Pharmacy Blames Cleaners in Meningitis Outbreak

Jan 4, 2013 11:41am Credit: Minnesota Department of Health/AP PhotoThe pharmacy at the heart of the fungal meningitis outbreak says a cleaning company it hired should share the blame for the tainted steroid injections that caused more than 600 illnesses in 19 states, killing 39 people.Click here to read about the road to recovery for fungal meningitis victims.The...

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Abbas sees Palestinian unity as Fatah rallies in Gaza

GAZA (Reuters) - President Mahmoud Abbas predicted the end of a five-year split between the two big Palestinian factions as his Fatah movement staged its first mass rally in Gaza with the blessing of Hamas Islamists who rule the enclave. "Soon we will regain our unity," Abbas, whose authority has been limited to the Israeli-occupied West Bank since the 2007 civil war between the two factions,...

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Oil prices mixed; WTI up on US crude supply drop

NEW YORK: Oil prices were mixed Friday, with the New York WTI higher on data showing crude supplies unexpectedly shrank sharply in the United States, the world's biggest oil consumer.New York's main West Texas Intermediate contract, light sweet crude for delivery in February, rose 17 cents from Thursday to close at US$93.09 a barrel.In London trade, Brent North Sea crude for February settled...

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Aruna Roy objects to direct cash transfer

NEW DELHI: National Advisory Council (NAC) member and MKSS leader Aruna Roy on Friday shot off a scathing letter to the finance ministry objecting to "talk" of subsidy cuts for the poor while funding programmes like Aadhar that have no legislative backing. She also suggested that pre-budget consultations for business and social sector should be held jointly in a more democratic fashion.Expressing...

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FDA proposes sweeping new food safety rules

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Food and Drug Administration on Friday proposed the most sweeping food safety rules in decades, requiring farmers and food companies to be more vigilant in the wake of deadly outbreaks in peanuts, cantaloupe and leafy greens.The long-overdue regulations are aimed at reducing the estimated 3,000 deaths a year from foodborne illness. Just since last summer, outbreaks of listeria...

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Sandy Hook Parents Cope With Students' Return

Sandy Hook parents put their children on school buses this morning and waved goodbye as the yellow bus rolled away, but this first day back since the pre-Christmas massacre is anything but normal for the families of Sandy Hook Elementary School.Erin Milgram, the mother of a first grader and a fourth grader at Sandy Hook, told "Good Morning America" that she was going to drive...

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Syria rebels in push to capture air base

AZAZ, Syria (Reuters) - Rebels battled on Thursday to seize an air base in northern Syria, part of a campaign to fight back against the air power that has given President Bashar al-Assad's forces free rein to bomb rebel-held towns. More than 60,000 people have been killed in the 21-month-old uprising and civil war, the United Nations said this week, sharply raising the death toll estimate...

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Fiat says to boost stake in Chrysler to 65.17%

ROME: Italian auto giant Fiat on Thursday said it was exercising its option to increase by 3.3 percentage points its stake in US automaker Chrysler to 65.17 per cent for US$198 million.Fiat said the value of the purchase from a trust run by the US auto union UAW to pay health care benefits for Chrysler retirees was its estimate, which still had to be determined by a US court.In July, the...

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Gulf flight cites low fuel, lands in Mumbai

NEW DELHI: Is jet fuel becoming so expensive that airlines are no longer able to afford tanking up their aircraft with the required amount for a journey? An aircraft that recently took off from Hyderabad for an over three-hour flight to the Gulf found itself running low on fuel barely after reaching Mumbai—less than a third of the total distance it was supposed to travel nonstop. It then made an unscheduled...

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CDC: 1 in 24 admit nodding off while driving

NEW YORK (AP) — This could give you nightmares: 1 in 24 U.S. adults say they recently fell asleep while driving.And health officials behind the study think the number is probably higher. That's because some people don't realize it when they nod off for a second or two behind the wheel."If I'm on the road, I'd be a little worried about the other drivers," said the study's lead author, Anne Wheaton...

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