COMPILED FROM REPORTS BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Dec. 31, 2009

How contagious is the swine flu? Less than the novel viruses that have caused big world pandemics in the past, new research suggests.

If someone in your home has swine flu, your odds of catching it are about 1 in 8, although children are twice as susceptible as adults, the study found. It is one of the first big scientific attempts to find out how much the illness spreads in homes versus at work or school.

Results of the study — conducted by the Imperial College London and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — are published in today’s New England Journal of Medicine.

Swine flu has sickened an estimated one-sixth of Americans since April.

GUANTáNAMO DETAINEES: Court: Surveillance info can stay secret
A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that professors and attorneys who represent Guantánamo Bay detainees cannot force the government to reveal whether an antiterrorism program eavesdropped on their conversations.

The National Security Agency and the Department of Justice had refused to comply with the plaintiffs’ 2006 Freedom of Information Act request.

The government had refused to confirm or deny the existence of any records obtained under the Terrorist Surveillance Program, authorized by President George W. Bush after the Sept. 11 attacks.

RADIO SHOW HOST: Limbaugh reportedly taken to hospital
Conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh was taken to a hospital with chest pains on Wednesday, a Honolulu TV station reported.

Paramedics responded to a call from the hotel where Limbaugh is vacationing, KITV reported. The station, citing unnamed sources, said Limbaugh, 58, was taken to the Queens Medical Center in serious condition.

Spokeswoman N. Makana Shook said the hospital was unable to comment.