After early start, worst of flu season may be over

NEW YORK (AP) — The worst of the flu season appears to be over.

The number of states reporting intense or widespread illnesses dropped again last week, and in a few states there was very little flu going around, U.S. health officials said Friday.

The season started earlier than normal, first in the Southeast and then spreading. But now, by some measures, flu activity has been ebbing for at least four weeks in much of the country. Flu and pneumonia deaths also dropped the last two weeks, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.

"It's likely that the worst of the current flu season is over," CDC spokesman Tom Skinner said.

But flu is hard to predict, he and others stressed, and there have been spikes late in the season in the past.

For now, states like Georgia and New York — where doctor's offices were jammed a few weeks ago — are reporting low flu activity. The hot spots are now the West Coast and the Southwest.

Among the places that have seen a drop: Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest in Allentown, Pa., which put up a tent outside its emergency room last month to help deal with the steady stream of patients. There were about 100 patients each day back then. Now it's down to 25 and the hospital may pack up its tent next week, said Terry Burger, director of infection control and prevention for the hospital.

"There's no question that we're seeing a decline," she said.

In early December, CDC officials announced flu season had arrived, a month earlier than usual. They were worried, saying it had been nine years since a winter flu season started like this one. That was 2003-04 — one of the deadliest seasons in the past 35 years, with more than 48,000 deaths.

Like this year, the major flu strain was one that tends to make people sicker, especially the elderly, who are most vulnerable to flu and its complications

But back then, that year's flu vaccine wasn't made to protect against that bug, and fewer people got flu shots. The vaccine is reformulated almost every year, and the CDC has said this year's vaccine is a good match to the types that are circulating. A preliminary CDC study showed it is about 60 percent effective, which is close to the average.

So far, the season has been labeled moderately severe.

Like others, Lehigh Valley's Burger was cautious about making predictions. "I'm not certain we're completely out of the woods," with more wintry weather ahead and people likely to be packed indoors where flu can spread around, she said.

The government does not keep a running tally of flu-related deaths in adults, but has received reports of 59 deaths in children. The most — nine — were in Texas, where flu activity was still high last week. Roughly 100 children die in an average flu season, the CDC says

On average, about 24,000 Americans die each flu season, according to the CDC.

According to the CDC report, the number of states with intense activity is down to 19, from 24 the previous week, and flu is widespread in 38 states, down from 42.

Flu is now minimal in Florida, Kentucky, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

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Online:

CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/

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Paternos Issue Report, Challenge Freeh's Findings

Former FBI director Louis Freeh is standing by his conclusion that former Penn State coach Joe Paterno and three top administrators concealed child sex abuse allegations against Jerry Sandusky.

Freeh responded Sunday to a new critique released by Paterno's family that called Freeh's report last July inaccurate and unfounded, resulting in a "rush to injustice."

Patrick Smith/Getty Images|Gene J. Puskar/AP Photo

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Freeh says in a statement he respects the right of the Paterno family to conduct a media campaign in an effort "to shape the legacy of Joe Paterno" but the coach should have done more to stop Sandusky.

Freeh cited grand jury testimony in which Paterno said a graduate assistant relayed to him a 2001 allegation against Sandusky of a "sexual nature" with a child.

He said Paterno's attorney was contacted for an interview with the coach, who died in January 2012.

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Protests erupt as India executes man for 2001 parliament attack

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India hanged a Kashmiri man on Saturday for an attack on the country's parliament in 2001, sparking clashes in Kashmir between protesters and police who wielded batons and fired teargas. Dozens of people were injured.

President Pranab Mukherjee rejected a mercy petition from Mohammad Afzal Guru and he was hanged at 8 a.m. (0230 GMT) in Tihar jail in the capital, New Delhi. Security forces anticipating unrest had imposed a curfew in parts of insurgency-torn Kashmir and ordered people off the streets.

Guru, from the Indian part of divided Kashmir, was convicted of helping organize arms for the gunmen who made the attack and a place for them to stay. He always maintained his innocence.

India blamed the attack on the parliament of the world's largest democracy on militants backed by Pakistan, targeting the prime minister, interior minister and legislators in one of the country's worst ever militant attacks.

Pakistan denied any involvement and condemned the attack but tension rose sharply and brought the nuclear-armed rivals dangerously close to their fourth war. Nearly a million soldiers were mobilized on both sides of the border and fears of war only dissipated months later, in June 2002.

The hanging was ordered less than three months after India executed the lone surviving gunman of a 2008 attack in the city of Mumbai in which 166 people were killed.

Saturday's execution could help the ruling Congress party deflect opposition criticism of being soft on militancy as it gears up for a series of state elections this year and a general election due by 2014, while grappling with an economic slowdown.

"Congress has decided to be more proactive in view of the elections, not only in terms of economic policy but also matters like the hanging," said political analyst Amulya Ganguli.

"The Congress has now deprived the BJP of a propaganda plank," he said, referring to the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party.

Government officials dismissed suggestions that electoral politics played a role in the decision to execute Guru.

In major towns of Indian Kashmir, where security forces have battled a Muslim separatist insurgency for decades, barricades were erected and hundreds of police and paramilitary force members were deployed.

"The hanging of Afzal Guru is a declaration of war by India," said Hilal Ahmad War, leader of a separatist faction.

Thirty-six people including 23 policemen were injured in protests, said police spokesman Manoj Sheeri, with most of the violence in Guru's home district.

Authorities shut down internet services to try to stop news of the hanging and unrest spreading. The chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir state, Omar Abdullah, made a televised appeal for calm.

Scuffles also broke out in New Delhi between Hindu activists and demonstrators who gathered at a city-centre protest site to condemn the execution, a Reuters witness said.

WARNING

Five militants stormed the parliament complex in New Delhi on December 13, 2001, armed with grenades, guns and explosives, but security forces killed them before they could enter the main chamber. Ten other people, most of them security officers, were killed.

Guru said he never got a fair trial and his brother reiterated that on Saturday, adding that authorities had not warned the family of his execution.

"At least the government should have given the family a chance to meet him," said the brother, Ajaz Ahmad Guru. "He didn't get a fair trial. His wife is in deep shock."

India said the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad militant group was responsible for the parliament attack. The group fights Indian rule in Muslim-majority Kashmir.

The hanging last year of Mohammad Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving Pakistani militant involved in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, after a long lull in executions, prompted speculation that India would move quickly to execute Guru.

But unlike Kasab's execution, which sparked celebrations in the streets, Guru's case was seen as more divisive.

Some Kashmiri leaders warned that hanging Afzal would fuel the revolt in India's part of the Himalayan region in which tens of thousands of people have been killed since 1989.

Curfews were imposed in Srinagar, the region's summer capital in the Kashmir valley, and major towns including Baramulla, Guru's home town.

Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan, both of which claim the region in full and rule it in part. They have fought two of their three wars over the region.

In Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, more than 250 people took to the streets to protest against the hanging, shouting "Down with India" and burning an Indian flag.

India has long accused Muslim Pakistan of arming and funding militants to fight Indian forces in Kashmir. Pakistan says it only provides moral support to the fellow-Muslim people of Kashmir, who, Pakistan says, face harsh Indian rule.

The dispute, a legacy of the division of the sub-continent at the end of British rule, is the main factor souring relations between the neighbors.

(Additional reporting by Fayaz Bukhari, Mansi Thapliyal, Ashok Pahalwan, Abu Arqam Naqash, Arnika Thakur and Satarupa Bhattacharjya; Editing by Ross Colvin and Robert Birsel)

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Horsemeat 'contamination' could date back to August: Findus

LONDON: French frozen food supplier Comigel told the Findus brand that "the contamination" of processed beef products with horsemeat could date back to August 2012, Findus said in a statement Saturday.

"Findus want to be absolutely explicit that they were not aware of any issue of contamination with horsemeat last year," it said in a statement.

"They were only made aware of a possible August 2012 date through a letter dated 2 February 2013 from the supplier Comigel.

"By then Findus was already conducting a full supply chain traceability review and had pro-actively initiated DNA testing."

The opposition Labour lawmaker Tom Watson earlier claimed he had been shown by a retailer a copy of a letter that Findus sent to them on Monday.

He published an extract on his website.

"Investigations have led one of our suppliers based in France to inform us in writing on 2nd February 2013 that the raw materials delivered since 1st August 2012 are likely to be non-conform and consequently the labelling on finished products is incorrect," it said.

Britain's Food Standards Agency regulator announced Thursday that 11 of 18 samples of Findus beef lasagne were found to contain between 60 and 100 per cent horsemeat.

Asked by AFP to comment on Britain's food minister fearing a criminal conspiracy, a Findus spokesman said: "That's part of our investigations. We need to understand how the meat got into the supply chain. That's something we are working on with Comigel, as the supplier."

He did not know how long the investigation would take.

The spokesman said it was "still uncertain... where the meat exactly came from".

"The supplier has asked us to withdraw the raw material batches."

Findus said it was not taking part in the emergency food industry meeting taking place Saturday at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

"Findus did not receive an invitation to this summit. However they are aware that the Food and Drink Federation, of which they are a member, will be attending."

Sweden-based Findus has withdrawn various frozen meals from the market in France and Sweden.

- AFP/ck

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Tihar Jail witnesses hanging after 24 years, Afzal Guru was hanged for eight minutes

NEW DELHI: The Tihar Jail, the largest prison of India, witnessed a hanging on Saturday after 24 years, when the 2001 parliament attack convict Afzal Guru was executed early morning, an official said.

Kehar Singh and Satwant Singh, assassins of then prime minister Indira Gandhi were hanged inside the jail in 1989.

Afzal Guru is the seventh man hanged inside the prison since 1981, a Tihar Jail official told IANS. Guru was hanged at 8am on Saturday.

In 1982, Ranga and Billa were executed for kidnapping and murdering two minors, Geeta Chopra and her younger brother Sanjay.

Maqbool Bhat of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front was executed in 1984 while Jugar Singh was hanged inside the jail in 1985 in the murder case of Vidya Jain.

In 1989, both the assassins of Indira Gandhi were executed by the famous hangman, "Kalu", a resident of Meerut in Uttar Pradesh. He was paid Rs 150 for carrying out the execution process.

'Hanged for 8 minutes'

Guru was hanged at 8am on Saturday in front of eight people in the Tihar Jail in a procedure that took eight minutes, prison sources said.

They told IANS that Guru was informed about his hanging late Friday evening after a death warrant was issued by a Delhi court.

"He was told about his hanging yesterday (Friday) by the jailor," a source said.

The source said Guru was hanged about 20 metres from his cell where he spent 12 years in solitary confinement.

"There were eight people, including a doctor, a magistrate and some jail officials, present when he was hanged. He was hanged for eight minutes," the source told IANS.

Guru was buried quietly soon after the hanging.

After he was woken up at 5am, he offered prayers before calmly approaching the noose, officials said. A Muslim cleric was also present during his hanging.

Guru was convicted for his role in plotting the December 13, 2001, attack on Parliament House, in which 10 people were killed when five armed terrorists stormed into the complex when 100 MPs, then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and his Cabinet ministers were inside.

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After early start, worst of flu season may be over

NEW YORK (AP) — The worst of the flu season appears to be over.

The number of states reporting intense or widespread illnesses dropped again last week, and in a few states there was very little flu going around, U.S. health officials said Friday.

The season started earlier than normal, first in the Southeast and then spreading. But now, by some measures, flu activity has been ebbing for at least four weeks in much of the country. Flu and pneumonia deaths also dropped the last two weeks, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.

"It's likely that the worst of the current flu season is over," CDC spokesman Tom Skinner said.

But flu is hard to predict, he and others stressed, and there have been spikes late in the season in the past.

For now, states like Georgia and New York — where doctor's offices were jammed a few weeks ago — are reporting low flu activity. The hot spots are now the West Coast and the Southwest.

Among the places that have seen a drop: Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest in Allentown, Pa., which put up a tent outside its emergency room last month to help deal with the steady stream of patients. There were about 100 patients each day back then. Now it's down to 25 and the hospital may pack up its tent next week, said Terry Burger, director of infection control and prevention for the hospital.

"There's no question that we're seeing a decline," she said.

In early December, CDC officials announced flu season had arrived, a month earlier than usual. They were worried, saying it had been nine years since a winter flu season started like this one. That was 2003-04 — one of the deadliest seasons in the past 35 years, with more than 48,000 deaths.

Like this year, the major flu strain was one that tends to make people sicker, especially the elderly, who are most vulnerable to flu and its complications

But back then, that year's flu vaccine wasn't made to protect against that bug, and fewer people got flu shots. The vaccine is reformulated almost every year, and the CDC has said this year's vaccine is a good match to the types that are circulating. A preliminary CDC study showed it is about 60 percent effective, which is close to the average.

So far, the season has been labeled moderately severe.

Like others, Lehigh Valley's Burger was cautious about making predictions. "I'm not certain we're completely out of the woods," with more wintry weather ahead and people likely to be packed indoors where flu can spread around, she said.

The government does not keep a running tally of flu-related deaths in adults, but has received reports of 59 deaths in children. The most — nine — were in Texas, where flu activity was still high last week. Roughly 100 children die in an average flu season, the CDC says

On average, about 24,000 Americans die each flu season, according to the CDC.

According to the CDC report, the number of states with intense activity is down to 19, from 24 the previous week, and flu is widespread in 38 states, down from 42.

Flu is now minimal in Florida, Kentucky, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

___

Online:

CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/

Read More..

Storm Drops More Than 2 Feet of Snow on Northeast

A behemoth storm packing hurricane-force wind gusts and blizzard conditions swept through the Northeast overnight, where more than 650,000 homes and businesses in the densely populated region lost power, roads were impassable and New Englanders awoke Saturday to more than 2 feet of snow.

More than 38 inches of snow fell in Milford in central Connecticut, and an 82-mph wind gust was recorded in nearby Westport. Areas of southeastern Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire notched at least 2 feet — with more falling. Airlines scratched more than 5,300 flights through Saturday, and the three major airports serving New York City as well as Boston's Logan Airport closed.

Flooding was also a concern along the coast, and the possibility led to the evacuation of two neighborhoods in Quincy, Mass., said Fire Deputy Gary Smith. But it did not appear to create major problems in New York and New Jersey, states hit hardest during last October's Superstorm Sandy.

Snow piled up so high in some places Saturday that people couldn't open their doors to get outside. Streets were mostly deserted throughout New England save for plow crews and a few hardy souls walking dogs or venturing out to take pictures. In Boston's Financial District, the only sound was an army of snowblowers clearing sidewalks. Streets in many places were inaccessible.

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Some of the worst of the storm appeared to hit Connecticut, where all roads were ordered closed Saturday. The snow made travel nearly impossible even for emergency responders who found themselves stuck on highways all night. In the shoreline community of Fairfield, police and firefighters could not come in to work, so the overnight shift was staying on duty, said First Selectman Michael Tetreau.

"It's a real challenge out there," Tetreau said. "The roads are not passable at this point. We are asking everyone to stay home and stay safe."

In the Hartford suburb of South Windsor, residents used snowblowers to clear driveways that ended in huge snow drifts, with the roads still clogged with roughly 2 feet of undisturbed snow. Some cars were buried to the point they were nearly invisible. Snow had stopped falling, but the swirling wind was blowing fine, powdery snow from trees and rooftops.

Several state police cars were also stuck in deep snow in Maine, where stranded drivers were warned to expect long waits for tow trucks or other assistance.

Road conditions were awful in New Hampshire, said Jim Pierce, who works for the state transportation department and plows driveways in Concord and surrounding towns as a side business. He started plowing about 6:30 a.m. Saturday.

"It takes quite a bit to push this back," he said. "It's fluffy, but there's a lot of it."

Even the U.S. Postal Service closed post offices and suspended mail delivery Saturday in New England.

The wind-whipped snowstorm mercifully arrived at the start of a weekend, which meant fewer cars on the road and extra time for sanitation crews to clear the mess before commuters in the New York-to-Boston region of roughly 25 million people have to go back to work. But halfway through what had been a mild winter across the Northeast, it also could mean a weekend cooped up indoors.

A little more than 11 inches fell in New York City, where carpenter Kevin Byrne was using a scraper to dig out his car Saturday and was relieved the storm hadn't hit the city more strongly. He said he'd taken his shovel out of his car and left it at home.

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Violence mars funeral of slain Tunisian opposition leader

TUNIS (Reuters) - Police and mourners clashed at the mass funeral on Friday of secular opposition leader Chokri Belaid, whose assassination has plunged Tunisia deeper into political crisis.

Braving chilly rain, at least 50,000 people turned out to honor Belaid in his home district of Jebel al-Jaloud in the capital, chanting anti-Islamist and anti-government slogans.

It was Tunisia's biggest funeral since the death of Habib Bourguiba, independence leader and first president, in 2000.

Violence erupted near the cemetery as police fired teargas at demonstrators who threw stones and set cars ablaze. Police also used teargas against protesters near the Interior Ministry, a frequent flashpoint for clashes in the Tunisian capital.

Tunisia, cradle of the Arab uprisings, is riven by tensions between dominant Islamists and their secular opponents, and by frustration at the lack of social and economic progress since President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali was ousted in January 2011.

Belaid's assassination has shocked a country which had hitherto experienced a relatively peaceful political transition.

"The people want a new revolution," shouted mourners in Tunis, who also sang the national anthem.

Crowds surged around an open army truck carrying Belaid's coffin, draped in a red and white Tunisian flag, from a cultural center in Jebel al-Jaloud towards the leafy Jallaz cemetery, as a security forces helicopter flew overhead.

"Belaid, rest in peace, we will continue the struggle," mourners chanted, holding portraits of the politician killed near his home on Wednesday by a gunman who fled on a motorcycle.

Some demonstrators denounced Rachid Ghannouchi, leader of the ruling Islamist Ennahda party. "Ghannouchi, assassin, criminal," they chanted. "Tunisia is free, terrorism out."

Police fired teargas to disperse anti-government protesters throwing stones and petrol bombs in the southern mining town of Gafsa, a stronghold of support for Belaid, witnesses said.

Crowds there had chanted "The people want the fall of the regime", a slogan first used against Ben Ali.

CRADLE OF REVOLT

In Sidi Bouzid, the southern town where the revolt against the ousted strongman began, about 10,000 marched to mourn Belaid and shout slogans against Ennahda and the government.

Banks, factories and some shops were closed in Tunis and other cities in response to a strike called by unions in protest at Belaid's killing, but buses were running normally.

Tunis Air suspended all its flights because of the strikes, a spokesman for the national airline said. Airport sources in Cairo said EgyptAir had canceled two flights to Tunisia after staff at Tunis airport joined the general strike.

After Belaid's assassination, Prime Minister Hamdi Jebali, an Islamist, said he would dissolve the government and form a cabinet of technocrats to rule until elections could be held.

But his own Ennahda party and its secular coalition partners complained they had not been consulted, casting doubt over the status of the government and compounding political uncertainty.

No one has claimed responsibility for the killing of Belaid, a lawyer and secular opposition figure.

His family have blamed Ennahda but the party has denied any hand in the shooting. Crowds have attacked several Ennahda party offices in Tunis and other cities in the past two days.

"Hope still exists in Tunisia," Fatma Saidan, a noted Tunisian actor, told Reuters at Belaid's funeral. "We will continue to struggle against extremism and political violence."

She called for national unity, saying: "We are ready to accept Islamists, but they don't accept us."

SECULAR SYMBOL

While Belaid had only a modest political following, his criticism of Ennahda policies spoke for many Tunisians who fear religious radicals are bent on snuffing out freedoms won in the first of the revolts that rippled through the Arab world.

Secular groups have accused the Islamist-led government of a lax response to attacks by ultra-orthodox Salafi Islamists on cinemas, theatres and bars in recent months.

The economic effect of political uncertainty and street unrest could be serious in a country which has yet to draft a new constitution and which relies heavily on the tourist trade.

Mohamed Ali Toumi, president of the Tunisian Federation of Travel Agencies, described the week's events as a catastrophe that would have a negative impact on tourism, but he told the national news agency TAP no cancellations had been reported yet.

France, which had already announced the closure of its schools in Tunis on Friday and Saturday, urged its nationals to stay clear of potential flashpoints in the capital.

The cost of insuring Tunisian government bonds against default rose to its highest level in more than four years on Thursday and ratings agency Fitch said it could further downgrade Tunisia if political instability continues or worsens.

(For an interactive look at Tunisia please click on http://link.reuters.com/tub85t)

(Additional reporting by Alexander Dziadosz in Cairo and Brian Love in Paris; Editing by Jon Boyle)

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DPM Teo issues correction to footnote in Population White Paper

SINGAPORE - Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean on Friday issued a corrigendum to the Population White Paper in Parliament to delete a segment of a footnote that classified nursing as a low-skilled job.

Mr Teo said, in the Notice of Corrigendum, that he intends to delete the part of Footnote 12 on Page 40 of the White Paper, which said: "Certain low-skilled jobs like personal services, retail, and nursing are hard to offshore. They will still be needed even as the economy upgrades."

"This classification of low-skilled jobs is not correct. I would like to apologise to those whose professions have been unintentionally misrepresented," said Mr Teo.

He said he was alerted to the matter by "our friends in the nursing profession and unions".

Adding that he has the "greatest respect" for the nursing profession, the DPM said it is a "noble and caring profession, which all of us and our loved ones depend on and appreciate".

- TODAY/ir

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No power cuts in Tamil Nadu from this year end, says Jaya

CHENNAI: Chief minister J Jayalalithaa today said, there will be no power cuts from 2013-end with the state set to realise 3,000 MW by then and her government expeditinga series of projects.

Replying to a discussion in the Assembly on the governor's address to the House, she blamed the previous DMK government for acute power shortage in Tamil Nadu and said, during her 2001-06 regime, various power generation projects to the tune of 3095 mw were initiated but the subsequent DMK Government did not proceed with them.

She said, the projects were put on fast track after an 'extensive' review of the power situation since she took over in 2011.

Mentioning that a series of initiatives, including different units of Vallur and Mettur thermal projects and a joint venture with Neyveli Lignite Corporation, which would start producing power at different points of time in the coming months were on, she added, some of them had started doing trial runs.

Out of the total 3,312 MW of electricity from these projects, the state was already getting 375 MW and will receive another 2175 MW by June and 762 MW by year end.

"Further, we will get electricity from the Kundankulam Nuclear Power Plant and the NLC's Phase-II expansion," she said, adding that agreements have also been signed to procure 900 MW from private players after June and 500 MW from other states for three years.

Further, tenders will be called for two thermal power projects for 2640 MW and the state will also focus on producing 3000 MW of solar power for its future needs, she said.

While the 2006-11 DMK government had only added 206 MW of installed capacity, the Karunanidhi government during its 1996-2001 stint, had not started any power generation project, she said.

During the final days of the erstwhile DMK regime, the state-run TANGEDCO had suffered a losses of Rs 40,000 crore as on March 31, 2011.

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