In the Nation

ATLANTA - The pharmacy that distributed a steroid linked to an outbreak of fungal meningitis has issued a voluntary recall of all of its products, calling the move a precautionary measure.

The New England Compounding Center announced the recall Saturday. The company said in a news release that the move was taken out of an abundance of caution because of the risk of contamination. It says there is no indication that any other products have been contaminated.

The Food and Drug Administration had previously told health professionals not to use any products distributed by the center.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted updated figures to its website Sunday showing there are 91 confirmed cases of the rare form of fungal meningitis. The outbreak spans nine states and has killed at least seven people.

The steroid linked to the outbreak had already been recalled. - AP

NEWPORT, R.I. - Three women found dead in a submerged car at a Rhode Island shipyard were friends who worked on some of the world's finest yachts, according to a business owner in the luxury boat industry.

The car was found about 6:30 a.m. Friday sticking out of about four feet of water in Newport Harbor at the private Newport Shipyard. Police believe that the driver missed a turn in foggy conditions. Authorities identified the women as Jennifer Way of North Kingstown, R.I.; Louise Owen of Wales in the United Kingdom; and Femmetje Staring of the Netherlands. All were 39.

Peter Wilson, co-founder and co-owner of Newport-based MCM, which represents yacht owners, said the three women became close friends while working in the yachting industry.

Way was a yacht manager at MCM, while Owen had been working on the luxury super-yacht Hyperion and Staring had been working on another yacht, he told the Providence Journal. - AP

PHOENIX - The U.S. Border Patrol agent killed last week in a shooting in southern Arizona apparently opened fire on two fellow agents thinking they were armed smugglers and was killed when they returned fire, the head of the Border Patrol agents' union said Sunday.

The two sets of agents approached an area where a sensor had been activated early Tuesday from different directions early Tuesday and encountered each other in an area of heavy brush, National Border Patrol Council president George McCubbin said.

Agent Nicholas Ivie apparently opened fire first and wounded one of the other agents but was killed in the return fire.

The new details add to an FBI statement Friday that the shooting appeared to be a friendly fire incident that involved no one but the agents. - AP

SANTA CLARITA, Calif. - A commuter train carrying more than 200 passengers struck a semi that was stalled on the tracks in northern Los Angeles County, leaving three people with minor injuries, authorities said.

The crash involving Metrolink Train No. 271 and the truck hauling automobiles occurred about 9:30 p.m. Saturday in Santa Clarita, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Joshua Dubin.

The semi driver was able to get out of the truck before the crash on Pine Street, just south of Newhall Avenue in Old Town Newhall.

Three of the train's 220 passengers had minor injuries and were treated at a hospital, Dubin said. - AP