From NPR News in Washington, I’m Jack Speer.
The Food and Drug Administration has lifted its warning on eating fresh tomatoes. Officials say the salmonella outbreak is still on going, but varieties of tomatoes on the market now have been given the all clear. NPR’s Allison Aubrey reports.
FDA officials say farms producing tomatoes that may have led to illnesses early on in the salmonella outbreak are no longer harvesting or shipping product. Therefore, they say, consumers may eat all types of tomatoes they find in their local grocery stores. The warnings on fresh jalapeno and Serrano peppers however, remain in place as does the investigation into the source of the bacteria. The FDA has dispatched a team to Mexico to investigate one packing facility that handles both jalapeno and Serrano peppers, CDC officials say the intensity of the outbreak appears to be weighing, with the trend towards a decrease in the number of cases being reported, a total of 1,200 people have gotten in sick since the outbreak began in the April, and more than 200 have been hospitalized. Allison Aubrey, NPR News, Washington.
Mourners today buried the second of two Israeli soldiers whose bodies were returned to a prisoner exchange with Lebanon, the casket of the soldiers was stripped with a blue and white Israeli flag in the military cemetery at Haifa. Meanwhile, Israel in exchange for the soldiers returned the remains of some 200 captured Arab fighters. NPR's Ivan Watson has more from Beirut.
Thousands of people are lining in the street here, at the gateway to Beirut, throwing rice and flowers at passing trucks loaded with scores of flag draped coffins, these contain the bodies of Lebanese and Palestinian fighters, who are handed over by Israel as part of a prisoner exchange this week, the bodies are receiving a hero’s welcome, the crowd here are waving the flags, Lebanon and the Palestinian flag in a numerous Palestinian parties which were once much strong in 1970s and 80s, which now have a fraction of the strengthen they had in earlier days. NPR’s Ivan Watson in Beirut, Lebanon.
Former attorney general John Ascroft testified before members of congress today, disavowed the now-defunct legal reasoning used to justify interrogation techniques of terrorism suspects, critics have described as harsh, where in his first testimony under * since leaving office three years ago, he defended the White House. Ascroft told members of the house judiciary committee he also does not consider waterboarding, at least as subscribed by intelligence officials to be torture.
“As described by the CIA interrogation methods, that waterboarding did not constitute torture, I think those are ballot conclusions. I don’ think I could * and say that I’ve never had a second thought about it.”
Ascroft also told lawmakers he believes interrogators * followed the justice department’s guide lines in good faith can not be prosecuted.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 207 points to close at 11,446. The S&P 500 was up. This is NPR.
Officials in Texas today have signed off on what’ll be the nation’s largest wind power project, government officials in the Long Start State giving the preliminary nod to a plan that would call for the contrition of billions of dollars for the new transmission lines, they would transport wind generated electricity from west Texas to Urban areas of the state. Electric customers in the state are expected to bear much of the cost of the 4.9 billion dollar project, paying about 4 billon dollar or 4 dollars more a month on their electric bills. Texas already generates around 5,000 megawatts of electricity using wind power, that’s more than any other state.
The pilot union for US airways has filed complains with the federal aviation administration, accusing the airline of pressuring pilots to use less fuel than the fuel is safe in order to save money. Arizona Public Radio’s Jolin Feresco reports.
Eight pilots were requested an extra 10-15 minutes worth of fuel were sent to training sessions, some pilots say this was a punitive action that could put their license in jeopardy, US airways has been trying to cut expense because of the rising cost of jet fuel, but pilots and their union say carrying less fuel is not the answer. FAA regulations require aircraft to carry enough fuel to reach their destination and an alternate destination, plus and extra 45 minutes worth of fuel, an FAA spokeswoman says the agency has been monitoring reports of minimum fuel loads, but so far seize no violation of regulations by US airways. The US airway’s pilots union took out of a full page at this week in USA today, it accuses the airline of what it calls ‘a program of intimidation to pressure pilots to reduce fuel loads’. For NPR News, I’m Jolin Feresco in Flagstaff.
