theSun | THURSDAY OCTOBER 15 2009 9

news without borders

Senate panel backs

Health insurer companies stocks
fell on fears reform was gaining steam
and would hurt profits if it passed. The
S&P Managed Health Care index of
large health insurers was down 1.9%.
Snowe’s support for the bill “de-
finitively shifts the political balance

healthcare reform in Democrats’ favour,” healthcare

WASHINGTON: A key US Senate
committee endorsed a sweeping
healthcare overhaul on Tuesday,
gaining the support of an influential
Lighting Republican and delivering President
up festive Barack Obama a victory on his top
domestic priority. The Democratic-
menu controlled Senate Finance Committee
pg 19 approved the measure on a 14-9 vote,
with Senator Olympia Snowe becom-
Marge bares all... ing the first Republican in Congress to
Part commemoration of The Simpsons 20th an-
niversary, part nod to the golden days of Playboy, back a healthcare reform bill.
what has become known as “The Marge Simpson “Today we reached a critical
Cover” has drummed up more attention for Play- milestone in our effort to reform our
boy than the premiere of the original Girls Next healthcare system,” Obama said after
Door. Marge appears in the November issue of the vote, warning there were still
Playboy
big challenges ahead for healthcare
reform.
The bill, the last of five pending
health measures to clear a committee
in Congress, will be merged with the
Senate health panel’s version in the
next few weeks for a full Senate debate
and floor votes.
Snowe, who had been courted by
Obama and his fellow Democrats, said
she still had reservations about the
overhaul and could not guarantee her
continued support as it advances.
“My vote today is my vote today. It
doesn’t forecast what my vote will be
tomorrow,” Snowe said.
equities analyst Avik Roy said.
The vote gave another shot of
momentum to the healthcare drive
and was good news for Obama, who
has been criticizsed for taking too
much on board from wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan to climate change and gay
rights.
The proposal drafted by Democratic
Chairman Max Baucus was designed
to reduce costs, regulate insurers and
expand coverage.
“Pretty much everything has been
said and now it’s time to get the job
done,” Baucus said. “Americans are
looking for common-sense solutions.”
Republicans condemned the plan
as a costly and heavy-handed gov-
ernment intrusion into the private
healthcare sector and said the meas-
ure would get even worse as it moves
forward. – Reuters

90,000 flee tribal area fearing anti-Taliban push

DERA ISMAIL KHAN (Pakistan): Tens
of thousands of civilians have fled Pa-
kistan’s tribal South Waziristan region
fearing an imminent army offensive
against Taliban militants, officials said
yesterday. Military and government
officials vowed in June to launch
an operation into the mountainous
northwest stronghold of the Taliban
and Al Qaeda, but so far only air raids
and occasional artillery strikes have hit
rebel sanctuaries.
However, the wave of Taliban at-
tacks killing 125 people in Pakistan
since last Monday have stoked fears
that a retaliatory ground onslaught is
looming, sending more people flee-
ing into districts neighbouring South
Waziristan.
“People are coming out of the area
and around 90,000 people have left the
area and have been shifted to safer
places in Dera Ismail Khan and Tank,”
said Shahab Ali Shah, the top admin-
istrative official in South Waziristan.
That figure was as of Aug 1, he said,
but there has been a fresh exodus after
10 militants staged an audacious hos-
tage siege at army headquarters near
Islamabad on Saturday and Sunday,
deeply embarrassing the military.
“Again people have started coming
out of the area because of the fear of an
army operation,” said Amir Latif, chief
administrative official in Tank district.
“We have started registering them and
giving them help,”
Hameedullah Khan, a senior govern-
ment official in Dera Ismail Khan, said
that his district had registered about
8,300 families – up to 60,000 people
– with the rest taking sanctuary in Tank
and elsewhere.
An anti-Taliban offensive in north-
west Swat valley earlier this year forced
nearly two million people from their
homes, creating a massive humanitar-
ian crisis in impoverished Pakistan.
Most have since returned home.
Residents said that life was be-
coming increasingly difficult in South
Waziristan, with sporadic air strikes
hitting in the mountains and a military
blockade of key roads taking a harsh
toll on civilians.
“I left the area because the govern-
ment is going to launch an operation
against the Taliban,” said Mohammad
Hashim Khan, who left his hometown
of Sarwakai for Dera Ismail Khan with
seven family members.
“We were facing food shortages
as forces have blocked various roads.
Most of the residents are shifting their
families to safer places.” – AFP