(Reuters) - Drugmakers, device companies and health insurers all got some good news when Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives released changes to healthcare reform legislation on Thursday.Hefty taxes on those three industries were delayed by at least a year, among other adjustments to the bill that seeks to overhaul the nation's healthcare system.Following are some of the winners and losers for the healthcare industry based on the reconciliation bill the House is considering along with the Senate's bill. A vote is expected on Sunday.WINNERSBRANDNAME DRUGMAKERS
(Reuters) - Drugmakers, device companies and health insurers all got some good news when Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives released changes to healthcare reform legislation on Thursday.
Hefty taxes on those three industries were delayed by at least a year, among other adjustments to the bill that seeks to overhaul the nation's healthcare system.
Following are some of the winners and losers for the healthcare industry based on the reconciliation bill the House is considering along with the Senate's bill. A vote is expected on Sunday.
WINNERS
BRANDNAME DRUGMAKERS
March 20 (Bloomberg) -- Republican Senator Orrin Hatch said Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives are "nuts" to think tomorrow's vote on health-care legislation will resolve the issue. If the measure passes, Senate Republicans have enough votes on at least two points of order to alter the measure and send it back to the House for a second round of votes, Hatch said in an interview on Bloomberg Television's "Political Capital with Al Hunt," airing this weekend. "If those people think they're only going to vote on this once, they're nuts," Hatch said as House Democratic leaders rounded up support before the scheduled vote on President Barack Obama's top domestic priority. The senator from Utah also said the approach Democrats are using to pass the legislation in the House may be unconstitutional because the House and Senate aren't voting on "exactly the same language."
March 20 (Bloomberg) -- Republican Senator Orrin Hatch said Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives are "nuts" to think tomorrow's vote on health-care legislation will resolve the issue.
If the measure passes, Senate Republicans have enough votes on at least two points of order to alter the measure and send it back to the House for a second round of votes, Hatch said in an interview on Bloomberg Television's "Political Capital with Al Hunt," airing this weekend.
"If those people think they're only going to vote on this once, they're nuts," Hatch said as House Democratic leaders rounded up support before the scheduled vote on President Barack Obama's top domestic priority.
The senator from Utah also said the approach Democrats are using to pass the legislation in the House may be unconstitutional because the House and Senate aren't voting on "exactly the same language."
CSPAN, 00:46:00, 20 March 2010 Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said Israeli settlement building anywhere in occupied territory is illegal and must stop.Mr Ban is in the Middle East to meet Israeli and Palestinian leaders and press them to resume peace talks. Israel's controversial announcement of plans to build 1,600 more homes in East Jerusalem has inflamed tensions in the region and between Israel and the US. The Palestinian leadership has said the plan is an obstacle to resuming talks. Mr Ban's statement comes a day after he made a similar call, speaking for the international Quartet of Middle East peace mediators - the UN, Russia, the EU and the US.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said Israeli settlement building anywhere in occupied territory is illegal and must stop.
Mr Ban is in the Middle East to meet Israeli and Palestinian leaders and press them to resume peace talks.
Israel's controversial announcement of plans to build 1,600 more homes in East Jerusalem has inflamed tensions in the region and between Israel and the US.
The Palestinian leadership has said the plan is an obstacle to resuming talks.
Mr Ban's statement comes a day after he made a similar call, speaking for the international Quartet of Middle East peace mediators - the UN, Russia, the EU and the US.
WASHINGTON, Mar 19, 2010 (IPS) - This week, acting Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan dissolved his cabinet, further securing his tenuous hold on the country's top post amidst rising unrest in the Niger Delta and flaring religious tensions in the central region of the country.On Wednesday, Goodluck dismissed all of ailing President Umaru Yar'Adua's ministers, effectively allowing the acting president to appoint ministers of his choosing. Yar'Adua, who has been receiving medical treatment in Saudi Arabia for three months, returned to Nigeria on Feb. 24 amidst a heavy military presence at the airport, but hasn't been seen since. "[Jonathan] did not give us any reason for the dissolution of the cabinet," said Dora Akunyili, the information minister, in a short statement released on Wednesday. On Feb. 10, Nigeria's National Assembly voted to make Goodluck the acting president. Since then, Goodluck's aggressive power consolidation has furthered the hopes of many Nigerians hopes that reform is imminent. "[Jonathan's dissolution of the cabinet] is a signal for many that Goodluck Jonathan is perhaps about to put in place his own men, his own women, his own team," said Al Jazeera's Nigeria correspondent, Yvonne Ndege, on Thursday. "It was felt by many Nigerians that the cabinet was basically packed to the rafters with Yar'Adua loyalists who weren't doing the job they were supposed to be doing, or rather doing a good enough job," said Ndege.
