Obama lauds business's healthcare options
WASHINGTON, May 12 (UPI) -- Wellness and preventive programs that help employees improve their health help businesses improve their bottom line, U.S. President Barack Obama said Tuesday.
One day after meeting with leading health industry interests who promised to cut $2 trillion in costs in the next 10 years, Obama met with business, union and government representatives at the White House to encourage private sector employers to offer healthcare incentives to help employees improve their health and prevent disease.
"Yesterday we focused a lot on cost," Obama said after the roundtable. "One element of cost is that where companies are able to take initiatives to make their employees healthier, to give them incentives and mechanisms to improve their wellness and to prevent disease, companies see their bottom lines improve."
Obama said the meeting was to gather "best practice" stories from health-conscious employers and use the information as part of healthcare reform discussions in Washington.
"There's no quick fix, there's no silver bullet," Obama said. "When you hear what (these) companies have done, what you've seen is sustained experimentation over many years and a shift in incentive structures ... ."
He praised several national companies and a union for deciding to provide incentives for employees and members to embrace a healthy lifestyle -- and helped reduce medical expenses as a result.
"Now, if we can do that in individual companies, there's no reason why we can't do that for a country as a whole." Obama said.
Taliban attack Afghan city, take hostages
KHOST, Afghanistan, May 12 (UPI) -- Taliban militants stormed municipal buildings in Khost, Afghanistan, Tuesday, taking hostages and engaging in deadly fighting, U.S. and local officials said.
A U.S. military spokesman said the city, located near the Afghan-Pakistani border, wasn't considered secure because reports of battles, kidnappings and fatalities that keep surfacing, CNN reported.
Fighting began when U.S. forces responded to a suicide bomber at a government compound and came under attack, the military spokesman said.
Khost's police chief said attackers killed two police officers, two security guards and two civilians.
A Taliban spokesman told CNN that about 30 Taliban militants were involved in the attack, saying the fighters were suicide bombers wearing explosive vests. Eight Taliban fighters died in the fighting, the spokesman said.
The U.S. military spokesman said U.S. troops killed several militants but had to retreat. A response force from a nearby base, backed by helicopters, was called to join ground troops entering the city.
The military spokesman said more suicide bombers later entered government buildings, killing an unknown number of Afghans, CNN reported.
The chief of staff of the Khost police security commander told CNN armed Taliban were in the basement of the Khost municipal building.
"I don't know about the exact number of the Taliban involved in this attack, but I think there are six to seven Taliban who are still alive and show resistance," the chief of staff said. "These Taliban have taken some students and municipality staff as hostages."
U.S.: Taliban using white phosphorus
KABUL, Afghanistan, May 12 (UPI) -- Declassified U.S. documents indicate the Taliban have been using British-made white phosphorus as a weapon against NATO troops in Afghanistan.
The phosphorus, when released from shells, can burn straight through the flesh of victims, and declassified documents indicate the substance has been found contained within improvised roadside bombs in combat areas of Afghanistan, The Times of London reported Tuesday.
U.S. military officials in Kabul condemned the use of white phosphorus by the Islamic militants, saying it was "reprehensible" and noting it is banned for use as a weapon by international treaties, the newspaper said.
U.S. Army spokeswoman Maj. Jennifer Willis told The Times a full investigation of white phosphorus use by the Taliban is under way, partly to determine whether the insurgents acquired the material from British suppliers.
Wildfires burn in Florida
PALM CITY, Fla., May 12 (UPI) -- A Martin County sheriff's deputy was injured as wildfires burned more than 1,400 acres near Indiantown, Fla., emergency officials said.
Rebecca Brady, 39, was hospitalized in stable condition Monday after crashing her police cruiser amid heavy smoke and fire, The Palm Beach (Fla.) Post reported Tuesday.
Residents were evacuated from the Indianwood Mobile Home Park after brush fires closed roads and forced authorities to cut power to the area, said Rhonda Irons, a county spokeswoman.
A separate fire Monday burned about 100 acres near Palm City on farm land owned by the Kiplinger publishing family, the Post reported.
First 'drug sub' cases hit U.S. courts
TAMPA, Fla., May 12 (UPI) -- The crews of four semi-submersibles suspected of toting drugs have been charged under a new U.S. law aimed at stopping such vessels, officials say.
Their cases are the first since President George W. Bush signed a law last year that allows charges against crews rescued from "drug subs" that are deliberately sunk as authorities approach them, The Tampa (Fla.) Tribune reported Tuesday.
Because the submersibles, which are 25 to 65 feet long, are tough to detect, U.S. officials estimate South American drug lords are using them to transport about 35 percent of cocaine supplied to the United States. Designed to be used once, smugglers spotted by authorities frequently bail out and sink the vessels to the ocean floor, thus destroying the evidence, the newspaper said.
The Drug Trafficking Vessel Interdiction Act of 2008 allows crews to be prosecuted nonetheless. Defense attorneys, however, say the law exceeds U.S. authority to act in international waters, and will challenge it.
"Because it is a new statute, we think it best to have the 11th (U.S.) Circuit Court of Appeals conduct a review to determine if it is constitutional," Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Ruddy said in Tampa. "The sooner the better."
