New Hampshire Health News Digest

Wired 13.08: We Are the Web : "2005 The scope of the Web today is hard to fathom. The total number of Web pages, including those that are dynamically created upon request and document files available through links, exceeds 600 billion. That's 100 pages per person alive. How could we create so much, so fast, so well? In fewer than 4,000 days, we have encoded half a trillion versions of our collective story and put them in front of 1 billion people, or one-sixth of the world's population. That remarkable achievement was not in anyone's 10-year plan. The accretion of tiny marvels can numb us to the arrival of the stupendous. Today, at any Net terminal, you can get: an amazing variety of music and video, an evolving encyclopedia, weather forecasts, help wanted ads, satellite images of anyplace on Earth, up-to-the-minute news from around the globe, tax forms, TV guides, road maps with driving directions, real-time stock quotes, telephone numbers, real estate list...

The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century :: Joey deVilla's Weblog :: At Last, My Blog Lands Me in Hot Water! : "At Last, My Blog Lands Me in Hot Water! by Joey deVilla at 12:00AM (EDT) on July 29, 2005 | Permanent Link | Cosmos It took over 4,000 entries and almost four years, but it finally happened: my blog has finally gotten me into trouble. I'm finally a player! Yesterday morning, as I was working at my desk, I got a phone call: Female voice with Eastern European accent: Hello, I have some questions about your web site. Me: Go ahead... FV: How do you create your website? Me: With Blogware, our weblogging software. Is there anything in particular you'd like to know? FV: And how are comments added to the website? Do they email you, and then you add them? Me: No, that's handled automatically by Blogware. Every article has a link that you can click on to add a comment. You type it in, click a button, and it's there. ...

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Ice lake found on the Red Planet : "Ice lake found on the Red Planet A disc of water ice in a Martian crater, ESA The presence of water makes life a more likely possibility A giant patch of frozen water has been pictured nestled within an unnamed impact crater on Mars. The photographs were taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera on board Mars Express, the European Space Agency probe which is exploring the planet. The ice disc is located on Vastitas Borealis, a broad plain that covers much of Mars' far northern latitudes. The existence of the water-ice patch on Mars raises the prospect that past or present life will one day be detected. It also boosts the chances that manned missions could eventually be sent to the Red Planet - because they would probably need accessible water to survive."

World Tribune.com -- 'CyberBug,' can drop in and quietly gather intelligence "'CyberBug,' can drop in and quietly gather intelligence Special to World Tribune.com GEOSTRATEGY-DIRECT.COM Friday, July 29, 2005 A U.S. company has begun marketing a stealth micro-unmanned aerial vehicle that can blend in with its surroundings. The micro-UAV, dubbed CyberBug, weighs less than a kilogram and was designed for both military and security surveillance. The battery-powered UAV can fly undetected into a hostile environment, land on rocks or trees and relay video images and voice. Cyberbug UAV. The platform was developed by Proxity Digital Networks, based in West Palm Beach, Fla. Proxity's subsidiary, Cyber Aerospace, has marketed the platform to the U.S. military, law enforcement and state and federal agencies. Executives said the company also plans to market CyberBug abroad, Middle East Newsline reported. "The CyberBug acts as the eyes and ears o...

"France ejects 12 Islamic 'preachers of hate' By Colin Randall in Paris : (Filed: 30/07/2005) The gulf between British and French treatment of preachers of hatred and violence was thrown sharply into focus yesterday when France announced the summary expulsion of a dozen Islamists between now and the end of August. A tough new anti-terrorism package was unveiled by Nicolas Sarkozy, the interior minister and a popular centre-Right politician. Nicolas Sarkozy Nicolas Sarkozy: 'We have to act against radical preachers' His proposals reflect French determination to act swiftly against extremists in defiance of the human rights lobby, which is noticeably less vocal in France than in Britain. Imams and their followers who fuel anti-western feeling among impressionable young French Muslims will be rounded up and returned to their countries of origin, most commonly in France's case to its former north African colonies. Mr Sarkozy also revealed that as many as 12 Frenc...

SPACE.com -- BREAKING NEWS: Object Bigger than Pluto Discovered, Called 10th Planet : Astronomers have discovered an object in our solar system that is larger than Pluto. They are calling it the 10th planet, but already that claim is contested. The new world's size is not at issue. But the very definition of planethood is. Announcement made in haste after discoverer's web site hacked If it's a planet, it is not No. 10, other astronomers say Next up: Mars-sized objects? Amateur astronomers can observe 2003 UB313 It is the first time an object so big has been found in our solar system since the discovery of Pluto 75 years ago. The announcement, made today by Mike Brown of Caltech, came just hours after another newfound object, one slightly smaller than Pluto, was revealed in a very confusing day for astronomers and the media. The new object, temporarily named 2003 UB313, is about three times as far from the Sun as is Pluto. 'It's definit...

inadaily.com | Article service : "Will a new, Syria-free government bring prosperity? The Daily Star Middle East | Osama Habib Beirut BEIRUT: The assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and the subsequent withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon were seen as a sign of change in a country gripped by numerous political and economic problems. For the first time in 15 years the Lebanese are, in theory, free from Syrian hegemony. Many Lebanese, especially the anti-Syrian opposition, partially blame Lebanon's slow GDP growth and high public debt on Syrian meddling in local political affairs. Now that the Syrians are out and the Lebanese are in full control of their destiny, the question everyone asks is: Will the new government be able to bring prosperity to Lebanon? Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, a trusted friend of the late Hariri, is now in the driver's seat thanks to the landslide victory in the last parliamentary elections of Hariri's son ...

KHON2 - The Team That Knows Hawaii | Home : "Syria, Iraq link may have fueled insurgency Fox News WASHINGTON — Congressional lawmakers on Wednesday laid out a detailed and disturbing picture of alleged Syrian complicity with Saddam Hussein's Iraq. And because of that complicity, money funneled into Iraq may have gone to help fuel the insurgency currently targeting U.S. and coalition troops, as well as Iraqi civilians, said members of the House International Relations Joint Oversight Subcommittee. Syria had a more than $3 billion role in funneling money and weapons to Saddam Hussein during the period of the scandal-plagued U.N. Oil-for-Food program, according to documents obtained by the congressional panel. The Syrian government, led by President Bashir Assad, isn't saying what it has done with that cash. But Congress fears it may now be in the hands of terrorists not just in Iraq but around the world. 'We see the bloody consquences of the arming of...

U.S.: Iranian Cadre Training Hezbollah : "The State Department official reiterated the long-standing U.S. determination that Hezbollah is a terrorist organization. The group is known to operate with weapons provided by Iran that are channeled to it through Syria, which borders Lebanon. Asked by Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., whether Iranian cadre were training Hezbollah in Lebanon, Welch replied, 'Yes.' 'There continues to be an Iranian presence in association with Hezbollah in Lebanon,' he said. Welch said the Lebanese army should extend its authority to southern Lebanon and the militia groups should be disarmed. But on Wednesday, the leader of Hezbollah said no one can uproot the Shiite Muslim group. 'The resistance in Lebanon is not an armed gang that can be hit or eradicated,' he told supporters in Beirut's southern suburbs. Meanwhile, Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora pledged to protect Hezbollah, saying the Lebanese government...

Rumsfeld warns Iraq on charter - Africa & Middle East - International Herald Tribune : "BAGHDAD The U.S. defense secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, has warned Iraqi political leaders to settle their differences and agree on a new constitution quickly, and to exert more influence with Syria and Iran to force them to end support for the insurgency. Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Rumsfeld laid out a blunt prescription for what Iraqi leaders must do in the coming weeks and months to ensure that a stable, secure and popularly elected government takes root - and to allow U.S. troops to begin to withdraw"

Alternative & Independent Source of Indian Subcontinent News : " Many in the Middle East are confused about whether to believe the Syrians or the Americans and Iraqis. The Arabs have generally believed over the past two years that Syria was supporting the insurgency in Iraq out of conviction that so long as Iraq remains ablaze, the Americans will not be able to interfere with the behavior of the Syrians. The thinking goes they will have too much on their plate to criticize Syria for meddling in Palestinian and Lebanese affairs or interfere in Syrian domestics. The Syrians will play this game, everybody believes, until President George W Bush leaves the White House in another three-and-a-half years. The counter-argument, however, suggests that if the Islamic insurgency continues in Iraq, it might spill over into Syria and create problems and chaos for the Syrians. This is the Syrian argument: if chaos prevails in Iraq, then it will also prevail in Syria. The Syrians were...

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Japanese develop 'female' android : "Japanese develop 'female' android By David Whitehouse Science editor, BBC News website Japanese scientists have unveiled the most human-looking robot yet devised - a 'female' android called Repliee Q1. She has flexible silicone for skin rather than hard plastic, and a number of sensors and motors to allow her to turn and react in a human-like manner. She can flutter her eyelids and move her hands like a human. She even appears to breathe. Professor Hiroshi Ishiguru of Osaka University says one day robots could fool us into believing they are human. Repliee Q1 is not like any robot you will have seen before, at least outside of science-fiction movies. She is designed to look human and although she can only sit at present, she has 31 actuators in her upper body, powered by a nearby air compressor, programmed to allow her to move like a human. We have found that people fo...

What Do the Terrorists Want? - article by Daniel Pipes In nearly all cases, the jihadi terrorists have a patently self-evident ambition: to establish a world dominated by Muslims, Islam, and Islamic law, the Shari’a. Or, again to cite the Daily Telegraph, their “real project is the extension of the Islamic territory across the globe, and the establishment of a worldwide ‘caliphate’ founded on Shari’a law.” Terrorists openly declare this goal. The Islamists who assassinated Anwar el-Sadat in 1981 decorated their holding cages with banners proclaiming the “caliphate or death.” A biography of one of the most influential Islamist thinkers of recent times and an influence on Osama bin Laden, Abdullah Azzam declares that his life “revolved around a single goal, namely the establishment of Allah’s Rule on earth” and restoring the caliphate. Bin Laden himself spoke of ensuring that “the pious caliphate will start from Afghanistan.” His chief deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, als...

Global Economies: Libya/ NY Times special advertising supplement Roman ruins such as the ancient city of Leptis Magna could help make Libya highly marketable as a tourist destination. INTRODUCTION Privatization leads the way to take-off The years of isolation are at an end following the lifting of sanctions and, as U.S. dollars flood back into the oil sector, Libya is liberalizing its economy in a bid to relaunch itself in the global marketplace. PRIVATIZATION Offloading state firms will broaden the base of ownership Libyans get the chance to run their own businesses as public firms move to the private sector. TOURISM A land of ancient civilizations and desert During the years of isolation, Libya was more or less closed to Western tourists. Today, visitor numbers although still relatively small are increasing rapidly, and tourism is the most promising sector outside the oil industry. ìSteel is the future: we have good prices and a great export potentialî A state-...

My Way News : "While privacy advocates question their effectiveness, Sen. Hillary Clinton called for New York City subway officials to install more cameras, even though officials said some 5,000 cameras are already in use across all modes of city travel. In Stamford, Conn., Mayor Dan Malloy said it's time to revisit a 1999 ordinance that limited cameras to watching traffic. In many other spots around the country, cameras already are in place. 'In general, I think we're getting used to cameras. Hey, that's just the way the world is,' said Roy Bordes, who runs an Orlando, Fla.-based security design consultant firm. Consider these recent developments: - Chicago now has at least 2,000 surveillance cameras across its neighborhoods, after leaders last year launched an ambitious project at a cost of roughly $5 million. Law enforcement says they've helped drive crime rates to the lowest they've seen in 40 years. - In Philadelphia, where the c...

House Endorses NASA Missions to Moon, Mars - Yahoo! News : WASHINGTON - The House Friday overwhelmingly endorsed President Bush's vision to send man back to the moon and eventually on to Mars as it passed a bill to set NASA policy for the next two years. The bill passed 383-15 after a collegial debate in which lawmakers stressed their commitment to not just Bush's ambitious space exploration plans but also to traditional NASA programs such as science and aeronautics. There is some tension between Congress and the White House over the balance between Bush's vision for space exploration and other NASA initiatives. Originally, the measure would have shifted $1.3 billion in funds from exploration to other NASA programs. But after administration objections lawmakers added the money back to the budget for exploration during floor debate. That was done by adding to the bill's bottom line — now at $34.7 billion — not at the expense of science and aeronautics."

The Corner on National Review Online : "PRIME MIN. HOWARD: Could I start by saying the prime minister and I were having a discussion when we heard about it. My first reaction was to get some more information. And I really don't want to add to what the prime minister has said. It's a matter for the police and a matter for the British authorities to talk in detail about what has happened here. Can I just say very directly, Paul, on the issue of the policies of my government and indeed the policies of the British and American governments on Iraq, that the first point of reference is that once a country allows its foreign policy to be determined by terrorism, it's given the game away, to use the vernacular. And no Australian government that I lead will ever have policies determined by terrorism or terrorist threats, and no self-respecting government of any political stripe in Australia would allow that to happen. Can I remind you that the murder of 88 Australians...

News : "Iraq war takes heavy toll on civilians -survey BAGHDAD, July 19 (Reuters) - U.S.-led forces, insurgents and criminal gangs have killed nearly 25,000 Iraqi civilians, police, and army recruits since the war began in March 2003, according to a survey by a U.S.-British non-government group. Nearly half the deaths in the two years surveyed to March 2005 were in Baghdad, where a fifth of Iraq's 25 million people live, according to media reports monitored by Iraq Body Count. Of the total, nearly 37 percent were killed by U.S.-led forces, the group said. The U.S. military and the Iraqi government disputed the findings. The U.S. military said it did not target civilians. 'We do everything we can to avoid civilian casualties in all of our operations,' said Lieutenant Colonel Steve Boylan, a spokesman in Baghdad. 'Since the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom until now, we have categorically not targeted civilians. We take great care in all operation...

Guardian Unlimited | World Latest | Afghanistan Weighs Launching Truth Panel : KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - After a quarter-century of fighting that left more than 1 million dead, Afghanistan's government is considering setting up a special war crimes court and a truth commission to document atrocities, an official said Monday. The news follows a comprehensive report on human rights abuses, the first since the late 1970s, which blames some of the worst atrocities on several top officials and candidates in coming legislative elections. Those named include Chief of Army Staff Abdul Rashid Dostum and Second Vice President Karim Khalili. Bringing them to justice would be risky for U.S.-backed President Hamid Karzai. It could inflame ethnic tensions and alienate powerful regional strongmen whose support the government needs as it struggles to contain an escalating Taliban-led insurgency. The government is expected to decide in coming weeks on a proposal to deal with crimes ...

The lipstick lesbian daring to confront radical imams - Sunday Times - Times Online : "The lipstick lesbian daring to confront radical imams Irshad Manji has already been dubbed ‘Osama’s worst nightmare’ for her criticisms of Islam. Now she wants Britain’s Muslims to stand more firmly on the side of freedom No wonder Irshad Manji has received death threats since appearing on British television: she is a lipstick lesbian, a Muslim and scourge of Islamic leaders, whom she accuses of making excuses about the terror attacks on London. Oh, and she tells ordinary Muslims to “crawl out of their narcissistic shell”. Ouch. Manji is a glamorous Canadian television presenter whose book, The Trouble with Islam, has made her so famous in America that she won something called the Oprah Winfrey Chutzpah award. Even at a conference in Oxford last week she felt unsafe — despite extra security — with police sifting through “disgusting e-mails” and threats after her appearance on Newsnight....

The Australian: The ties that bound Iraq to bin Laden [July 18, 2005] : "The Senate Select Intelligence Committee's bipartisan report was released last year. Most of the attention at the time focused on the report's assessment of flaws in intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs. The lengthy section on 'Iraq's Links to Terrorism' received considerably less attention. What emerges is a picture of an intelligence community with a woefully inadequate collection capability on the Iraqi target - and a lack of interest: 'The CIA did not have a focused human intelligence collection strategy targeting Iraq's links to terrorism until 2002. The CIA had no sources on the ground in Iraq reporting specifically on terrorism.' It was not just reporting on Iraq that was inadequate. 'The CIA had no credible reporting on the leadership of either the Iraqi regime or al- Qa'ida, which would have enabled it to better define a co-...

Khaleej Times Online : "Syria’s Grand Mufti condemns kidnappings, suicide attacks in Iraq (DPA) 17 July 2005 CAIRO - Syria’s new Grand Mufti has condemned kidnappings and suicide attacks in Iraq and said he intends to work with all Islamic sects to prevent the growth of fundamentalism, al-Hayat newspaper reported on Sunday. Grand Mufti Sheikh Ahmed Badr el-Dein Hassoun, Syria’s top Moslem cleric, told the al-Hayat daily following his appointment Saturday that “Islam does not permit kidnapping”. He said he was in contact with associations of Sunni and Shiite clerics in Iraq to urge them to discourage the practice “because it is a crime that harms Islam”. Those contacts were aimed at “preventing (suicide) operations that impact negatively on the Iraqi people”, Hassoun said. “I was the first to forbid (youths) from going to Iraq, because the country doesn’t need youths, but wise and rational people that will return it’s sense of self-respect,” he told al-Hayat. H...

DallasNews.com | News for Dallas, Texas | Entertainment: Books : Syria is usually to be found on the periphery of big events, close enough to cause trouble while rarely being helpful. In recent months, Syria has been a likely culprit in Lebanon's political assassinations, has provocatively tested Scud missiles and has presumably kept building its stockpile of chemical weapons. Syria has also provided American intelligence agencies with useful information about terrorist activities, but on balance it remains a strong contender for President Bush's axis of evil. [...] "The man more or less in charge of Syria is a 39-year-old physician who did postgraduate work in ophthalmology in Britain. An unlikely political leader, Bashar Assad inherited Syria from his father, the cunning Hafez Assad, five years ago, and it is difficult to determine exactly how much power he really has and what his intentions are. The senior Assad was always concerned about Syria being mar...

ZAMAN DAILY NEWSPAPER (2005071921873) : "Syria to Shift to Multi-party System By Salih Boztas Syrian Foreign Minister Faruk al-Shara told Zaman, 'Turkey has been confined to Anatolia, yet the Middle East needs its leadership.' Syria, ruled by the Baath Party for a long time is preparing to adapt to a multi-party system. Al-Shara noting the region was in a democratization phase said his country would hold democratic elections in the near future. 'The Baath party has taken important decisions. Most important among these are the formation of free political parties, carrying out democratic elections of and promoting a vote cast. We will shift to the multi-party system through a new law. The process continues. We will not return from the path of democracy.' Al-Shara who has been directing Syrian foreign policy for more than 15 years said the bill to establish a democratic system would first be presented to the public for consideration. The Syrian minister said ...

San Bernardino County Sun - News: Ebonics suggested for district : "Blacks make up the second largest racial group in the district, trailing Latinos. A pilot of the policy, known as the Students Accumulating New Knowledge Optimizing Future Accomplishment Initiative, has been implemented at two city schools. Mary Texeira, a sociology professor at Cal State San Bernardino, commended the San Bernardino Board of Education for approving the policy in June. Texeira suggested that including Ebonics in the program would be beneficial for students. Ebonics, a dialect of American English that is spoken by many blacks throughout the country, was recognized as a separate language in 1996 by the Oakland school board. 'Ebonics is a different language, it's not slang as many believe,' Texeira said. 'For many of these students Ebonics is their language, and it should be considered a foreign language. These students should be taught like other students who speak a f...

Andrew C. McCarthy on Valerie Plame on National Review Online THE MEDIA GOES TO COURT ... AND SINGS A DIFFERENT TUNE Just four months ago, 36 news organizations confederated to file a friend-of-the-court brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington. At the time, Bush-bashing was (no doubt reluctantly) confined to an unusual backseat. The press had no choice — it was time to close ranks around two of its own, namely, the Times's Judith Miller and Time's Matthew Cooper, who were threatened with jail for defying grand jury subpoenas from the special prosecutor. The media's brief, fairly short and extremely illuminating, is available here. The Times, which is currently spearheading the campaign against Rove and the Bush administration, encouraged its submission. It was joined by a "who's who" of the current Plame stokers, including ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, AP, Newsweek, Reuters America, the Washington Post, the Tribune Company (which publishes the Los Angel...

News : "Frustrated Iraqis ready to take law into own hands BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqis have begun barricading themselves in their homes and forming neighborhood militias in an effort to fend off relentless suicide attacks, residents in the capital said on Monday. The measures come amid waning confidence in the Iraqi police and other security forces as they struggle to get on top of the two-year-old insurgency. In the latest attack, 98 people were killed by a suicide truck bomb south of Baghdad on Saturday. A senior member of Iraq's parliament on Sunday called for popular militias to be created as an extra line of defense against the militants, and criticized the government for failing to stop the bombs. 'The plans of the interior and defense ministries to impose security in Iraq have failed,' Khudair al-Khuzai told parliament during a heated session following the latest blast. 'We need to bring back popular militias,' he said, without expanding. ...

Outsource your job to earn more! - The Times of India : Outsource your job to get a new one! This is the new mantra doing the rounds in the US IT sector. Programmers are outsourcing their software modules to cheap and efficient labour in India. This way they get the best of both worlds- more money and more time. They earn doubly - one from the outsourced job, other from the new job they undertake. According to this concept the techie is able to give himself a promotion outsourcing the specific modules to one or more Indian techies . While he takes the charge as a overall project manager. You can utilise the time in updating yourself to new technologies as well as learning a different domain thereby enhancing your market value considerably . Says a programmer on Slashdot.org who outsourced his job: 'About a year ago I hired a developer in India to do my job. I pay him $12,000 out of the $67,000 I get. He's happy to have the work. I'm happy that I have to work...

Victor Davis Hanson on the War on Terror on National Review Online : "In a word, this version of events brings spiritual calm for millions of troubled though affluent and blessed Westerners. There are three sacraments to their postmodern thinking, besides the primordial fear that so often leads to appeasement. Our first hindrance is moral equivalence. For the hard Left there is no absolute right and wrong since amorality is defined arbitrarily and only by those in power. Taking back Fallujah from beheaders and terrorists is no different from bombing the London subway since civilians may die in either case. The deliberate rather than accidental targeting of noncombatants makes little difference, especially since the underdog in Fallujah is not to be judged by the same standard as the overdogs in London and New York. A half-dozen roughed up prisoners in Guantanamo are the same as the Nazi death camps or the Gulag. Our second shackle is utopian pacifism — ‘war never solv...

Ynetnews - News - Terrorist at journalists' party TEL AVIV - Top terrorist Zakaria Zubeidi made a “guest appearance” in a video prepared by the staff of Reuters news agency in Israel and the Palestinian Authority as a “going away” gift for a colleague, Ynetnews has learned. Zubeidi, who heads Fatah’s al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade in Jenin, has been named by security officials as a key figure in organizing terror attacks on Israeli civilians. Zubeidi’s al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades have claimed responsibility for more than 300 terror acts in the last five years. A Reuters spokeswoman confirmed the video’s existence, but said the London-based news organization is “not associated with any group or faction in any conflict.” The screening, which occurred in a Jerusalem restaurant last March, involved the showing of a video during a private party. “The video’s theme was what Israel would be like in 10 years,” said an Israeli government official who attended the party and viewed the ...

Support for bin Laden falls in Muslim countries - Yahoo! News Support for bin Laden falls in Muslim countries By Alan Elsner Thu Jul 14, 2:10 PM ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Support for Osama bin Laden and suicide bombings have fallen sharply in much of the Muslim world, according to a multicountry poll released on Thursday. The survey by the Pew Research Center examined public opinion in six predominantly Muslim nations: Morocco, Pakistan, Turkey, Indonesia, Jordan and Lebanon. It also examined views in nine North American and European countries as well as in India and China. In all, more than 17,000 people were questioned either by telephone of face-to-face. "There's declining support for terrorism in the Muslim countries and support for Osama bin Laden is declining. There's also less support for suicide bombings," said Pew Center director Andrew Kohut. "This is good news, but still there are substantial numbers who support bin Laden in some of th...

The Globe and Mail Officials fear polio outbreak in pilgrims Polio apparently reached Mecca, Islam's holy city, just before the annual pilgrimage by two million Muslims last month, and World Health Organization officials fear the disease may be carried around the world by returning pilgrims. In crowded nations with spotty vaccination coverage like Bangladesh and Indonesia, “there could be substantial consequences,” said Bruce Aylward, co-ordinator of the health organization's Global Polio Eradication Initiative.

Vaccine boycott spreads polio : Kano, Nigeria - Polio left Dauda Abdullahi with twisted limbs, unable to walk. But he refuses to allow his children to be immunised against the disease that crippled him three decades ago. 'Only Allah can save us. I don't trust medicine,' the 42-year-old roadside shoemaker said. Immunising toddlers with mouth drops has reduced the number of polio cases from 350 000 children annually in the 1980s to fewer than 800 worldwide last year. Yet the virus is spreading again from Nigeria, where UN officials say a third of the world's cases are the result of a vaccine boycott. Amid rising Muslim-Western tensions worldwide, Nigeria's Muslims are heeding allegations that the vaccine is a US plot to spread Aids or infertility. Since October, three northern Nigerian states have banned door-to-door vaccinations until they are satisfied the vaccines do not contain harmful substances. 'Since September 11, the Muslim world is beg...

Weak Brits, Tough French - article by Daniel Pipes Weak Brits, Tough French by Daniel Pipes Thanks to the war in Iraq, much of the world sees the British government as resolute and tough and the French one as appeasing and weak. But in another war, the one against terrorism and radical Islam, the reverse is true: France is the most stalwart nation in the West, even more so than America, while Britain is the most hapless. British-based terrorists have carried out operations in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kenya, Tanzania, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Israel, Morocco, Russia, Spain, and America. Many governments - Jordanian, Egyptian, Moroccan, Spanish, French, and American - have protested London's refusal to shut down its Islamist terrorist infrastructure or extradite wanted operatives. In frustration, Egypt's president Hosni Mubarak publicly denounced Britain for "protecting killers." One American security group has called for Britain to be listed as a terrorism-sponsoring s...

OpinionJournal - Featured Article Karl Rove, Whistleblower: He told the truth about Joe Wilson. : " Wednesday, July 13, 2005 12:01 a.m. EDT Democrats and most of the Beltway press corps are baying for Karl Rove's head over his role in exposing a case of CIA nepotism involving Joe Wilson and his wife, Valerie Plame. On the contrary, we'd say the White House political guru deserves a prize--perhaps the next iteration of the 'Truth-Telling' award that The Nation magazine bestowed upon Mr. Wilson before the Senate Intelligence Committee exposed him as a fraud. For Mr. Rove is turning out to be the real 'whistleblower' in this whole sorry pseudo-scandal. He's the one who warned Time's Matthew Cooper and other reporters to be wary of Mr. Wilson's credibility. He's the one who told the press the truth that Mr. Wilson had been recommended for the CIA consulting gig by his wife, not by Vice President Dick Cheney as Mr. Wilson was asserting on ...