U.S. prosecutors have alleged that Novartis, the huge drug maker based in Switzerland, of giving physicians lavish dinners and trips for fishing and other excursions so the doctors would prescribe medications for medications produced by pharmaceutical giant. The Swiss pharmaceutical giant said the monies were used to pay physicians to speak at different educational programs in the U.S. However, prosecutors said that many of those programs or meetings were held in restaurants such as Hooters. Authorities... 

Danica Patrick, the NASCAR driver, has announced that her divorce has now become finalized. A judge in Arizona signed the consent decree on April 15 between the Go-Daddy NASCAR driver and Paul Hospenthal her husband. The decree was filed just two days after the signing, which ended the seven-year marriage between the couple. Patrick, who is 31, announced last November on via her page on Facebook that she had split from her husband, saying the couple’s marriage had become irretrievably broken. Patrick... 

The Baltimore corrections system had 25 members indicted in a major scandal that included 13 prison guards for charges that ranged from drug conspiracy to racketeering to money laundering. The operation was run through a prison gang where inmates virtually were in control of the jail where they had been incarcerated. Officials from federal law enforcement said the defendants either conspired with or had taken bribes from members of the gang Black Guerilla Family, to smuggle cell phones, drugs and... 

A new study ranks poultry and meat, based upon outbreaks of illnesses that are foodborne. In the U.S., the average person consumes about 130 pounds of poultry, beef and pork each year. That amount of meat consumption provides for ample opportunity to contract a foodborne illness during the course of one year. Fortunately, outbreaks of illness linked to poultry and meat have fallen over the past 12 years since regulatory oversight has become much stricter and litigation has made meat producers clean... 

Tom Cruise returned to lead the box office with the debut of his newest film Oblivion, a sci-fi adventure. The film’s debut helped the veteran actor reaffirm his star power with a weekend take of $38.2 million, which was easily the highest earning film of the weekend. The film cost over $120 million and opened with a very solid weekend. The start was also positive for Cruise, who has not been successful recently at the cinema with underperforming movies such as Rock of Ages, Knight and Day, Valkyrie... 

On Saturday afternoon, five snowboarders lost their lives after an avalanche they apparently triggered in the backcountry at Loveland Pass in Colorado, fell on them. Search crews and rescue personnel recovered the five bodies a number of hours after the avalanche. The slide was over 600 feet wide with snow that was up to eight feet deep, Sheriff Don Krueger of Clear Creek said. Another snowboarder who was caught in the same avalanche survived after digging himself from the snow and calling for assistance.... 

In Guatemala City, on Friday, uncertainty was apparent in the courtroom at the Efrain Rios Montt genocide trial. Rios Montt is a former army general and congressman, who was a dictator in Guatemala as well. Judges argued over what judge should be presiding over the case following an order that was given on Thursday to annul close to 18 months worth of court and legal proceedings. The Thursday order of annulment was made by Judge Patricia Flores. Judge Flores presided over the case originally. She... 

The Professional Football Association in England has released its shortlist of six men for the Player of the Year trophy. The most controversial player on the list is Liverpool’s Luis Suarez. The Uruguayan has been one of the English Premier Leagues’ most effective players. However, he has had his reputation damaged by the ban of eight matches he received last season for racial abuse against Manchester United’s Patrice Evra and claims he like to take dives to draw yellow cards and penalties... 

Authorities in Russia have put the most vocal critic of Vladimir Putin, the country’s president, on trial in what many experts believe to be a risky attempt to shut out the country’s biggest and most charismatic opposition leader, from politics. Alexei Navalny, the most well known campaigner for anti-corruption in Russia, led huge protests against Putin last year. Navalny was charged by Russian authorities with embezzlement and if found guilty, could face 10 years behind bars. On Wednesday, the... 

On Wednesday, Toyota Motors announced it reached the five million sales mark for its autos that are hybrid. The giant automaker from Japan produces the Prius Hybrid and announced that more than 5.125 million of its hybrid vehicles have been sold since the first Prius was launched back in 1997. The hybrid gives users the ability to switch between an electric engine and a standard gasoline engine in accordance with driving conditions and the availability of resources such as electrical recharging facilities. Many... 

On Tuesday, Goldman Sachs reported its first quarter earnings that were better that what Wall Street had expected. Earnings were $2.26 billion from revenue that reached $10.1 billion, which beat estimates of just over $1.97 billion for earnings and $9.65 billion for revenue. The company had per share adjusted earnings of $4.29, which surpassed the estimate per share value of $3.86. Goldman Sachs was up in pre-market trading by about 1% to $147.40. Earnings at the top stand-alone investment bank in... 

A new study says that a treatment, which is minimally invasive and uses a small frozen ball, can treat chronic pain effectively. The treatment is cyroneurolysis and uses a small probe with a temperature of between minus 10 and minus 16 degrees Celsius. This probe effectively stops the nerves from emitting pain signals through burning the outer layer of the nerve that is damaged and not allowing pain signals to be emitted back to the brain. The condition that millions suffer from is called neuralgia... 

Comic actor Jonathan Winters who starred in movies and on television, died this past week at 87. Winters was one of the most talented improvisational actors and comics in the industry. He starred in his own show The Jonathan Winters Show, the well-known television show Mork and Mindy and the hilariously funny movie It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad World. Winters was the godfather of improv comedians such as Jim Carrey and Robin Williams, but revered as a comic by the likes of Billy Crystal and Lily Tomlin. Bill... 

The U.S. Department of Treasury has said that valuation currency policy must be geared toward growth instead of giving a country a competitive advantage. The Obama administration this week used new and harsh language in warning Japan that it should not hold the value of its yen down in order to gain an advantage in the world’s markets, as the new government in Tokyo follows a path of aggressive policy with a goal at helping growth in its country. The Treasury, in its semi-annual report on global... 

Controversial Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County Arizona had a package addressed to him containing explosive materials that was found at a post office in Flagstaff, both federal and local authorities said. Investigators said they believe the package had been picked up at a rural P.O. Box on Thursday and arrived in Flagstaff at the post office late in the afternoon the same day. The package was addressed to the headquarters of Sheriff Arpaio in Phoenix’s downtown area. A worker at the post office... 

A man from Oregon says his two teenage daughters are the reason he is still alive today. He said they saved him last weekend after they were able to lift a tractor that weighed 3,000 off him. The man’s boot slipped off the clutch of the tractor causing the tractor to flip, pinning to the ground. Jeff Smith was busy tending to his yard when the accident took place and he became pinned beneath the tractor’s steering wheel. He immediately had a hard time breathing and each time he called for help... 

Europe’s governing body for soccer announced on Wednesday that soccer players would face a ban of 10 games and team supporters could be banned from entering stadiums under the new antiracism measures that are being drawn up. Gianni Infantino, the General Secretary of UEFA said soccer must do more to rid the sport of racism following a big wave of incidents with high-profile players recently. Dynamo Kyiv from Ukraine was ordered today by UEFA to play one game without any spectators during next season... 

Just days after talks regarding its controversial nuclear power program stalled, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hailed new advances in the program. Iran unveiled a new production facility for uranium and two mines for extraction. The Iranian president hailed the new sites and boasted of a mastery over the nuclear energy chain, while demanding that Iranian workers accelerate their work. The president’s announcements come only days after more talks between Iran and six of the world’s powers... 

On Monday, General Electric agreed to purchase Lufkin Industries, Inc. for $3.3 billion, adding technologies for the gas and oil industry as Jeffrey Immelt, the GE CEO increases his bet on energy. Shareholders of Lufkin will be paid $88.50 in cash for each share. The deal is scheduled to close during the second half of the year, said GE in a prepared statement. The price of $88.50 is a premium of 38% over the closing price of $63.93 for Friday April 5, for Texas-based Lufkin. The fastest growing... 

The latest novel by Kate Atkinson titled Life After Life tells the stories of Ursula a study, strange and brave girl born to a English family in the early 1900s. She dies after only one chapter of the book at the moment she is born, and then is reborn, over and over and over. The core of the novel is how Ursula is doomed to relive her life over and over until she is able to get it right. This will certainly make the new novel one of the most talked about during 2013 as it used a dazzling act of juggling... 

World Health Day is April 7 and the theme of the day this year is blood pressure or better yet high blood pressure also referred to by many as hypertension. To lower someone’s risk of kidney failure, cardiovascular disease and stroke the World Health Organization recommends lowering sodium or salt intake. However, researchers say great benefits would occur if the dietary intake of potassium was elevated at the same time sodium was reduced. WHO says that one billion individuals worldwide are affected... 

Employers in the United States only added 88,000 jobs during March making it the slowest pace for adding jobs in nine months. The results of the Labor Department’s jobs report suggest a weakening in economic growth as government spending cuts and higher taxes start to take effect. The unemployment rate in the U.S., which was released in a separate report, fell by just 0.1% to 7.6% due largely from people dropping out of the current work force. Estimates by economists expected the payrolls of non-farm... 

Men losing their hair could be more apt to suffer heart problems compared to men who maintain all their hair, said researchers from Japan. In a recent study, over 37,000 individuals were examined and the results indicated that males who are balding have a 32% higher likelihood of suffering from coronary heart disease than men do with all their hair. However, the scientists were quick to point out that the risks involved with baldness are much lower than those involved with obesity and smoking are. Losing... 

Companies in the U.S. hired fewer workers than had been projected for March due to limited construction hiring according to the private report from ADP based on the country’s payrolls. The increase in jobs was 158,000 making it the least amount of new hiring since last October and followed the revised increase of 237,000 for February. The estimated increase of jobs by a group of economists had been placed at 200,000. There continues to be an improvement in the job market, but with stops and starts,... 

Recent research found that younger teens are not having less of an active sex life than previously. The research also found older teens are now putting off sex on a more frequent basis than the past. On Monday, the new study was released and found only 2.4% of young adolescents at age 12 had experienced sex. At the age of 16, that percentage had reached 33% who had been sexually active at least once in their life. For teens between 18 and 19, that percentage jumped to 71%. The lower rates for young...