National news in brief 6/13/08

More states report salmonella cases

WASHINGTON -- The toll from salmonella-tainted tomatoes jumped to 228 illnesses Thursday as the government learned of five dozen previously unknown cases and said it is possible the food poisoning contributed to a cancer patient's death. Six more states -- Florida, Georgia, Missouri, New York, Tennessee and Vermont -- reported illnesses related to the outbreak, bringing the number of affected states to 23. The Food and Drug Administration has not pinpointed the source of the outbreak. With the latest known illness striking June 1, officials also are not sure if all the tainted tomatoes are off the market. "As long as we are continuing to see new cases come on board, it is a concern that there are still contaminated tomatoes out there," said the agency's food safety chief, Dr. David Acheson. Government officials have said all week they were close to cracking the case, but "maybe we were being too optimistic," Acheson acknowledged.

Yahoo ends all talks with Microsoft; shares plunge

SAN FRANCISCO -- Yahoo Inc.'s efforts to revive takeover talks with Microsoft Corp. have reached a dead end, setting the stage for the Internet pioneer to turn over a piece of its advertising platform to online search leader Google Inc. The news disclosed Thursday caused Yahoo shares to plunge by more than 10 percent as investors abandoned hope that Microsoft would renew a five-month quest to buy the Sunnyvale-based company. Yahoo tried to renew the discussions at Microsoft's last offer of $47.5 billion, or $33 per share, but the software maker wasn't willing to bid that much again, according to a statement released Thursday.

Study: Golf carts have their risks

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Beware: Puttering around on golf carts can be hazardous to your health. Those little vehicles that lurch and buzz past fairways and greens -- and increasingly down suburban streets -- might be a cost-saving alternative to sport utility vehicles and cars. but a pair of studies released this week suggests they do have their risks. The research found that over a four-year period, nearly 50,000 people were hurt in accidents involving golf carts. One of the studies, by the University of Alabama at Birmingham, said about 1,000 Americans are hurt on golf carts every month. Males aged 10 to 19 and people over 80 had the highest injury rates. A separate study by the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, said falling or jumping out of carts accounted for the largest number of injuries, 38 percent.

Date palm grown from ancient seed doing well

WASHINGTON -- At three years old and about four feet tall, Methuselah is growing well. "It's lovely," Dr. Sarah Sallon said of the date palm, whose parents may have provided food for the besieged Jews at Masada some 2,000 years ago. The little tree was sprouted in 2005 from a seed recovered from Masada, where rebelling Jews committed suicide rather than surrender to Roman attackers. Radiocarbon dating of seed fragments clinging to its root, as well as other seeds found with it that didn't sprout, indicate they were about 2,000 years old -- the oldest seed known to have been sprouted and grown. Sallon, director of the Louis L. Borick Natural Medicine Research Center at Hadassah Medical Organization in Israel, updates the saga of Methuselah in today's edition of the journal Science.

-- From wire reports