Sprint will pay $15.5 million to settle wiretapping case

Sprint Communications has agreed to pay $15.5 million to settle a lawsuit alleging the telephone carrier overcharged the U.S. government to collect and deliver information gathered under court-ordered wiretaps.

The settlement announced late Thursday revolves around a dispute about how Sprint Communications Inc. billed the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration and several other federal agencies for its wiretapping expenses.

GM says it has fixed 70% of faulty ignition switches

Fourteen months after General Motors started recalling more than 2 million small cars with faulty ignition switches worldwide, the company says it has repaired about 70 percent of the vehicles that are still on the road.

The figures, which the company says are current as of Thursday, show that the switch replacements are now running at about the same pace as the average recall in the U.S. for a similar time frame.

GM started recalling the cars in February of last year, and acknowledged that it knew of the deadly problem for more than a decade, yet waited years to take recall action. GM was fined $35 million by the government for delays in reporting the problem as required by law.

The switches can slip out of the run position and cause engines to stall, knocking out air bags and power steering and brakes.

FDA panel opposes dropping warnings from tobacco pouch

Government advisers recommended against a proposal by Swedish Match to market its smokeless tobacco pouches as less harmful than cigarettes and other tobacco products.

The company has asked the Food and Drug Administration for permission to remove or revise several warning labels on the pouches, called snus. It’s the first request the FDA has considered publicly since it gained authority to regulate tobacco products in 2009.

But a panel of FDA advisers said overwhelmingly Friday that company data do not support relaxing warning labels on snus.

– From news service reports