Dr. Dipak Desai pleaded not guilty Friday to a 28-count criminal indictment stemming from the valley’s 2007 hepatitis C outbreak. In his first court appearance since health officials disclosed the outbreak in February 2008, the 60-year-old Desai looked fit and stood tall in the courtroom of District Judge Donald Mosley, but did not enter the plea himself.
CADDO GAP, Ark. — Floodwaters that rose as swiftly as 8 feet an hour rushed into a remote Arkansas valley early Friday, killing at least 16 people, many of them campers who became trapped by a devastating wall of water. Dozens more were missing and feared dead. Heavy rains caused the normally quiet Caddo and Little Missouri rivers to climb out of their banks during the night. Around dawn, floodwaters barreled through the Albert Pike Recreation Area, a 54-unit campground in the Ouachita National Forest that was packed with vacationing families who were probably still asleep when their tents began to fill with water.
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Google’s home page has gone back to basics after users griped about a promotional stunt that wrapped colorful photos around the Internet’s most popular search engine.
CANBERRA, Australia — A 16-year-old sailor on a round-the-world journey was adrift in the frigid southern Indian Ocean on Friday as rescue boats headed toward her yacht, damaged by 30-foot waves that knocked out her communications and prompted her to set off a distress signal. After a tense 20 hours of silence, a search plane launched from Australia’s west coast made radio contact with Abby Sunderland on Friday. The boat’s mast was broken, ruining satellite phone reception, said search coordinator Mick Kinley.