Agencies

WASHINGTON - An experimental treatment for multiple sclerosis has caused death, strokes, nerve damage and abdominal bleeding and has no proven benefits for sufferers of the disease, the Food and Drug Administration warned Thursday. Known as liberation therapy, the treatment targets chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency - or CCSVI - a narrowing of the veins in the head and neck. It involves inserting balloons or stents into veins to widen them in an attempt to relieve the symptoms of MS. The FDA received reports in 2011 of a patient who died from bleeding in the brain after undergoing the treatment and another who was left permanently paralyzed by a stroke.

WASHINGTON - In the months after the U.S. militarymission that killed Osama bin Laden, Pentagon officials met with Hollywood filmmakers and gave them special access in an effort to influence the creation of a film about the operation, newly released documents show. Emails and meeting transcripts obtained from the Pentagon and CIA through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch suggest that officials went out of their way to assist the filmmakers, while trying to keep their cooperation from becoming public.

So how many omega-3 fatty acids are enough — and how should you get them? That likely depends on your age and your specific health concerns. The United States does not yet have guidelines for DHA or EPA, and consensus among nutrition experts is elusive. But specialty groups, some governmental agencies and individual experts have started to take a stand. For healthy adults without major medical issues, the European Food Safety Agency recommends a daily dose of 250 milligrams of combined EPA and DHA, while the National Heart Foundation of Australia suggests 500 milligrams.

Top agents at International Creative Management on Wednesday completed the buyout of the agency from longtime chairman and chief executive Jeff Berg and the private investment firm Rizvi Traverse Management -- ending the long-running management drama at one of Hollywood's leading talent agencies. Twenty-nine agents are now partners who will own and control the Century City-based talent agency, which has been renamed ICM Partners. Financial details were not disclosed.

Bob Brickman spent months fighting a ticket he got last fall from a red-light traffic camera at Wilshire and Sepulveda boulevards in West Los Angeles. The 61-year-old from Playa Vista eventually decided to give up the fight and fork over the $476 fine. Now he's regretting paying every penny. City officials this week spotlighted a surprising revelation involving red-light camera tickets: Authorities cannot force violators who simply don't respond to pay them. For a variety of reasons, including the way the law was written, Los Angeles officials say the fines for ticketed motorists are essentially "voluntary" and there are virtually no tangible consequences for those who refuse to pay. The disclosure comes as the city is considering whether to drop the controversial photo enforcement program, with the City Council scheduled to vote on the matter Wednesday.

If you buy something from online auctioneer Property Room, you don't have to wonder if it was stolen. That's because it probably was. Property Room, started by a former police detective, gets its items from law enforcement property rooms nationwide. Most of its inventory of jewelry, bicycles, computers, furniture, tools, car stereos, cameras, sports equipment, portable music players and things that could best be categorized under miscellaneous -- or bizarre -- was seized from crooks.

Concerned that mobile phone networks are becoming surveillance tools, the American Civil Liberties Union recently asked hundreds of local law enforcement agencies whether they've tracked people's movements through their cellphones. Most of those that responded said they had, usually obtaining the information from mobile phone companies without a warrant. The practice has become so routine, the ACLU found, that phone companies are sending out catalogs of monitoring services with detailed price lists to police agencies.

At Royal Staffing Services Inc., an employment agency in Westlake Village, more requests are coming in for temporary workers. And the agency has no trouble finding people to fill the jobs. On a recent morning, agency Chief Executive Joe Cummings got a phone call requesting two $14-an-hour customer service representatives with good computer skills. The client wanted temp workers who could be hired permanently if they worked out. "Within 20 minutes they had two resumes, and 10 minutes after that we had two interviews scheduled," Cummings said.

President Obama this morning will ask Congress to give him authority to significantly shrink the federal government by merging six agencies dealing with trade and commerce, a senior administration official said. Obama is seeking power to propose a sweeping consolidation of agencies with overlapping duties with an eye toward saving money and improving performance, the official said. The president is asking Congress to grant him authority held by no president since Ronald Reagan.

The angst-ridden process of merging the two federal agencies that govern research and education on substance-abuse problems will drag on for another two years. Officials at the National Institute on Drug Abuse said Sunday that the opening of a new agency that will take the place of both the NIDA and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, will likely occur in October 2013 instead of 2012. The merger was discussed Sunday at a meeting of the College on Problems of Drug Dependence.

The crux of Darius Morris' exit interview with Mike Brown and Mitch Kupchak centered around the NBA Summer League. That's because the Lakers want to see a few things. They want to see how much growth he experiences this off-season. They want to see if Morris in an elevated role will give them a better idea as to whether they should consider him in the team's future.

WASHINGTON — The public won't be protected from the type of risky bets that led to the huge trading loss at JPMorgan Chase & Co. until new rules are approved to allow better monitoring of complicated derivatives transactions, two key federal regulators told a Senate committee. As it was, the heads of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission said Tuesday that they learned of the unusual trading activity that led to JPMorgan's $2.3-billion trading loss through media reports.

WASHINGTON - The consumer financial watchdog is taking aim at reloadable prepaid cards, moving to regulate a fast-growing product that has become a popular alternative to checking accounts for lower-income Americans and a new source of fees for some banks. Consumer advocates have been pushing for regulation of the cards, which look like conventional credit cards or debit cards tied to bank accounts. But the prepaid cards are not required to offer the same consumer protections, such as clear disclosure of fees and caps on losses if stolen.

AMMAN, Jordan - The United Nations' atomic watchdog agency said it was close to a deal giving inspectors access to some of Iran's disputed nuclear sites, providing a dose of optimism as diplomats prepared for new talks to overcome their standoff with the Islamic Republic. Yukiya Amano, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said he expected to sign a deal with Iran "quite soon. " He spoke to reporters in Vienna after returning from Tehran -- the first time Iranian officials had been willing to meet with him in their capital since he became head of the agency in 2009.

L ogistics, the art of bringing socks and TVs and carrots from where they're made to a store near you, is a trillion-dollar industry in the U.S., and continuing to grow. The industry grew 10% in the middle of a deep recession, according to a report last year , and helps companies such as Wal-Mart, Target and Amazon get goods to you in increasingly cheap ways. But the logistics industry may also be driving down standards of living, according to a report out today by Jason Rowe of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, in partnership with New Labor, a workers rights group.

Visitors to the Golden Gate Bridge often pose a strange request: They want some of the bridge's International Orange paint. During construction, consulting architect Irving Morrow chose the color. He thought it would reflect nicely off the waters of the Golden Gate Strait below and blend well with the Marin headlands to the north. "I get asked all the time, 'Can I have a little bit of that paint? I want to paint the fence in front of my house,'" said Mary Currie, public affairs director for the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District, which operates the bridge.

California legislators voted to open an official inquiry into two state agencies that channel money earned from issuing municipal bonds to private companies. Assemblyman Mike Feuer (D-Los Angeles) in May requested the audit of the California Statewide Communities Development Authority (CSCDA) and the California Municipal Financial Authority (CMFA). The Joint Legislative Audit Committee approved the request on an 8-3 vote Wednesday and will now conduct a full review of both agencies.

A widespread and unusually resilient computer attack that began July 4 knocked out the websites of several government agencies, including some that are responsible for fighting cyber crime, the Associated Press has learned. The Treasury Department, Secret Service, Federal Trade Commission and Transportation Department websites were all down at varying points over the holiday weekend and into this week, according to officials inside and outside the government.

It was a tough week for the Transportation Security Administration, but on at least one issue the federal agency may have scored a small victory. The TSA was on the defensive during congressional hearings last week over charges that it has wasted money by storing hundreds of pieces of screening equipment, including full-body scanners, in warehouses in Texas. The TSA's top financial officer, David Nicholson, defended the agency, saying it has cut its warehouse costs from $7.6 million in 2009 to $3.5 million in 2011.

About half of the $410 million flowing into California's coffers from the national mortgage settlement with major banks will be pumped into the state's housing counselors and legal services agencies that help struggling homeowners. The funding is part of the plans disclosed Friday by state Atty. Gen. Kamala D. Harris for distributing the cash. Harris, who helped negotiate the agreement with the nation's five biggest banks, said she also plans to spend the rest of the money on reaching out to and educating homeowners stuck in the hardest-hit parts of the state; on further investigations and oversight of the settlement funds; and on helping borrowers who can't stay in their homes.