13 Dead in Listeria Outbreak

The CDC says that at east 72 people have been sickened and 13 have died as a result of eating cantaloupes tainted with listeria bacteria, making it the deadliest outbreak of food-borne illness in the U.S. in a decade.

State officials say they are investigating three more deaths -- one each in New Mexico, Kansas, and Wyoming -- that may also be connected to the contaminated Colorado cantaloupes.

The new numbers mean that the death toll has outpaced the number of deaths tied to an outbreak of salmonella in peanut products nearly three years ago. Nine people died in that outbreak.

Listeriosis, the illness caused by listeria bacteria, typically strikes vulnerable people, like the elderly, pregnant women, and those with weakened immune systems.

Infection from listeria bacteria starts in the stomach and intestines where it may cause diarrhea and other gastrointestinal symptoms. If it spreads beyond the gut, listeriosis causes flu-like symptoms and worse.

Earthquakes Rock Guatemala

Four earthquakes have struck southern Guatemala within two and a half hours, shaking buildings in the capital and killing three people.

President Álvaro Colom called for calm after tremors were felt across much of the Central American country, the largest a 5.8 magnitude quake. All were centred in an area about 30 miles (51km) south-east of the capital, Guatemala City, according to the US Geological Survey.

"There is no reason to think there will be anything bigger," Colom said at a news conference.

He said all rescue forces and government agencies had been activated to deal with the aftermath.
The quakes struck near Guatemala's south-western coast in the sugar cane growing region around Santa Rosa, forcing the evacuation of about 400 people and cutting electricity and telephone services, emergency services said.

Thirteen people were taken to hospital and classes were cancelled in the Santa Rosa region, but emergency services said they did not expect further severe aftershocks. "It's unlikely that there will be any more events bigger than what we have already experienced," said Alejandro Maldonado, head of the country's disaster co-ordination agency.

"The situation is completely under control."

USGS geophysicist Rafael Abreu said all four quakes were connected to the same fault running through the area.

Storms Slam the South

Storms swiped through the South and the aftermath is mind blowing.  87 people killed in six states — including two people thought to have died in floods — and that number was likely to increase.

61 people are reported dead in Alabama as a result of the storm, including 15 in Tuscaloosa, a city of 93,000 and home to the University of Alabama. Sections of the city were destroyed and the city's infrastructure devastated, the mayor said, after a tornado hit the area.

Further north, a nuclear power plant west of Huntsville lost power and was operating on diesel generators.

The storms spread destruction from Tuesday night and Wednesday from Texas to Georgia, and it was forecast to hit the Carolinas before moving further north-east. Several states suffered power outages as well as property and infrastructure damage that could prove costly to repair. Floods were a concern throughout the storm-hit area, where rain compounded with melted snow to cause rising rivers and saturated soils.

Storms also killed people in Georgia and in Tennessee on Wednesday.

The Most Dangerous Job: Commercial Fisherman

Based on injuries and deaths, if you are a commercial fisherman, you have the most dangerous job in America.  I have to agree, it's a tough job these guys have and they don't get rich.

Some stats:

Fatalities per 100,000 full-time workers: 200
Injuries per 100,000 full-time workers: 800
2009 Average annual employment: 6,700
Average salary: $22,160

Video Clips of New Zealand Earthquake from CCTV



The death toll from the 6.3-magnitude earthquake that struck Christchurch earlier this week rose Thursday, with at least 98 confirmed deaths and 226 reported missing, police said.Officials said they had given up hope of rescuing at least 100 people who were trapped in the Canterbury TV building in downtown Christchurch. Police said they were "100% certain" no one in the building was still alive.

Authorities fear that trapped occupants in another building, the Pyne Gould Corporation Building, are also dead.

Of those missing were 27 Japanese students, Japan's foreign ministry said. Most of them were students at language schools, and five were on personal study trips.