Strike nearing an end?

Strike nearing an end?

LOS ANGELES — The striking Writers Guild of America is anticipating that lawyers could complete a draft copy of a proposed deal with Hollywood studios by Friday. The bargaining committee and boards of the East and West Coast guild chapters plan to review the proposal before sharing details Saturday at membership meetings in New York and Los Angeles, said a person close to the situation who was not authorized to comment publicly and requested anonymity. In an e-mail sent earlier this week to guild members, negotiations committee chief John Bowman said the guild wouldn’t make a formal decision on the proposed deal until after the informational membership meetings. If writers like what they hear Saturday, the closed-door meetings could be a major step toward a resolution of the 3-month-old strike.

Diabetes study halted

RALEIGH, N.C. — A major national diabetes study was halted Wednesday after researchers found that cutting blood sugar levels to near normal levels in certain patients actually increased the risk of death. The findings raise questions about the best way to manage patients with the disease. “The thought was maybe what you need to do is get even tighter with blood sugar and get these patients as close to normal as you can get — conventional wisdom isn’t always right,” said Dr. Mark Feinglos, chief of endocrinology at Duke University Medical Center and an investigator in the study. About 18 million Americans have diabetes. Type 2 accounts for about 90 percent of cases, and cardiovascular disease is a one of the most common complications of the disease.

Mideast violence flares

JERUSALEM — Hamas militants fired a rocket into an Israeli border village, wounding two young sisters as they played outside their home. The attack followed Israeli airstrikes against Gaza militants and threats of an “all-front” war on the Islamic group. The rapid-fire events threatened to escalate into large-scale combat that could bury U.S.-led Mideast peace efforts. Hamas stepped up its rocket barrages at southern Israel for a second day, retaliating for an Israeli strike that killed seven of its police officers. More than a dozen rockets rained down, one exploding at Kibbutz Beeri, a communal village about four miles from the border fence.

WWI vet dies at 108

TAMPA, Fla. — Harry Richard Landis, who enlisted in the Army in 1918 and was one of only two known surviving U.S. veterans of World War I, died Monday. He was 108. Donna Riley, Landis’ caregiver for the past five years, said he had recently been in the hospital with a fever and low blood pressure. The remaining U.S. veteran is Frank Buckles, 107, of Charles Town, W.Va., according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

FDA fines Red Cross again

WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration has fined the Red Cross an additional $4.6 million for the distribution of “unsuitable blood products,” bringing penalties against the organization to more than $19 million in recent years. The FDA issued a letter Wednesday stating that it reviewed 113 recalls of blood products by the Red Cross from April 2003 to April 2006. The recalls involved the release of an estimated 4,094 unsuitable blood components.

Stranded couple rescued

CEDAR CITY, Utah — A couple trapped for 11 days in heavy snow was rescued Wednesday when a snowplow driver clearing a remote canyon road found them attempting a desperate hike to safety. Thomas and Tamitha Garner left their stranded pickup truck Monday after their food ran out and survived the overnight cold by starting fires with matches and a can of carburetor cleaner, Iron County Sheriff Mark Gower said. The couple had hiked 15 to 20 miles by the time the snowplow driver found them about 60 miles west of Cedar City in southwestern Utah.

Combined dispatches