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Feds: Traveling hospital tech could have spread hepatitis C beyond NH; 6 states investigating
• CONCORD, N.H. (AP) -- Authorities in at least six states are investigating whether a traveling hospital technician accused of infecting 30 people with hepatitis C in New Hampshire also exposed earlier patients to the liver-destroying disease.
• David Kwiatkowski, a former technician at Exeter Hospital, was arrested Thursday morning at a Massachusetts hospital where he was receiving treatment. Once he is well enough to be released, he will be transferred to New Hampshire to face federal drug charges, said U.S. Attorney John Kacavas, who called Kwiatkowski, 33, a "serial infector" who worked in at least half a dozen states.
• Authorities believe Kwiatkowski stole drugs from a hospital operating room in another state, but they declined to name any of the other states, saying only that they are not clustered in one part of the country. They would not say in what hospital Kwiatkowski was being treated at so he couldn't be contacted for comment.
• "We are closer to the beginning of our investigation than the end," Kacavas said.
• Investigators believe Kwiatkowski, 33, stole syringes containing fentanyl, a powerful anesthetic more potent than morphine, and injected himself with them. They said he then put another liquid, such as saline, into the syringes, which were later used for patients. They said a search of his vehicle found an empty fentanyl syringe and several needles.
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With Olympics opening nearby, London's Cockneys welcome the world with their memorable rhymes
• LONDON (AP) -- It's a safe bet that most of the 200 or so countries competing in the London Olympics are already represented in the British capital, one of the world's most multicultural cities.
• Yet one of London's oldest communities is trying not to get lost in the clamor.
• Cockneys have been proud residents of London's East End for centuries -- and they want to make sure the world knows it.
• "I'm a Cockney and I'm proud to be one," said Lutfur Rahman, mayor of Tower Hamlets, an inner-city London borough that stretches from the Tower of London, across the East End to the edge of the city's shiny new Olympic Park.
• Bangladesh-born and East End-bred, Rahman may not fit the traditional image of (Continued on page 36)
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