Nestle refused FDA information, reports show | KOMO News – Seattle — This is interesting. When did the FDA become stooges. Why even have an FDA?

Inspection reports from a Nestle USA cookie dough factory released Friday show the company refused several times in the past five years to provide Food and Drug Administration inspectors with complaint logs, pest-control records and other information.

The records, which date back to 2004, were made public after Nestle’s Toll House refrigerated, prepackaged cookie dough was discovered to be the likely culprit in an E. coli outbreak that has sickened 69 people in 29 states, according to the latest estimates from the federal Centers for Disease Control. The CDC is investigating the outbreak along with the FDA.

Nestle voluntarily recalled all Toll House refrigerated cookie dough products made at the Danville, Va., factory late last week after the FDA informed the company it suspected consumers may have been exposed to E. coli bacteria after eating the dough raw.

According to the reports released by the FDA, the company refused to allow FDA investigators access to certain documents in at least 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007.

FDA spokeswoman Stephanie Kwisnek said the Glendale, Calif.-based unit of Switzerland-based Nestle SA had the right to do so.

Found by Aric Mackey.

White version of Alfredo

Judge rules on side of religious rights in exorcism case | ajc.com — I’m stunned, really stunned that this happened in Georgia and not Florida where I could use the wacky news from Florida logo. Sigh.

Weed testified that Alfred believed her son to be possessed by Satan. The teenager was calling himself “Alfredo,” spitting, hissing and flailing his arms wildly. He had to be handcuffed, for his own safety and that of the officers, before he could be transported to Gwinnett Medical Center, Weed said.

The teenager was treated for dehydration and minor bruising to his wrists, Weed said. The judge said it would be a mistake to discount the possibility that a religious solution existed.

“I have a hard time believing you’re going to get anybody to say in Gwinnett County, Georgia, that Satan doesn’t exist, that the Bible doesn’t exist, that the actual biblical descriptions of possession are not true,” Mitchum said. “You’re not going to get anybody to say that’s all false. So it’s going to be really hard to claim that the basic precept behind any of her actions were false, malicious or criminal.”

You have to love the logic.

Found by Kurt Feldhaus.

Click image to go to No Agenda.

John and Adam discuss the news of the day from an international perspective

Queue / cue / Q the closing credits — We hope you enjoy the show!

No Agenda Archive

Running time: approx. 90 mins.

Ananova – Luxury yachts offer pirate hunting cruises — Only the Russians would dream up something like this.

Luxury ocean liners in Russia are offering pirate hunting cruises aboard armed private yachts off the Somali coast.Wealthy punters pay £3,500 per day to patrol the most dangerous waters in the world hoping to be attacked by raiders.

When attacked, they retaliate with grenade launchers, machine guns and rocket launchers, reports Austrian business paper Wirtschaftsblatt. Passengers, who can pay an extra £5 a day for an AK-47 machine gun and £7 for 100 rounds of ammo, are also protected by a squad of ex special forces troops.

The yachts travel from Djibouti in Somalia to Mombasa in Kenya.

I guess this takes elephant hunting to a different dimension.

Found by Rick Salsman.

Better days

Pop star Michael Jackson dead: report – washingtonpost.com — FYI. An odd tragic figure.

Pop giant Michael Jackson, who took to the stage as a child star and went on to set the world dancing to the thumping rhythms of his music for decades, died Thursday, TMZ website reported. He was 50.

“We’ve just learned Michael Jackson has died,” TMZ said.

“Michael suffered a cardiac arrest earlier this afternoon and paramedics were unable to revive him. We’re told when paramedics arrived Jackson had no pulse and they never got a pulse back,” the entertainment site said.

There was no official confirmation of the reported death and spokespersons for Jackson could not be reached for comment.

BBC NEWS | Gazprom seals $2.5bn Nigeria deal — Even the BBC doesn’t notice that the name of this company is a bit dubious!

Russia’s energy giant Gazprom has signed a $2.5bn £1.53bn deal with Nigeria’s state operated NNPC, to invest in a new joint venture.

The new firm, to be called Nigaz, is set to build refineries, pipelines and gas power stations in Nigeria.

Analysts say the move could further strengthen Russia’s role in supplying natural gas to Europe.

The agreement comes during a four-day African tour by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

As well as forming Nigaz, Russia is keen on developing a trans-African pipeline to transport Nigerian gas to Europe.

This could further reinforce Gazprom’s already-strong influence over Europe’s energy supplies.

Found by John Ligums.