The potential scope of the meningitis outbreak that has killed at least five people widened dramatically Thursday ashealth officials warned that hundreds, perhaps thousands, of patients who got steroid back injections in 23 states could be at risk.

Clinics and medical centers rushed to contact patients who may have received the apparently fungus-contaminated shots. And the Food and Drug Administration urged doctors not to use any products at all from the Massachusetts pharmacy that supplied the suspect steroid solution.

More Americans than ever are taking generic drugs, as blockbuster medicines like Plavix and Lipitor become available in low-cost versions. But the government's revelation this week that it mistakenly approved a defective generic antidepressant could stoke longtime concerns about the quality of knockoff drugs.

Samsung Electronics Co. tipped all-time high quarterly operating profit, likely driven by strong sales of high-end smartphones that offset weak semiconductor orders.

The guidance for Samsung's third quarter earnings showed it was on track to report a record-high quarterly profit for a fourth straight quarter, despite legal tussles with Apple Inc. that resulted in a $1 billion compensation judgment in August.

Books about an Indian slum, an Everest expedition and the history of violence are among the six finalists for Britain's most lucrative nonfiction book award, the Samuel Johnson Prize.

Katherine Boo's "Behind The Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai Slum," Wade Davis' "Into The Silence: The Great War, Mallory and the Conquest of Everest" and Steven Pinker's "The Better Angels Of Our Nature: A History Of Violence and Humanity" are shortlisted for the 20,000 pound ($32,000) prize.

Poland sold €40 million ($52 million) worth of CO2 emission rights to Spain on Thursday after successfully bringing its emissions below required limits.

Environment Minister Marcin Korolec and Spain's high official for the environment, Federico Ramos, signed the deal in the ornate 18th century palace of the Lazienki Park, a popular tourist venue.

The World Bank's new president said that he intends to make the impact of global warming on the poor a major theme of his work at the lending institution.

Jim Yong Kim was speaking to reporters ahead of the World Bank's annual meeting in Tokyo this month.

The boxing great was the guest of honor Thursday night at the 4th annual Norman Mailer Center benefit gala, which benefited the Norman Mailer Writers Colony, named for the late author. An old friend of Mailer, whose classic "The Fight" was an account of Ali's stunning defeat of then-heavyweight champion George Foreman in 1974, Ali was in attendance to watch the first ever presentation of the Muhammad Ali Ethics Award. The $10,000 writing prize for college students is co-sponsored by the Mailer center and the Muhammad Ali center.

In his prime, Ali would have been saved for last Thursday. But he has suffered for decades from Parkinson's disease and ceremony organizers decided to bring him on first in case he didn't have enough energy to last the night. The 70-year-old Ali was not simply introduced, but unveiled.

A Picasso painting the famous artist created in denouncing war has come to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Cuban missile crisis.

A Puerto Rican frog about the size of a peanut received federal protection Wednesday, ending a long battle to list it as an endangered species.

The habitat of the coqui llanero, which is the island's smallest tree frog, also received federal protection, covering 615 acres (249 hectares) of freshwater wetland in northern Puerto Rico.

Police in Canada have seized more than 600 barrels of maple syrup in New Brunswick as part of an investigation into the theft of millions worth of syrup in Quebec and are transporting it back to Quebec under police protection, officials said.

The Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers reported large quantities of syrup missing last month during a routine inventory, finding empty barrels at a site of the province's global strategic reserve at St-Louis-de-Blandford.