Current Events

The House and Senate voted Wednesday to reject President Obama's veto of legislation allowing lawsuits against foreign sponsors of terrorism — the first successful override of a presidential veto since Obama took office.

The president had vetoed the legislation Friday because he said the bill — known as the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, or JASTA — would infringe on the president’s ability to conduct foreign policy. It was the 12th veto of his presidency.

But after an intense push by 9/11 survivors and families of victims who want to sue Read more . . .

Painkillers can be both a blessing and a curse. They’re effective at numbing everything from the inflammation that comes with infection to headaches and the achy joints of arthritis. But recent studies have exposed some serious side effects, including increased risk of heart events. The newest class of these drugs, COX-2 inhibitors, seemed especially risky for the heart, leading to the withdrawal from the market of one medication and a Food and Drug Administration warning on others.

In a new study published in the BMJ, researchers detail the risks associated with other prescription painkillers known as non-steroidal anti inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).
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The Senate will vote Wednesday on whether to override the president’s veto of our bill, the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA). As the authors of this legislation and firm believers in its purpose, we believe the Senate should confidently vote to override the veto.

JASTA was written for one main purpose: to clarify under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) and the Anti-terrorism Act that every entity, including foreign states, must be held accountable if they are found to be sponsors of heinous acts of terrorism on U.S.
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The urge to find justice for the families of 9/11 victims is so strong that it’s hard to stand in the way of anything that seems to help them.

That emotional appeal persuaded Congress, which is normally bitterly divided, to pass a measure that its bipartisan supporters said would ease the way for those families to sue Saudi Arabia for its alleged complicity in the attacks.

But emotion is no way to run foreign policy in a dangerous world. Worse yet, this measure promises far more than it can deliver to grieving 9/11 families.
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Volkswagen Group of America is recalling 19,205 2017-MY Audi Q7 SUVs because the third-row seat backs may not remain in position during a crash, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported.

The recall covers Audi Q7 vehicles manufactured from Aug. 30, 2015, to July 10 of this year. The third-row seat backs may move forward under load in certain situations, such as during a frontal collision. As a result, the vehicles fail to comply with all federal safety standards, NHTSA said.
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Sun Pharmaceutical, which has been dealing with FDA concerns over plants in India, is now recalling more than 12,000 bottles of a beta blocker made at a plant in Hungary.  

According to the most recent FDA Enforcement Report, Sun is recalling 12,109 bottles of Carvedilol tablets manufactured at its Alkaloida Chemical site in Tiszavasvari, Hungary.

The voluntary recall, which has just been classified by the FDA, began in June. The four recalls were initiated after the products failed impurities and degradation testing, the report says.

In June, Sun also began a recall of 16,085 bottles of the antidepressant bupropion hydrochloride extended-release tablets manufactured at its Halol, India, plant because they failed specifications for dissolution.
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Within days of heralding their products’ return to grocery stores in three states, officials with Blue Bell Creameries LP quietly recalled two flavors of cookie dough ice cream from 10 states because of Listeria concerns.

Discovered to have had Listeria monocytogenes problems at its production facilities in recent years, Blue Bell remains under federal investigation related to a deadly multi-state outbreak that temporarily halted the company’s operations in 2015.

This time, though, the Listeria contamination is believed to be the fault of a Blue Bell supplier — Aspen Hills Inc. — according to a notice posted Wednesday. No illnesses had been reported in connection with the recalled ice cream as of Wednesday, Blue Bell officials reported.
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A German court has been flooded with new lawsuits against Volkswagen from investors who say they lost billions as the value of the carmaker’s shares plunged after its diesel emissions scandal.

The surge could add to the company’s financial woes as it deals with the fallout from the revelation a year ago that it had cheated on emission tests.

In Germany, a regional court in Braunschweig, near Volkswagen’s headquarters in Wolfsburg, said it had registered more than 1,400 complaints from institutional and individual shareholders seeking 8.2 billion euros, or about $9.2 billion, in damages.
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Federal officials have effectively closed down a New York company after repeatedly finding Listeria in its food production plant, reporting that one of the seven strains of the pathogen in the facility genetically matches infections in at least four people.

The Food and Drug Administration has suspended the food facility registration of SM Fish Corp. of Far Rockaway, NY. The agency had been working with the company to determine the source of Listeria monocytogenes that triggered recalls of Ossie’s brand ready-to-eat products on July 29 and Sept. 15.

  Federal auto safety regulators on Monday made it official: They are betting the nation’s highways will be safer with more cars driven by machines and not people.

In long-awaited guidelines for the booming industry of automated vehicles, the Obama administration promised strong safety oversight, but sent a clear signal to automakers that the door was wide open for driverless cars.

“We envision in the future, you can take your hands off the wheel, and your commute becomes restful or productive instead of frustrating and exhausting,” said Jeffrey Zients, director of the National Economic Council, adding that highly automated vehicles “will save time, money and lives.”

The statements were the most aggressive signal yet by federal regulators that they see automated car technology as a win for auto safety. Yet having officially endorsed the fast-evolving technology, regulators must now balance the commercial interests of companies including Tesla, Google and Uber with concerns over public safety, especially in light of recent crashes involving semiautonomous cars.
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Things got ugly during jury deliberations in a 2010 sexual assault trial in Colorado.

“I think he did it because he’s Mexican, and Mexican men take whatever they want,” a juror said of the defendant.

The juror, identified in court papers as H. C., was a former law enforcement officer.
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