The Britain-based Observatory for Human Rights said Monday the blast struck overnight near the police headquarters in the town of Deir Atiyeh. The Observatory said a child was among the three civilians killed.

Syria's state news agency confirmed the attack. It said a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-laden car in a residential area of the town, causing an unknown number of casualties.

The agency said "terrorists" were behind the attack a government term for rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Assad's regime.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Alzheimer's experts are set to protest after Medicare issued draft guidelines last week saying it would only pay for an Eli Lilly and Co diagnostic test for the disease if patients were taking part in clinical trials for it.

Both Lilly and the Alzheimer's Association have released statements expressing disappointment with the decision by the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which cited "insufficient" evidence that the tests improve patient care.

The agency that runs Medicare did cite evidence that the tests may be of use to rule out Alzheimer's in certain difficult-to-diagnose cases and to help identify patients who would be good candidates for clinical trials seeking better treatments or prevention strategies for the disease.

Patient advocates and the company say the decision might slow the development of future diagnostic tests for Alzheimer's and deny patients with symptoms the chance to find out whether they have Alzheimer's or some other disease that causes symptoms of dementia.

Several experts admit there is still much to learn about what a positive scan might mean, and say CMS's decision to cover only scans used in clinical trials may help in the search for treatments for the fatal, brain-wasting disease that affects 5 million Americans and 38 million people worldwide.

HINDERING TIMELY DIAGNOSIS

Lilly's compound, known as Amyvid, has already been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, but Medicare reimbursement is seen as critical for the company because most people begin showing signs of dementia around age 65, the age when Medicare coverage kicks in.

"Restricting coverage could hinder a timely and accurate diagnosis," said Dr. Daniel Skovronsky, president and chief executive of Avid Radiopharmaceuticals Inc, a Lilly subsidiary, adding that "it may stifle future innovation."

In addition to Lilly, the draft guidance could affect a similar imaging agent being developed by General Electric Co's GE Healthcare called flutemetamol now under review by regulators in the United States and Europe. Both are radioactive tracers designed to light up deposits of an Alzheimer's-related protein called beta amyloid when used in conjunction with brain scans known as positron emission tomography, or PET.

Instead of agreeing to routinely pay for the $3,000 test, CMS proposed "Coverage with Evidence Development," a designation that suggests there are still gaps in the evidence over the benefits of the test. Using this designation allows the agency to gather more data by paying for scans in patients taking part in clinical trials. Once those are completed, CMS could use the data to render a decision on coverage.

"Essentially, they acknowledge that there is the possibly that coverage is important, but they don't understand it quite yet," said Maria Carrillo, vice president of medical and scientific Relations at the Alzheimer's Association, which strongly disagrees with the proposal. The decision is still subject to change before the final rule goes into effect in October.

Carrillo said prior to the decision, the Alzheimer's Association and the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging sent CMS a report detailing the limited circumstances under which the test would be appropriate, such as helping to rule out dementia caused by a condition known as frontotemporal dementia - which involves shrinking of the frontal and temporal lobes - or Alzheimer's disease.

She said she expects patients and the Alzheimer's research community to give CMS a lot of feedback on its draft document in the hopes of winning coverage in the final ruling, expected in October.

Lilly said it stands by its request for coverage of the tests in the appropriate patients.

WHAT DOES A POSITIVE SCAN MEAN?

Dr. Sam Gandy, associate director of the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, said the decision walks a fine line between the strengths of the test and its weaknesses.

"I think CMS found a way to do something truly constructive while holding back what will undoubtedly be a tsunami of worried well who, if they had access to amyloid scans, would find that they have amyloid in their brains that is largely asymptomatic," he said.

"They would have no idea if or when their brains would begin to curdle in response to the amyloid, setting them on the road to dementia," Gandy said.

Gandy pointed to a recent study by Dr. Steven DeKosky of the University of Virginia and Dr. Oscar Lopez of the University of Pittsburgh, which suggested the tests were a poor predictor of whether people over 85 will develop Alzheimer's disease.

The study, which is ongoing, showed that more than half of cognitively normal individuals aged 85 and older who had beta amyloid deposits in their brains remained cognitively normal two years later.

Lilly, in its statement, says its test was not designed to predict whether Alzheimer's would develop, only to rule out Alzheimer's in patients with difficult diagnoses. A negative scan for the presence of beta amyloid would be a sign for doctors to look for other potential causes of dementia.

That still leaves the problem of what to tell patients who have a positive scan, said Dr. Ronald Petersen, an Alzheimer's expert at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.

In someone with a precursor condition to Alzheimer's known as mild cognitive impairment, or MCI, a positive scan may mean a higher risk of advancing to Alzheimer's more quickly than a negative scan would indicate, he said. "The data are accumulating, but I don't know if they are there yet," he added.

At Mayo, Petersen is conducting a study of thousands of cognitively normal people to try to answer the question, "What does a positive scan mean in a normal person who is 50, 60 and 70 years old?"

Currently no treatments can prevent Alzheimer's, but as companies work on new drugs, having tests that identify the disease will be essential, DeKosky said.

"One of the reasons for trying to do these studies now is to know what we will actually do once we have drugs that will make a difference," he said.

(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen; editing by Prudence Crowther)

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Nearly 50 years after writing the conceptual art book "Grapefruit," writer, artist and peace activist Yoko Ono has released a sequel that she hopes will inspire people and get them thinking and reading.

"Acorn," a book of 100 "instructional poems" and drawings that will be published on July 15, goes back in time, according to the widow of Beatle John Lennon, because it is something she originally created for the Internet in the 1990s.

Each day, for 100 days, she communicated a different idea for people to explore. She has now compiled them in a book.

"I like the idea because many people are not reading books anymore. They are just going to the computer," Ono, who turned 80 earlier this year, said in an interview.

"I'm going back this way because I really believe reading a book is a totally different experience from just going to the Internet and the way it goes into you - the information, the communication."

Each instruction is accompanied by a dot drawing that gives readers "further brainwork," Ono said. The instructions and the illustrations challenge readers to look at the world around them in a different way.

Sky Piece VIII

Sit under a blue sky.

Keep your head open

and empty.

Let ideas come into you.

Cherish them.

Like "Grapefruit," which was published in 1964, Ono's newest book is divided into sections such as Sky Piece, Work Piece, Watch Piece and Cleaning Piece. She described each instruction as "poetry in action."

Although she was initially worried that "Acorn" would not be as good as its predecessor, she thinks it may be even better.

"I think that on an organic level, this is a more refined piece," she said.

In addition to her literary pursuits, Ono, who famously staged "bed-ins" for peace with Lennon in Amsterdam and Montreal in 1969, is still campaigning for causes she believes in.

Earlier this year, she tweeted against gun violence and posted a photograph of the blood-stained glasses that apparently were worn by Lennon when he was shot to death in New York in December 1980.

(Editing by Peter Cooney)

University President Donna Shalala and Atlantic Coast Conference Commissioner John Swofford were at the hearing at a downtown hotel, joining athletic director Blake James, football coach Al Golden, former assistant coach Clint Hurtt and former basketball coach Frank Haith. Hurtt is now the defensive line coach at Louisville and Haith is the men's basketball coach at Missouri.

The session ended after 9 1/2 hours, not including an hour lunch break. Shalala and Committee on Infractions chair Britton Banowsky both declined comment at the end of the day. The hearing will resume Friday morning and possibly run into Saturday. Shalala gave a smile and made "The U" hand gesture when she left the room for lunch.

Shapiro's claims of providing impermissible benefits to Miami athletes, recruits and coaches for nearly a decade are the root of the scandal, but the NCAA has been rocked by allegations that its investigators intimidated witnesses and that they improperly collected information using the subpoena powers of Shapiro's own attorney in a separate bankruptcy case.

NCAA President Mark Emmert was forced to admit his enforcement staff botched the investigation, leading to requests by the school so far denied to have the case tossed out. Those arguments were expected to be the focus of this week's hearing.

The investigation might go down as one of the most complex in NCAA history, even without the organization's mistakes.

The principal whistleblower is Shapiro, a former booster who is serving a 20-year sentence in federal prison for masterminding a $930 million Ponzi scheme. Virtually all of the individuals who were named by Shapiro in claims published by Yahoo Sports in August 2011 are no longer at the university, and several people the NCAA wants to talk to have refused to cooperate.

Shapiro's tales are wild and sordid. Among other things, he says he gave dozens of coaches, players and recruits things like cash, memorabilia, strip-club outings, yacht rides and even paid for prostitutes.

The NCAA said the benefits went to 72 then-players, three recruits and 12 "friends and family members." Most of Shapiro's claims involved the football program, though others also involved the Hurricanes' men's basketball team.

Some of the sanctions have already gone into effect, since they were self-imposed. Miami's football team has missed three postseason games two bowl games and what would have been an appearance in last season's Atlantic Coast Conference championship game in response to the investigation. Golden is also holding back a number of scholarships from the 2013 roster.

Shalala has called the NCAA probe "unethical and unprofessional" and attempted to have it dismissed. Former NCAA enforcement chief Julie Roe Lach was forced out in March after a report showed the NCAA paid Shapiro attorney Maria Elena Perez more than $19,000 to collect evidence in the case despite objections from the NCAA's legal department and against NCAA rules.

The NCAA does not have subpoena power, and has said it tossed out some details from the notice of allegations against the Hurricanes. Miami does not believe the NCAA has stricken enough, and it has accused the NCAA of using "impermissible and unethical" tactics in interviews with Haith and former assistant basketball coach Jake Morton.

Haith is charged with failure-to-monitor violation. Hurtt has been alleged to have received and distributed impermissible benefits and with providing false and misleading information during Miami investigation.

The Committee on Infractions typically releases its report six to eight weeks after the hearing.

[More from BGR: ]

The company is anticipating another operating loss in the current quarter, however chief executive Thorsten Heins believes in time, BlackBerry will succeed. He noted that this is a year of investment, and that the company has managed its cash carefully to give it the funds to create the future. Despite calls by some investors to sell parts or even the entire company, Heins said BlackBerry will stay the course, adding that it is the course that management has created and it is course that the board has accepted.

[More from BGR: ]

In the wake of last weeks stock crash, however, the board may have to reexamine its strategy.

It is the boards job to deal with this objectively, and we hope they would be objective enough to do the best thing for the shareholders, said Don Yacktman of Yacktman Asset Management, whose firm owns more than 5.5 million BlackBerry shares.

This article was

More than a dozen designers took part in the event showcasing chic but affordable clothing in Malawi, a conservative country where women were banned from wearing pants and miniskirts until 1994.

"The goal is to progress the fashion industry that is booming in Africa," says Dawa Loga-Lemberger, CEO of Elegant Resources, a company that is helped stage the event earlier this month.

Malawi ranks among Africa's poorest countries, though local designers were keen to show it doesn't take expensive fabrics or highly-paid models to host a Fashion Week.

Designer Eva Gertrude Kapanda said she mostly made her clothes, earrings and shoes with locally available materials.

"I usually design about Africa," she says. "For example, I use chitenje (traditional printed cloth) which is cheap. I use plastics when I make earrings. I also use chicken feathers for the ear-rings. I make stuff from everything . wood, even bottle tops."

Many of the designs on display last week mixed traditional African wax print fabrics with Western-style designs.

"I use African material to make my garments but I do it in contemporary way, something that an African and somebody who is not African can actually feel comfortable to wear," says Patricia Ntambalika, a Malawian designer based in Windhoek, Namibia.

Ntambalika says fashion has a future in Malawi as attitudes toward clothing have changed.

"Malawian women never used to wear trousers or mini-skirts but nowadays people are free and they can wear whatever they want as long as it looks fashionable on them," she says.

Grace Khondi, who attended Malawi Fashion Week, said the designers had a lot to offer.

"I'm impressed with what I saw," she said. "We have lots of talent in Malawi."

Loga-Lemberger says the Malawi Fashion Week could mean big business not only for designers but also for local cotton growers.

"We need the cotton grower to grow more cotton. We also know that for the designers to be appreciated we need excellent tailors. We also need shop owners to take our designs to the end users," she says.

Heinz Kerry, 74, was taken to a hospital on the Massachusetts island of Nantucket on Sunday and then flown in her own plane to be treated at Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital, where she remains.

Kerry has stayed in Boston since his wife's illness but will travel briefly to Washington on Tuesday to attend a dinner in connection with this week's U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue meetings, the department said.

While he plans to be at the opening session of the annual talks on Wednesday, Kerry could return to Boston in which case his deputy, Bill Burns, would take his place at the talks, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters.

Earlier, Glen Johnson, a State Department official who acts as Kerry's personal spokesman, said Heinz Kerry's health was improving.

"Teresa Heinz Kerry continues to improve and remains in fair condition at Massachusetts General Hospital, while doctors seek the cause of seizure-like symptoms she experienced on Sunday," Johnson said in the statement released by the State Department.

"As evaluations continue, she, Secretary of State John Kerry, and their family are deeply grateful that physicians have ruled out a variety of possible triggers or other ailments, including heart attack, stroke, or a brain tumor," he added.

Heinz Kerry, a philanthropist and heiress, was born in the southern African nation of Mozambique and was married to Republican Pennsylvania Senator John Heinz III, an heir to the Heinz food fortune, until his death in a 1991 helicopter crash.

In 1995, she married Kerry, who at the time was a Democratic U.S. senator from Massachusetts, on Nantucket.

Kerry's second wife, Heinz Kerry is the chairman of the Heinz Endowments and the Heinz Family Philanthropies. She is active in environmental issues, has served on numerous boards and has been awarded 10 honorary degrees, according to the Heinz Endowment.

(Reporting By Arshad Mohammed; Editing by David Brunnstrom and Paul Simao)

The prospect of continued monetary stimulus helped offset worries earlier in the week of a Chinese slowdown, a reemergence in European debt woes and the disruption of energy markets due to the military ouster of Egypt's president.

The biggest jumps were in Asia, where markets were catching up with the gains in Europe the day before. The rally was trigged by the European Central Bank President Mario Draghi's statement that interest rates will remain low "for an extended period of time."

The ECB statement was echoed by the Bank of England and followed indications that the U.S. economy is growing but probably not fast enough for the U.S. Federal Reserve to rush into tapering off its stimulus program. Markets had been spooked in recent weeks at the prospect of such stimulus ending.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 closed up 2.1 percent to 14,309.97 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 1.9 percent to 20,854.67

In early European trading, Britain's FTSE 100 was up another 0.6 percent to 6,458.85 after jumping 3 percent the day before. Germany's DAX, however, edged down 0.2 percent to 7,979.19 while France's CAC-40 slipped 0.2 percent to 3,799.47.

Futures augured gains on Wall Street after the Independence Day holiday. Dow futures climbed 0.9 percent to 15,051 and S&P 500 futures gained by the same percentage to 1,623.10.

Investors were waiting for the U.S. government's monthly report on jobs due later Friday. Earlier in the week, Wall Street rallied after ADP, a payrolls processor, said that businesses added more jobs last month than analysts had expected. If the U.S. government confirms that Friday, it offers hope that the country's recovery is continuing.

Economists predict that the government will report that employers added 165,000 jobs last month, roughly in line with May's increase. The unemployment rate is expected to stay at a still-high 7.6 percent. Another solid month of hiring in June could signal the start of a stronger second half of the year for the U.S. economy.

But the market reaction may be mixed if the number is too strong, as that could lead some to believe the Fed will speed up the tapering of its stimulus program.

Elsewhere in Asia, Taipei's TAIEX jumped 1.4 percent to 8,001.82 while Sydney's S&P/ASX 200 edged up 1 percent to 4,841.70 and China's Shanghai Composite posted a small gain of 0.1 percent to 2,007.29.

Seoul's KOSPI fell 0.3 percent to 1,833.31 after shares of Samsung Electronic dropped nearly 4 percent after its quarterly operating profit failed to meet market expectations. The company estimated April-June earnings at a record high 9.5 trillion won ($8.3 billion) but that was below analysts' forecasts and investors are worried profit growth could slow as smartphone sales in rich nations reach a saturation point.

Benchmark crude for August delivery was down 21 cents at $101.03 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In currencies, the euro fell to $1.2879 from $1.2902. The dollar fell to 99.98 yen from 100.23 yen late Thursday.

___

Kay Johnson in Bangkok contributed to this report.

Roberto Pannunzi, compared to the late drug lord Pablo Escobar by Colombian authorities, was caught in a Bogota shopping center carrying a false Venezuelan identity card, Colombia's Defense Ministry announced on Twitter.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) worked with Colombian police to find and arrest Pannunzi, the ministry said.

Pannunzi is linked to the powerful Calabrian 'Ndrangheta, a crime syndicate closely associated with Colombian drug cartels. Authorities accuse him of importing two tonnes of cocaine into Europe every month.

Calabria-based prosecutor Nicola Gratteri told Italian daily Corriere della Sera that Pannunzi was "the biggest importer of cocaine in the world".

He was immediately deported after his arrest and arrived late on Saturday evening in Italy, where he has been convicted for drug trafficking. He was taken into custody by police upon arrival at Rome's Fiumicino airport.

Pannunzi was arrested in 2004 but managed to flee detention in 2010 during a Rome hospital stay.

Anti-mafia writer Roberto Saviano wrote on Facebook that Pannunzi's arrest could "change the history of drug-trafficking" and reveal the methods behind such criminal networks.

(Reporting By Catherine Hornby; Editing by Ralph Boulton)