The News in 2 Minutes

From The Associated Press

Bush to visit Mideast in early January

WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Bush will visit the Mideast in early January as he presses the Israelis and Palestinians to restart moribund peace talks, the White House said Tuesday.

White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe would not release any details of Bush’s itinerary.

But an Israeli television station said the president would visit Israel.

Last week, Bush hosted a high-profile Mideast conference in Annapolis where Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told international backers and skeptical Arab neighbors that they were ready to resume bargaining toward achieving independent Palestinian homeland.

State vets home reports more patient care concerns

PHOENIX—State health officials are looking into more possible problems at the Arizona State Veteran Home in Phoenix.

The Arizona Department of Veterans’ Services said Tuesday that the Arizona Department of Health Services is looking into possible cases of residents who fell, were found with pressure sores or left the home unannounced.

“We saw some things that we thought might be issues and we reported them,” Veteran Services director Gregg Maxon said in a statement. “We take this very seriously.”

Veterans Services officials said that there also may be issues with complete and timely reporting of problems.

In March, state Department of Veterans’ Services director Patrick Chorpenning resigned after a February DHS survey found problems in patient care, monitoring of smoking and lack of response to residents’ activation of call buttons. This time, Veterans’ Services says there’s no indication that any of the 184 residents were in immediate jeopardy.

Study says sinus woes not helped by antibiotics

CHICAGO—Just in time for runny nose season, new research suggests routine sinus infections aren’t really helped by antibiotics and other medicine that’s often prescribed.

In the British study, people suffering from facial pain and a runny nose with greenish or yellowish mucous generally improved within about two weeks, whether they took the standard antibiotic amoxicillin, steroid nose spray or fake medicine.

The results, based on patients’ reporting whether their symptoms had improved, echo previous findings in children.

Antibiotics, particularly the penicillin-like drug amoxicillin, are among the most commonly prescribed medicines for sinus infections.

Steroid sprays sometimes are used, but the study found they also were no better than dummy drugs, although they appeared to provide some relief for patients with only minor symptoms.

The study should lead to a “reconsideration of antibiotic use for acute sinusitis. The current view that antibiotics are effective can now be challenged, particularly for the routine cases which physicians treat,” said lead author Dr. Ian Williamson of the University of Southampton in England.

Inhaling steam and squirting salt water into the nose to flush out thick mucous are among other methods that sometimes provide relief, he said.

Storm that battered Northwest moves out

CENTRALIA, Wash.—A storm that battered the Pacific Northwest for two days moved on Tuesday, leaving behind flooded homes, fallen trees and washed-out roads, including the region’s largest highway, Interstate 5, which was covered with 10 feet of muddy water.

State officials hoped to open the highway Thursday, but were waiting to see what damage the flooding might have done.

The storm, which killed at least five people, lashed the area with high winds and heavy rain, and forced authorities to evacuate a flooded Oregon town that was cut off by landslides. Tens of thousands of people were without power.

The storm, the last of three severe weather systems to smack the region, moved into British Columbia on Tuesday and began to dissipate, the National Weather Service said. The earlier storms carried heavy snow to the Upper Plains, the Midwest and the Northeast.

Iran says U.S. should ease nuclear demands

TEHRAN, Iran—Iran on Tuesday touted a new U.S. intelligence report as vindication that its nuclear program is peaceful. But it was unclear if the finding would lead to any immediate warming in U.S.-Iranian relations, including on key issues like Iraq.

Iranian officials insisted Washington should take a less hawkish stance and drop attempts to impose new sanctions in light of the report’s conclusion that Iran stopped its nuclear weapons program in late 2003 and has shown no signs of resuming.

President Bush ruled out any change in policy. He said sanctions were still needed to force Iran to stop uranium enrichment, which he warned could be used for building atomic warheads someday. France and Britain also said pressure must be maintained on Tehran.

Even Russia, which urges continued negotiations rather than more sanctions, said Iran must open its nuclear program fully to international scrutiny and keep it under control of the U.N. atomic watchdog agency.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, meanwhile, disputed the U.S. conclusions, saying Israeli intelligence believes Iran is still trying to develop nuclear weapons.

Top Democratic fundraiser indicted on fraud

NEW YORK—A federal grand jury on Tuesday indicted a top Democratic fundraiser accused of cheating investors of at least $20 million and using some of the money for illegal donations to political candidates such as Hillary Rodham Clinton.

In the 15-count indictment, the government accused Norman Hsu, a 56-year-old clothing-industry entrepreneur, of duping investors nationwide with a massive Ponzi scheme.

The government said Hsu also violated federal campaign-finance laws by making contributions to various political candidates in the names of others. A message left with a lawyer for Hsu was not immediately returned.

Federal prosecutors said Hsu hoped his lavish campaign contributions would help draw money to his scheme by raising his public profile. To achieve his aims, prosecutors said, Hsu pressured many of his victims to contribute thousands of dollars to various candidates for president and Congress.