TOKYO (Reuters) - Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will pledge to boost incomes by 3 percent annually and allow tax cuts and reduce red tape in special economic zones when he unveils the government's latest polices aimed at revitalizing the world's third-biggest economy, Japanese media said.

An income boost is vital to the success of Abe's ambitious goals to end years of entrenched deflation and decades of economic stagnation.

The Bank of Japan's sweeping monetary expansion campaign announced in April targets achieving 2 percent inflation in less than 2 years, and analysts say wages will need to move higher to put consumer prices and growth on a sustainable upward track.

The popular prime minister, who took office last December after his party's big election win, may also call for the nation's public funds to boost their investment in equities and overseas assets to seek higher returns, sources have said.

Financial market players are keen to see details of Abe's growth strategy, the "Third Arrow" in his "Abenomics" prescription to spur sustainable growth. The first two "arrows" are hyper-easy monetary policy and big government spending.

The Nikkei business daily said Abe, who is set to deliver a speech on the growth strategy from around 12:30 p.m. (11.30 p.m. EDT on Tuesday) on Wednesday, would target annual gains of 3 percent or more in gross national income per capita, increasing incomes by more than 1.5 million yen ($15,000) over 10 years from 3.84 million yen in the year ended March 2013.

Investors have not given up hope that Abe's policies will end the country's prolonged economic stagnation, but a note of caution has crept in since Tokyo share prices began to slide on May 23 after months of heady gains.

The stock price falls are also a worry to Abe's government ahead of a July 21 upper house election that his party needs to win to cement his grip on power.

The benchmark Nikkei stock average had soared to a 5-1/2-year peak after rising 53 percent since the end of 2012, but has since then lost around 15 percent.

The yen traded around 100 yen against the dollar on Wednesday, having fallen to 4-1/2-year low of 103.74 yen late last month.

Some analysts said that it was hard to see how the income gain target could be reached - especially if, as expected, the growth plan includes steps that would make it easier to use temporary workers, who tend to be lower paid.

"It is hard to see how that can be reconciled with income growth," said Sophia University professor Koichi Nakano. "His government is very good at PR strategy ... but it really does look more like a campaign platform rather than anything worthy of the name of economic policies."

DEREGULATION

Abe has already set a string of targets including boosting private investment, but critics question if these goals are achievable.

"The government has come up with rosy numerical targets but I doubt any of these could be met or that such a targeting policy could work out as planned," said Hideo Kumano, chief economist at Dai-ichi Life Research Institute. "After all, the government cannot control every economic activity just like the central bank cannot control long-term interest rates."

"'Abenomics' should not lean toward a planned economy and market players are attaching greater importance to deregulation, not these numerical targets."

According to media reports, special economic zones in Tokyo and other big cities will be allowed to introduce corporate tax cuts and ease regulations to attract foreign and other businesses.

The government is also expected to allow the sale over the Internet of most over-the-counter drugs as a model case of deregulation.

Abe has said deregulation is the top priority for boosting growth but the package of steps - to be approved by the cabinet on June 14 along with macro-economic guidelines - is unlikely to include bold reforms in areas such as labor mobility and nationwide corporate taxes.

Japan has already vowed to target private-sector investment of 70 trillion yen annually, the level before the 2008 financial crisis and up about 10 percent from current levels.

The government also aims to triple infrastructure exports to 30 trillion yen, double farm exports by 2020 and has set a goal of having 70 percent of exports covered by free trade deals by 2018, compared with around 19 percent now, by pushing participation in the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Economic Partnership (TPP) and other trade deals.

($1=100 yen)

(Writing by Linda Sieg; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)

"With Congress back in session this week, we are once again bearing witness to a slow-motion fiscal train wreck on Capitol Hill. Both Democrats and Republicans are trying to find ways to renege on adhering to the reduced spending levels set up by the 'sequester' the House has begun moving bills that can be expected to exceed the defense allotment under sequestration and the Senate is planning to allocate more overall discretionary spending than the law prescribes rather than replacing it with a more responsible package of savings. Meanwhile, there is no plan for a responsible way to increase the debt limit even as the Treasury Department engages in 'extraordinary measures' to avoid a default.

"For the sake of all Americans, this can't go on. Our leaders in Washington must begin work now to resolve their differences and agree on a responsible budget framework. Congress should conform to regular budget order and appoint conferees to hash out an agreement between the House and Senate budget resolutions, or come up with an alternative process to get this work done in a timely and responsible way. Congress and the White House need to work to put in place a budget, raise the debt ceiling, and include enough long-term deficit reduction to put our debt on a sustainable, downward path. Anything else is an abdication of policymakers' fiduciary responsibility to serve as good fiscal stewards of the country."

For more information about the Campaign to Fix the Debt, please visit.

SOURCE Campaign to Fix the Debt

DUBLIN, Ohio (Reuters) - Luke Donald gave himself a timely boost for next week's U.S. Open at Merion Golf Club by piling up 13 birdies in his last two rounds at the Memorial Tournament, which ended at Muirfield Village on Sunday.

The former world number one has not produced winning form so far this season but believes his game is running into good shape as he prepares for the year's second major championship.

"I made a lot of birdies in the last two rounds, my game is coming around," the Englishman told Reuters after closing with a two-under-par 70 in the PGA Tour event hosted by tournament founder Jack Nicklaus.

"Just a few too many mistakes so I've got to tidy up my control with the irons, keep hitting greens. I feel like I am putting better now."

Donald recorded six birdies in the third round and seven on Sunday on a challenging layout which had posed all sorts of problems for the players during the week, mainly because of lightning-fast greens.

In the final round, the gusting winds were not as severe and fickle as they had been on Friday and Saturday at Muirfield Village Golf Club, and he was delighted to take advantage.

"I am excited about where my game is heading," said Donald, who finished tied for 21st at one under.

"I certainly feel this year my play has been better than my scores and in previous years it has almost been the opposite. I have generally scored really well through a great short game.

"That's why I have never been too worried about some of my form this year because I feel as a player that I am hitting it pretty well. I'm just waiting for some things to happen, kind of fall into place."

Donald has recorded two top-10s in seven starts on the 2013 PGA Tour, his best finish a tie for third at the RBC Heritage in April.

On the European Tour, where he has won seven titles during his career, he missed the cut at the Malaysian Open in March and also at last month's flagship BMW PGA Championship.

U.S. OPEN SIMILARITIES

Asked how much he could draw upon his week at Memorial going into the year's second major, Donald replied: "There are some similarities with fast slopey greens where you can miss in the wrong places.

"Those are similar characteristics to a U.S. Open so it's switching your brain in the right direction in terms of that and how to manage your way round the golf course.

"I made a few mental errors with some misses (at the Memorial) but I think all that is good. It engages your brain in the right way."

The U.S. Open returns to the iconic Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pennsylvania for the first time since 1981, and Donald looks forward to the challenge of a layout measuring only 6,996 yards off the back tees.

"There's a mixture of some very long holes with some very short holes, so it has a good variety," the 35-year-old smiled. "Short game and wedges is going to be a priority. If I can do that well, then hopefully I will have a good week."

Perhaps surprisingly for many golf fans who regard Donald as a straight-shooter with a stellar short game, the Englishman does not have a particularly impressive U.S. Open record.

He has three missed cuts and one withdrawal in nine starts, no top-10s and a best finish of joint 12th in the 2006 Open at Winged Foot.

"I always think there is a little bit of a misunderstanding of how people perceive me and how I perceive myself," said Donald, who has yet to win a major title.

"I perceive myself as someone who is a really good short-game player, gets a lot out of my game but not necessarily someone who hits a lot of fairways and hits a lot of greens.

"Maybe in my early career I was a bit more like that but nowadays I am known more for my short game prowess. That would really explain my U.S. Open record. At the U.S. Open, you really have to have great ball control to be able to contend."

(Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes; Editing by Julian Linden)

LONDON (Reuters) - The new strain of bird flu that has killed 17 people in China has been circulating widely "under the radar" and has acquired significant genetic diversity that makes it more of a threat, scientists said on Friday.

Dutch and Chinese researchers who analyzed genetic data from seven samples of the new H7N9 strain say it has already acquired similar levels of genetic diversity as much larger outbreaks of other H7 strains of flu seen previously in birds.

"The diversity we see in these first few samples from China is as great as the diversity we have seen with a large outbreak in the Netherlands several years ago and one in Italy," said Marion Koopmans, head of virology at the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, who worked on the study as part of a nine-member team.

"This means it (the H7N9 strain in China) has been spreading quite a bit and it's important to understand where exactly that is going on."

Its genetic diversity shows the virus has an ability to mutate repeatedly and is likely to continue doing so, raising the risk that it may become transmissible among humans.

Koopmans, whose research was published in the online journal Eurosurveillance, said the circulation would probably have taken place in either birds or mammals, but said exactly which animals were involved was not yet clear.

"Simply the fact that this virus is spreading under the radar - because that is what this data confirms - is of concern," she told Reuters in a telephone interview.

The H7N9 virus is so far known to have infected 87 people in China, killing 17 of them. Health officials raised further questions on Friday about the source of the new strain after data indicated that more than half of patients had had no contact with poultry.

MUTATIONS

A scientific study published last week showed the H7N9 strain was a so-called "triple reassortant" virus with a mixture of genes from three other flu strains found in birds in Asia. One of those three strains is thought to have come from a brambling, a type of small wild bird.

For their study, Koopmans and her team compared some data from the first two weeks of the China H7N9 outbreak with data from a large H7N7 flu outbreak in birds and people the Netherlands in 2003 and an H7N1 epidemic in birds in Italy in 1999 and 2000.

The Dutch outbreak resulted in infection of poultry on 255 farms and led to the culling of about 30 million chickens. Some 89 people were also diagnosed as having the H7N7 virus and one person, a vet, died as a result of the infection.

The comparison suggested that "widespread circulation (of the H7N9 strain in China) must have occurred, resulting in major genetic diversification", the researchers wrote in their study.

They added: "Such diversification is of concern, given that several markers associated with increased risk for public health are already present."

Flu experts in China and at the World Health Organization say there is no evidence so far that H7N9 is passing easily between people.

But scientists who analyzed the genetic sequence data from three early samples from China say the virus has already acquired some mutations that might make it more likely to be able to do so in the future, raising the risk of a human pandemic.

"Although human infections with H7 influenza viruses have occurred repeatedly over the last decades without evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission, the absence of sustained human-to-human transmission of H7N9 viruses does not come with any guarantee," Koopmans' team wrote in their study.

(Editing by Ben Hirschler and Alison Williams)

* Former Napoli boss pens two-year deal

* Stramaccioni leaves after finishing ninth

By Terry Daley

ROME, May 24 (Reuters) - Inter Milan appointed former Napoli boss Walter Mazzarri as their new coach on Friday after sacking Andrea Stramaccioni following a disappointing ninth-place finish in Serie A.

The 2010 Champions League winners have suffered a series of blows and gone through five coaches since their unprecedented treble under Jose Mourinho.

"FC Internazionale would like to thank Andrea Stramaccioni for the great commitment and professionalism he showed in a particularly difficult year. Walter Mazzarri has signed a two-year deal, " the club said on their website (www.inter.it).

The usually fast-paced Italian managerial merry-go-round has gone into overdrive since the end of the season.

Media reports say Chelsea interim manager Rafael Benitez is poised to join Napoli while AC Milan boss Massimiliano Allegri is clinging to his job and AS Roma are without a permanent coach.

The Gazzetta dello Sport website said Mazzarri, who announced his departure from Napoli after their 2-1 loss at Roma in their last game of the season on Sunday, has signed a deal worth 3.5 million euros ($4.53 million) a year.

The 51-year-old took Napoli to second place in Serie A this season and re-established them as a force in Italian football over his four-year spell in charge. They also won the Italian Cup last year.

"We needed to make this change because this year will be difficult and I thought that there was a need for a manager with the experience of Mazzarri," Inter president Massimo Moratti told reporters on Friday.

"That doesn't change the fact that I have a high regard for the talent and potential of Stramaccioni and I'm convinced he will become one of the best Italian managers.

"He's been very unlucky recently and maybe right now he needs to go somewhere easier than Inter, and with the year he's had he will find somewhere."

YOUTH SETUP

Reports of Mazzarri replacing Stramaccioni have been in Italian media for days.

The 37-year-old Stramaccioni surprisingly stepped up from managing Inter's youth setup to take charge of the first team last March following the sacking of Claudio Ranieri.

He did a good enough job in the final stages of that season to earn himself a three-year contract.

Early this season Inter looked to be title challengers and a run of seven straight wins finished with them ending Juventus' 49-match unbeaten streak and moving a point behind the league leaders.

However, their form dropped off straight afterwards and their season was soon engulfed by a series of bad injuries to top names including Diego Milito, Dejan Stankovic, Rodrigo Palacio, Antonio Cassano and Javier Zanetti.

They finished in ninth place on 54 points after winning only five games after the mid-season break and ended the campaign with 16 defeats. ($1 = 0.7734 euros) (Editing by Mark Meadows; mark.meadows@thomsonreuters.com; +44 20 7542 7933; Reuters Messaging:; mark.meadows.reuters.com@reuters.net)

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - British boy band One Direction has swept the inaugural awards recognizing the most popular people in social media globally, coming top in four out of 10 categories at a star-studded ceremony in Singapore.

One Direction was named most popular music group, most popular UK musicians, most popular in the UK, and most popular in west Europe, at the Social Star Awards, but did not show up to collect their prizes, sending their thanks by videolink.

Canadian pop star Justin Bieber won the award for best solo artist, Selena Gomez for most popular actor, Ellen DeGeneres for top TV show, and Portuguese soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo for most popular sports star.

The awards highlight viral sensations and people who garner the most social media attention globally based on data from Singapore-based Starcount that tracks the social media activity of 1.7 billion people across 11 social media networks.

American actress Jessica Alba and "Entourage" star Jeremy Piven hosted Thursday night's ceremony that ended a 24-hour marathon of 288 online awards awarded in categories ranging from best finance brand to top Indonesia actor.

"It is all about the most popular people on the planet ... Everyday we are sharing, liking, viewing, tweeting and what our awards show does is celebrate the superstars of social media," Starcount CEO Paul Morrison told reporters ahead of the awards.

Many of the award winners were absent from the prize giving but the void was filled with live performances by South Korean rapper Psy, American singer Carly Rae Jepsen, SkyBlu from electronic dance duo LMFAO, and U.S. rockers Aerosmith.

R&B singer-songwriter Eric Benet hailed the impact of social media.

"If you plan on being relevant and have a sustainable career in this day and age social media is about as important as TV was ... in the 1950s," he told Reuters television.

"Way back in the '90s when I started back in the music industry we would have to rely on our PR department and our record label but now in this day and age we, the artist, can take command of our career. It's awesome."

(Reporting by Patrick Johnston, Editing by Belinda Goldsmith)

The poll, conducted in the wake of the allegations, found that Cain’s popularity among registered Republicans declined by 9 points since the days before the allegations of the scandal were published. Among Republicans polled last week, on October 27 and 28, 66 percent said they had a favorable opinion of Cain. But just 57 percent of those polled on November 4 and 5 said they had a favorable opinion of the former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza.

The drop off comes primarily from Cain’s less enthusiastic supporters. The percentage of Republicans who say they hold a ‘very favorable’ opinion of him has dropped by only 3 percentage points. The percentage of voters who say they hold a ‘somewhat favorable’ view of him has dropped by 6 points.

The sexual harassment allegations seem unlikely to go away: they have been widely reported, and 88 percent of Republicans say they have heard of them, as have 81 percent of Democrats and 64 percent of independents.

That said, Republicans remain somewhat uncertain on the whether or not there is any truth to the allegations. Thirty-two percent say they think it is likely that the allegations are true, while 27 percent they are likely untrue. Very few — 7 percent — say they strongly believe the allegations are true, and just 10 percent say they strongly believe the allegations are untrue. Twenty-four percent say they don’t know. Among independents who have an opinion, most believe the allegations to be likely true. However, over half of independents express no opinion.

Almost half of Republicans say the reported allegations have no bearing on how they feel about Cain. But 35 percent say it makes them feel less favorably about him, while just 14 percent say it improves their opinion of him.

The results suggest that while many Republicans are still giving Cain the benefit of the doubt, the longer the story stays in the news, the worse things will get for him.

An ABC/Washington Post poll conducted in the first three days after the story broke on Monday October 31 saw little change in Cain’s popularity. Most Republicans surveyed said the allegations were not serious, and Cain ran within 2 points of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney on the ballot.

Moreover, the Cain campaign reported a large outpouring of donations to the campaign in the days following the allegations, as many conservatives stood by him, calling the allegations a “high tech lynching.”

But the continuing decline suggests that the allegations are sinking into voters’ consciousness. The longer the story stays in the news and the more details that emerge, the more Cain is likely to see his support erode.

The Ipsos poll was conducted from November 4 to November 5, and surveyed 836 registered voters, including 343 Republicans.

Read more stories from The Daily Caller

The new Hubble telescope images have allowed astronomers to take their most detailed look at thethan ever before, revealing an unprecedented view of the nebula's three-dimensional structure.

"The nebula is not like a bagel, but rather, it's like a jelly doughnut, because it's filled with material in the middle," study leader C. Robert O'Dell, an astronomer with Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., said in a statement today (May 23).

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Years from now, doctoral candidates are likely to write entire extended theses on Alan Garner, the character so memorably and brilliantly played by Zach Galifianakis in the "Hangover" series.

This bearded baby-man - he's a walking Chia Pet - is pure id, one of the most transgressive characters to ever pop up in a mainstream movie. He's annoying, peculiar, perverse, prideful, cuddly and outrageously funny, all rolled into a single squat, hirsute package.

Fortunately for "The Hangover Part III," much of it is all about Alan. Returning fans will enjoy this raucous outing, though the fun peters out noticeably in the second half as the movie's overly complicated plot drags on.

This latest chapter - supposedly the final one - in the blockbuster comedy series reunites the Wolf Pack. For those new to the series, that would be the quartet of mismatched male friends who find themselves, movie after movie, involved in wild and crazy adventures that often border on the illegal.

These BFFs are Phil (Bradley Cooper), the coolest and best-looking of the bunch; Stu (Ed Helms), a buttoned-down dentist who always has his worst fears realized in "Hangover" movies; Doug (Justin Bartha), a generic nice guy who has no discernable personality and is usually jettisoned early on in the proceedings; and Alan.

This third "Hangover," set four years after the first 2009 film and two years after its 2011 sequel, begins with the 42-year-old Alan off his meds and still living at home, where he is the bane of his wealthy parents' existence. When his father (Jeffrey Tambor) kicks the bucket after a heart attack precipitated by yet another squabble with a recalcitrant Alan, it's clear that the misbehaving non-prodigal son must change.

Doug, who is married to Alan's sister, gathers the Wolf Pack and other family members to stage an intervention with Alan. This results in a road trip, with Phil, Stu and Doug escorting Alan to a medical facility, though their trip is interrupted when men in pig masks force their car off the road and take them prisoner.

This sets the movie's plot in motion in a big way. Their capture was engineered by Marshall (John Goodman), a criminal big wig on the hunt for Leslie Chow (Ken Jeong, again one of the movie's highlights), the crazed, drug-taking, gun-wielding gangster the Wolf Pack first encountered in the original "Hangover."

Chow and Alan have remained friendly and, now that Chow has escaped from a Bangkok prison, Marshall wants to recover a $40-million plus fortune in gold ingots that Chow stole from him earlier. Marshall takes Doug hostage, telling the other Wolf Pack members that he will free their pal once they capture Chow and the gold for him.

The rest of the movie tells the convoluted tale of how the men track down Chow and the gold, a journey that takes them to Mexico and, eventually, neon-bright Las Vegas, the site of all their woes back in the original 2009 film. A lot of this, as capably directed by "Hangover" auteur Todd Phillips, is entertaining, especially when Alan is at the center of the shenanigans, but one's interest in the overly busy plot wears thin by the end.

The movie's single best scene involves Alan and a surly Las Vegas pawnshop clerk played by Melissa McCarthy. It's instant attraction between these two social malefactors and their soulful locked gazes, as well as suggestive sharing of a lollipop, are a wonder to behold.

Despite McCarthy's cameo, this "Hangover" continues the series' pattern as being mostly an all-male affair. Wives pop up very briefly early on and Jade (Heather Graham), the hooker with a baby from the first film, returns for a couple scenes, but estrogen is in short supply here. (Note to self: Pitch script in which the women of "Bridesmaids" pair off with the guys from "Hangover.")

In their third outing, not surprisingly, the regulars mesh comfortably. It's not as if Cooper, Helms or Bartha are particularly stretching or challenging themselves with their "Hangover" turns. Mostly, they simply set up the jokes, play along and then stand back to admire the ever-inventive Galifianakis at work.

Audience members are well served doing the same.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - An influential U.S. panel is calling for HIV screening for all Americans aged 15 to 65, regardless of whether they are considered to be at high risk, a change that may help lift some of the stigma associated with HIV testing.

The new guidelines from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), a government-backed panel of doctors and scientists, now align with longstanding recommendations by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for testing of all adults aged 15 to 65, regardless of their risk.

Guidelines issued by the USPSTF in 2005 had recommended HIV screening for high-risk individuals.

Experts said the change, published on Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine, will likely trigger coverage for the tests as a preventive service under the Affordable Care Act. Under President Barack Obama's healthcare law, insurers are required to cover preventive services that are recommended by the task force.

Currently, the healthcare law recommends coverage of HIV testing for adolescents and adults who are at high risk of infection.

"That was based on the 2005 USPSTF recommendations," Dr. Jeffrey Lennox, a professor of medicine at Emory University School of Medicine and chief of infectious disease at Grady Memorial Hospital, an inner-city hospital in Atlanta.

"Now, hopefully they will go back and recategorize that and recommend that it will be covered for every adult."

Joanne Peters, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force ranks preventive services based on the strength of the scientific evidence documenting their benefits.

"Preventive services with a 'grade' of A or B will be covered under these rules. This includes today's HIV screening recommendations," Peters said.

For doctors, the new recommendations should help clear up any confusion about testing among some primary-care doctors who have not been offering the test to all their adult patients. "Now, everybody agrees it should be done," Lennox said.

Task force member Dr. Douglas Owens, a medical professor at Stanford University, said, "We do hope the fact that the guidelines are all very similar will provide an impetus for people to offer screening because it is a very critical public-health problem."

50,000 NEW INFECTIONS A YEAR

Despite strides in reducing cases of HIV infection in the United States in the past three decades, as many as 50,000 Americans become infected with the virus each year.

The CDC estimates that almost 1.2 million people in the United States are infected with HIV, yet 20 percent to 25 percent of them do not know it.

"The Task Force's new recommendations will expand the number of Americans who know their HIV status and can take action to protect themselves and their partners," Dr. Jonathan Mermin, director of the CDC's Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, said in a statement.

The recommendations are based on evidence showing the benefits and risks of testing and treatment for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Recent studies have shown that HIV treatment can reduce transmission of the virus to an uninfected partner by as much as 96 percent but there is no cure for the disease.

The group also recommends that teens younger than 15 and adults older than 65 should be screened if they are at increased risk for HIV infection. And it recommends that all pregnant women - including those in labor - who do not know their HIV status should be tested.

The guidelines call for screening at least once for all adults, and it recommends periodic screening for individuals at higher risk of infection. But it does not specify how frequently people at high risk for infection should be tested.

High-risk groups include those who have sex with gay or bisexual men, illicit drug users and economically disadvantaged populations in which HIV rates are high.

Owens said testing all adults within a certain age range may help reduce any stigma associated with testing and encourage people to get tested.

According to the CDC, stigma has been a major stumbling block that keeps many from seeking out testing, and the hope is that the change will make HIV testing a common part of medical care.

"CDC believes HIV testing should be as routine as a cholesterol test or a blood pressure check - but so far fewer than half of Americans have ever been tested," Mermin said.

As with the CDC recommendations, the USPSTF guidelines recommend that all individuals be offered the test as well as a chance to opt out of testing.

Lennox and others said it is too early to say whether the new guidelines will result in a significant increase in the number of tests, but the potential for insurance coverage may help.

Dr. Gerald Schochetman, senior director, infectious diseases and diagnostic research for Abbott Laboratories' Abbott Diagnostics, which makes an HIV test, said the task force recommendation will put more emphasis on the need for all adults in the United States to be tested and should encourage more doctors to discuss the need for testing with their patients.

(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen; Editing by Douglas Royalty and Lisa Shumaker)