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Merkel’s party suffers rout in Berlin in migrant policy backlash

By Michael Nienaber and Madeline Chambers BERLIN (Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU party suffered its second electoral blow in two weeks on Sunday, slumping to its lowest level since 1990 in a Berlin state vote that rejected her open-door refugee policy. Voters turned to the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD), which with 12.9 percent of the vote will enter its 10th regional assembly among the country's 16 states. Merkel's Christian Democrats were routed in the eastern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern two weeks ago, triggering calls from the CSU for her to toughen up her migrant policy.

As Zika fears escalate, lawmakers point fingers from afar

WASHINGTON (AP) — As the Zika virus escalates into a public health crisis, members of Congress remain entrenched politically, with Republicans and Democrats pointing fingers over the failure to act as the number of mosquito-transmitted cases in the U.S. grows.

Dallas County reports first U.S. case of Zika virus

The first U.S. case of the Zika virus has been contracted in Dallas County, local health officials said on Tuesday, adding there are no reports of the virus being locally transmitted by mosquitoes in the Texas county. Dallas County Health and Human Services said the case in Dallas was acquired through sexual transmission, adding that it received confirmation of the infection from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There have been six confirmed travel-related cases of Zika virus disease, all among residents of Harris County, where Houston is located, the Texas Department of State Health Services said.

China’s foreign minister to visit Ebola-affected countries

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi leaves this week on a visit to three of the African nations hardest hit by an outbreak of the Ebola virus, the Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday. Ebola has killed more than 11,200 people in West Africa since it broke out in December 2013. China, Africa's biggest trading partner, has sent hundreds of medical workers to Africa and contributed aid of more than $120 million to the anti-Ebola effort, after initially facing criticism for not doing enough.

WTO negotiators agree tariff cuts on more IT products

World trade negotiators seeking to eliminate tariffs on information technology (IT) products agreed over the weekend to expand the list of items covered. Participants said the 54 nations had struck a tentative deal to expand to about 200 the IT products on which tariffs would be dropped. The list had an annual trade value of some $1 trillion, the World Trade Organization said late on Saturday.

Toyota in damage control mode after American executive arrested

By Chang-Ran Kim and Joshua Hunt TOKYO (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp moved into damage control mode on Friday after its new communications chief, an American and its first senior woman executive, was arrested on suspicion of illegally bringing pain killers into Japan just two months after her high-profile appointment. Japanese media reports on Friday quoted police investigators as saying 57 highly addictive Oxycodone pills from the United States were scattered in a small parcel addressed to Hamp in Japan and labeled “necklaces”. The former General Motors Co and PepsiCo Inc executive told police she did not think she had imported an illegal substance, a spokesman for Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department said.

Potent groups take sides on bipartisan House Medicare plan

WASHINGTON (AP) — A budding bipartisan deal to shelter physicians from Medicare cuts, championed by the House's two top leaders, is drawing powerful allies including the American Medical Association and a rainbow of conservative and liberal groups.

FDA launches project to cut quality control lapses at drugmakers

By Toni Clarke WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration launched an initiative on Monday aimed at reducing lapses in quality control at pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities. Dr. Janet Woodcock, head of the FDA’s pharmaceuticals division, said at a news conference that the project, some 10 years in the making, is designed to establish consistent quality standards for all drugs, whether brand name or generic. The FDA has established an Office of Pharmaceutical Quality that will be responsible for some 10,000 decisions a year and manage the process. …