reuters) - The Bank of England held back from giving Britain's fragile recovery an extra boost on Thursday, as the economy appears to have avoided falling into recession despite a shock drop in manufacturing output in the first months of 2012. The economy has not recovered fully from the 2007-2009 recession that left Britons poorer and vulnerable to the euro zone debt crisis, which fuelled a fall in output at the end of last year and raised fears of a new downturn. ...

Facebook e-commerce: the next big thing? Posted: SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A group of e-commerce start-ups, backed by some of the tech world's most pedigreed financiers, are betting that Facebook Inc can become an e-commerce powerhouse to rival Amazon.com Inc and eBay Inc. As the world's largest social network hurtles toward a $5 billion initial public offering, it will come under more pressure from Wall Street to find new sources of profit growth and reduce its reliance on advertising, which accounted for 85 percent of its 2011 revenue. ...

Peugeot and Ford end cooperation on larger diesels Posted: PARIS (Reuters) - PSA Peugeot Citroen will stop making larger diesel engines with Ford , the companies said, a week after General Motors took a stake in the French automaker to cement their planned alliance. Peugeot and Ford will each develop their own engines to replace diesels of 2 liters and above that they make together, the companies said in a joint statement on Thursday. The two automakers jointly develop and manufacture the bulk of their diesel engines under a 12-year-old agreement. ...

Exclusive: China ship insurer deals new blow to Iran oil exports Posted: SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A major Chinese ship insurer will halt indemnity cover for tankers carrying Iranian oil from July, dealing a blow that narrows the insurance options for Tehran's main export already constricted by payment barriers caused by Western sanctions. With Western sanctions on Tehran increasing, sources at the China P&I Club told Reuters on Thursday it did not want to stand alone in the market, especially after insurers in Japan and Europe plan to either limit or ban their own coverage for tankers operating in Iran. ...

Viacom video lawsuit vs Google's YouTube revived Posted: (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court has revived lawsuits by Viacom Inc, the English Premier League, and various film studios and television networks accusing Google Inc of allowing copyrighted videos on its YouTube service without permission. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said on Thursday that a reasonable jury could have found that YouTube knew of specific infringing activity on its website. As a result, it said a lower court made a mistake in dismissing the case. Viacom had no immediate comment. Google and both the companies' lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment. ...

Greece extends bond swap deadline again for holdouts Posted: ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece extended a deadline for a second time on Thursday for remaining bondholders to accept a debt swap, giving Athens a little more breathing space to formulate a response to investors who have refused to sign up for the landmark deal. Athens must in any case make a decision soon, in coordination with its EU and IMF backers, because a 450 million euro bond expires on May 15, finance ministry and banking officials said. ...

Analysis: Cautious Wal-Mart missing out on Russia's retail boom Posted: MOSCOW (Reuters) - Retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc has let caution thwart its ambitions in Russia, and will find profits harder to come by if it delays getting a foothold in the vast market catering to 140 million people. Fearful of getting hamstrung by Russia's complicated and time-consuming bureaucracy, the world number one retailer has been outmaneuvered by its European peers - Auchan and Metro have become the third and fourth biggest food retailers in the $300 billion-plus market. ...

Peugeot and Ford to end some diesel cooperation Posted: PARIS (Reuters) - PSA Peugeot Citroen and Ford will phase out their cooperation in some diesel engines, the companies said on Thursday. "The two companies have decided to independently develop and manufacture their larger diesel engines," Paris-based Peugeot said in a joint statement with the U.S. car maker. Announcing plans in February for a broad-based alliance with Ford's Detroit-based rival General Motors , Peugeot had said the tie-up would not affect existing partnerships including joint diesel-engine production with Ford. ...

Volvo to spend $11 billion over coming years Posted: STOCKHOLM/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Swedish carmaker Volvo , owned by China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co Ltd, plans to spend $11 billion on developing new products and boosting its manufacturing footprint in the next few years, a company spokesman said on Thursday. Earlier in the day, German magazine Wirtschaftswoche said Geely would invest the money, but spokesman Per-Ake Froberg said that funding would come from Volvo itself and include financing from cash flow and borrowing. "It is not Geely investing $11 billion," he said. ...

Asian banks warm to bond market innovation Posted: SINGAPORE/HONG KONG (Reuters) - A shortage of U.S. dollars, new banking regulations and strong investor demand means Asian banks are set to help spur long-awaited innovation in the region's debt capital markets. Singapore is consulting on new guidelines to help its banks issue covered bonds and Hong Kong plans to study investor appetite for similar products, while banks across Asia are looking at forms of debt previously unseen in the region, such as hybrid or perpetual bonds. ...

HSBC veteran Flockhart retires from executive role Posted: LONDON, APRIL 5 - Sandy Flockhart is retiring as an executive director of HSBC Holdings Plc after a 37-year career at the bank, much of it spent in senior postings in the Middle East and Asia, but will remain on the board, HSBC said on Thursday. Flockhart, who is 60 and chairman of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa and well as Latin America and commercial banking, was not expected to be immediately replaced in his executive role, a spokesman for the bank said. ...

Insight: Valentine's Day mission gives BOJ new personality Posted: TOKYO (Reuters) - It was a secret Valentine's Day mission involving only half a dozen Bank of Japan bureaucrats who worked through the weekend preparing for the central bank's February 13-14 meeting. The governor had just been publicly heckled by politicians over seemingly endless deflation and a yen near record highs. Bold steps were needed to restore the BOJ's standing, and quickly. "Until February, the BOJ's message was that mild deflation was inevitable, and that it didn't need to act as long as the economy was doing fine," said a source familiar with the central bank's thinking. ...

Iran cuts oil to Greek firms over payment: Press TV Posted: DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran has blocked oil sales to two Greek companies, Hellenic Petroleum and Motor Oil Hellas after they failed to make payments, Iranian state television reported on Thursday. The English-language television network, Press TV, reported that Greece's top refiner Hellenic Petroleum and Motor Oil Hellas were barred from purchasing Iranian crude after they defaulted on their orders. ...

Americans brace for next foreclosure wave Posted: GARFIELD HEIGHTS, Ohio (Reuters) - Half a decade into the deepest U.S. housing crisis since the 1930s, many Americans are hoping the crisis is finally nearing its end. House sales are picking up across most of the country, the plunge in prices is slowing and attempts by lenders to claim back properties from struggling borrowers dropped by more than a third in 2011, hitting a four-year low. But a painful part two of the slump looks set to unfold: Many more U.S. homeowners face the prospect of losing their homes this year as banks pick up the pace of foreclosures. ...

Insight: In Bangalore, a remake to avoid being "Bangalored" Posted: BANGALORE (Reuters) - Rajesh Rao is among a handful of Indian entrepreneurs who may prevent the country's software industry from getting "Bangalored". The 41-year-old self-confessed geek runs Dhruva, a firm that sells content and services to global online game companies from a bungalow in a crowded suburb of a city that has come to embody outsourcing and the transfer of jobs from the West. But plain vanilla outsourcing - help desks and back office operations - is finding cheaper locations abroad. ...

Madoff wives to face trustee claims in Ponzi case Posted: NEW YORK (Reuters) - The trustee seeking money for victims of Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme, who lost an estimated $20 billion, may pursue claims against wives of the imprisoned swindler's sons, a U.S. federal court judge said on Wednesday. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Burton Lifland in Manhattan said the trustee Irving Picard may pursue about $43 million of claims against Deborah Madoff, who married Andrew Madoff; and $33 million of claims against Stephanie Mack, the widow of Mark Madoff. ...

BoE to sit tight on policy despite shock manufacturing data Posted: LONDON (Reuters) - The Bank of England is set to leave its policy settings on hold on Thursday as the economy looks to have skirted recession although a shock slump in February factory output served as a reminder that the economy is not on a sound footing yet. The British economy has not recovered fully from the 2007-2009 slump and a contraction in the final three months of last year, due in part to the escalating euro zone debt crisis, had stoked fears of a new recession. ...

Exclusive: Falcone mulls voluntary bankruptcy for LightSquared Posted: NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hedge fund manager Philip Falcone said in an interview on Wednesday he is "seriously considering" filing a voluntary bankruptcy for LightSquared, the struggling telecom startup in which his Harbinger Capital Partners is the majority owner. Falcone said a bankruptcy is one of several options he is considering as he tries to find a way to salvage the company, which reported a $427 million net loss during the first nine months of 2011, and keep its creditors at bay. ...

BHP coal mines to be hit by new stoppages April 12: union Posted: SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian coal mines owned by BHP Billiton and Mitsubishi Corp will be hit by a second work stoppage on April 12, with union workers planning to halt work for two days, a union official said on Thursday. "We're looking at next Thursday's night shift to start the stoppage through to Saturday day shift at all seven mines," Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) District President Stephen Smyth told Reuters. The mines, operated under the BHP Billiton-Mitsubishi Alliance joint venture, have a combined output capacity of more than 58 million metric tons (63. ...

Google takes wraps off Web-based digital glasses Posted: SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc is getting into the eyewear business with a pair of thin wraparound shades that puts the company's Web services in your face. The experimental "augmented reality" glasses - from the same team that is developing self-driven cars - can snap photos, initiate videochats and display directions at the sound of a user's voice. The prototype digital glasses, unveiled on the company's Google+ social network on Wednesday, are still being tweaked and tested, and are not available in stores yet. ...

Apple, two publishers hold out against settlement: report Posted: (Reuters) - Apple Inc and publishers Pearson and Macmillan are reluctant to agree to terms sought by U.S. and European antitrust authorities investigating possible electronic-book price-fixing, the Wall Street Journal cited sources as saying on Wednesday. Apple and some of the world's biggest book publishers are suspected of colluding to push up e-book prices and are under investigation by the U.S. Justice Department and the European Commission. Reuters reported on March 30 that the U.S. Justice Department could reach a settlement in the case in the next few weeks. ...

Yahoo to lay off 2,000 employees Posted: (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc will lay off 2,000 people, or 14 percent of its workforce, in its deepest round of job cuts in years as new Chief Executive Scott Thompson tries to jumpstart growth with a leaner, more agile company while saving hundreds of millions of dollars. Wall Street's reaction was lukewarm, after two previous Yahoo CEOs failed to find an answer to rivals like Web-search leader Google and the Facebook social-networking site. ...

Obama signs insider trading bill, wants more curbs on Congress Posted: WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama called on Wednesday for stricter controls on lawmakers to confront "the corrosive influence" of money in Washington as he signed into law an insider trading ban he said was needed to help restore trust in the U.S. government. The Democrat, who is running for re-election in November, said the STOCK Act he signed at the White House made plain that members of Congress using non-public information to improve their personal investment portfolios were breaking the law. Enforcement of the core stock trading disclosure provisions will begin in July. ...

Court picks terms in Apple/Samsung patent case Posted: SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A U.S. judge largely sided with Apple on Wednesday over how several technical terms will be defined in its patent fight against Samsung over smartphones and tablets. Deciding on the meaning of certain terms, known as claim construction orders, helps to define the scope of a party's patent rights and can often shape the course of litigation. Apple sued Samsung in the United States last year, saying the South Korean company's Galaxy line of mobile phones and tablets "slavishly" copies the iPhone and iPad. Samsung then countersued Apple. ...

Penney cuts 600 workers, 13 percent of HQ staff Posted: J.C. Penney Co. said Thursday that it has laid off 600 workers, or 13 percent of the staff at its headquarters in Plano, Texas, as the department store chain looks to streamline its operations amid a major reinvention of the business.

Coca-Cola halts ties to conservative law drafters Posted: Coca-Cola Co. has ended its membership in a conservative organization seen as the incubator for a string of new state laws on voting and a marketer of laws like Florida's "Stand Your Ground" self-defense statute.

Spain becomes focus as euro debt fears return Posted: Rising concerns over Spain's economy and its ability to handle its debts sent its cost of borrowing higher Thursday, sparking fears that Europe's debt crisis is flaring up again after a brief respite.

Impact report to be released on LA NFL stadium Posted: A group seeking to build a $1.4 billion NFL stadium in downtown Los Angeles will present a long-awaited environmental impact report to City Hall, a key step in the possible return of pro football to the city.

Pilgrims: Stove Top is only for Thanksgiving Posted: Stove Top Stuffing is strictly for Thanksgiving. At least that's what the Pilgrims would have you believe.

IMF: Portugal is on track but big risks remain Posted: Bailed-out Portugal's economic recovery program is proceeding as planned but "formidable challenges" stand in the country's path amid a steep recession and market misgivings about Europe's response to its debt crisis, the International Monetary Fund said Thursday.

Ferdinand Porsche, sports car designer, dies at 76 Posted: Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, the design chief credited with the classic 911 sports car and grandson of the automaker's founder, has died at age 76.

Summary Box: Support for hemp growing in Kentucky Posted: GROWING ACCEPTANCE: A mix of people at a recent seminar in Lexington, Ky., voiced support for growing the versatile hemp plant.

European markets soft heading into Easter break Posted: European stock markets failed to hold on to their early gains Thursday as investors fretted about Spain's debt problems, and reduced their potential exposure to upcoming U.S. jobs figures in the run-up to the long Easter weekend. An uninspiring open in the U.S. did little to shake off the pre-holiday malaise.

US stocks turn mixed, erasing early losses Posted: Stocks were mixed in midday trading, closing out a tumultuous week in which the Dow Jones industrial average had its biggest plunge in a month.

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