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Complaints of dogs and cats injured and sometimes even killed by flea treatments have increased significantly, the Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday as it outlined plans to make the products safer.

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Long-time paper ‘girl’ Darlyne Markus, 80, of Nampa, Idaho, shows off her certificates from Guinness World Records, which recognizes her as the longest-serving paper girl in the world for her 50 years of service to the Idaho Press-Tribune.

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The EPA says it will develop stricter testing and evaluation requirements for flea and tick treatments that are applied to pets’ skin.

The EPA’s effort follows increasing complaints from pet owners that the “spot-on” products have triggered reactions in dogs and cats, ranging from skin irritation to neurological problems to deaths.

The EPA said it received 44,263 reports of harmful reactions associated with topical flea and tick products in 2008, up from 28,895 in 2007.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.

Snack food heir found dead

Authorities are trying to determine if an heir to one of Alabama’s best-known companies was killed or took his own life.

Mountain Brook Police Chief Johnny Stanley said Wednesday that is the main question after the body of 63-year-old Major Bashinsky was found in a golf course pond.

Stanley says he hopes a coroner’s report will provide answers.

Bashinksy, a prominent estate lawyer in Birmingham, disappeared two weeks ago. He is a son of the late Sloan Bashinsky, longtime head of Golden Flake Snack Foods. Major Bashinsky’s car was found four days after he disappeared, and a letter critical of the company was taped inside it along with a bag of chips.

JERUSALEM

Israel loosens restrictions

Israel on Wednesday lifted its tight restrictions on Palestinian access to Jerusalem’s holiest shrine and called off an extended West Bank closure after days of clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces.

Despite moving to end the lockdown, Israel still kept thousands of police officers on alert as an uneasy calm settled over the holy city.

The recent violence has taken place against a backdrop of deep Palestinian frustration over a yearlong standstill in peace talks and dovetailed with the worst U.S.-Israeli diplomatic feud in decades.

On Tuesday, the U.S. and Israel signaled they were trying to move beyond the crisis that erupted when Israel announced plans to build 1,600 apartments in disputed east Jerusalem during Vice President Joe Biden’s visit last week.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates

Pair jailed for steamy texts

A string of steamy text messages has resulted in a jail sentence for an Indian couple, local media announced Wednesday, in the latest case of passions clashing with the law in the cosmopolitan, yet occasionally conservative, Gulf city of Dubai.

The conviction said the sexual content of the texts suggested the unnamed pair planned to “commit sin” — a reference to an extramarital affair, which is illegal in the United Arab Emirates.

The pair, who worked as cabin crew for Emirates airlines, each were sentenced to three months in jail, said authorities. Court documents only gave their initials and their ages: 42 for her and 47 for him.

The court ruling said there was not enough evidence to determine whether the couple had an affair, which would have likely brought a harsher sentence.