The first case was seen in Mexico on April 13. The outbreak coincided with the President Barack Obamas trip to Mexico City on April 16. Obama was received at Mexicos anthropology museum in Mexico City by Felipe Solis, a distinguished archeologist who died the following day from symptoms similar to flu, Reforma newspaper reported. The newspaper didnt confirm if Solis had swine flu or not.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/25/2009 19:27 Comments ||
Top||
#2
That anthropology museum in Chapultepec Park is kick ass. That is where they keep the good stuff, like Tutankhamen quality artwork, you can't even see in books.
One thing that blew me away was a 15' tall stone statue of the god Tlaloc, a Lovecraftian monstrosity. Start with an Arnold body, with a split head and big tentacles coming out of the ears.
At the time, the thought crossed my mind that the sucker would really fill up the collection plate. None of the images you can GIS come anywhere close to how hideous that H. R. Giger alien looked.
Seriously, the only way to be sure with a monster like that is to nuke it from space.
PLEASANT LAKE, Ind. (WANE) - George Fath moved to his mobile home in rural Steuben County two months ago. The previous owners left a lot of trash in the yard, so Fath was cleaning up Thursday afternoon. That's when he found a 22 caliber bullet in the yard. He didn't want his three young boys to get hurt from the bullet, so Fath decided to dispose of it.
"My hammer was outside so I took the bullet and put it on a rock and smacked it with the hammer," Fath said.
Fath wasn't expecting the bullet to fire. "It went off and went into my belly and knocked me on my butt," Fath said.
Fath said he thought he was shot in the stomach. His wife called 911. According to the police report the bullet didn't actually hit Fath.
"Fath was not bleeding, and it did not appear that Fath was struck with the bullet. Fath suffered a minor abrasion to the area of his stomach," police records read.
But, Fath told NewsChannel 15 the bullet did go in his stomach and doctors removed it at the hospital. "I smacked the bullet and fell down and blood came pouring out," Fath said. "I was hitting it to smash it. I didn't expect it to go bang."
Fath said he'll never hit a bullet with a hammer again. "I wasn't thinking about it. It was the dumbest thing I ever did in my life. I suggest nobody do it," Fath said.
Police agree. Steuben County Sheriff Rick Lewis said no one should ever hit a bullet with anything. "The round can go anywhere. It could hit the person striking it with a hammer, a neighbor, a child in the yard. There's just no controlling where the bullet will go," Lewis said.
A bullet doesn't have to be in a gun to fire. "Anytime you get pressure [to the end of the bullet] to cause it to explode, it will fire," Lewis said.
If someone finds a bullet, don't throw it in the trash either. "Call local law enforcement and we can take care of it," Lewis said. This whole article is full of WIN.
#1
That's why I only burn mine in a small can of sterno. The can will contain the bang especially when I get rid of my surplus M80's and blasting caps. I like to watch! Up close!
Whoo! Guess I'm lucky to use the proper way.
[/sarc]
#3
You want to 'Kill' a bullet, take a pair of pliers and remove the slug, DO NOT CLAMP IN A VISE with the slug removed, pour out the powder on the ground and simply throw what's left in the trash, the primer is relatively harmless by itself.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/25/2009 12:45 Comments ||
Top||
#4
My preferred method of disposing of ammo is by shooting it.
Renewed state of anxiety and fear after the death of 25 because of the situation of avian flu, and a number injured to 68 cases, and the lack of effective ways to cope with the disease, especially after the announcement of producers to 90% of birds, including non-compliant conditions, and to provide MP, Dr. Hamdi Hassan requested briefing
In which he referred to the possibility of a ban on the health of Egypt, due to increased rates of deaths and injuries, explaining that the imposition of quarantine would be forced to Egypt under the International Health Regulations, which was signed by Egypt, began implementation in July 2007, pointing out that it may continue to 6 months .
Dr. Hamdi Hassan told «Egyptian today»: The mortality rates and the diversity of ages of infected places Egypt in real danger, particularly as the state is facing the most serious episodes of mutation of the virus transmission to a pig farm, where the pregnant pig of the virus is transmitted to humans and again,
A new flu virus suspected of killing up to 60 people in Mexico has the potential to become a pandemic, the World Health Organization's chief says.
Margaret Chan said the outbreak was a "serious situation" which needed to be followed closely. Ms Chan cut short a visit to the US and returned to Geneva for her own personal safety urgent talks.
Health experts say tests so far seem to link the illnesses in Mexico with a new swine flu virus that sickened eight people in the southern US.
The WHO's new emergency committee is now meeting - though health officials say it may be premature to advise against travel to Mexico. The committee will be discussing whether to declare a public health emergency, and whether to raise the global pandemic alert level.
The WHO says it does not know the full risk yet. It is advising all member states to be vigilant for seasonally unusual flu or pneumonia-like symptoms among their populations - particularly among young healthy adults, who seem to be the most affected in Mexico.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/25/2009 10:59 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#5
dunno, they won't say, but I doubt it (they have been extremely circumspect about the identity of the boy from San Diego - it's been my experience there's a reason). However, the prevalence of tuberculosis among illegals has been a known factor. This is just another present that could be gifted across our porous border. No?
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/25/2009 12:20 Comments ||
Top||
#6
No controlling the borders and travel advisories against traveling to Mexico by the US. Boy howdy! I am sure glad that our govt is on top of this. How is the returning vet project going, Janet?
A$$hats.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/25/2009 12:22 Comments ||
Top||
#7
There are some real oddities about this Mexican flu. It is a combo of avian, human, swine from Europe and swine from Asia. This is why tests for it show positive results for other different known influenza.
The fatalities are mostly males from 25-44, which fits the "cytokine storm" profile of an over response from a healthy immune system that shreds the lungs. Death is by depriving the internal organs of oxygen, so ventilators are a must.
The major centers for the flu are fairly modern hospitals and, of all things, specialist medical centers, like cardiac clinics. Like the cytokine storm, this indicates a very novel form of H1N1 that takes a minimum of pathogen to cause an infection, unlike typical flu, for which most people have partial immunity.
Indoor infections also indicate air instead of hand contamination transfer. Flu optimally transmits through the air at 40F and low humidity, and when it is warmer and moister, it becomes more dependent on contact transfer. That is why the cool, dry air of a hospital spreads the virus so fast.
This also means that "fresh air" is important to slow the spread. Open windows are healthier than a/c, as new air circulates much faster.
A good field expedient air purifier would be to put UV lights in the major air ducts.
#8
According to the official report from WHO, there have been now more than 854 cases of pneumonia reported from the capital (Mexico City) of which 59 have died (case fatality rate [CFR] 6.9 per cent). In San Luis Potosi (central Mexico) there were 24 cases of influenza-like illness (ILI) reported with 3 deaths (CFR 12.5 per cent) and in Mexicali, (near the border with the United States), there have been 4 cases of ILI reported with no deaths.
800 cases (hospital admissions apparently) means it is beyond the point it can be contained. I'd say it is coming to your town or city, sooner rather than later.
#9
I work as a resident doctor in one of the biggest hospitals in Mexico City and sadly, the situation is far from "under control". As a doctor, I realise that the media does not report the truth. Authorities distributed vaccines among all the medical personnel with no results, because two of my partners who worked in this hospital (interns) were killed by this new virus in less than six days even though they were vaccinated as all of us were. The official number of deaths is 20, nevertheless, the true number of victims are more than 200. I understand that we must avoid to panic, but telling the truth it might be better now to prevent and avoid more deaths.
GENEVA - Health experts have destroyed two-thirds of the specimens of a killer influenza virus sent as part of routine test kits around the world, but were still trying to trace two shipments that were supposed to go to Mexico and Lebanon, U.N. officials said Friday.
The World Health Organization has been urging thousands of labs in 18 countries which received vials of the nearly 50-year-old H2N2 virus to destroy the samples amid fears of a global pandemic should the virus be released.
WHO influenza chief Klaus Stohr said 10 of the countries which had received samples had confirmed their labs had destroyed the virus. Labs in Lebanon and Mexico, however, never received the specimen even though they were on the distribution list, Stohr said.
#10
yep - Fox has a CDC release saying the flu has spread too widely to be contained
/Captain Trips anyone?
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/25/2009 14:00 Comments ||
Top||
#11
Well, let's throw up our collective hands and give up. Public health emergency? Then treat it like a public health emergency.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/25/2009 14:23 Comments ||
Top||
#12
The weasel in the White House is giving yet another prime-time speech Weds. night. Look for him to either apologize to Mexico or blame it on Bush. Or both.
#13
If he blames it on Bush, in this case he *is* right. Bush dawdled and delayed doing anything substantial about border security for his entire term. Same goes for the GOP when they had the majority.
Plenty of blame to go around.
Nothing that a full-deployment of military forces, especially combat engineers, to the border coulndt fix in 60 days.
#14
Ignore the World Health Organization, WHO, pronouncements. The accurate information will come from the CDC. WHO folks are sitting in their offices in Geneva trying to scare up more funding.
Please note that the Mexicans are reporting pneumonia, NOT FLU! While pneumonia is often a result of an influenza infection, there are many viruses that have the same symptoms and can result in pneumonia.
There is a pneumonia vaccine. A one-time shot. If you do not have it, get it.
The missing flu virus IS NOT this flu. This flu is the swine variety of A)H1N1. The human version was the Spanish Flu. It then returned in the 1970's and this year's flu vaccine included it.
Neither the CDC nor the WHO has released the ages of any people killed by the ILI, influenza like illness. Absent an offical data release, discussion of the age of those killed is speculation.
Mexico City is at an altitude of over 7,000 feet. It also experiences some of the worst air pollution on the planet. It also has limited First World healthcare available. Combine all that and IT IS NOT SURPRISING that people die from lung infections.
BULLETIN -- NEW YORK CITY OFFICIALS SAY UP TO 200 CHILDREN SICK AT QUEENS HIGH SCHOOL; INITIAL TESTS APPEAR TO SHOW SWINE FLU.
New York Health Commissioner says anyone who is feeling sick should stay at home, urges people not to go to school or work when sick.
BULLETIN -- WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION DECLARES SWINE FLU EPIDEMIC AN INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY.
BULLETIN -- REPORT: SWINE FLU CASES CONFIRMED IN KANSAS.
BULLETIN -- FAMILY MEMBERS OF QUEENS SCHOOL CHILDREN REPORTING SWINE FLU SYMPTOMS.
H1N1 kills people with the strongest immune systems because it tricks the immune system into a massive response. The body over-reacts and the lungs fill with fluid. The Spanish Flu of 1918 also killed this way and also took mostly adults between 20 and 45.
#16
H1N1 kills people with the strongest immune systems
my advice? Drink heavily. But then again, that's my usual advice since January 20th
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/25/2009 17:02 Comments ||
Top||
#17
work as a resident doctor in one of the biggest hospitals in Mexico City
Keep us posted so we know when to stop worrying about you, Lampedusa Flinetle9428, and as stay as safe as can be, under the circumstances. As for the rest of us, it's time to stock our pantries, start washing our hands hourly with soap (ideally) or alcohol gel (if necessary), cough into our elbows instead of our hands, and get that pneumonia vaccine. Oh, and look up some things Anonymoose had written the first time we were worried about bird flu. Be right back...
#20
Herewith I dump upon you the notes I've kept in my PalmPilot from the several times Rantburgers have posted on the subject. Unsorted, sorry about that. I imagine there are updates based on more recent information, so have at it, those of you who know. Bottom line, there are things we can do to reduce the probability of being infected, and reduce the severity of infection should it happen anyway. And even if there it doesn't go beyond regional outbreaks this time, it's good to know what to do, even if only for a regular flu infection.
there are several things that can be done to prevent the disease. First and foremost is when you are out in public during an outbreak, to use hand sanitizer about six times a day. This is because it was recently proven that most colds and flus are spread by hand contamination.
Vitamin D3 (Cholecalciferol) (NOT vitamin D2), has recently been found to cause the body to secrete a chemical that erodes the casings of some viruses, which destroys them. Most people are vitamin D deficient.
Ordinary cranberry juice, taken in considerable quantity, has been proven to strongly limit virus adhesion to human cells, for certain viruses and bacteria. Unknown for the flu.
Zinc gluconate lozenges (Cold-eeze brand only), have been proven to strongly inhibit reproduction of viruses in the sinuses. Ordinary zinc supplements do not produce this effect, because their form of zinc is not readily uptaken by the mucous membranes.
Other ionic metals such as colloidal silver also have a reproductive-inhibition effect, but it has not been determined how they could be used for this purpose.
Weird one: The British recently did a study of how temperature relates to colds and flus, and discovered that only the feet seem to matter. That is, if a person's feet are cold, they have a significantly greater chance of catching colds and flus. No other body part even comes close.
However, the "cytokine storm" effect has been confirmed with the avian flu, so under NO circumstances should you take immune system enhancing chemicals. The storm effect happens when your immune system overreacts in fighting a virus and kills you.
Posted by: Anonymoose|| 2006-12-11 13:46
And
Conventional antiviral medicines designed for flu have received mixed reviews, from both patients and physicians. The oldest, amantadine, originally designed for Parkinson's disease, seemed to shorten influenza in those patients. The newer drugs, zanamivir (Relenza), which is a nasal spray, and oseltamivir (Tamiflu), are both very expensive. You have to use them early in the course of the condition for any effectiveness. Most physicians are skeptical but feel they're better to give than antibiotics, which are useless for the flu.
Your body should react with fever as the lymphocytes get primed for their job. The fever is not a bad thing in this case, just try to keep it in check to around 38C (100.5F): use aspirin (or preferrably acetaminophen or acetylsolicylic acid, especially when children are involved--max.daily dose less than 4000mg to prevent internal bleeding). Fever inhibits that part of the virus which breaches the cell membrane, thus limiting infection so the body defences have an easier job. *Give children under age 16 acetaminophen, not aspirin, which can cause Reye's Syndrome, a rare but potentially fatal childhood disorder.*
Keep in medicine cabinet:
1. Antiviral supplements like vitamin A may help shorten the duration of the flu by attacking the virus itself, rather than suppressing symptoms. To treat a case of the flu, take vitamin A in high doses (50,000 IU twice a day) until symptoms improve, but for no more than seven days. After that, reduce the dosage to 25,000 IU a day, if necessary. (Pregnant women or women planning pregnancy, however, should never exceed 5,000 IU vitamin A per day.)
2. Vitamin C. Skip the ascorbic acid (it is not really a C Vitamin, just one of it components) and get tablets that contain plant extracts. It is usually in combination with other vitamins and substances--the dosage is lower, but it is the real thing. If you like parsley, it is one of the richest sources of C Vitamin, beats citrus fruits hands down. Better yet, freshly dug up and grated horseradish is the king. Try not to breathe when ingesting or you may have a serious hack attack--it is quite likely that your sensitivity to the aromatic component would be somewhat diminished, though. C Vitamin dosage -- 2000mg daily for seven days. I don't have the specific amounts of the produce to get that dosage. But combining it with a vitamin supplement may be the best way.
2. Garlic, raw, crushed or grated has bacteriocidal properties and the aromatic compounds may be another inhibiting factor in prevention of viral spread.
3. Zinc lozenges may also help speed recovery, perhaps by destroying the flu virus itself. (Read zinc lozenge labels carefully. Only zinc gluconate, ascorbate, and glycinate help fight colds. Don't buy zinc products containing sorbitol, mannitol, or citric acid. When combined with saliva, these ingredients make zinc ineffective.) Another tip is to try breaking the tablets into quarters; suck on each piece every 30 minutes to 1 hour. If the particular virus you have is sensitive to the zinc, after the fourth tablet you should notice some relief in your sore throat pain.
4. Echinacea to boost your immune system. For prevention, alternate every 3 weeks with the herb astragalus. To treat (but not prevent) flu, combine echinacea with goldenseal.
5. Drink plenty of fluids to prevent dehydration -- helps keep the mucous lining of the respiratory system moist, better able to fight infection: water, apple/grape/ blueberry/orange juice, vegetable/ chicken/beef broth, sports drink (has minerals and electrolytes). The fever will leave you somewhat dehydrated, water is good, but you need to replenish the loss caused by sweating because of fever.
6. Use a humidifer or cool-mist vaporizer during the winter to keep indoor air moist. There is a common misconceptuion that the virus likes moist environment. That is not the case. It thrives on dehydrated tissues. It needs slightly off balance pH to propagate most efficiently which is usually caused by dehydratation.
And
Info about local conditions by ZIP code: http://flustar.com/
When to Call a Doctor
? If flu symptoms do not subside after a week or if you begin to feel better and then suffer a relapse. This could indicate a bacterial lung infection.
? If you notice green, dark yellow or brown mucus. This could indicate a bacterial infection in the lungs or sinuses.
? If you experience chest pain, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing. This could be a sign of pneumonia, especially if accompanied by a high fever.
? If you have a sore throat in addition to a fever of above 101?F that lasts for 24 hours. This could indicate strep throat, which requires antibiotics.
? Whenever you contract the flu--if you are at high risk for flu complications
Posted by: Sobiesky 2005-02-22
Flu notes:
at the national level, its been decided to use vaccine sparingly, among those groups most likely to spread the disease, and where known outbreaks have occurred, rather than for those most susceptible: the old, very young, and infirm. Priority now goes to schoolchildren where an outbreak is detected, because schoolchildren are the biggest *human* vector of pulmonary diseases, such as flu.
In the last six months it was discovered that, contrary to popular belief, pulmonary diseases are not primarily transmitted through coughing and sneezing, but through hand contamination. Therefore, if you avoid touching and being touched by infected people, and touching what they have touched, you significantly lower your chances of catching the disease. However, since this may be unavoidable, if you are out in public during an outbreak, you should sanitize your hand with Purell or equivalent 6 or more times a day. As silly as this sounds, it was estimated that it would reduce your chance of infection by 80%!
Purell is just rubbing alcohol plus moisturizer, but it's far more effective at sterilizing otherwise clean skin than antiseptic hand soap. So the rule is: if there is obvious contamination, use soap and water; if there is not, use Purell. Most antiseptic soaps use the same antiseptic ingredient,which has therefore become less effective over time.
Prior preparation is useful, as an epidemic could drag on for six to nine months, which was the duration of the last killer flu, the "Spanish Flu". Note from JFM (10/17/05): Mortality from the Spanish flu was 3%. Reason it was so deadly was because it struck half the world population.
A cruel fact is that people will die. On average, some 36,000 Americans die every year from ordinary flu. When the population of the US was about 50M, from 200k to 2M died. We now number at around 380M, and it's possible anywhere from 1M to 10M Americans could die this time.
It is important to remember that the dead are still infectious for quite some time, even if they are pets or loved ones. This is the acid test to not becoming infected yourself.
http://www.oie.int/eng/maladies/fiches/a_A150.htm
General information about this strain as far as disinfection: rule of thumb, viruses can only live for a short period of time outside of a host cell. Whatever environment supports host cells is probably good for the virus. In this case, a moist, neutral or slightly basic pH. Also note that it can survive for 3 hours at 133F. So your rice noodles should be okay, and the skin of the pineapple might be contaminated, but the acidic fruit would be okay. [As far as food goes, the hardiest pathogenic viruses are Hepatitis A and Norwalk.]
Posted by: Anonymoose 2005-02-21
And
Influenza #3
There are a few OTC preventatives available, and these should be remembered and used when the flu period hits. (Also remember that flu hits in two major waves, so don't let your guard down after the first one has passed through your area.)
First and most important, during the outbreak, use hand sanitizer with alcohol six times a day, using soap if there is obvious contamination. This will reduce your odds of catching flu by 80%.
Second, slowly dissolve 3 or more Cold-Eeze lozenges in your mouth each day, refraining from food or drink for an hour afterwards. The proprietary metallic zinc available only in that brand of lozenge, not in supplements, inhibits virus reproduction in your mucous membranes. Tastes bad but it is worth it in this case.
Third, drink large quantities of ordinary store-bought cranberry juice. Large amounts only of cranberry juice may prevent cell transfer of these viruses, though only proven so far to work in two other types. It also contains large amounts of vitamin C, which may have a prophalaxis effect against the disease. (Note: small amounts of juice have little or no effect.)
An obvious solution: avoid people with the disease, even loved ones. Insist that *they* hand sanitize even more frequently, to reduce contamination in your shared environment.
A very strong decontaminant can be obtained at health food stores. GSE Grapefruit seed extract, sold as a "calcium supplement", is extremely toxic to microorganisms, but is non-toxic to people. A few drops will sterilize a quart of water (metallic calcium ions). If you are in a closed air system with people who have the disease, add a tablespoon to the water of a room vaporizer/humidifier. It will speed disinfection of surfaces in the room and the air considerably.
Other common sense precautions include frequent laundering of linen and clothing using oxygen bleach, not re-using dirty dishes by diswashing more frequently, and if you do get surgical masks, they should be worn by those with the disease, if at all possible. Disposable latex gloves are very inexpensive and should be worn before cleaning and disposing of vomit and diarrhea messes. Remember to dispose of them or to decontaminate the outside of the gloves after handling contaminant.
Again, I apologize for the data dump without paring down duplicate information. On taking a late lunch break from working in the garden with Mr. Wife on the first hot day of the year. :-)
Do not get the flu vaccine. At least until we have good evidence that it doesn't increase the risk of the more severe form of the flu.
And before I get attacked on this. I know that most of the so called risks from vaccines are nonsense, but not only do I think the flu vaccine risk is real, in all likelyhood we will put many millions at irreversable risk by giving them the vaccine before the risk is firmly established.
For an explanation of the risk, google why there is no vaccine for dengue.
#23
A)H1N1 was the Spanish Flu. It reemerged in the 1970's and this year's seasonal influenza vaccine included a component to convey A)H1N1 immunity.
However, the swine version of A)H1N1 is not the same thing. As the CDC reports on its site, there are 1-2 cases every year of swine flu in humans in the United States.
People are dying in Mexico City because the healthcare is crap, the people are exposed to immense amounts of air pollution that tax the lungs, and... pneumonia deaths do NOT equal flu deaths. Lots of other diseases can result pneumonia as a follow-on disease.
All of the cases in the United States of swine flu, and the illnesses at the school in NYC, another 100 or so people, have all been mild. No one is dying.
#25
Thank you for that information and I am in complete agreement with what you wrote.I would like to suggest my trick as it has helped me many times with flu virus but not bacterial. Apple cider vinegar added to a glass of water to taste. Then drink several full glasses. When you have had enough you will have to relieve yourself. Should you catch it in time its like frost on a plant. This allows your body to flush out the trash. No vomit, intestinal trouble etc.. This works with food poisoning as well. Body chemistry is changed to what the bug doesn't like, Apple cider Vinegar will work as a pain killer and kills germs on contact. Most if not all infections want poor circulation, normal body temp. , an acidic chemistry, and low blood oxygen levels. Yes vinegar is like a grape fruit in its effect on blood chemistry. React quick !!!!, normal signs of flu to look for.
TKY
Dale
#26
Just in: Mexican officials say fatalities jumped from 68 to 81 in 24 hours.
1. If you have had vaccinations in the past, there is a good chance you have at least partial immunity to this flu. That is why it is being experienced as something mind in the US. In Mexico you have a lot of people who have never had the flu vaccine and the only immunity they have is to what they have been exposed to.
2. This strain of H1N1 kills by immune system over-reaction. If you have never been exposed to this virus before and have a healthy immune system, the reaction to it will be for the lungs to fill with fluid as part of an immune system response.
Having some immunity to H1N1 through immunizations against other strains in the past will make the response much less severe.
#27
For an explanation of the risk, google why there is no vaccine for dengue.
I just did, phil_b. Wikipedia says there has been a dengue fever vaccine initiative since 2003; one candidate is now in human clinical testing (3,000-5,000 base size), with several other candidates in phase 1 or phase 2 testing, whatever that means.
Please explain in more detail why a vaccine for cytokine-storm triggering flu is risky. Please also use very small words -- clearly I'm not thinking quickly tonight. Thanks!
#29
Mr. Drudge does enjoy his hysteria, Cynicism, Inc. Hysteria drives page hits so very nicely. I vote for stocking the pantry and first aid kit, getting the family inoculated against pneumonia, and waiting calmly for whatever passes, knowing we're as prepared as may be. We've already got a cable modem, so I can easily catch the latest on Rantburg. :-)
#30
Wow, for once I'm glad I'm late to this party. Great information from tw (naturally!) and others. Will go stock up and arrange for those pneumonia shots....
#31
The information came from others, Cornsilk Blondie. I just carry it with me everywhere in my portable memory -- an entire section of which is devoted to good advice and information from various Rantburgers.
[Maghrebia] The Libyan Embassy in Rabat submitted a complaint to the public prosecutor against three Moroccan newspapers, accusing them of "insulting and belittling the dignity" of Libyan President Moamar Kadhafi, Menassat reported on Thursday (April 23rd). The Cairo-based Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) criticised the action against newspapers Al-Masaa, Al-Garida Al-Oula and Moroccan Events as a threat to freedom of the press in Morocco.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/25/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
The Cairo-based Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI)
Has yet to receive one iota of confirmed information regarding human rights in the Arab lands.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
04/25/2009 10:30 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Man be dressing like a gay cartoon pasha ought not be woofing over insults to his already belittled dignity.
[Mail and Globe] A woman was killed on Friday when Madagascan security forces broke up a demonstration in support of ousted president Marc Ravalomanana, a hospital official said.
"A woman died this morning," Cornell Rafolohanitrarivo, head of the emergency unit at Antananarivo's main hospital, told Agence France-Presse.
Several witnesses said they saw a woman being shot in the head. It was not immediately clear whether more protesters were wounded during the incident.
On Thursday clashes between security forces and Ravalomanana supporters left at least 41 people wounded.
The transitional government of Andry Rajoelina, who forced Ravalomanana out of office last month with the army's backing, banned public protests on Tuesday, a day after two Ravalomanana supporters were killed as police broke up a rally. Ravalomanana's supporters have held frequent demonstrations to demand the return of their leader in exile in southern Africa.
The series of tense rallies is reminiscent of the daily protests Rajoelina organised at the start of the year to obtain Ravalomanana's ouster.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/25/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
You need a logo like that to go with the big hats!
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
04/25/2009 10:32 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Back in the bad old days, when a doubled GRU officer was arrested, he was trussed up and fed into a furnace - alive. So, when I saw the headline ...
Tens of thousands of people have lined the streets of Australian towns and cities to cheer on veterans and their families taking part in this year's Anzac Day march.
Umbrellas decorated the parade ground at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra as war veterans and current servicemen and women marched past the Stone of Remembrance.
Continued on Page 49
#1
Let us not forget the great ANZAC battle of WW1 that is the genesis of ANZAC Day:
"The Gallipoli campaign took place between April and December 1915 in an effort to take the Dardanelles from the Turkish Ottoman Empire (an ally of Germany and Austria) and thus force it out of the war. Some 60,000 Australians and 18,000 New Zealanders were part of a larger British force. Some 26,000 Australians and 7,571 New Zealanders were wounded; and 7,594 Australians and 2,431 NZs were killed. In numerical terms Gallipoli was a minor campaign but it took on considerable national and personal importance to the Australians and New Zealanders who fought there.
The Gallipoli Campaign was New Zealand's introduction to the Great War. New Zealanders fought on the Peninsula from the day of the landings (April 25 1915) until the evacuation of 20 December 1915. The 25th April is the New Zealand equivalent of Armistice Day. It is marked throughout the country with Dawn Parades and other services. Shops are closed in the morning. It is a very important day to New Zealanders for a variety of reasons that have changed and transmuted over the years."
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
04/25/2009 10:37 Comments ||
Top||
[Iran Press TV Latest] US stocks spike on the back of good news by the giant auto maker Ford Company, which announced better-than-expected results for the first quarter.
US stock futures turned higher on Friday as the market warmly greeted a USD 1.4 billion loss at Ford Motor Co. and a 32% profit drop at Microsoft (MSFT), with preliminary indications from the banking sector stress test and durable-goods order data still on tap, Reuters reported.
"We've driven down expectations so low that earnings across the board have been ahead of estimates," said James Dunigan, managing executive of investments at PNC Wealth Management in Philadelphia, which oversees usd 96 billion.
"That's providing some catalyst for people to put together a story of where the economy is going to be in couple of months. We have seen the worst."
US stocks closed higher on Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 70 points, the S&P 500 up 8 points and the Nasdaq Composite up 6 points.
Despite dim speculation that the US should brace for tougher days in the year ahead, some perceive recent development as "glimmers of hope" heralded by President Barack Obama.
"A lot of the big negative surprises are behind us," said David Rudow, an analyst with Thrivent Asset Management in Minneapolis. The company oversees about USD 65 billion, including Microsoft shares. "We've seen the worst. It's just a question of when we see return to growth and normal spending again."
Posted by: Fred ||
04/25/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Oh this is no good. We can't have companies surviving without government intervention. Quick! Somebody throw some money at Ford.
/sarc
BOSTON (Reuters) - A malicious software program known as Conficker that many feared would wreak havoc on April 1 is slowly being activated, weeks after being dismissed as a false alarm, security experts said.
Conficker, also known as Downadup or Kido, is quietly turning thousands of personal computers into servers of e-mail spam and installing spyware, they said.
The worm started spreading late last year, infecting millions of computers and turning them into "slaves" that respond to commands sent from a remote server that effectively controls an army of computers known as a botnet.
Its unidentified creators started using those machines for criminal purposes in recent weeks by loading more malicious software onto a small percentage of computers under their control, said Vincent Weafer, a vice president with Symantec Security Response, the research arm of the world's largest security software maker, Symantec Corp.
"Expect this to be long-term, slowly changing," he said of the worm. "It's not going to be fast, aggressive."
Conficker installs a second virus, known as Waledac, that sends out e-mail spam without knowledge of the PC's owner, along with a fake anti-spyware program, Weafer said.
The Waledac virus recruits the PCs into a second botnet that has existed for several years and specializes in distributing e-mail spam.
"This is probably one of the most sophisticated botnets on the planet. The guys behind this are very professional. They absolutely know what they are doing," said Paul Ferguson, a senior researcher with Trend Micro Inc, the world's third-largest security software maker.
He said Conficker's authors likely installed a spam engine and another malicious software program on tens of thousands of computers since April 7.
He said the worm will stop distributing the software on infected PCs on May 3 but more attacks will likely follow.
"We expect to see a different component or a whole new twist to the way this botnet does business," said Ferguson, a member of The Conficker Working Group, an international alliance of companies fighting the worm.
Researchers had feared the network controlled by the Conficker worm might be deployed on April 1 since the worm surfaced last year because it was programed to increase communication attempts from that date.
The security industry formed the task force to fight the worm, bringing widespread attention that experts said probably scared off the criminals who command the slave computers.
The task force initially thwarted the worm using the Internet's traffic control system to block access to servers that control the slave computers.
Viruses that turn PCs into slaves exploit weaknesses in Microsoft's Windows operating system. The Conficker worm is especially tricky because it can evade corporate firewalls by passing from an infected machine onto a USB memory stick, then onto another PC. Continued...
#4
Thye also need to end the "genuine advantage" scheme for security patches.
There is no genuine advantage requirement for security patches. That applies only to optional software downloads. The problem is that most people don't enable automatic security patch downloads and installations.
[Straits Times] THAI protesters who led riots in Bangkok last week called for a new rally this weekend, just hours after the prime minister lifted an emergency decree and said the country had return to normal on Friday. The renewed call for protest followed a special parliamentary session that sought to heal the political divide between supporters and opponents of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. But the two marathon sessions were dominated by partisan bickering over who was to blame for the violence and did little to resolve the deepening crisis.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/25/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
So they are rioting for more riots. Is that it?
Posted by: Jans Wittlesbach2039 ||
04/25/2009 8:39 Comments ||
Top||
[Straits Times] MALAYSIA said on Thursday it will ban parents from secretly converting children, in a move to cool disputes that have strained race relations in the multicultural country.
The government acted after a furore erupted over the case of an ethnic Indian woman who faced losing custody of her three children after her estranged husband converted them to Islam without her consent.
Cabinet minister Nazri Aziz, part of a high-level team charged with tackling the divisive issue, said the law would be changed so that children's conversions would not be allowed without both parents' consent.
'The cabinet decided that when it comes to issues of conversion of the spouse... the religion in which the children should be brought up must be in accordance to the common religion at the time of marriage,' he told reporters.
Conversion rows, including 'body-snatching' cases in which Islamic authorities have battled with relatives over the remains of people whose religion is disputed, are common in Muslim-majority Malaysia.
The tussles have led to allegations that the country is being 'Islamised' and that the rights of ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities are being eroded.
'We have to resolve this once and for all,' Mr Nazri said. 'We have decided on a long-term solution because we expect many more cases will occur.' Malaysia has a dual-track legal system, with the civil courts and the sharia religious courts operating side by side. Non-Muslims say they do not get a fair hearing when family law cases end up in religious courts.
Mr Nazri also said that conversions will no longer be retrospective, meaning that people could not use a change in religion to escape alimony and custody rulings ordered by a civil court.
'At present, once a person converts to Islam, Islamic law is applied retroactively so he is not liable for many demands that he was originally liable for under civil law,' he said.
Mr Nazri said the Attorney-General will review the civil laws that needed to be amended, but that any change to Islamic law would have to be discussed with the sultans of Malaysia's states, who are the guardians of the religion.
A. Vaithilingam, the head of Malaysia's multi-faith association, applauded the move by Prime Minister Najib Razak, who was sworn into power earlier this month with promises of wide-ranging reforms.
'It is a very good beginning as the recognition that a child will remain in his or her original faith despite the conversion of one parent is a welcome move,' he told AFP. 'I see this as the beginning of the prime minister's attempt to try and reunite the various races and improve relations among Malaysians, and non-Muslims are very hopeful about this.'
Posted by: Fred ||
04/25/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#2
Been there. I cannot properly describe the wretched feeling that one suffers when leaving civilized Singapore for barbaric Malaysia. It is like stepping into crap. If that is ethnocentrist, then so be it.
Posted by: Jans Wittlesbach2039 ||
04/25/2009 8:37 Comments ||
Top||
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
PLEASANT LAKE, Ind. (WANE) - George Fath moved to his mobile home in rural Steuben County two months ago. The previous owners left a lot of trash in the yard, so Fath was cleaning up Thursday afternoon. That's when he found a 22 caliber bullet in the yard. He didn't want his three young boys to get hurt from the bullet, so Fath decided to dispose of it.
A new flu virus suspected of killing up to 60 people in Mexico has the potential to become a pandemic, the World Health Organization's chief says.
BOSTON (Reuters) - A malicious software program known as Conficker that many feared would wreak havoc on April 1 is slowly being activated, weeks after being dismissed as a false alarm, security experts said.
