Judge throws out lawsuit against Britney Spears and parents

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A Los Angeles judge on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit by the one-time confidante of pop star Britney Spears, ruling there was insufficient evidence to go forward with the trial on allegations of defamation, assault and breach of contract.

“I really thought long and hard. It’s the right thing to do, so I am going to do it,” Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Suzanne Bruguera said, announcing her decision to throw out the case after hearing two weeks of evidence in the civil trial.

Bruguera’s ruling was a major victory for Spears and her family, despite damaging and sometimes humiliating testimony that lifted the lid on the singer’s controversial career and personal meltdown five years ago.

Sam Lutfi, the self-styled manager of the pop star for a brief period in 2007 and early 2008, had sued Spears’ mother, Lynne Spears, for defaming him in her 2008 book “Through the Storm.” Lynne Spears wrote that Lutfi controlled her daughter, cut her telephone lines and tried to cut the star off from her family.

Bruguera also dismissed claims filed by Lutfi against Spears. He said the singer hired him as her manager after they met in a nightclub in 2007, and he was entitled to a portion of her earnings.

Lutfi case against Spears’ father, Jamie Spears, was also thrown out. Lutfi alleged that Jamie Spears punched him in 2008 while the singer was in a Los Angeles psychiatric ward.

Lutfi, 38, said he would appeal the ruling.

Spears, 30, has since staged a comeback with world tours, hit albums and a new job as judge on Fox’s TV talent show “The X-Factor.” She did not attend the trial.

In testimony last week, Lutfi sobbed on the witness stand, saying he received death threats because of the villainous portrayal of him in the book. He also claimed he tried to get Spears off drugs and protect her from paparazzi photographers who hounded her day and night.

His most sensational claim was that Spears shaved her head in February 2007 because she feared her hair could be tested for drug use in her bitter child custody battle with ex-husband Kevin Federline.

Lutfi also told the court that he brought drug-sniffing dogs to her home and flushed a bag of white powder down the toilet.

Jamie Spears’ attorney told the court that his client was afraid that his daughter would die from drug abuse and believed that Lutfi was making her problems worse.

Lynne Spears testified that Lutfi crushed up drugs and put them into the singer’s food to help her sleep.

Spears’ meltdown led to her father’s conservatorship, which gives him legal control over her finances and health.

(Editing by Jill Serjeant and Stacey Joyce)

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Many HIV patients skip medications to drink: study

(Reuters) – About half of HIV patients on antiretroviral therapy skipped their medications whenever they were drinking alcohol, according to a U.S. study – an ill-advised behavior that researchers say could lead to higher viral loads.

The study, published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, for a year followed nearly 200 people with HIV who were on antiretrovirals and drank alcohol. It found that 51 percent stopped taking their medications while drinking.

Lapses could be due to forgetfulness while under the influence, but a widespread – and erroneous – belief that mixing alcohol and HIV drugs can be toxic appears to play a role.

“The harms caused by missing their medications far outweigh the harms caused by mixing the two, if the person doesn’t have liver disease,” said Seth Kalichman, a professor at the University of Connecticut and lead author of the study.

Drinking has been known to interfere with people’s adherence to their medications, but researchers said the consequences of inconsistent use of HIV medications can be more severe.

Antiretroviral drugs suppress the HIV virus, and patients must take the medications continuously to prevent the virus from surging. Additionally, going on and off the drugs can lead to drug resistance.

“People living with HIV who deliberately stop their medications when they are drinking are at risk for treatment failure,” the researchers wrote.

Kalichman and his colleagues surveyed 178 people – about four out of five of them men – who were currently using antiretroviral therapy and reported that they drank alcohol.

At the beginning of the study, the researchers asked the participants about their alcohol-related beliefs, such as whether they thought their drugs wouldn’t work as well if the two mixed. They also asked whether people would not take both at the same time, either by avoiding alcohol or the medicines.

Over the following year, the team checked in with patients every month to see how well they were sticking to their prescriptions through a pill count, and every other month they called to ask how often the patient had been drinking recently.

Doctors’ offices measured each patient’s level of virus and measures of immune system health.

They found that 51 percent of the patients would avoid the medications when they drank, and half of the people in this group had poor adherence to their prescriptions. In addition, half of the group that skipped pills said they wouldn’t take them again until the alcohol was out of their system.

People who skipped medications while drinking were also more likely to have higher levels of HIV in their bodies and lower numbers of CD4 cells, a measure of immune system health.

“I think it’s pretty well demonstrated that alcohol use is tied to poor adherence, and I think most people think it’s because they’re impaired in some way or they forget… whereas here it shows they’re (often) intentionally missing their medications,” said Catherine Grodensky, a researcher at the Center for AIDS Research at the University of North Carolina.

“And it looks like it’s having some significant impacts on their treatment.”

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/SmCjq9

(Reporting from New York by Kerry Grens at Reuters Health; editing by Elaine Lies)

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New York state asks Washington to cover all storm costs

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – New York state on Wednesday asked the U.S. federal government to pay all the costs of cleaning up and repairing damage from massive storm Sandy that tore through the Northeast this week and crippled New York City.

Governor Andrew Cuomo said he is asking fellow Democrat, President Barack Obama, to pay 100 percent of the estimated $ 6 billion bill, at a time that state and local government budgets remain constrained by a weak economic recovery.

That would be a significant change from last year when the federal government covered about 75 percent of the $ 1.2 billion cost paid by New York to clean up after storm Irene hit the region.

The two U.S. senators from neighboring New Jersey, the other state hit hardest by the storm, also asked that the federal government cover more than the usual share of the cost, given the size of the disaster and the financially strapped local coffers.

“Recent storms in New Jersey have already placed a significant burden on our state and local governments, which have been forced to pay for disaster response and will need federal assistance for recovery from Hurricane Sandy,” Senator Frank Lautenberg and Senator Robert Menendez, both Democrats, wrote in a letter to Obama.

“While we understand the federal share is typically 75 percent of these total costs, the unprecedented and extraordinary extent of damage Hurricane Sandy has caused to our state merits an adjustment to this cost-share to 90 to 100 percent federal coverage,” the two senators said.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a Republican, did not reply to request of comments.

Obama and Christie toured storm-stricken parts of New Jersey on Wednesday, taking in scenes of flooded roads from the air and telling residents they were moving quickly to get them help.

‘WE CAN’T PRINT MONEY’

New York top finance official, Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, said Washington should foot the bill, because of lingering financial pressures on state and local governments from the 2007-09 recession.

“I think the focus will have to be on Washington, for obvious reasons,” DiNapoli told Reuters in an interview.

“They have greater resources. They can print money; we can’t do that here. And given the fact this is not just a New York disaster, it’s really a national disaster, it’s probably for the federal government to step up and play a significant role.”

“The problem is the state is limited in its resource capacity. We just put out the mid-year report a week or two ago and it really showed tax revenues are down,” DiNapoli said.

Most U.S. states must balance their budgets, unlike the federal government, and it is up to Obama to decide if federal funds can cover all the costs.

“The president has the discretion to go higher. Seventy-five percent is a floor not a ceiling,” said Matt Mayer, a former senior official at the Department of Homeland Security.

If Obama accepts covering all the costs, this would be announced by Federal Emergency management Agency, Mayer said.

Former President George W. Bush allowed 100 percent reimbursement of costs in some states after Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005, Mayer, who worked at DHS during Bush’s presidency, told Reuters.

Cuomo said in a letter to Obama that “initial estimates project up to $ 6 billion in lost economic revenue in the greater metropolitan area and the state” due to disruption to business in the world’s financial hub.

Cuomo added that “the significant impact from Hurricane Sandy plainly warrants providing this assistance.”

The state, he said, was still battling multi-building fires, tunnel closures, and power outages at hospitals and other vital facilities. Plus there are destroyed homes and people needing shelter.

“Moreover, the cost to restore the complex electrically driven subway and rail transportation systems after total inundation from saltwater flooding will place a tremendous financial burden on New York state,” Cuomo said in the letter.

In New York alone nearly 2 million homes and businesses are still without power.

Cuomo said federal support is key to making sure state and local governments can respond effectively to the disaster.

New York state is rated AA by Standard and Poor’s and Aa2 by Moody’s and its outstanding debt is the second highest among states, after California.

(Additional reporting by Michael Connor in Miami; writing by Tiziana Barghini in New York; Editing by Mary Milliken and Bob Burgdorfer)

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Clinton calls for overhaul of Syrian opposition

ZAGREB (Reuters) – The United States called on Wednesday for an overhaul of Syria‘s opposition leadership, saying it was time to move beyond the Syrian National Council and bring in those “in the front lines fighting and dying”.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, signaling a more active stance by Washington in attempts to form a credible political opposition to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, said a meeting next week in Qatar would be an opportunity to broaden the coalition against him.

“This cannot be an opposition represented by people who have many good attributes but who, in many instances, have not been inside Syria for 20, 30, 40 years,” she said during a visit to Croatia.

“There has to be a representation of those who are in the front lines fighting and dying today to obtain their freedom.”

Clinton’s comments represented a clear break with the Syrian National Council (SNC), a largely foreign-based group which has been among the most vocal proponents of international intervention in the Syrian conflict.

U.S. officials have privately expressed frustration with the SNC’s inability to come together with a coherent plan and with its lack of traction with the disparate internal groups which have waged the 19-month uprising against Assad’s government.

Senior members of the SNC, Free Syrian Army (FSA) and other rebel groups ended a meeting in Turkey on Wednesday and pledged to unite behind a transitional government in coming months.

“It’s been our divisions that have allowed the Assad forces to reach this point,” Ammar al-Wawi, a rebel commander, told Reuters after the talks outside Istanbul.

“We are united on toppling Assad. Everyone, including all the rebels, will gather under the transitional government.”

Mohammad Al-Haj Ali, a senior Syrian military defector, told a news conference after the meeting: “We are still facing some difficulties between the politicians and different opposition groups and the leaders of the Free Syrian Army on the ground.”

Clinton said it was important that the next rulers of Syria were both inclusive and committed to rejecting extremism.

“There needs to be an opposition that can speak to every segment and every geographic part of Syria. And we also need an opposition that will be on record strongly resisting the efforts by extremists to hijack the Syrian revolution,” she said.

Syria’s revolt has killed an estimated 32,000. A bomb near a Shi’ite shrine in a suburb of Damascus killed at least six more people on Wednesday, state media and opposition activists said.

NEW LEADERSHIP

The meeting next week in Qatar’s capital Doha represents a chance to forge a new leadership, Clinton said, adding the United States had helped to “smuggle out” representatives of internal Syrian opposition groups to a meeting in New York last month to argue their case for inclusion.

“We have recommended names and organizations that we believe should be included in any leadership structure,” she told a news conference.

“We’ve made it clear that the SNC can no longer be viewed as the visible leader of the opposition. They can be part of a larger opposition, but that opposition must include people from inside Syria and others who have a legitimate voice which must be heard.”

The United States and its allies have struggled for months to craft a credible opposition coalition.

U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration has said it is not providing arms to internal opponents of Assad and is limiting its aid to non-lethal humanitarian assistance.

It concedes, however, that some of its allies are providing lethal assistance – a fact that Assad’s chief backer Russia says shows western powers are intent on determining Syria’s future.

Russia and China have blocked three U.N. Security Council resolutions aimed at increasing pressure on the Assad government, leading the United States and its allies to say they could move beyond U.N. structures for their next steps.

Clinton said she regretted but was not surprised by the failure of the latest attempted ceasefire, called by international mediator Lakhdar Brahimi last Friday. Each side blamed the other for breaking the truce.

“The Assad regime did not suspend its use of advanced weaponry against the Syrian people for even one day,” she said.

“While we urge Special Envoy Brahimi to do whatever he can in Moscow and Beijing to convince them to change course and support a stronger U.N. action we cannot and will not wait for that.”

Clinton said the United States would continue to work with partners to increase sanctions on the Assad government and provide humanitarian assistance to those hit by the conflict.

(Additional reporting by Ayla Jean Yackley; editing by Andrew Roche)

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What’s New in the New, Slim IMac?

Apple‘s iMac, or all-in-one desktop Mac, has always had a flair for the dramatic. From the “transparent gumdrop” original, to the “Pixar lamp” model, through to today’s enormous flatscreens, it’s been perhaps the most distinctive desktop computer in each of its iterations.

Now, at the event where Apple introduced the new iPad Mini, it also refreshed its mainstream desktop Mac lineups. Both the Mac Mini and iMac got new models, each faster and more powerful than the previous year’s. But while the Mac Mini still looks basically the same, the iMac now cuts an incredibly slim profile, which Apple says is 5 millimeters thin at its edge.

It’s not as thin as it seems — it curves substantially towards the back, not that you’d be able to tell from most of the photos on Apple’s site. But it doesn’t just have its looks going for it.

Improved display

The iMac still doesn’t have a Retina Display; that honor went to the 13-inch MacBook Pro, the second Mac to get a screen so sharp you can’t discern individual pixels with your unaided eye. Apple claims that the iMac’s screen now features 75 percent glare reduction, however, as well as an IPS display for improved viewing angles. Finally, the screen is now flush with the glass, so that it looks like there’s nothing in between you and the picture.

No optical drive

The new iMac has an SDXC card slot, so you can plug in up to 64 GB digital camera memory cards. It also has two high-speed Thunderbolt ports, for attaching external displays and backup hard drives, as well as four USB ports. The slot-loading DVD drive, however, has been removed … so make room in the budget for an external drive, if you still need one.

Dramatically improved performance

It’s a cliche that each new generation of computers is faster, better, and smaller than the last these days. Apple provides concrete numbers and handy benchmarks, however: “up to 60 percent faster graphics,” for instance, and it says that they feature the new third-generation quad-core Intel Core processors. Obviously, how much faster it is than the last iMac will depend on the specs of each, but the high end is now much higher.

Fusion Drive

What about hard disk access speeds — the tightest bottleneck, when it comes to computer performance? One way to get around those is to use a solid-state drive, or SSD, which uses flash memory like on the iPad and is much faster than a magnetic hard disk. SSDs cost more, though, and don’t offer nearly as much storage space.

Apple’s solution to get around this is Fusion Drive, which pairs a smaller SSD with a 1 TB (or larger) hard disk. OS X and its core apps are preloaded on the faster SSD, and Fusion Drive automatically puts your most-used stuff on it as well. Expect this add-on option to be pricey, however; it costs $ 250 extra on the Mac Mini, and isn’t even available on the cheapest Mac Mini model.

Jared Spurbeck is an open-source software enthusiast, who uses an Android phone and an Ubuntu laptop PC. He has been writing about technology and electronics since 2008.

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What’s New in the New, Slim IMac?

Apple‘s iMac, or all-in-one desktop Mac, has always had a flair for the dramatic. From the “transparent gumdrop” original, to the “Pixar lamp” model, through to today’s enormous flatscreens, it’s been perhaps the most distinctive desktop computer in each of its iterations.

Now, at the event where Apple introduced the new iPad Mini, it also refreshed its mainstream desktop Mac lineups. Both the Mac Mini and iMac got new models, each faster and more powerful than the previous year’s. But while the Mac Mini still looks basically the same, the iMac now cuts an incredibly slim profile, which Apple says is 5 millimeters thin at its edge.

It’s not as thin as it seems — it curves substantially towards the back, not that you’d be able to tell from most of the photos on Apple’s site. But it doesn’t just have its looks going for it.

Improved display

The iMac still doesn’t have a Retina Display; that honor went to the 13-inch MacBook Pro, the second Mac to get a screen so sharp you can’t discern individual pixels with your unaided eye. Apple claims that the iMac’s screen now features 75 percent glare reduction, however, as well as an IPS display for improved viewing angles. Finally, the screen is now flush with the glass, so that it looks like there’s nothing in between you and the picture.

No optical drive

The new iMac has an SDXC card slot, so you can plug in up to 64 GB digital camera memory cards. It also has two high-speed Thunderbolt ports, for attaching external displays and backup hard drives, as well as four USB ports. The slot-loading DVD drive, however, has been removed … so make room in the budget for an external drive, if you still need one.

Dramatically improved performance

It’s a cliche that each new generation of computers is faster, better, and smaller than the last these days. Apple provides concrete numbers and handy benchmarks, however: “up to 60 percent faster graphics,” for instance, and it says that they feature the new third-generation quad-core Intel Core processors. Obviously, how much faster it is than the last iMac will depend on the specs of each, but the high end is now much higher.

Fusion Drive

What about hard disk access speeds — the tightest bottleneck, when it comes to computer performance? One way to get around those is to use a solid-state drive, or SSD, which uses flash memory like on the iPad and is much faster than a magnetic hard disk. SSDs cost more, though, and don’t offer nearly as much storage space.

Apple’s solution to get around this is Fusion Drive, which pairs a smaller SSD with a 1 TB (or larger) hard disk. OS X and its core apps are preloaded on the faster SSD, and Fusion Drive automatically puts your most-used stuff on it as well. Expect this add-on option to be pricey, however; it costs $ 250 extra on the Mac Mini, and isn’t even available on the cheapest Mac Mini model.

Jared Spurbeck is an open-source software enthusiast, who uses an Android phone and an Ubuntu laptop PC. He has been writing about technology and electronics since 2008.

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Evan Rachel Wood marries “Billy Elliot” star Jamie Bell

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Hollywood actress Evan Rachel Wood has quietly married Briton Jamie Bell – star of the 2000 “Billy Elliot” dance movie – in a ceremony in California, Wood’s spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

“The bride wore a custom dress by Carolina Herrera. It was a small ceremony with close family and friends,” the spokeswoman said in a statement, adding that the wedding took place on Tuesday.

In a Twitter posting on Wednesday, Wood, best known for her roles in “The Wrestler” and coming of age movie “Thirteen,” said “Words cannot describe the happiness I am feeling. Overwhelming.”

Wood, 25, first began dating Bell about seven years ago. But the pair broke up and Wood went on to have a highly publicized engagement with heavy metal rocker Marilyn Manson, who is almost twice her age.

Wood and Bell, 26, were rumored to have become engaged in January this year, but never confirmed their relationship.

Bell found fame as the teen star of “Billy Elliot” about a ballet dancer growing up in a tough coal mining town in northern England. He won a British BAFTA award for the role and has since appeared in adventure movies like “The Eagle” and “Jumper.”

(Reporting By Jill Serjeant; Editing by Sandra Maler)

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Bellevue Hospital Evacuates Patients

New York City’s Bellevue Hospital Center was evacuating hundreds of patients to other hospitals, according to city officials, making it the latest hospital in the city forced to transfer patients after damage from Superstorm Sandy.

The evacuations from Bellevue — perhaps the best known of the 11 hospitals that make up New York City’s public hospital system — followed other transfers from NYU Langone Medical Center on Monday and Coney Island Hospital on Tuesday.

When Sandy hit the New York area Monday night, Bellevue, located on 1st Avenue and 27th Street in flood-stricken Lower Manhattan, almost lost its generators. At least one got repaired just in time to stave off an evacuation, but it’s been difficult to keep the hospital going.

Photos: Assessing Sandy’s Destruction

Bellevue, its staff and its remaining patients have been struggling along in the aftermath of Sandy with failing power, partially lighted halls and no computers, making it difficult to locate patients within the facility, hospital staff told ABC News today. Staff members spoke of long walks up and down dark stairwells and hallways to treat patients.

“It’s Katrina-esque in there,” one nurse told ABC News.

Similar conditions existed at Metropolitan Hospital, another city facility that was running on backup generator power. That hospital is located on 1st Avenue and East 97th Street in Manhattan.

NYU Medical Center Forced to Evacuate Over 200 Patients Watch Video

For two days, the Bellevue staff and the city have been poised for an eventual evacuation, and that time now seems to have come, along with another quest for beds.

Hurricane Sandy: Full Coverage

“We learned this morning that Bellevue will now have to evacuate because of damage that it has sustained,” New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg told reporters. “They didn’t think the damage was that bad, and we did have a generator going, and the National Guard helped carry fuel up to the roof, because that’s where the fuel tank was and they were running out.

“But the bottom line is that when they got into the basement they realized there was more damage,” Bloomberg added. “It’s going to affect something like 500 patients. They had already discharged patients that didn’t require critical care. We are in the process of finding beds to move these patients to now and I want to thank the greater New York hospital association for their help in the process of relocating patients.”

The Mount Sinai Medical Center in Manhattan’s East Harlem neighborhood further uptown told ABC News it would be accepting some of Bellevue’s patients. The patients likely will be received at Mount Sinai’s emergency room.

Earlier, when Mount Sinai could no longer reach anyone at Bellevue, it sent a medical team of eight to Bellevue, a Mount Sinai spokesman told ABC News. When the group arrived, two cardiac physicians told the Mount Sinai team they had two very serious patients that needed help. Both of those patients were to be moved to Mount Sinai, along with other patients.

Today, Bellevue nurses could be seen walking up and down stairs with food trays and medicine. Some had to hike to the 17th floor, where some patients have “serious conditions.”

7 Devastating Hurricanes: Where Will Sandy Rank?

The highest floor patients had to be carried from was 18th floor, New York City Health and Hospital Corporation President Alan Aviles told reporters this evening. The National Guard was instrumental in carrying fuel up to the hospital’s rooftop generator and patients down the stairs, Aviles added.

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NYC Rats: Stronger Than Sandy

Unprecedented flooding throughout low-lying portions of New York City over the past two days undoubtedly left hundreds—if not thousands—of rats scrambling for their dear lives. According to experts, most of them likely survived. “They’re a jack of all trades when it comes to locomotion,” says Rick Ostfeld of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, N.Y. “They can’t sprint, but they run well; they’re not Michael Phelps, but they’re strong swimmers; and even though they don’t have prehensile tails, they climb well. They do it all.”

Ostfeld notes that rats can easily swim a couple hundred yards. In fact, he says, “one of the ways that rats have dispersed around the world is by jumping off of ships and swimming to shore—the proverbial ‘rats leaving a sinking ship’ is actually based on reality.”

No one knows exactly how many rats live in New York City, but Ostfeld suspects that there are at least as many rats as humans. The city’s population is dominated by the Norway rat (Rattus norvegicus), an invader from Europe, and the Black rat (Rattus rattus), which originated in Asia. These highly resilient rats can be found throughout New York City, but they usually don’t travel far within those limits.

The displacement of rats caused by Hurricane Sandy—a dispersal of rats that is likely unprecedented for the city in terms of numbers—has Ostfeld concerned about a possible increased spread of rat-borne diseases. “You get infected individuals mixing with uninfected individuals and that’s a recipe for an outbreak,” says Ostfeld. “It spreads like the flu, from rat to rat.”

Urban rats are known to carry infectious diseases including leptospirosis, typhus, salmonella, hantavirus, and even the plague. The incubation period for these diseases in humans is usually a couple of weeks or months, and symptoms are often similar to those of a common flu. According to Ostfeld, “In the coming weeks and months, health-care providers should have rat-borne diseases on their radars and potentially test for them.”

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Hurricane’s death toll rises to 65 in Caribbean

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — As Americans braced Sunday for Hurricane Sandy, Haiti was still suffering.

Officials raised the storm-related death toll across the Caribbean to 65, with 51 of those coming in Haiti, which was pelted by three days of constant rains that ended only on Friday.

As the rains stopped and rivers began to recede, authorities were getting a fuller idea of how much damage Sandy brought on Haiti. Bridges collapsed. Banana crops were ruined. Homes were underwater. Officials said the death toll might still rise.

“This is a disaster of major proportions,” Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe told The Associated Press, adding with a touch of hyperbole, “The whole south is under water.”

The country’s ramshackle housing and denuded hillsides are especially vulnerable to flooding. The bulk of the deaths were in the southern part of the country and the area around Port-au-Prince, the capital, which holds most of the 370,000 Haitians who are still living in flimsy shelters as a result of the devastating 2010 earthquake.

Santos Alexis, mayor of the southern city of Leogane, said Sunday that the rivers were receding and that people were beginning to dry their belongings in the sun.

“Things are back to being a little quiet,” Alexis said by telephone. “We have seen the end.”

Sandy also killed 11 in Cuba, where officials said it destroyed or damaged tens of thousands of houses. Deaths were also reported in Jamaica, the Bahamas and Puerto Rico. Authorities in the Dominican Republic said the storm destroyed several bridges and isolated at least 130 communities while damaging an estimated 3,500 homes.

Jamaica’s emergency management office on Sunday was airlifting supplies to marooned communities in remote areas of four badly impacted parishes.

In the Bahamas, Wolf Seyfert, operations director at local airline Western Air, said the domestic terminal of Grand Bahamas‘ airport received “substantial damage” from Sandy’s battering storm surge and would need to be rebuilt.

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