NEW YORK (Associated Press)– Officials say 13 people, including 10 firefighters, have been injured in a seven-alarm fire on Manhattan’s Lower East Side that burned for more than four hours before being declared under control.

Fire Chief Edward Kilduff said two elderly residents were hospitalized in critical condition with smoke inhalation and a third was being evaluated. He said 10 firefighters were hurt, including one whose hands were burned. Nine others suffered minor injuries. Read the full story

CUERNAVACA, Mexico – Two hundred Mexican Navy marines stormed an upscale apartment complex and killed a reputed drug cartel chief in a two-hour gunbattle, one of the biggest victories yet in President Felipe Calderon’s drug war.

Arturo Beltran Leyva, the “boss of bosses,” and six members of his cartel died in the shootout Wednesday in Cuernavaca, just south of Mexico City, according to a navy statement Thursday. Read the full story

By JEFF BAENEN (AP) – 8 hours ago

MINNEAPOLIS — Jesse Ventura is back for another stab at TV stardom, this time hosting a program that digs into conspiracy theories, including alternate views of what was behind the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the purpose of a sprawling research center in remote Alaska.

The former Minnesota governor, professional wrestler and Navy SEAL stars in “Conspiracy Theory With Jesse Ventura,” which premieres Wednesday night on truTV. The cable network, part of Turner Broadcasting System Inc., has ordered seven episodes of the hourlong weekly series. Read the full story

An Associated Press report

Report: Kentucky’s John Wall may not be eligible

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Kentucky’s John Calipari raved about the development of highly touted freshman guard John Wall Thursday morning during media day for the Southeastern Conference. Hours later, a report surfaced that his prized recruit might not be eligible to play.

SEC commissioner Mike Slive told ESPN.com that he believes the NCAA’s agents and amateurism group — not enforcement officials — are looking into the eligibility of both Wall and Mississippi State freshman Renardo Sidney.

“Those are amateur issues that arose prior to their coming to our schools,” Slive said. “Those are strictly amateurism issues. As we told our people, somebody needs to determine if they are eligible. It’s not relative to you, it’s relative to them.” Read the full story

(CBS/AP) The flood-ravaged Philippines is bracing for what could be a super typhoon (a category 4 or 5 in the U.S.), even as residents of the capital and outlying areas have barely recovered from last weekend’s record rainfall that killed at least 293 people in the country.

CBS News’ Barnaby Lo, reporting from Manila, said Typhoon Parma is forecast to hit the Northeast coast on Saturday, with winds of up to 120 mph and gusts up to 140 mph. Read the full story

MEXICO CITY — The next wave of swine flu has arrived, and Mexicans are bracing for an outbreak that may be even larger than the one here last spring that became a pandemic. Daily diagnoses reached higher levels in September than the H1N1 peak in April, with 483 new cases in just one day this month alone. It’s unlikely there will be large-scale closings of schools and stadiums, however, because health officials know the virus is usually mild if treated early. Read the full story

TYLER — A student was taken into a custody when a teacher known for his love of music died after being stabbed Wednesday at a Texas high school.

Todd R. Henry, 50, was a music therapist at John Tyler High School, according to his brother, Jody Henry. The victim was an “accomplished and respected guitarist,” Jody Henry told The Associated Press.

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The Associated Press is reporting that 18-year-old South African runner, Caster Semenya is on suicide watch after recent tests revealed (in front of the entire world no less) that she is intersex.

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A Johns Hopkins University student armed with a samurai sword killed an intruder in his garage, according to Baltimore police, the Associated Press reports.

Early Tuesday, one of the four students living at the home, which had just been hit by burglars the day before, noticed the garage door open. Read the full story

At least two Connecticut news organizations are reporting police have a suspect in the brutal death of Yale graduate student Annie Le.

The New Haven Independent and the New Haven Register report a Yale lab employee is being looked at by law enforcement. Read the full story

BOSTON (AP) — James S. McDonald, president and chief executive of investment management firm Rockefeller & Co., has died of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound, Massachusetts authorities said Tuesday. Read the full story

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Police are hunting for the killer who stuffed a body believed to be that of a Yale University graduate student behind a wall in the high-security laboratory building where she worked. Police found the body around 5 p.m. Sunday, on what was to have been 24-year-old Annie Le’s wedding day. An autopsy was underway on Monday to verify the identity of the body, found in a cable duct in the Yale medical school building. Police would not say Monday if they have a suspect, but said that nobody is in custody. Read the full story

Kim Phuc Phan Thai is the young girl in the center of this iconic photograph from the Vietnam War. Taken by the photographer Nick Ut after a napalm strike it shows Kim Phuc (as she is less formally known) running naked having suffered horrendous burns to her back and arms. She has sometimes been called “napalm girl” as a result of this picture.

Even today few would be expected to survive such napalm burns but Kim Phuc PhanThai is alive and well and with us now. 65% of her body was burned and she had 14 months of treatment in the burns unit in Saigon and 17 operations to graft skin from the undamaged areas of her legs to her back and arms. Read the full story

(NaturalNews) Here’s a seventh grade word problem for you: If swine flu has infected one million people and killed 500, how many people might be expected to die if it infects 150 million people (assuming no major changes in the virus)? The correct answer, of course, is 75,000 people, and that’s within the range of the number of swine flu deaths now being publicly predicted by the White House.

But there’s another part to this word problem: How many vaccine shots and hand washings does it take to boost vitamin D levels in the average person? Read the full story

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Green Bay starting wide receiver Greg Jennings, who left Friday night’s game at Arizona early in the first quarter after taking a blow to the head, said he suffered a concussion, according to the Green Bay Press-Gazette.

“Got hit, got a concussion,” Jennings told the newspaper on his way out of the locker room. “But I’m good now.” Read the full story