Earth's orbit
Believe it or not, even space contains copious amounts of pollution. An estimated 4 million pounds of space debris — nuts, bolts, metal and carbon, even whole spacecraft — currently orbit the Earth, threatening satellites, communication and even the lives of our astronauts.Earth's orbit
Believe it or not, even space contains copious amounts of pollution. An... more
ATHENS (AP) — Greece's opposition Socialists won an early election by a landslide Sunday, initial results indicated, with voters angered by scandals and a faltering economy ousting conservative Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis.
Official results from 39.66% of votes counted showed former foreign minister George Papandreou's Panhellenic Socialist Movement, or PASOK, ahead with 43.66%, compared to 35.29% for Karamanlis' New Democracy party. If the figures remain unchanged, the result gives PASOK a comfortable majority of about 158 seats in the 300-member parliament, bringing the party back to power after five years of conservative governance.
Papandreou, 57, now follows in the footsteps of his father, party founder Andreas Papandreou, and grandfather and namesake George Papandreou, both of whom served several terms as prime ministers.
PASOK's victory, along with a recent election win by socialists in Portugal, bucks a European trend that has seen a conservative surge in the continent's powerhouse economies, including most recently in Germany, where Chancellor Angela Merkel won re-election last week.
"This is a historic victory for PASOK, which means great responsibility for us," senior party official and former minister Evangelos Venizelos said outside party headquarters, surrounded by jubilant supporters lighting flares and waving PASOK flags depicting the party's symbol of a green rising sun.ATHENS (AP) — Greece's opposition Socialists won an early election by a landslide... more
UK, September 17, 2009 (Pal Telegraph)- Could anyone imagine as a result of your own actions you are killing your own troops and your own population? This is now the case in Israel.
Many weapons used by the IDF in Gaza contained uranium components and upon impact set off huge volumes of aerosol particles that then drifted back over the border into Israel with devastating results.
It has been some time since the Israelis bombed Lebanon and the Gaza Strip and in both cases the weapons used left behind a trial of misery for all those that lived downwind. We can now start to see the results of those actions and I must say the term "What goes around comes around" rings true in the ears of the residents of Israel. Some interesting health statements have been released that prove when you play with dirty weapons it can all come back to you. It would now appear that we have a situation whereby Israelis are killing Israelis.
In May this year we saw the following headline appear in the Haaretz:
"Quality of Israeli sperm down 40% in past decade" The quality of Israeli sperm has declined alarmingly in the last decade, according to recent research conducted at Jerusalem's Hadassah University Hospital, Mount Scopus. The cause for the decline is not known, but it's believed by some researchers to be connected to the exposure of children and pregnant women to hormones and other contaminants in food and water.
This month started to see some more statistics appear out of Israel which again indicates that contamination by DU may well be the cause. The next headline was even more alarming: "More women diagnosed with cancer in Israel than in Europe" Israel's health ranking is dropping compared to those of developed European nations, the Israel Medical Association said yesterday. Israel lags behind the European average in disease prevention.
The report gave a clear message that something in the environment may be causing these dramatic increases. The comparison gave the number of new female cancer patients as follows: 290 per 100,000 compared to an average of 179 in Europe. The report went of the say that for men the average was much the same but again was showing a steady rise since 2005.
When you think you have heard the last of the bad news you are then confronted with another shocking headline from the IMA: Hodgkin's lymphoma is a distinct primary solid tumour of the immune system that shows wide variation in incidence among different geographic regions and among various races. It was previously suggested that susceptible people living in certain parts of Israel had a higher risk of HL because of exposure to unidentified environmental factors in these regions. Compared with other parts of Israel, these regions were characterized by a higher proportion of Israeli-born Jews.
A total of 4812 Jewish cases of HL were reported to the Israel Cancer Registry during the study period 1960-2005. There has been a persistent increase in the age-standardized incidence rate of HL, all subtypes pooled, in Israeli-born Jews in both men and women. The age distribution pattern in both genders was bimodal in all periods. The highest incidence was observed in the 20-24 year age group: for women (9.13 per 100,000 per year) during the period 1988-1996, and for men (6.60 per 100,000 per year) during the period 1997-2005.UK, September 17, 2009 (Pal Telegraph)- Could anyone imagine as a result of your own... more
KARAI, Malaysia (AP) — Islamic officials have unexpectedly freed a Muslim model scheduled to be caned this week for drinking beer.
Two female and one male officials came to the house of Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno in northern Malaysia on Monday and took her away in a van on what was supposed to be a four-hour road journey to a prison near Kuala Lumpur, the country's main city.
Kartini's father, Shukarno Abdul Muttalib, says they returned with Kartika after about 30 minutes and said they had received "instructions from the higher powers" to release her.
Shukarno says the officials claim that "for now, the sentence cannot be carried out."
It is not immediately clear whether Kartika will be taken back into custody later. Islamic officials declined to comment.KARAI, Malaysia (AP) — Islamic officials have unexpectedly freed a Muslim model... more
Image: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, right, and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sitting under a portrait of the late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini, during a meeting in Tehran, Monday, July 20, 2009.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has defied a direct order from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to dismiss his vice president, opening a rift between Iran's president and supreme leader, reports the Los Angeles Times. Ahmadinejad's newly chosen VP, who is his son's father-in-law, has infuriated hardliners by making favorable remarks about Israel. But Ahmadinejad surprised the Iranian elite by keeping him in office, saying, "He is very loyal to the Islamic Revolution and a servant of people."
The VP attempted to close ranks by turning back on his seemingly pro-Israel comments, which he called "a kind of psychological war against the usurper regime." Anti-government protests continue in Tehran, where yesterday plainclothes members of the feared Basiji militia beat demonstrators with truncheons, leaving one woman unconscious. Mir Hossein Mousavi, the leader of the protests, said on a website this morning that he would establish a new political grouping by the end of the week.
* * * * This is good new for those who want to see Ahmadinejad removed from his Presidency and except for some hardliners who doesn't? Perhaps this conflict within the controlling regime will be it's downfall. Maybe the Iranian people's gallant protests will have results.Image: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, right, and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sitting... more
Image: Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, was among leaders critical of the secrecy of a counterterrorism program.
President Obama is facing new pressure to reverse himself and to ramp up investigations into the Bush-era security programs, despite the political risks.
Leading Democrats on Sunday demanded investigations of how a highly classified counterterrorism program was kept secret from the Congressional leadership on the orders of Vice President Dick Cheney.
Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, who is the chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, on Fox News Sunday called it a “big problem.” Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, on “This Week” on ABC, agreed that the secrecy “could be illegal” and demanded an inquiry.
Mr. Obama said this weekend that he had asked his staff members to review the mass killing of prisoners in Afghanistan by local forces allied with the United States as it toppled the Taliban regime there. The New York Times reported Saturday that the Bush administration had blocked investigations of the matter.
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. is also close to assigning a prosecutor to look into whether prisoners in the campaign against terrorism were tortured, officials disclosed on Saturday.
And after a report from five inspectors general about the National Security Agency’s domestic eavesdropping said on Friday that there had been a number of undisclosed surveillance programs during the Bush years, Democrats sought more information.
That makes four fronts on which the intelligence apparatus is under siege. It is just the kind of distraction from Mr. Obama’s domestic priorities — repairing the economy, revamping the health care system, and addressing the long-term problems of energy and climate — that the White House wanted to avoid.
A series of investigations could exacerbate partisan divisions in Congress, just as the Obama administration is trying to push through the president’s ambitious domestic plans and needs all the support it can muster.
“He wants to dominate the discussion, and he wants the discussion to be about his domestic agenda — health care, energy and education,” said Martha Joynt Kumar, a professor of political science at Towson University who studies the presidency.
The Bush national security controversies “are certainly a diversion from what he wants to do,” Professor Kumar said. “He wants to talk about the present and not the past.”
Professor Kumar said a president’s signature accomplishments often come in his first year in office, a pattern that Mr. Obama and his aides are keenly aware of. In addition, investigations at this time could open Mr. Obama up to accusations from Republicans that he is undercutting national security.
Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, said on “Meet the Press” on NBC that despite his dismay at the Central Intelligence Agency’s past interrogation methods, including waterboarding, he opposed a criminal inquiry into torture, which he said would “harm our image throughout the world.”
“I agree with the president of the United States, it’s time to move forward and not go back,” Mr. McCain said.
* * * * * I agree with those who say we must investigate and possibly prosecute offenders in the Bush/Cheney Administration before we can move forward in reestablishing American's trust in government.
Do you think Obama be focusing only on solving the critical issues before him or should he include an investigation of the last Administration in accordance with his current efforts?http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/13/us/politics/13intel.html?emc=tnt&tntemail1=y... more
Lizards are ectotherms -- animals whose body temperatures vary with surrounding temperatures. Ectotherms, which account for the largest population of animals on Earth, are found in the highest concentrations in tropical areas.
Since the 1940s, scientists have known that lizards regulate their body temperatures by moving between sun and shade. Less well understood has been tropical lizards' adaptability to changes in the temperature and availability of shade in their environment.
A study conducted by Raymond Huey of the University of Washington and colleagues was designed to improve our understanding of these variables. The Huey study, funded by the National Science Foundation, involved:Huey and his team found that in the laboratory, tropical lizards remained at their peak fitness level within narrow ranges of temperatures that reflected average temperatures in tropical climates. When temperatures exceeded these average temperatures even slightly, the speed at which the lizards ran decreased and their responses became relatively sluggish.
Huey's team also found that the average temperature in the Caribbean forest has risen three and a half degrees, from 80 degrees Fahrenheit to 83.5 degrees F. The rise in temperature has caused these lizards to become heat stressed and not able to function as well. This is important because the more slowly lizards move, the more vulnerable they are to predators; this vulnerability may reduce the sizes of their populations.
Image: Sundar Pichai, vice president for product management, said that Google’s free Chrome operating system would be fast and get users onto the Web in a few seconds.
If at times you’re frustrated with your PC — and who isn’t? — Google says it is working on a solution.
Many people easily lose patience with PCs that are slow to start up and prone to crashing, vulnerable to virus attacks and constantly in need of fiddly updates. Hoping to turn that irritation to its advantage, Google is developing an operating system — the underlying software that handles the most basic functions of a computer.
With the software, Google is mounting a blunt challenge to the dominance of Microsoft, whose Windows operating system runs about 95 percent of PCs. Google promises that its Chrome operating system, which will be available on computers in the second half of next year, will put an emphasis on speed, simplicity and security.
But if it gains traction, Google’s plan could undermine not only Windows but also Microsoft’s other multibillion-dollar franchise, Office. Google is trying to put the Web browser at the center of people’s digital lives, relegating complicated operating systems like Windows to a secondary role.
“We’re designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the Web in a few seconds,” Sundar Pichai, a vice president for product management, and Linus Upson, an engineering director, said in a blog post announcing the project late Tuesday. “We hear a lot from our users and their message is clear — computers need to get better.”
The plan is part of Google’s bet that a huge shift in computing is under way. In Google’s view, Web connections will become so fast and browsers so powerful that most of the programs that currently run on PCs will be replaced by online applications. That would eliminate the need to install, upgrade and back up software.Image: Sundar Pichai, vice president for product management, said that Google’s free... more
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) has come out in support of the military coup in Honduras, chastising President Obama in a statement for what he calls "a slap in the face to the people" of that country.
From his statement:
"The people of Honduras have struggled too long to have their hard-won democracy stolen from them by a Chavez-style dictator. The Honduran Congress, the Honduran Supreme Court, and the Honduran military have acted in accordance to the Honduran constitution and the rule of law. [...]
"I am hopeful that as President Obama grows in office, he will eventually turn away from despots like Ahmadinejad, Chavez, Castro, and Zelaya, and give the United States' full-throated support to the people of any country who are fighting for the same values we cherish and defend in America. The people fighting for freedom around the world, in Iran and Honduras, should never have to wonder which side America will choose between freedom and tyranny.
"President Obama's call for the reinstatement of Zelaya is a slap in the face to the people of Honduras. And the resolution written by the Organization of American States tramples over the hopes and dreams of a free and democratic people.
"The rule of law is working in Honduras. President Obama should not undermine the democratic institutions that guarantee freedom by forcing an illegitimate President back into power.
The majority of world leaders have condemned the coup, confirmed by a resolution approved Tuesday approved by the United Nations General Assembly.
From July 1st and onwards, all PCs sold in China must be shipped with an Internet filtering program called Green Dam. This application, besides being a possible security risk, is supposed to protect the people of China from online pornography, but it could also be used to monitor their online activities and block other, non-pornographic sites.
In protest of this action from the Chinese government, Chinese artist, architect and activist Ai Weiwei has called all Chinese Internet users to stop all online activities on July 1st. “Stop any online activities, including working, reading, chatting, blogging, gaming and mailing. Don’t explain your behavior,” he wrote on Twitter().
Ai is perhaps best known as the artistic consultant for design of the the Beijing National Stadium for the 2008 Summer Olympics, also known as the “Bird’s Nest,” a project he later distanced himself from. He also started an investigation into student casualties in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, collecting a list of over 5,000 names. He published his findings on his blog, which has been subsequently shut down.
It is hard to judge how effective Weiwei’s call to action will be, since his online communication has been heavily monitored, censored and partly shut down. Furthermore, it’s hard to imagine all of China boycotting all online activities for even one small part of the work day, especially those who have to be online to be able to work. However, if the boycott turns out to be even partly successful, it’ll show that there’s a significant portion of Chinese people who aren’t happy with the introduction of Green Dam – however innocent the authorities claim it will be – and censorship in general.
Human rights group Amnesty International has called on the Iranian government to release journalists arrested during the post-election violence.
The Iranian government claims that only those responsible for inciting unrest have been taken into custody.
But it is believed that Iranian forces have detained dozens of reporters who were covering the mass protests in Tehran and their whereabouts are unknown.
Amnesty Australia's campaign co-ordinator Jenny Leong says they are at risk of being mistreated.
"There is a real concern, given that we don't know their whereabouts, to make sure that they are not tortured or ill-treated while they are detained and also that their families and their lawyers have access to them so they can be able to provide them with the support that's needed," she said.
Ms Leong says the whereabouts of detained journalists are unknown and they are at risk of being tortured in prisons.
"People have been detained for peacefully expressing their views and in the case of journalists it's even more shocking when they are prevented the ability to freely express themselves when it is precisely their job to be able to provide that information."Human rights group Amnesty International has called on the Iranian government to... more
Deadly US air-strike on Afghan village
Channel 4 Video Report
The Afghan government says around 140 villagers were killed in a US airstrike in Afghanistan last month, prompting fears that the level of civilian deaths is undermining the United States military campaign. The report by Jonathan Rugman contains scenes which viewers may find distressing.
Deadly US Air-strike on Afghan Village
Channel 4 Video Report
- Warning - The report by Jonathan Rugman contains scenes which viewers may find distressing.Deadly US air-strike on Afghan village
Channel 4 Video Report
The Afghan government... more
Modern Iran has been shaped by a series of revolutions and government upheavals during the 20th century.
Constitutional Revolution
For much of its history, Persia—the name of Iran until 1935—was ruled by monarchs, known as “shahs.” The Qajar Dynasty began its rule of Persia in 1794, but by the 20th century there was growing resistance to the weak and corrupt monarchy led by Moazaferedin Shah.
Under pressure from merchants and the clergy, the shah agreed to sign a new constitution in 1906 that restricted the power of the monarchy and formed an elected parliament, the Majlis.
Pahlavi Dynasty
Reza Khan, an Iranian soldier, led a coup d’etat against the constitutional government in 1921 and became shah in 1925 under the name Reza Shah Pahlavi. He established a strong central government that brought modern industry and infrastructure to the country.
His downfall came with the outbreak of World War II. Though Iran remained neutral, Reza Shah was sympathetic to Nazi Germany. Britain and Russia, wanting to transport weapons through the country, sent troops into Iran, forcing Reza Shah to abdicate his throne to his son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
Mossadegh and the CIA CoupHistory of Iranian Revolutions
Modern Iran has been shaped by a series of... more
The BBC said Sunday that the satellites it uses to broadcast in Persian were being jammed from Iran, disrupting its reports on the hotly-disputed presidential election.
The corporation said television and radio services had been affected from 1245 GMT Friday onwards by "heavy electronic jamming" which had become "progressively worse".
Satellite technicians had traced the interference to Iran, it said.
The satellites its uses in the Middle East to broadcast BBC Persian television to Iran were being affected, meaning that audiences in Iran, the Middle East and Europe would likely experience disruption.
BBC Arabic television and other language services had also experienced transmission problems, the corporation said.
"Any attempt to block BBC Persian television is wrong and against international treaties on satellite communication. Whoever is attempting the blocking should stop it now," said BBC World Service director Peter Horrocks.
"It seems to be part of a pattern of behaviour by the Iranian authorities to limit the reporting of the aftermath of the disputed election.
"In Tehran, (BBC world affairs editor) John Simpson and his cameraman were briefly arrested after they had filmed material for a piece," he added.
Iranian authorities on Sunday shut down the office of Arab news channel Al-Arabiya in Tehran for a week in the wake of the disputed election win by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the channel said.
BBC Persian, launched in 1940, is one of the corporation's oldest non-English language services.The BBC said Sunday that the satellites it uses to broadcast in Persian were being... more
Exclusive footage from the recent US airstrikes in Afghanistan provides a sobering look at the dire situation on the ground.
One Minute Video
Exclusive footage from the recent US airstrikes in Afghanistan provides a sobering look at the dire situation on the ground. http://rethinkafghanistan.com/cc2.php
Posted June 12, 2009Does This Look Like Victory?
Starving Afghan Family Displaced by US Airstrike... more
A lone gunman takes a life in a hate crime. Law enforcement officials describe him as acting alone.
But he’s not alone — not in spirit, at least.
Like Scott Roeder, the man charged in the shooting of the Wichita, Kan., doctor George Tiller nearly two weeks ago, James von Brunn, the white supremacist charged with killing a guard in an attempted shooting rampage at the Holocaust museum in Washington on Wednesday, doesn’t have any current, overt links to extremist groups. Yet his violent hatred — of Jews, blacks, the government — echoes throughout the universe of right-wing extremists, who just a few years ago hailed and revered him as a “White Racialist Treasure.”
And though he’s an outlier — disturbed, deranged, disavowed now by many who share his core views — his actions really can’t be viewed in isolation. As was the case with Tiller’s murder, which followed months of escalating harassment and intimidation at abortion clinics, von Brunn’s attack on the Holocaust museum has to be viewed as an extreme manifestation of a moment when racist, anti-Semitic agitation is rapidly percolating. White supremacist groups are vastly expanding. And right-wing TV rhetoric, thoughtless in its cruelty and ratings-hungry demagoguery, is helping feed the paranoia and rage that for some Americans now bubbles just beneath the surface.
“Rightwing extremists have capitalized on the election of the first African American president, and are focusing their efforts to recruit new members, mobilize existing supporters, and broaden their scope and appeal through propaganda,” the U.S. Department of Homeland Security reported this past April.
I wrote last week about the rising threats to and vandalism at abortion clinics that followed the election of our first pro-choice president in eight years. A similar increase in intimidating activism has been observed over the past seven months among hate groups — and simply hateful individuals.
As was the case with increasing clinic vandalism and verbally violent protest, it was only a matter of time before this racially motivated destruction and intimidation turned to physical violence. And there’s one additional, highly disturbing parallel between von Brunn’s intended white supremacist shooting rampage and Scott Roeder’s “pro-life” killing of George Tiller: In both cases, at least some of the core beliefs of extremists were echoed, albeit in more socially acceptable language, by right wing news commentators.
Bill O’Reilly had routinely talked in recent years about “Tiller the baby killer.” Other right-wing talk show hosts like Glenn Beck, Lou Dobbs and Rush Limbaugh have similarly tapped into — in somewhat coded form — some of the key concerns of extremist hate groups: that the economy has been destroyed by government-proffered “bad” loans to illegal immigrants, for example, or that FEMA may or ma Beck equivocated for an awfully long time — be running “concentration camps” for U.S. citizens, or that the Obama administration is declaring war on decent Americans by labeling them as “extremists.”
The result of this wink-wink anti-immigrant and anti-government rhetoric has been “a kind of mainstreaming of hate propaganda,” Potok said. “The white supremacist propaganda agenda is being expressed by pundits, politicians, and preachers. The larger danger is the mainstreaming of these very vile and provably false ideas that do lead to violence.”
You can’t accuse Beck or Limbaugh of Limbaugh of inciting violence. But they almost certainly do stoke the flames. They may give people who are just about to go over the edge — the sort of “guy that could not take it anymore” as one poster on the white supremacist forum StormfStormfront.org, described von Brunn — some sort of validation for their rage.
“The pot in America is boiling,” Beck said this week, in the wake of the Holocaust museum killing. “And this is just yet another warning to all Americans of things to come.”By Judith Warner:
A lone gunman takes a life in a hate crime. Law enforcement... more
Well-ll...since you asked, here is just tid-bit from the growing list of felonious acts:
Okay, take off your blinders and rose tinted glasses, kick of your shoes off, get comfortable, read these excerpted reasons, click on the link that follows and get a grip on truth...you know that thing that separates bullshit from fact.!
1) Bailouts
The U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power to spend the taxpayer's money. Without the consent of Congress, the President cannot legally spend taxpayer money.
No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law.
2) Supreme Court
President Obama has expressed his desire to see his Supreme Court nominees embrace "empathy" in their decisions and opinions. Nevermind the the oath that a Justice swears to:
I, [NAME], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as [TITLE] under the Constitution and laws of the United States. So help me God.''
3) The Czars
The appointment of the many "czars" by the Obama administration are unconstitutional. There's the Car Czar, The Pay Czar, The Great Lakes Czar, a Cyber Czar, a Drug Czar, an Energy Czar, a Health Reform Czar, an Intelligence Czar, and a Tech Czar. The Czar Czar, of course, is Barack Obama. What is Obama's Cabinet members doing these days? They've all been demoted and they know it and there's not a thing they can do about it.
Here's the problem with Czars. They report to no one but Barack Obama. They have far reaching powers and Congress cannot stop a single decision they make. What has happened to our egotistic Congress who has been so willingly hypnotised into giving up their grasp on EVERYTHING? Maybe it's something in the water. So much for checks and balances. Barack Obama reigns.
Even Senator Robert Byrd, the longest-serving senator in history, hates the idea of Czar appointments. It's dangerous he says. It gives the president too much power.
4) Government ownership in private business
The seizure of ownership of private business is unconstitutional. The government ownership of GM is unconstitutional. We've beat this horse to the ground. No need to say more.
5) Redistribution of Wealth
Engineering the redistribution of wealth in the GM stock debacle is unconstitutional. I'm not sure I have the latest figures, but nevertheless, it's not good for shareholders who I believe end up with 10 percent of their investment or five cents on the dollar. The government gets 50 percent of the stock, about 87 cents on the dollar. The Unions get 40 percent ownership, plus $10 billion in cash - about 76 cents on the dollar. Doesn't this make you want to throw-up and then find a quiet spot and grieve for our country?
6) Health Care
Obama's health care plan is unconstitutional. The first thing that comes to mind is his plan to pay for his health care plan by taxing the wealthy to pay for it. Redistribution of wealth is unconstitutional in America. Then there's the fact that he plans to put private business out of business to achieve his goal, which is simply power over all of us.
7) Interpreting the Constitution as a "living, breathing" document
The only way to make the Constitution take a breath occasionally is to amend it. The Constitution limits government, and to expand government, that expansion must be appropriate under the document,
That's my six obviously unconstitutional steps taken by President Obama.
We live among idiots, and I guess, we are idiots because if we had the proper sense of outrage, we would sit on the steps of Congress until all of the above are overturned, or Barack Obama is impeached, whichever comes first.Well-ll...since you asked, here is just tid-bit from the growing list of felonious... more
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says it is close to declaring swine flu to be the first global flu pandemic in more than 40 years because of the sharp rise in cases in Australia.
So far 1,200 Australians have been infected with swine flu. This morning the entire Brisbane Broncos squad was placed in quarantine awaiting test results to determine if full-back Karmichael Hunt has swine flu.
WHO spokesman Dick Thompson says the declaration of a global pandemic, the organisation's highest alert level, is inevitable.
"We see no evidence that this virus is retreating," he said.
"It's continuing to spread, its appearing in new countries, the number of people infected keeps going up - it keeps pointing us in the direction of a pandemic."
Mr Thompson says the situation in Australia is being closely monitored.
Sens. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) lambasted transparency advocates at a press conference Tuesday, when they renewed their promise to bring Senate business to a halt until their bill blocking the release of detainee photographs becomes law.
"We're not going to do any more business in the Senate," Graham said, his face flushed red. "Nothing's going forward until we get this right."
The duo's bill, which would allow the Pentagon to exempt Bush-era photos from the Freedom of Information Act, was stripped from the conference version of the war supplemental Monday night. In anticipation of trouble, Lieberman and Graham had already inserted the bill into the tobacco-regulatory legislation currently on the floor of the Senate.
By turns sober and furious, the two senators vowed again Tuesday to vote against -- and, if possible, filibuster -- the troop-funding bill and all other legislation until they get their way. They equated the weapons supplied by the war supplemental spending bill with detainee photos that they said would serve as a recruiting tool for al-Qaida and a weapon against U.S. troops.
* * * * * Speaking subjectively, photos of gory murder scenes are not released to the public so why should these be? Is it worth satisfying morbid curiosity and sensationalism to increase the threat to our troops? What's your opinion?Sens. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) lambasted transparency... more
Lebanon's pro-Western coalition declared victory early Monday, as local television stations reported the faction had successfully fended off a serious challenge by the Shiite militant group Hezbollah and its allies to grab the majority in parliament.
Official results for Sunday's election were not expected until later Monday, but the winners were already celebrating by shooting in the air, setting off fireworks and driving around in honking motorcades.
The election was an early test of President Barack Obama's efforts to forge Middle East peace. A win by Hezbollah would have boosted the influence of its backers Iran and Syria and risked pushing one of the region's most volatile nations into international isolation and possibly into more conflict with Israel.
"I present this victory to Lebanon," Prime Minister Fuad Saniora said on television after stations projected his pro-Western coalition was winning. "It is an exceptional day for democracy in Lebanon."Lebanon's pro-Western coalition declared victory early Monday, as local television... more
