New York's recent heat wave was much more deadly than previously thought. In addition to the previously reported victims of hyperthermia, the city Medical Examiners Office has now announced four more victims, three of whom were in their 30s. more ›

A financial firm once headquartered in the World Trade Center is seeking to commodify its loss of employees from the 9/11 attacks. Cantor Fitzgerald’s death toll after the terrorist attack was around 650 (about two-thirds of its work force), and it says that the slashed personnel has had severe financial repercussions. It's requesting $1 billion extra in damages from American Airlines, whose plane crashed into the WTC's north tower. (Originally it requested just $102.5 million to make up for lost profit, but upped the number last year, according to a filing in Manhattan federal court.) The Post reports that American Airlines will fight the “dramatic increase” on the ground that it’s a "disguised wrongful death claim" with no basis in law. more ›

As 200,000 people are estimated dead from Haiti's 7.0 earthquake last week, Royal Caribbean cruise line defends its right to ferry vacationers to private beaches on the island. This weekend thousands of passengers boozed, para-sailed and sunned themselves just an hour's drive from the earthquake's epicenter. And other ships are scheduled to arrive! more ›

With donations rolling in after last week’s massive earthquake, aid organizations are negotiating how best to implement their rescue missions to devastated Haiti. Individual success stories abound, but rescue workers and survivors must operate amidst the violence, danger and scarcity of resources that’s resulted from the natural disaster. more ›

Officials are predicting that deaths from the 7.0 earthquake that rocked Haiti yesterday may be in the hundreds of thousands. "I hope that is not true, because I hope the people had the time to get out," Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive told CNN. Haiti’s president told the Miami Herald that the toll was “unimaginable” and reports say that the scene in Port-au-Prince is truly horrifying; most of the city is leveled to the ground, and bodies litter the streets. As many as three million may be left homeless, reported the Red Cross. more ›

Yesterday, the CDC said that about 3,900 Americans have died from the swine flu while 22 million had become sick from it in the past six months. The Washington Post reports that the new estimates are based on "detailed surveillance and record-checking in 10 states." Unlike the seasonal flu, in which 90% of the deaths are of people 65 and over (and many are very sick), for the swine flu, "The vast majority of deaths -- about 2,920 -- have been in people age 18 to 64." more ›