WASHINGTON — Swine flu, rampant in 2009 before collapsing by year’s end, remains very low across the U.S., with no indication it will worsen as the fall flu season nears, federal health officials said Tuesday.
This year, there will be a single vaccine that will cover H1N1, the seasonal influenza B and a new strain, H3N2. This is the way flu usually is handled.
Still, Dr. Stephen Redd of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention wouldn’t completely rule out a return, citing the H1N1 virus’ unpredictability.
Botnet culprit caught, FBI says
International authorities have arrested a computer hacker believed responsible for creating the malicious computer code that infected as many as 12 million computers, invading major banks and corporations around the world, FBI officials said Tuesday. A 23-year-old Slovenian known as Iserdo was snagged in Maribor, Slovenia, after a lengthy investigation by Slovenian Criminal Police there along with FBI and Spanish authorities. The so-called Mariposa botnet — a network of infected computers — appeared in December 2008 and infected more than half of the Fortune 1,000 companies and at least 40 major banks.
Lockerbie bombing hearing put off
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has postponed Thursday’s hearing on the 2009 release of the man convicted for the 1988 bombing Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, because of what a senator says is “stonewalling” by British and Scottish officials who declined to testify. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., said Tuesday that “no witness of consequence has the courage” to step up and clear the air. The committee is looking into whether British-based oil company BP sought Abdel Baset al-Megrahi’s release to help get a $900 million exploration agreement with Libya off the ground.
Nebraska: Council delays law against illegal immigrants
A voter-approved ban on hiring and renting property to illegal immigrants was suspended late Tuesday by the Fremont City Council, less than two days before it was set to take effect in the eastern Nebraska city. Council members voted 8-0 to delay an ordinance that is being challenged by two federal lawsuits, saying the move will save the city money in legal costs.
Texas: 99-year sentence for starving children
A Dallas man convicted of starving three children locked in a hotel bathroom for nearly a year was sentenced to 99 years in prison Tuesday after jurors heard testimony that one child was suicidal and another preferred urinating in his hospital bed to entering a restroom. The jury sentenced Alfred Santiago, 38, hours after they convicted him of injury to a child and continuous sexual abuse. Each of the three siblings have different fathers, none of them Santiago. Alfred and Abneris Santiago, the mother, share a last name but were not married. Her trial begins today.
California: Wildfire burns homes
Firefighters say about 20 structures have been lost to a wildfire about 10 miles southeast of the Mojave Desert town of Tehachapi. A fire official said the fire erupted Tuesday afternoon and has grown to 400 acres.
Netherlands: Teen cleared for solo world sailing trip
A Dutch court ruled Tuesday that 14-year-old Laura Dekker is ready to embark on her dream of becoming the youngest person to sail solo around the world — meaning she could set sail in two weeks in a 38-foot ketch named Guppy. When Dutch child protection agencies got wind last year of the then 13-year-old’s plan they immediately went to court and had Laura placed under a guardianship order that meant she could not set sail.On Tuesday, a family court said there was no reason to extend the guardianship.
China: Toxic fumes killed panda
On Tuesday, six days after the beloved giant panda Quan Quan’s death, Jinan Zoo officials announced that poisonous gas killed her. An autopsy revealed that Quan Quan, 21, died after inhaling carbon monoxide and chlorine coming from a former air raid shelter — with which her enclosure shares ventilation pipes — that was being disinfected. The fumes, the medical report said, caused her lungs to collapse.
From Herald news services
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