WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration has issued a warning to consumers to stop using Hydroxycut dietary supplements because some have been linked to serious liver injuries, with one death reported to the agency. Iovate Health Sciences Inc. is recalling its Hydroxycut products from the market. The popular, heavily advertised supplements promise weight loss and include such products as Max Drink Packets, Caffeine-Free Rapid Release Caplets, and Max Aqua Shed. Not part of the recall are Hydroxycut Cleanse and Hoodia products.
California: Lesbian ruling
The California Supreme Court has let stand a lower court ruling that allowed a private religious school to expel two 16-year-old girls for having “a bond of intimacy” that was “characteristic of a lesbian relationship.” The girls had sued California Lutheran High School, contending that the Riverside County school had violated a state anti-discrimination law. An appeals court ruled in January that the private religious school was not a business and therefore did not have to comply with a state law that prohibits businesses from discriminating.
Snowpack comes up short
April’s warm, dry weather melted the Sierra Nevada snowpack to two-thirds of normal, according to the last measure of the season Thursday, as agencies serving cities and farms across California prepare to cut water use this summer. State officials said this is shaping up to be the 10th-driest three-year period on record, based on the amount of meltwater expected to run from the mountains and into streams and reservoirs this spring. A month ago, snowpack was 80 percent of normal. Now it is 66 percent, compared with 72 percent at this time last year.
Florida: Storm names retire
Gustav, Ike, Paloma and Alma are off the World Meteorological Organization’s rotating list of storm names. A committee voted to retire them because the storms caused such heavy damage. In the Atlantic, Gustav, Ike and Paloma will be replaced by Gonzalo, Isaias and Paulette. In the North Pacific, Amanda will take Alma’s place. All of the removed names would have been used again in 2014. Hurricane season starts on June 1.
New York: Elevator tumble
A faulty elevator door allowed a blind man returning home from a trip to the bank to step into an empty shaft and topple to his death, authorities said Friday. The body of 67-year-old Sheldon Scott was found Thursday night inside his 10-story Bronx apartment building, where he lived with his wife. Police said he was legally blind. On Friday, city inspectors discovered that a mechanism that prevents riders from pulling open an outer door until the elevator car arrives had failed. Once Scott opened the door, he fell about 15 feet.
Afghanistan: 5 soldiers die
Three Americans and two other international troops were killed Friday in an attack in eastern Afghanistan, officials said. Insurgents attacked Afghan and international forces Friday with rocket-propelled grenades and guns, NATO forces said. The troops called in air support, forcing the militants to withdraw. They are being pursued, a statement said. A spokesman for U.S. Forces in Afghanistan, confirmed that three of the dead service members were Americans. The nationalities of the other two were not immediately known because NATO typically waits for countries to release such information.
Netherlands: Deadly assault
The man who drove his car into a crowd of parade spectators and killed six people died of his injuries Friday, leaving unresolved the mystery of why he tried to attack the Dutch royal family. The 38-year-old suspect, identified by Dutch media as Karst Tates, had been in critical condition since the attack Thursday on Queen’s Day, the Dutch national holiday. Hours after his death during the night, the Defense Ministry announced that a 55-year-old driver for the military police, Roel Nijenhuis, also died of his injuries. Five bystanders died on Thursday.
India: Heat wave kills 18
At least 18 people have died in a scorching heat wave that has swept through more than a dozen Indian states, the weather department and officials said Friday. The highest temperature of about 118 degrees Fahrenheit was recorded Thursday at Khandua in the central Madhya Pradesh state. The heat wave has hit the western state of Rajasthan, the northern state of Uttarakhand and at least a dozen other states, the India Meteorological Department said.
From Herald news services
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