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The Food and Drug Administration approved on Friday a combination drug developed by Merck that lowers a patient’s cholesterol but has not been shown to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease or death, the company said. The drug pairs Merck’s Zetia, which lowers low-density lipoprotein (LDL or “bad cholesterol”) with the generic version of Lipitor, the best-selling statin made by Pfizer that lost its patent protection in 2011. Although the combination drug, to be called Liptruzet, was shown in a clinical trial to reduce LDL cholesterol more than patients who took Lipitor alone, the company said Liptruzet did not reduce patients’ chances of developing heart disease. That fact troubled some cardiologists, who questioned why it was approved. “This is extremely surprising and disturbing,” said Dr. Steven E. Nissen, chairman of the department of cardiovascular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic. Cardiologists have long questioned the value of Zetia and Vytorin, which combined Zetia wit

The C.I.A.’s station chief here met with President Hamid Karzai on Saturday, and the Afghan leader said he had been assured that the agency would continue dropping off stacks of cash at his office despite a storm of criticism that has erupted since the payments were disclosed. The C.I.A. money, Mr. Karzai told reporters, was “an easy source of petty cash,” and some of it was used to pay off members of the political elite, a group dominated by warlords. The use of the C.I.A. cash for payoffs has prompted criticism from many Afghans and some American and European officials, who complain that the agency, in its quest to maintain access and influence at the presidential palace, financed what is essentially a presidential slush fund. The practice, the officials say, effectively undercut a pillar of the American war strategy: the building of a clean and credible Afghan government to wean popular support from the Taliban. Nytimes reports Instead, corruption at the highest levels seems to h

The television advertisement that hit the airwaves in Florida last month featured the Republican Party’s rising star, Senator Marco Rubio, boasting about his get-tough plan for border security. But most who watched the commercial, sponsored by a new group that calls itself Americans for a Conservative Direction, may be surprised to learn who bankrolled it: senior executives from Silicon Valley, like Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Reid Hoffman of LinkedIn, who run companies where the top employees donate mostly to Democrats. The advertising blitz reflects the sophisticated lobbying campaign being waged by technology companies and their executives. They have managed to secure much of what they want in the landmark immigration bill now pending in Congress, provisions that would allow them to fill thousands of vacant jobs with foreign engineers. At the same time, they have openly encouraged lawmakers to make it harder for consulting companies in India and elsewhere to provide foreign

So Many people are outraged after an act of faith cost a local track team a win and a chance to advance to the state championships. The God gesture disqualified the boys Columbus High School 4 X 100 relay team after they won the regional meet and were on their way to the Texas state championships. As WFAA explained on May. 2, the team was disqualified after one of the runners, Derrick Hayes, pointed up to the sky. "It's a sad deal. I think it's a travesty. Those kids work hard," says K.C. Hayes, the boy's father. "As a team they reached their goal and in an instant it was just gone, over something we think is a non-issue. I guess someone else thinks it is an issue. He just said dad I was pointing at the heavens" K.C. Hayes said. The call to disqualify the team was made by a judge with the University Interscholastic League or UIL, which enforces the rules for high school athletics. "For those kids the work they put in, what are we teaching them? Ok y

Prominent Harvard history professor Niall Ferguson apologized Saturday for saying in a public speech that economist John Maynard Keynes’ policies were too short-sighted because he was gay and did not have children. “My disagreements with Keynes’ economic philosophy have never had anything to do with his sexual orientation,” Ferguson said in a statement . “It is simply false to suggest, as I did, that his approach to economic policy was inspired by any aspect of his personal life.” Ferguson made the remarks at the Altegris Strategic Investment Conference in Carlsbad, Calif. this week. He was responding to a question about Keynes’ oft-quoted warning against thinking too far ahead while making economic policy, “In the long run we are all dead.” Ferguson said that children and grandchildren bear such ‘long-run’ burdens of economic policies, which, he argued, Keynes did not understand. In his apology Saturday, Ferguson wrote: “This was doubly stupid. First, it is obvious that people who do

The 20-year-old revealed on Twitter that she landed the number one spot on Maxim's annual Hot 100 list. The "Can't Be Tamed" singer tweeted on Friday night: Can't help but wonder if Maxim knew the list was coming out yet, either? It seems Cyrus's tweet was the first time most people heard about the news. Bar Refaeli won the coveted title in 2012 (fun fact: Amanda Bynes was number 59 last year). Other stars who have topped the list include Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Katy Perry, and Olivia Wilde. Cyrus has been making the press rounds to promote her upcoming album, and just last week Liam Hemsworth's fiancée showed off quite the sultry side in a provocative shoot for V Magazine. Can't wait to more (official) photos from the Maxim shoot! What do you think of Cyrus being crowned the hottest woman in the world? Sound off below! via www.Omg.Yahoo.com

Advocates for a 19-year-old Cambridge man charged with lying to federal investigators after the Boston Marathon bombings are calling on a federal judge to release him from jail Monday, saying he had “nothing to do” with the deadly attack. In court documents filed Saturday, his lawyers and supporters said Robel Phillipos is a doting and civic-minded young man and that the authorities’ claims that he gave conflicting accounts to them is “refutable.” He has a detention hearing Monday in US District Court in Boston. “This case is about a frightened and confused 19 year old who was subjected to intense questioning and interrogation, without the benefit of counsel, and in the context of one of the worst attacks against the nation,” lawyers Derege B. Demissie and Susan B. Church of Cambridge said in court documents. “The weight of the federal government under such circumstances can have a devastatingly crushing effect on the ability of an adolescent to withstand the enormous pressure and resp