NATIONAL BRIEFS

WASHINGTON: Fake Avastin raises alarms

The discovery that a fake version of the cancer medicine Avastin is circulating in the United States is raising fears that the drug-counterfeiting trade is increasingly making inroads. The practice has largely been relegated to poor countries with lax regulations, but more medicines for U.S. sale are manufactured overseas. The Food and Drug Administration announced Tuesday it is investigating fake vials of Avastin sold to 19 doctors or clinics, including 16 sites in California, two in Texas and one in Chicago. The vials did not contain the active ingredient in Avastin, which is given intravenously. The FDA said it has not received any reports of patients being harmed.

MASSACHUSETTS: A Kennedy seeks Barney's seat

Joseph Kennedy III said Wednesday he's formally jumping into the race for the congressional seat of retiring Rep. Barney Frank. "I believe this country was founded on a simple idea: that every person deserves to be treated fairly, by each other and by their government, but that's not happening in America anymore," Kennedy, a Democrat, said ahead of an announcement Thursday. Kennedy, the son of former Rep. Joseph Kennedy II and a grandson of the late Robert F. Kennedy, recently moved from Cambridge to Brookline, part of the newly redrawn 4th Congressional District. Among Republicans, Sean Bielat, who lost to Frank in 2010, entered the contest in January, and Elizabeth Childs, a state mental health commissioner under former Gov. Mitt Romney, has also announced her intention to seek the GOP nomination.

VIRGINIA: Murder trial prosecution rests

A former University of Virginia lacrosse player accused of killing his ex-girlfriend lied about visiting friends hours before her battered body was found, a former teammate testified as the prosecution rested and the defense began. Ken Clausen and other teammates of George Huguely testified at his first-degree murder trial in the May 3, 2010, slaying of Yeardley Love, 22. Friends have testified that the woman's lacrosse player had a jealousy-fueled, on-and-off relationship with Huguely, 24.