Opposing Digits

From Russia, you might say, with love. This weekend, Alexei Kudrin, Russia's finance minister, dropped a bombshell in Washington.

Attending the annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, Kudrin caused his American hosts discomfort by openly questioning the dollar's pre-eminence as the world's "absolute" reserve currency.

The greenback's recent volatility and the yawning US trade deficit, "are definitely causing concern with regard to its reserve currency status," he said. "The international community can hardly be satisfied with this instability."

Full Article by Liam Halligan

THE number of obese children aged 11 to 15 has almost doubled in 10 years.

New statistics from the annual Health Survey for England 2004 show that levels of obesity among all age groups of children is still on the rise.

Full Article by Jane Kirby
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As Merck reels from 11,500 suits over Vioxx, its arthritis drug, the rest of the industry is girding for challenges over another half a dozen widely used medications that plaintiffs' lawyers say have hidden and severe side effects or were improperly marketed.

Unlike Vioxx, which Merck stopped selling in 2004, the other drugs remain on the market.

The drugs now under attack include Seroquel, an antipsychotic medicine from AstraZeneca; Ortho-Evra, a birth-control patch from Johnson & Johnson; Prempro, a hormone therapy for women from Wyeth; and Fosamax, an osteoporosis medicine made by Merck. The drugs have combined annual sales of almost $7 billion and are used by millions of patients.

Full Article by ALEX BERENSON

U.S. authorities are taking a hard line against the New York doctor who heckled President Bush and Chinese President Hu Jintao - hitting her with a federal charge that carries six months in prison.

Wenyi Wang, 47, a devotee of the Falun Gong movement, was originally booked on a disorderly conduct charge after she crashed Thursday's White House ceremony.

But the U.S. attorney's office later decided to charge her with harassing, intimidating and threatening a foreign official for yelling at Hu that his "days are numbered."

Full Article by TRACY CONNOR