Court to rehear drug case

Court to rehear drug case
WASHINGTON -- A federal court agreed Tuesday to rehear a case that would have given terminally ill patients early access to experimental drugs unlikely to be approved before they die. The full 10-judge U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia probably will hear the case next summer, said Richard Samp, chief counsel for the Washington Legal Foundation. The group, with the Abigail Alliance for Better Access to Developmental Drugs, sued the Food and Drug Administration in 2003 in seeking broader access to drugs that have undergone preliminary safety testing in as few as 20 people but have yet to be approved by the FDA. In 2004, a district court dismissed the case. In May, a three-judge appeals panel reinstated the lawsuit in a 2-1 decision. The FDA in turn appealed the May decision and asked for the full court to rehear the case.
"We had asked that the rehearing not be granted but we are confident when all the judges on the court hear the facts, they will agree with the original panel's decision," Samp said. An FDA spokeswoman had no immediate comment. The Abigail Alliance wants to expand the availability of drugs in the initial phases of human testing beyond the limited "compassionate use" programs now permitted.
Eight miners killed, 15 trapped after explosion
WARSAW, Poland -- Eight coal miners were killed after a suspected gas explosion in a mine in southern Poland on Tuesday, and fears were growing as rescuers tried to reach 15 others trapped more than 3,000 underground. The accident occurred as the men were demolishing a wall in an underground corridor at the Halemba coal mine in the city of Ruda Slaska, said Southern Mining Co., which operates the mine. "Eight are dead," Jan Sienkiewicz, spokesman for the Halemba mine, told The Associated Press. He declined to give details. The men were among a group of 31 miners who had been removing equipment from a shaft that had been closed for mining because it had been deemed too dangerous, said Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who flew to the mine and met with rescuers. He said eight miners had managed to escape.
Companion dog found
OMAHA, Neb. -- A three-week search for the companion dog of an Oregon man battling depression has ended with a happy reunion in Wyoming, more than 700 miles from the spot where the pet was stolen. Melody, a 12-year-old border collie mix, was found huddled under a pickup in Sheridan, Wyo. Bliss Green of Myrtle Creek, Ore., had been e-mailing shelters around the country since losing his faithful companion Nov. 3. Melody was inside Green's car when the vehicle was stolen at a York, Neb., gas station. Green, 75, adopted the dog from a shelter 11 years ago, after going to a hospital because of suicidal impulses. A nurse practitioner wrote Green a prescription for Melody in 2003, allowing him to keep her with him at all times. "If she was with me and knew I was upset about something, her head would come on my lap," Green said. "I haven't been depressed since I've had her." York police said they tracked a cell phone in Green's car as it was used through Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Idaho and Oregon. It led them to the car and a suspect who was arrested in Oregon, Green said. A Wyoming couple found the dog and fed her for a week, thinking she belonged to someone in the neighborhood, authorities said. Investigators connected the pet to Green after some of Green's belongings from the car were found in the area.
Teen girl who reportedgang rape gets 90 lashes
AL-AWWAMIYA, Saudi Arabia -- When the teenager went to the police a few months ago to report she was gang-raped by seven men, she never imagined that the judge would punish her -- and that she would be sentenced to more lashes than one of her alleged rapists received. The story of the Girl of Qatif, as the alleged rape victim has been called by the media here, has triggered a rare debate about Saudi Arabia's legal system, in which judges have wide discretion in punishing a criminal, rules of evidence are shaky and sometimes no lawyers are present. The result are sentences that critics say depend on the whim of judges. They point to recent cases, such as one in which a group of men got heavier sentences for harassing women than three men convicted of raping a boy and than the men in the Girl of Qatif case. Or another in which a woman was ordered to divorce her husband against her will based on a demand by her relatives. In the case of the Girl of Qatif, she was sentenced to 90 lashes for being alone in a car with a man she was not married to -- a crime in this strictly segregated country -- at the time she was allegedly attacked and raped by a group of other men.
Associated Press