Brain-eating amoeba killed boy after swim in Lake Mead, officials say
A boy has died of a brain-eating amoeba infection after swimming in Lake Mead this month, authorities in Nevada said.
The patient, identified only as a male under the age of 18, is believed to have been exposed while on the Arizona side of the lake “at the beginning of October,” according to the Southern Nevada Health District.
He developed symptoms about a week later, health officials said.
The amoeba, formally known as Naegleria fowleri, is common in warm bodies of fresh water such as lakes, rivers and hot springs.
“My condolences go out to the family of this young man,” said Dr. Fermin Leguen, the district’s health officer. “While I want to reassure the public that this type of infection is an extremely rare occurrence, I know this brings no comfort to his family and friends at this time.”
N. fowleri infects people by entering through the nose and traveling to the brain, health officials said. Though the infection is rare, it is “almost always fatal.”
The amoeba can’t infect people if swallowed and isn’t spread from person to person.
—Los Angeles Times
Plane commandeered from Cuba, lands safely in Florida Everglades
MIAMI — The mass exodus from Cuba took an unusual twist Friday, when someone in a old Soviet-era cropduster took off from the island just 90 miles north of Key West and landed somewhere west of Krome Avenue in the Everglades.
“Somebody from Cuba took a plane and just landed it in the Everglades,” said U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokeswoman Rachel Torres. “It’s one guy and he appears to be OK.”
Miami-Dade Police said the aircraft landed about 30 miles west of Krome at the Dade Collier Training and Transitional Airport, a strip that was the the site of a planned massive Everglades Jetport that was derailed over environmental concerns in 1970. Officers were heading to the scene.
Spain-based news outlet Cibercuba identified the Cuban pilot who took the plane as Rubén Martínez. According to the report, Martínez supposedly redirected an old Soviet plane AN-2 from Santi Spiritus to South Florida on Friday morning. Martínez is a pilot with a small Cuban state domestic chartered flight.
Many Cubans, desperate to leave the island and start over in the United States are making the perilous journey in greater numbers across the Florida Straits. Already dealing with the largest escalation of Cuban migration in nearly a decade, U.S. Border Patrol and Coast Guard crews patrolling South Florida and the Keys report that the number of people leaving Cuba for a trip across the Straits so far in October is higher than average.
—Miami Herald
New Mexico DA warns on anniversary of deadly 'Rust' shooting
On the one-year anniversary of the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, a top prosecutor in New Mexico renewed her stark warning that "no one is above the law."
A year ago Friday, actor Alec Baldwin accidentally shot and killed Hutchins and wounded the director Joel Souza during a rehearsal for the western "Rust" on a set near Santa Fe.
Although her widower, Matthew Hutchins, has settled a wrongful death suit with the family, saying the tragedy was "terrible accident," First Judicial District Atty. Mary Carmack-Altwies has said the settlement has no bearing on the criminal investigation.
In a statement Friday, Carmack-Altwies noted that she was awaiting a report from the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office and is still considering whether she will bring charges against those involved.
"District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altweis remains committed to pursuing justice for the victims, and getting answers for the community," Heather Brewer, spokesperson, Office of the First Judicial District Attorney in New Mexico, said in a statement. "As soon as the District Attorney receives the full report from the Santa Fe County Sheriff, she and her team of professional attorneys and investigators will thoroughly review all the evidence and make a thoughtful decision about whether to bring charges against those involved. No one is above the law and every victim deserves justice."
—Los Angeles Times
Meloni gets mandate to become Italy's first female premier
ROME — Giorgia Meloni is set to become Italy’s first female prime minister, heading its most right-wing government since World War II after President Sergio Mattarella tasked her to form an administration.
In a meeting at the Quirinale Palace, the head of state Mattarella formally asked Meloni on Friday to form a government, following her coalition’s election win. Meloni accepted and will be sworn in Saturday, Ugo Zampetti, the presidency’s secretary general, told reporters.
Meloni faces governing at a difficult time, with investors watching closely. A premiership involves steering the euro area’s third-biggest economy and its mammoth debt through an energy crisis compounded by rising interest rates and slowing economic growth.
Meloni read out the make-up of her government, picking Giancarlo Giorgetti as finance minister. Giorgetti is a compromise, since he is a longtime lawmaker, a top figure in Matteo Salvini’s League party and a former economic development minister in Draghi’s government. She also chose Antonio Tajani, of Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party, as foreign minister and deputy premier. Salvini himself becomes infrastructures minister and also deputy premier.
After the swearing-in ceremony, when Meloni formally succeeds Mario Draghi, she will address both houses of parliament for a confidence vote which will confirm she holds a majority.
—Bloomberg News
