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As Congress Starts Writing Health Reform, Kennedy’s Absence is Felt

It’s been a decade and a half since anyone in Congress has attempted to put together a major overhaul of the health care system, and no one on Capitol Hill or the White House these days is under any illusions that it will come easy. But as the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Wednesday becomes the first to begin the process of formally drafting a bill — one that members will call the Affordable Health Choices Act — it’s already clear that the task will be that much tougher because of the absence of the committee’s, and the issue’s, driving force

Experts urge new screening for diabetes

A diabetes test that measures a person’s average blood glucose control over the preceding two to three months is being recommended as the new diagnostic tool for the condition. A committee of international experts recommended the test, called the the A1C assay, at the American Diabetes Association’s 69th Scientific Sessions over the weekend

Key senator knows what it’s like to be called ‘racist’

When greeting Judge Sonia Sotomayor this week, Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama made sure to tell her something loud enough for the assembled reporters to hear. “You will get a fair hearing before this committee,” Sessions told President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee with emphatic gestures and tone.

Weight Guidelines Toughened for Obese Mothers-to-Be

The Institute of Medicine , the nation’s most influential medical advisory group, has updated its guidelines for weight gain during pregnancy for the first time since 1990. The revised recommendations, released May 28, which also include the first advice regarding exercise during pregnancy, reflect new data on prenatal health as well as several recent shifts in the obstetric landscape — pregnant women in the U.S. are now older, more likely to deliver multiple births and ethnically more diverse than they were 20 or 30 years ago.

Prepping Sotomayor for hearings: Get your game face on

Turning a federal judge — even one like Sonia Sotomayor, who has gone through Senate confirmation hearings before — into a Supreme Court nominee ready for prime time takes a lot of preparation, mock hearings and coaching.

Report: London bombings could not have been prevented

The 2005 London bombings on three subway trains and a bus, which killed 52 people, could not have been prevented, according to an official report into the attacks released Tuesday. Police and intelligence services did all they could to trace suspects and avert attacks given the resources, intelligence and evidence they had at the time, said the report by the Intelligence and Security Committee, which reports directly to the prime minister

Pelosi accuses CIA of misleading her on use of waterboarding

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused CIA officials Thursday of misleading her in 2002 about the use of "enhanced interrogation techniques" such as waterboarding, which simulates drowning and has been described by critics as torture. Pelosi reiterated an earlier claim that she was briefed on such techniques only once — in September 2002 — and that she was told at the time that the techniques were not being used. A recently released Justice Department memo says that the CIA used waterboarding at least 83 times in August 2002 in the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah, a suspected al Qaeda leader imprisoned at U.S

‘Enhanced interrogations’ don’t work, ex-FBI agent tells panel

The contentious debate over so-called "enhanced interrogation techniques" took center stage on Capitol Hill on Wednesday as a former FBI agent involved in the questioning of terror suspects testified that such techniques — including waterboarding — are ineffective. Ali Soufan, an FBI special agent from 1997 to 2005, told members of a key Senate Judiciary subcommittee that such “techniques, from an operational perspective, are ineffective, slow and unreliable, and harmful to our efforts to defeat al Qaeda.” His remarks followed heated exchanges between committee members with sharply differing views on both the value of the techniques and the purpose of the hearing itself

Released journalist ‘doing fine,’ father says

Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi is doing fine since being released from an Iranian prison, but won’t be giving any media interviews until she leaves the country, her father said Tuesday. Reza Saberi, her father, said they plan to leave Iran soon. Saberi, 33, was convicted last month on espionage charges in a one-day trial that was closed to the public

Iran to free U.S. journalist, father says

Iran will release imprisoned Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi, her father said Monday. Reza Saberi told CNN before 4 p.m