UK threatens social media with new laws

LONDON • Britain's Health Minister Jeremy Hunt has threatened to impose new regulations on social media firms unless they did more to protect young people using their services.

In a letter sent to tech firms and reported in The Sunday Times, Mr Hunt said the groups were "turning a blind eye" to the effect social media had on children's well-being - an accusation that comes as Facebook and others face heightened scrutiny worldwide over their impact and influence.

REUTERS

Nashville man kills four with assault rifle

NASHVILLE • A man who was naked but for a green jacket shot and killed at least four people and wounded at least three others at a Waffle House restaurant near Nashville, Tennessee early yesterday.

The gunman, armed with what was described as an AR-15 style assault rifle, walked into the restaurant in Antioch, in Nashville, and opened fire on the patrons, the Metro Nashville Police said in a statement, adding that "a patron wrestled away the gunman's rifle".

The gunman's vehicle was registered to Travis Reinking, 29, of Illinois, identified by police as a person of interest in the shooting.

REUTERS

US issues warning over romaine lettuce

WASHINGTON • Public health officials in the US are telling consumers to avoid all types of romaine lettuce because of an E. coli outbreak linked to the vegetable that has spread to at least 16 states and sickened at least 60 people, including eight inmates at an Alaska prison.

The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) last Friday said new information about the illnesses in Alaska led them to expand a warning beyond chopped romaine to include any type of the lettuce, including heads and hearts of the vegetable.

The inmates who became sick at the Anvil Mountain Correctional Centre in Nome ate lettuce from whole heads of romaine grown in Yuma, Arizona, the CDC said.

WASHINGTON POST