US: Regulate face, hand transplants

US: Regulate face, hand transplants

The federal government wants to start regulating face and hand transplants just as kidneys, hearts and other organs are now, with waiting lists, a nationwide system to match and distribute body parts and donor testing to prevent deadly infections.

It’s a big step toward expanding access to these radical operations, especially for wounded troops returning home. A dozen U.S. hospitals already do face or hand transplants, and more are preparing to offer the operations. More than 1,000 troops have lost an arm or leg in Afghanistan or Iraq, and the government estimates that 200 troops might be eligible for face transplants.

Prosecutors call for Mubarak’s hanging

CAIRO

Prosecutors on Thursday called for Hosni Mubarak to be hanged, saying he bore full responsibility for the killing of protesters during the uprising against him, in a courtroom moment unthinkable barely a year ago when the longtime leader held unquestioned power.

The demand for the death penalty at the 83-year-old former president’s trial played to the widespread resentment of Mubarak among Egyptians who hoped that punishment for his oppressive rule would be fruit of the Arab Spring.

Still, some of the activists who helped topple him are skeptical the sentence would ever be carried out, if he is convicted. A conviction would be followed by a possibly lengthy appeals process that the ailing Mubarak’s lawyer likely would draw out, and Egypt’s new rulers — the military — have the power to veto a death sentence.

Man charged in Florida clinic fire

PENSACOLA, Fla.

Authorities say a homeless man charged Thursday with setting a New Year’s Day fire that gutted a family- planning clinic told investigators he acted out of a strong disbelief in abortion and was also fueled by seeing a young woman enter the clinic while he looked on recently with protesters.

Bobby Joe Rogers, 41, was charged with one count of damaging a building by fire or explosive and was being held Thursday at the Escambia County Jail in the Florida Panhandle region. He could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

Okla. man executed for fatal stabbing

McALESTER, Okla.

An Oklahoma inmate has been put to death for killing a man during a knife fight nearly two decades ago, marking the nation’s first execution this year.

Gary Roland Welch, 49, was given a lethal injection Thursday at the state penitentiary in McAlester for the fatal stabbing of 35-year-old Robert Hardcastle in Miami, Okla. He was pronounced dead at 6:10 p.m.

Nearly three weeks ago, Welch attempted suicide by slitting his throat with a smuggled shaving razor. Prison officials and Welch’s court-appointed attorney insisted he was sane and understood his fate.

Welch maintained that he killed Hardcastle in self-defense.

20 detained in deadly prison riot

MEXICO CITY

Mexican authorities have detained 20 inmates for alleged involvement in a prison riot that killed 31 in a state bordering Texas and are investigating whether prison staff also were responsible.

No prison officials had been dismissed so far over the fight in which one cell block invaded another Wednesday afternoon, causing a brawl among prisoners armed with makeshift knives, clubs and stones, said Morelos Canseco, interior secretary of Tamaulipas state.

Associated Press