Some Noticing Antiviral Medicine Shortage

PICKERINGTON, Ohio — Some central Ohio pharmacies are dealing with shortages of antiviral medication, like Tamiflu, as more people are treated for flu-like symptoms, 10TV's Kevin Landers reported on Sunday.

Dr. Lee Bowman with America's Urgent Care said many patients with flu symptoms are being treated as if they have H1N1.

That has put a strain on some pharmacies that are trying to keep up with demand.

SPECIAL SECTION: H1N1

"Occasionally we'll get a call back from a patient that we've written a prescription for Tamiflu or Relenza, (and) they'll call back and tell me that the pharmacy doesn't have it," Bowman said.

Antiviral medication is not a cure for the flu, but doctors said it can offer some relief from the symptoms.

"It does help alleviate the symptoms of the flu and it does have some antiviral properties to help kill off some of the virus," Bowman said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said certain people should not take antiviral medicine, including children younger than 2 and adults 65 and older.

Pregnant women and people with certain chronic medical conditions like asthma, heart failure and lung disease should refrain from taking antiviral medication.

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Source : www.10tv.com

Clinton urges Northern Ireland to finish peace push

By Jeff Mason and Anne Cadwallader

BELFAST (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged Northern Ireland on Monday to push forward with the final steps in its peace process, lending diplomatic muscle to a cause long supported by Washington and her own family.

Clinton, whose husband, former President Bill Clinton, helped broker a deal that ended decades of violence here, said President Barack Obama's administration would do all it could to support the process going forward.

"I'm here today to send a strong message that the Obama administration and the United States are committed to supporting you as you continue your journey," Clinton said after meeting with the top two leaders in Belfast.

Clinton's trip comes just one week after British Prime Minister Gordon Brown flew into the province to try to inject fresh momentum into the peace process.

While Northern Ireland enjoys relative peace since a 1998 deal ended the Irish Republican Army's military campaign against British rule, tricky political problems remain.

Relations between the two governing parties in Belfast are brittle amid disagreement over when the administration should be given power over policing and justice.

Martin McGuinness, Deputy First Minister of the Stormont Assembly of the pro-Ireland Sinn Fein party, wanted the authority in Belfast's hands months ago but First Minister Peter Robinson of the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party is holding out for a deal on funding.

Clinton met with McGuinness and Robinson prior to a planned speech before the Stormont Assembly -- a rare address by a foreign dignitary.

Relations between McGuinness, a former IRA commander, and Robinson have deteriorated sharply, with Sinn Fein suspicious that Robinson is stalling to placate hardliners within his

Some factions in the DUP still oppose sharing power with their former enemies.

Dissident republican groups have been tapping into a sense of disillusionment in some nationalist areas with the Real IRA killing two British soldiers in March and increasing attacks on police officers.

Last month, police made safe a bomb containing 600 lb (270 kg) of homemade explosives, bigger than the device which killed 29 people in Omagh in 1998, the deadliest single incident of Northern Ireland's "Troubles." Dissident republicans were suspected of building the bomb uncovered last month.

More than 3.600 people were killed in violence between the late 1960s and the 1998 Good Friday peace deal.

As First Lady, Hillary Clinton gave a lot of support to pro-peace women's groups in Northern Ireland and visited patients injured in the Omagh bombing.

(additional reporting by Carmel Crimmins; editing by Michael Roddy)

Source : www.reuters.com

Blast Near Pakistan's Swat Valley Kills 29, Wounds 40

Pakistani police say a suspected suicide bombing has killed at least 29 people, including security personnel, in the Shangla district, near the troubled Swat Valley. Authorities say some 40 people were wounded in the attack.

Police say the attacker struck a military convoy and set off a huge blast - part of a growing string of explosions and attacks in the country.

The deadly incident came hours after Pakistan officials said military fighter jets bombed militant outposts in a lawless northwestern tribal belt, killing nearly a dozen suspected militants and wounding several others.

In another development Monday, the Taliban have claimed responsibility for Saturday's assault on the heavily guarded army headquarters in Rawalpindi.

The attack and long militant siege of a nearby building that followed left 19 people dead, including eight militants, eight soldiers and three hostages.

Gunmen killed six soldiers in the initial assault on the army headquarters. Pakistani troops killed four of the attackers and captured two more, but other militants took hostages and holed up in an office building.

Pakistani commandos stormed the building early Sunday, freeing 39 hostages, killing four militants and capturing another. Officials said three hostages and two soldiers also were killed during the rescue.

The attack in Rawalpindi came at the end of a violent week. Last Monday, a suicide bomber attacked a U.N. office in Islamabad, killing five staff members, and on Friday another suicide bombing killed at least 50 people in the northwestern city of Peshawar.

Pakistani leaders have vowed to press forward with a long-awaited offensive against terrorist bases in south Waziristan, a tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.

Source : www.voanews.com