Leno checks into hospital

Leno checks into hospital

BURBANK, Calif. — Jay Leno checked into a hospital with an undisclosed illness Thursday and canceled the taping of the “Tonight” show, but was doing well and planned to return next week, his publicist and NBC said.

Leno left his office at NBC’s studios about midday and checked himself into a hospital for observation, said his publicist, Dick Guttman. He would not identify what ailed Leno, but characterized it as “mild” and said the comedian continued to work Thursday, making phone calls and writing jokes.

Guests on the show were expected to be Ryan Reynolds, Jules Sylvester and swing band Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. Instead, NBC was to air a rerun.

CDC probes mysterious flu

ATLANTA — Health officials are investigating a never-before-seen form of the flu that combines pig, bird and human viruses and that has infected seven people in California and Texas. All the victims recovered, but the cases are a growing medical mystery because it’s unclear how they caught the virus.

None of the seven people were in contact with pigs, which is how people usually catch swine flu. And only a few were in contact with one another, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Still, health officials said it’s not a cause for public alarm: The five in California and two in Texas have all recovered, and testing indicates some mainstream antiviral medications seem to work against the virus.

Craigslist ad seeks victims

BOSTON — Prosecutors placed an ad on Craigslist on Thursday in an attempt to find other women who may have been victimized by Philip Markoff.

Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office spokesman Jake Wark said that Boston investigators hope the ad, posted in the “erotic services” section of the Web site, will persuade other possible victims to come forth.

The posting does not mention Markoff by name, and Wark says investigators aren’t sure there are other victims.

Markoff, a Boston University medical student, is charged in the April 14 killing of Julissa Brisman, a 25-year-old masseuse he met through Craigslist. He is also charged in a robbery of another masseuse whom police say he met through Craigslist.

Also Thursday, a law enforcement official, speaking to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case, said Markoff had been placed on suicide watch at the Boston jail where he is being held.

Freezing-death case closed

LANSING, Mich. — No criminal charges will be filed in the death of a 93-year-old man who froze inside his home after an electric utility installed a power-limiting device because of unpaid bills, a prosecutor said Thursday.

Bay County Prosecutor Kurt Asbury, citing the results of a Michigan State Police investigation and a final autopsy report, called Marvin Schur’s death a “terrible tragedy” but said no crimes were committed.

Neighbors discovered Schur’s body Jan. 17 in his house in Bay City, about 90 miles northwest of Detroit. The windows were frosted over, icicles hung from a faucet, and the World War II veteran lay dead on the bedroom floor in a winter jacket over four layers of clothing.

N. Korea indicts reporters

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea said today it formally decided to indict two U.S. journalists arrested on its border with China more than a month ago.

Laura Ling and Euna Lee, journalists working for former Vice President Al Gore’s San Francisco-based Current TV, were arrested after they reportedly crossed the border from China on March 17 while reporting on North Korean refugees.

North Korean media did not immediately detail charges under the indictments, but the North said last month that the women reporters would be put on trial on charges of illegal entry and unspecified “hostile acts.”

Mexican plan draws fire

MEXICO CITY — A bill that would let Mexico declare temporary states of emergency and expand the army’s power in a bloody fight against powerful drug gangs drew immediate fire Thursday from human-rights activists who say soldiers should not be doing the job of police.

President Felipe Calderon’s proposal, which centers on the idea of declaring drug trafficking hot spots “domestic security” zones, would give the army access to civilian court and police files.

Calderon’s government has already dispatched 45,000 troops to drug-plagued areas — mostly along the U.S. border — where cartel battles have cost more than 10,700 lives since Calderon took office in December 2006.

Associated Press