Thursday, December 31, 2009

More details about Terrorist AbdulMutallab failed bombing of flight Amsterdam to Detroit airline.


Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab spent the year of 2004-5 at the Sana Institute for the Arabic Language in Yemen.

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Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man accused of trying to bomb an airplane last week, already spoke fluent Arabic by the time he arrived here in Yemen for classes last summer, impressing his instructors with his command of the language he had supposedly come to improve.

Then, after six weeks in and out of class, the school got him an exit visa, and on Sept. 21 even arranged for a car that took Mr. Abdulmutallab to the airport, the director said.

“After that we never saw him again, and apparently he did not leave Yemen,” the director, Muhammed al-Anisi, said. “We heard later that he may have gone to Hadramawt,” the poor eastern province where Al Qaeda is strong, and from where Osama bin Laden’s father left poverty to make his fortune in Saudi Arabia.

In retrospect, Mr. Anisi suspects, Mr. Abdulmutallab simply used the school as a formal pretext to legally re-enter Yemen last summer after being recruited elsewhere by Al Qaeda.

“I do wonder if the school was an excuse,” he said, noting that Mr. Abdulmutallab remained in Yemen after his visa expired, disappearing into Yemen’s Qaeda training grounds and emerging on Christmas Day to try to blow up a packed airplane heading to Detroit. When he left Yemen in December, the authorities here acknowledge, no one stopped Mr. Abdulmutallab for overstaying his visa.

Mr. Anisi spoke publicly on Thursday for the first time, after three days of questioning by the Yemeni security services. His office is adorned with numerous framed certificates of appreciation for his teaching from the American Peace Corps, which closed its program years ago. Now Mr. Anisi is distraught at what is happening to the reputation of his language school.

Mr. Abdulmutallab had spent the academic year of 2004-2005 at this school, the Sana Institute for the Arabic Language, whose slogan is “Arabic with authenticity.” Back then, his Arabic was rudimentary, but he enjoyed his life here, including the presence of a Pizza Hut and a KFC. Afterward, Mr. Abdulmutallab went to school in London and became increasingly devout and then increasingly radical in his views.

Mr. Anisi wonders, like other analysts, where Mr. Abdulmutallab was recruited by Al Qaeda before coming back here, and whether his return to Yemen last summer, and to the language school, was organized for him to undergo training.

Thursday was Mr. Anisi’s first day back at work after the questioning. He was not formally arrested, and the security forces were polite, he said, but he insisted that he had no real key to the transformation of Mr. Abdulmutallab, now 23, whom he described in his latest period here as increasingly devout, generous, invariably polite and yet also unsociable.

Mr. Abdulmutallab was the only African student in the school of 70 students, and by the time he returned to the school here on Aug. 4, purportedly to improve his Arabic, “I found his Arabic was already so good, he was not really benefiting from the courses but was at the top of his class,” Mr. Anisi said.

Mr. Abdulmutallab often skipped class but did not seem to have many Yemeni friends, Mr. Anisi said, and other foreign students at the school said his devotion to Islam, including attendance at nearby mosques in the old city for prayer five times a day, cut him off from others. On the last 10 days of the holy month of Ramadan, Mr. Abdulmutallab performed “Itikaf,” remaining in the mosque for prayer and Koranic readings, concentrating on the divine, and isolated from excessive socializing, eating and sleeping.

“Even that was not strange to me,” Mr. Anisi said. “Many devout Yemenis do the same.”

One of Mr. Abdulmutallab’s fellow students offered a similar assessment. “He only showed up for a few classes, and then he said he wanted to focus on prayer and Ramadan,” said the student, who spoke on condition of anonymity and referred to the Islamic holy month that began this year in late August.

While always polite, Mr. Abdulmutallab once cut off another student, an American named Sigurd Sorensen, from walking in front of him while he was praying, Mr. Sorensen told reporters. The two later apologized to each other. Other students said Mr. Abdulmutallab never played music in his room, but often was reading the Koran.

Mr. Anisi started this school in 2000, in a beautiful old house in the Tabariya neighborhood of Old Sana. At first, the school attracted numerous British citizens and Americans learning Arabic at colleges and universities who wanted to study it intensively and live immersed in the language.

But Al Qaeda’s attack on the U.S.S. Cole happened here that year, and then there were the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, and now, Mr. Anisi said sadly, “there are very few Americans or Europeans who come.”

Most of the students here are from Indonesia and Malaysia, and some from South Korea and China. Many students are not Muslim, though most female students veil themselves when they go outside, following local custom.

“I remember him as very friendly, quiet and respectful,” Mr. Anisi said of Mr. Abdulmutallab. “You would never imagine he would do this horrible thing. From smiling and helping to killing, I can’t believe it. We taught him Arabic here, not religion.”

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43-year-old Theresa Still of Altoona was found death.

An Eau Claire County woman missing since last Sunday has been found dead in a rural part of Adams County.

Police said the body of 43-year-old Theresa Still of Altoona was found yesterday afternoon. The cause of her death was not known today, and an autopsy was planned.

Still was last seen Sunday night at a bar in Altoona. Police said she failed to show up for work on Monday at a surgical center in Eau Claire – and her cell phone was never turned on after Sunday.

Friends and relatives had searched the area near Still’s home, and firefighters checked large refuse containers. Also, her car was found yesterday in the parking lot of an Eau Claire department store.



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Panda cub Wen Li makes break for freedom from nursery pen in Chengdu CHina Giant Panda Research Institution

Testing the boundaries is part of growing up.

So Wn Li the panda club was only doing what comes naturally when she struggled up the side of her playpen to explore.

First one paw appeared, then the other and finally she pulled herself up to the top.
Unfortunately, her sense of balance is still a bit wobbly and she toppled over the side, ending up with little more than an upside-down view of the inside of her pen.

The failed attempt did not appear to deter Wen Li, however. She was later spotted in what seems to be her favourite position once more - dangling from the edge of her playpen again.

These images of Wen Li - and her apparently quieter and better-behaved twin sister Ya Li - were taken at the Chengdu Giant Panda Research Institute.

Wen Li and Ya Li were born on July 19, 2009.

Just four pandas were born at the institute in 2009, compared to 18 babies born in 2008, researchers said.

The reason? Leading researchers believe the mothers at the institute were too 'exhausted' to have any more babies.

The mischievous Wen Li's mother Li Li may have a thing or two to say about that.


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Greetings to my fans: Wen Li is taken to be bottle fed at the nursery in ChinaPhotobucket
Watch me, Mom! Wen Li frolics with her mother, the 'exhausted' Li LiPhotobucket
Gotcha! Wen Li actually makes it over the edge of her pen - but is quickly collared by her amused handlerPhotobucket
Watch me, Mom! Wen Li frolics with her mother, the 'exhausted' Li Li
What's in here? The boisterous Wen Li is distracted by the joys of exploring a plastic boxPhotobucket
This is tougher than it looks: Wen Li gets one paw over the edgePhotobucket
Sister Act: The failed escape does not appear to have deterred Wen Li, as she dangles from the edge of the pen once more - and sister Ya Li appears to be trying to get in on the funPhotobucket
I'm going for it: Wen Li grips the sides of her playpen with her paws as she hoists herself up - while twin sister Ya Li ignores her in the backgroundPhotobucket
I can taste freedom!: Wen Li gets her other front paw over - and goes for the back foot

6 Shot dead in Finland by gunman- Then shot himself.

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The suspected gunman in Finland's New Year's Eve shooting
A Kosovan-born gunman shot dead four people in a Finnish shopping mall on Thursday and killed his ex-girlfriend in an apartment before killing himself in Finland's third shooting spree in as many years.


Police said Ibrahim Shkupolli, 43, killed three men and a woman at the Sello mall in Espoo, a town near Helsinki, as shoppers stocked up for the New Year holiday.

They confirmed that Shkupolli, as well as his ex-girlfriend who had worked at the mall, were among the dead after the five-hour incident.

"It has been confirmed that the sixth victim is the suspect (himself). He was found in his home," Chief Inspector Jukka Kaski told a news conference.

Police said Shkupolli was already known to them and had a foreign background, but refused to say what nationality he held.

However, a Kosovo police source said the gunman was from Mitrovica in the former Serbian province which declared its independence last year, and had visited the town last month.

Finnish police would not confirm his motive. However, they said Shkupolli had been under a court order banning him from contacting his ex-girlfriend, who was found dead at an apartment in Espoo, and that the shootings were probably linked to their relationship. Local media said the gunman had previous convictions for firearms offences.

The New Year's Eve carnage followed shootings at Finnish schools in 2007 and 2008, after which Helsinki tightened gun control regulations, with further restrictions planned.

A Reuters reporter at the Sello mall, one of Finland's largest shopping centres, saw helicopters overhead and fire trucks around the entrances after the shootings. The mall was shut down as police hunted the gunman.

"When we were going out I heard sounds like shots from the third floor, and then I left," said a mall employee, who declined to give her name.

"I paid for my groceries and I wanted to go to my car when I was told that you cannot go there," shopper Jorma Romo told Reuters outside of the mall. "They were hurrying people out and people were asking (why)."


A gunman has shot dead four people in a crowded Finnish shopping mall after killing his ex-girlfriend, then turned the gun on himself.

Ibrahim Shkupolli, dressed all in black, stormed into the mall near Helsinki, killing one woman and three men at the supermarket where his girlfriend had worked.

The body of 43-year-old Shkupolli was later found at his home nearby and his ex-girlfriend was found dead in her apartment.

The woman, a 42-year-old Finn, had taken out a restraining order against Shkupolli, police said.

Witnesses said panic erupted at the Sello mall, one of the country's largest, when the shots rang out. Hundreds of workers were evacuated, trains were halted and helicopters brought in as police launched a manhunt for the heavily armed killer.

Police refused to discuss Shkupolli's nationality, but he is believed to be an ethnic Albanian from Kosovo.

The attack shocked hundreds of people who had gone shopping early on New Year's Eve.

One witness told the state broadcaster YLE that the gunman began shooting at people on the second floor of the mall.

"There were loads of people who were crying, and many vendors who were completely panicked," he said.

Another woman said she saw the suspect carrying a long-barrelled pistol and rushing past the check-out at the Prisma supermarket.
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Protesters Gather on Gaza-Israel Border - A year since the 3 week war in Gaza

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Activists said they aimed to "show the international community the suffering of the people of Gaza"

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Hundreds gathered in Ramallah to call for a lifting of the siege and national unity between Hamas and the secular Fatah


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The activists who entered Gaza were joined by a few hundred Palestinians as they marched to the Erez crossing


Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday declared that he has rejected an offer from rival Hamas to sign national reconciliation deal in other place than Egypt.

"Hamas has officially offered to sign the Egyptian document under the condition that the signing doesn't take pace in Egypt," Abbas said in a live speech on the 45th anniversary of his Fatah party's establishment.

"We have rejected this and the reconciliation agreement will only be signed in Egypt, nowhere else," Abbas said, adding that Hamas' offer was "immoral."

Egypt has suspended its efforts to reconcile Hamas, which took over Gaza violently from pro-Abbas forces in 2007, and Fatah after the Islamic movement refused to sign the reconciliation proposal submitted by Cairo.

Hamas said the Egyptian initiative did not emphasize results it has reached with Fatah in a series of talks Cairo sponsored between February and September.

Abbas accused Hamas of "blocking the reconciliation for factional and regional considerations," referring to Hamas' ties with Syria and Iran.

On the Israeli level, Abbas said in his speech that the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) "still extends hand to reach a fair peace to end the Israeli occupation that started in 1967."

Abbas reiterated with assertion that East Jerusalem will be the capital of the future Palestinian statehood.

"Anybody who thinks that there is one Palestinian who will make a concession on Jerusalem or give it up is mistaken."

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CIA acknowledges deaths in Khost

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Calgary Herald reporter Michelle Lang and four Canadian soldiers were killed when their armoured vehicle was attackedPhotobucket
Tragic: Recently-engaged Michelle Lang pictured with a Canadian soldier at Kandahar airfield in AfghanistanPhotobucket
Explosion: This is the road in Khost province on which Canadian reporter Michelle Lang was killed along with four soldiers


Seven American CIA agents and five Canadian soldiers have been killed in two separate attacks in Afghanistan, officials say.

The Taliban has claimed responsibility for Wednesday's attack on the Americans, carried out at a US base in the eastern province of Khost, saying that the attacker was an officer in the Afghan army.

"This deadly attack was carried out by a valorous Afghan army member when the officials [Americans] were busy gaining information about the mujahideen," Zabiullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, said in an email.

The Afghan defence ministry denied that the bomber was an Afghan army officer.

The suicide bomber reportedly evaded security at the base and detonated an explosive belt in a room used as a fitness centre.


CIA chief's admission.


In Washington, Leon Panetta, the CIA's director, said on Thursday the seven killed "were far from home and close to the enemy, doing the hard work that must be done to protect our country from terrorism".

Among those killed was the chief of the CIA's operation at Forward Operating Base Chapman, the Associated Press news agency has learned.

Several other people, none of them US or Nato troops, were wounded in the explosion, US defence officials said.

"There has been a great deal of confusion when the reports emerged yesterday," Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from Kabul on Thursday, said.

"We contacted the spokesperson of Isaf [the International Security Assistance Force] to confirm to us that US soldiers were killed.

"Then he came back to us in half an hour and said there had been a great deal of confusion and actually 'no, these are not US soldiers but civilians'. They are members of the PRT, which is the provincial reconstruction team."

The PRT was established in Afghanistan in 2002 by the US to assist in reconstruction efforts at district and provincial levels.

The US has committed to send hundreds of civilians to support work on development projects that aim to undermine support for the Taliban and other fighters.

But as the security situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated, many of the civilians working outside Kabul have retreated to army bases.

Canadian casualties

In Wednesday's second deadly incident, five Canadians were killed in the southern province of Kandahar.

The group, made up of four soldiers and a journalist accompanying them, were visiting community reconstruction projects and were killed when their armoured vehicle was hit by a bomb, the Canadian defence ministry said.

The journalist, Michelle Lang, worked for The Calgary Herald.

The military has not disclosed the names of the Canadian soldiers because relatives have not all been notified.

Brigadier-General Daniel Menard, commander of multinational forces in Kandahar, said the soldiers were conducting a community security patrol

The Calgary Herald said Lang had been in the country since December 11 and was the first Canadian journalist to die in Afghanistan since Ottawa joined the international mission there in 2002.

The attack was the worst against Canada's military in the country in two years and brought its military deaths in Afghanistan to 138.

Canada has 2,800 troops in Afghanistan, but the mission has become increasingly unpopular at home and it is scheduled to be withdrawn at the end of 2011.


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Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Brittany Murphy’s autopsy report leaked and graveyard Forest Lawn cemetery exposed.




As reported in the LA Now, the L.A. County coroner's office is under scrutiny following the release of confidential information about the autopsy of Brittany Murphy. The leak was made to, and published by TMZ and included “details about prescription drugs that the coroner's office found in her home.

The Los Angeles County Department of Coroner official released the following statement regarding the leaks. "The inquiry into the death is ongoing, and it is the policy and practice of the Department of Coroner to only release detailed information in cases where the final cause of death has been determined and the case investigation has been completed and closed by the deputy medical examiner."

Assistant Coroner Ed Winter said initial autopsy reports showed the cause of death may have resulted from “heart-related causes”. The autopsy - completed on 22 December - included toxicology tests that will not be available until sometime within the first 2 weeks in February 2010.


Since the death of Brittany Murphy there are over 4 million internet references to the autopsy and over 35,000 sites referencing the autopsy photos – and increasing in numbers. There is no indication that the confidential autopsy information leaked included any photos, yet the curious continue to search. The lack of photos and increased searching by web users has resulted in numerous “scam” sites, some that launch computer viruses on the unexpected.

However, funeral photos labeled as those of Brittany Murphy, by PacificCoastNews.com., were posted today on zimbo.com. Additional photos were also posted on view.picapp.com.



Brittany Murphy's husband and mother made a frantic attempt to revive her before paramedics arrived ... this according to notes written by an investigator from the L.A. County Coroner's office. And, there were a shocking number of strong prescription meds on Brittany's nightstand.

TMZ has reviewed the documents, written by Investigator Blacklock. According to his notes, Brittany Murphy "had been complaining of shortness of breath and severe abdominal pain" for 7 to 10 days prior to her death. According to the notes, Murphy went into the bathroom at around 7:30 AM Sunday and shut the door.

A half hour later Brittany's mother, Sharon Murphy, went to check on her daughter, opened the bathroom door and "discovered the decedent lying on the floor unresponsive." According to the notes, Sharon yelled for help. Brittany's husband, Simon Monjack, who was in bed, heard the screams and ran to the bathroom.

According to the notes, Sharon called 911 and Simon "attempted to revive the decedent by placing her in the shower and running the water."

The notes continue -- "The decedent remained unresponsive and purged her stomach contents prior to the arrival of the paramedics."

When the paramedics arrived, Brittany was "without signs of life."

Paramedics moved Brittany from the bathroom to the master bedroom, where they found a slew of prescription drugs -- "A check of the nightstands revealed large amounts of prescription medication in the decedent's name. Also noted were numerous empty prescription medication bottles in the decedent's husband's name, the decedent's mother's name and unidentified third party names."

According to the notes, the medications included Topamax (anti-seizure meds also to prevent migraines), Methylprednisolone (anti-inflammatory), Fluoxetine (depression med), Klonopin (anxiety med), Carbamazepine (treats Diabetic symptoms and is also a bipolar med), Ativan (anxiety med), Vicoprofen (pain reliever), Propranolol (hypertension, used to prevent heart attacks), Biaxin (antibiotic), Hydrocodone (pain med) and miscellaneous vitamins.

The notes say, "No alcohol containers, paraphernalia or illegal drugs were discovered."

According to the notes, "The night prior to her death, the decedent had consumed some noodles, leftover Thai food, Gatorade, water and tea with lemon."

The notes also say Brittany had a history of hypoglycemia and was hospitalized in April 2009 for low blood sugar while on location in Oregon."

Monjack told the investigator during the 7 to 10 days prior to her death, Brittany complained of shortness of breath and severe abdominal pains but he was not overly alarmed because "she often suffered from severe menstrual pains."

Summary of Autopsy

The autopsy report for Brittany Murphy indicated “there was ‘no evidence of trauma’ and Murphy’s body appeared to be of ‘normal’ weight and not overly thin”. Reports also place her weight at 115 pounds and height at 65 inches.

BMI is a good indicator of a healthy weight and a person with a height of 65 inches at 115 pounds would indicate a healthy weight range. However there is debate using BMI over Ideal Body Weight. According to healthdiscovery.net the ideal body weight range for a female at 65 inches would be 117-130 pounds for a thin frame, 127-141 pounds for a medium frame and 137-155 pounds for a large frame. Ideal body weight has also been described as - average weight that other people of the same gender, age, height and weight would describe as their ideal weight. In her last interview 2½ weeks before her death and posted on the Fox News Network; Brittany Murphy described her weight as “a bit thinner now than what I would like to be."

As previously reported, Brittany dismissed rumors of an eating disorder.

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Photo: Brittany Murphy at Fashion Week, Feb. 5, 2008, in New York.


The church of the hills, located in Forest Lawn cemetery, where Brittany Murphy's funeral service is set to take place. Brittany, 32, was reportedly found collapsed in the bathroom of her Hollywood home by her mother, Sharon, at around 8am on Sunday December 20 2009. She was then transported to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center where she was declared dead around 10 am.
The church of the hills, located in Forest Lawn cemetery, where Brittany Murphy's funeral service is set to take place. Brittany, 32, was reportedly found collapsed in the bathroom of her Hollywood home by her mother, Sharon, at around 8am on Sunday December 20 2009. She was then transported to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center where she was declared dead around 10 am.


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Brittany Murphy's unmarked grave located in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills. The memorial service for the young actress was held yesterday and attended by only a few close friends and family members. Murphy's family announced that a bigger memorial is going to be schedule for next year. The official cause of Murphy's death has been identified as cardiac arrest.



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Tiger Woods scandal cost shareholders up to $12 billion




The sex scandal that engulfed Tiger Woods may have cost shareholders of companies endorsed by the world's No. 1 golfer up to $12 billion in losses, according to a study by two economics professors from the University of California, Davis.

The study, released on Monday by researchers Victor Stango and Christopher Knittel, gave an estimate for damage to the market value of Woods' main sponsors caused by revelations of alleged extramarital affairs that surfaced after he was involved in a minor car accident outside his Florida home on November 27.

"We estimate that shareholders of Tiger Woods' sponsors lost $5-12 billion after his car accident, relative to shareholders of firms that Mr. Woods does not endorse," the researchers wrote, adding that millions of shareholders were affected.

"Our analysis makes clear that while having a celebrity of Tiger Woods' stature as an endorser has undeniable upside, the downside risk is substantial, too," Stango, a professor at the UC Davis Graduate School of Management, said in a statement released along with the study.

Woods, believed to be the world's wealthiest athlete who was estimated to earn about $100 million a year in endorsement deals before his troubles, confessed on December 11 to "infidelity" to his Swedish wife Elin Nordegren. He announced he would take an indefinite break from golf to save his marriage.

Some of the star golfer's main commercial sponsors have backed away from him as a result of the scandal. Others, while standing by him, have said they are evaluating their future relationship.

STOCK MARKET RETURNS

In their study, the two professors said they looked at stock market returns for the 13 trading days after November 27, the date of the car incident that ignited the Woods scandal.

They compared returns for Woods' sponsors during this period to those of both the total stock market and of each sponsor's closest competitor. They also reviewed returns for four years before the car accident to build up a comparative picture of the sponsors' market performance.

The study looked at sponsors of Tiger Woods for which stock prices were available, in several cases through quoted prices for the parent companies. Sponsors included: Accenture; AT&T; Tiger Woods PGA Tour Golf (Electronic Arts); Gillette (Proctor and Gamble); Nike; Gatorade (PepsiCo); TLC Laser Eye Centers.

The report carried a caution that this kind of statistical study might have a "particularly large" margin of error because many sponsors were subsidiaries of larger quoted companies.

Overall, Knittel and Stango concluded that the scandal reduced shareholder value in the sponsor companies by 2.3 percent, or about $12 billion.

They called the results statistically significant and said the overall pattern of losses at the parent companies was unlikely to stem from ordinary day-to-day variation in their stock prices."

"Our findings speak to a larger question of general interest in the business and academic communities: Does celebrity sponsorship have any impact on a firm's bottom line?" Stango and Knittel said in presenting the report.

The scandal saw a parade of more than a dozen women -- from cocktail waitresses to porn stars -- come forward to say they had affairs with the married father of two. Since the start of the scandal, Woods has kept out of sight of the media.

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WHO warns H1n1 virus can mutate.A/H1N1 pandemic not over yet, warns WHO chief



1. High temperature, tiredness and lowered immunity
2. Headache, runny nose and sneezing
3. Sore throat
4. Shortness of breath
5. Loss of appetite, vomiting and diarrhoea
6. Aching muscles, limb and joint pain
Source: NHS



Dr Margaret Chan says avian flu is more of a problem than swine flu
The head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned the global swine flu pandemic is not yet over and the virus could still mutate.

Dr Margaret Chan said it was important to "guard against complacency" despite signs the disease had peaked in North America and parts of Europe.

She said the virus was still active in countries including India and Egypt.

More than 11,500 people are believed to have died in more than 200 countries and territories because of swine flu.

However Dr Chan said it would take at least two years before a true death toll could be established.

The WHO's director general said the US, Canada and the UK were among those countries where the worst of the swine flu outbreak had appeared to have passed.

Danger

But she added: "It is too premature and too early for us to say we have come to an end of the pandemic influenza worldwide."

She said experts needed to continue monitoring the pandemic for another six to 12 months as it could mutate into a more dangerous strain.

"We will watch this virus with eagle's eyes," she said.

Dr Chan said it was fortunate the pandemic had been milder than expected.

"The fact that the long overdue influenza pandemic is so moderate in its impact is probably the best health news in a decade," she said.

Millions of people are believed to have recovered after contracting the virus and displaying few symptoms.

She said the demand for swine flu vaccinations in some European countries had been lower than expected and WHO was investigating whether superfluous vaccines could be sent to developing countries.

Dr Chan said drug makers and countries promised to donate nearly 190 million vaccine doses to WHO, with the first doses of the donated vaccines to be distributed in Azerbaijan, Mongolia and Afghanistan next month.

However she admitted she had not yet had a vaccine but said she would have it soon.

She said that although countries are now better prepared to cope with a global disease outbreak, people still had to be aware of the dangers of bird flu (H5N1).

She said this was more toxic and deadly than swine flu and that many countries remained ill-prepared for mass outbreaks of this virus.

"The world is not ready for a pandemic to be caused by H5N1," she said.

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Tuesday that the A/H1N1 pandemic influenza is not over yet and the world needs to continue monitoring the evolution of the disease in 2010.

"It's too premature, too early for us to say we have come to an end of the pandemic influenza worldwide," Dr Margaret Chan told a news conference at the WHO headquarters in Geneva.

It's true that many countries in the northern hemisphere have passed the peak of the pandemic, notably in the United States, Canada and parts of Europe, but on the other hand there are still intensive influenza activities in countries like Egypt and India, Chan said.

The current pandemic caused by the H1N1 flu virus has been described as "moderate", but scientists cannot rule out the possibility that the virus could mutate and become more dangerous given the fact that flu virus are highly unpredictable.

So "it would be prudent and appropriate for the WHO together with our members’ states to continue to monitor the evolution of this pandemic for the next six to 12 months," Chan said.

So far nearly 12,000 people worldwide have been killed by the A/H1N1 influenza since the disease first emerged in April, according to an update released by the WHO last week.

But Chan noted that was a laboratory confirmed number, and it actually underestimates the real number of deaths caused by the pandemic.

"Many countries don't have the capacity for surveillance, for diagnosis and for confirmation. So there would be some deaths in some countries that are not reported," Chan said.

According to the WHO chief, the handling of the A/H1N1 pandemic has shown that the world is much better prepared now than five years ago to deal with such diseases. But there are still many gaps in the health systems in many countries.

She warned that the world is not yet ready for dealing with a pandemic caused by the H5N1 bird flu virus, which is "much more toxic and deadly" than the H1N1 virus.

"I just wish that the world does not have to deal with a pandemic ignited by a much more toxic and deadly virus, the avian flu virus H5N1," Chan said.

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Beach tragedy: 125 pilot whales die stranded in New Zealand bay... but rescuers coax 43 back out to sea

Conservation workers battled to save dozens of pilot whales who became stranded on a New Zealand beach at the weekend.

Of those that were stranded 125 died but 43 others were coaxed back out to sea.

Rescuers monitored the survivors as they swam away and by this morning they were reported well out to sea.
Department of Conservation workers and hundreds of volunteers helped re-float the 43 whales at high tide.

The stranded mammals had been covered in sheets and kept wet through the day.

'It looks pretty good, we've got 43 live ones,' said Dpartment of Conservation ranger Steve Bolten as the pod swam out to sea.

Mr Bolten said one of the whales, leading the others, may have been sick, or their sonar may have led them into the shallow harbour and they couldn't find their way out again.

Meanwhile on South Island, 105 long-finned pilot whales that became stranded on Saturday died.

Golden Bay biodiversity program manager Hans Stoffregen said they were discovered by a tourist plane pilot and only 30 were alive when conservation workers arrived.

'They were in bad shape. By the time we got there two-thirds of them had already died. We had to euthanize the rest,' he said.

The whales had been out of the water for a long time.

'It has been quite hot and they were very distressed. You could see the pain and suffering in their eyes,' he was quoted telling the Southland Times newspaper.
Because the site is part of a nature reserve, the 105 whale carcasses were left to decompose where they stranded, Mr Stoffregen said.

Large numbers of whales become stranded on New Zealand's beaches each summer as they pass by on their way to breeding grounds from Antarctic waters.

Scientists so far have been unable to explain why whales become stranded.





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Covered with sheets and regularly doused with water, 43 of the pilot whales were kept alive. They eventually made it back out to seaPhotobucket
Conservation workers were helped by people holidaying near byPhotobucket
Rescue: Hundreds of volunteers gather around the stranded whales to try and coax them back out to seaPhotobucket
Hundreds of whales are stranded every year in New Zealand as they move to warmer waters but scientists are unable to explain why it happensPhotobucketPhotobucket
Stricken: The carcasses of pilot whales are left to decompose in a national park and, right, rescuers manage to re-float one of the stranded mammals

Obama Cites ‘Systemic Failure’ in U.S. Security -Attacker was in Watch List but still cleared to onboard.


AbdulMatubalah a rich banker son , is in the Terrorist watch list but still able to board a US bound plane.Failure to ignite the PETN explosion strap inside his underwear suffer burn on legs and were jump on by passenger.Al Qeada praise him on website , saying he bravely went on his mission.

President Obama on Tuesday blamed a “systemic failure” in the nation’s security apparatus for the attempted bombing of a passenger jet on Christmas Day and vowed to identify the problems and “deal with them immediately.”

Making his second public statement on the matter in as many days, Mr. Obama said a preliminary assessment already has made clear that there was a breakdown in the intelligence review system that did not properly identify the suspect as a dangerous extremist who should have been prevented from flying to the United States.

“A systemic failure has occurred and I consider that totally unacceptable,” Mr. Obama told reporters here in Hawaii, where is in the middle of a 10-day holiday vacation. The president said he has ordered government agencies to report back to him on Thursday about what happened and said he would “insist on accountability at every level,” although he did not elaborate.

The president’s blunt words came just two days after his secretary of homeland security, Janet Napolitano, drew criticism for saying that “the system worked” after Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab allegedly tried to ignite explosive chemicals aboard a Northwest Airlines flight approaching Detroit. Ms. Napolitano quickly recalibrated her statement to make clear she meant that the system worked in its response to the incident after it occurred. But Mr. Obama’s sharp assessment Tuesday sent a signal that he was not satisfied by the government’s performance.

Mr. Obama took no questions but referred obliquely to Ms. Napolitano’s statement by saying she was right that “once the suspect attempted to take down Flight 253, after his attempt, it’s clear that passengers and crew, our homeland security systems and our aviation security took all appropriate actions.”

He went on to praise the professionalism of the nation’s intelligence, counterterrorism, homeland security and law enforcement officials. But he spared little in his withering judgment of what he called a "mix of human and systemic failures" that did not catch Mr. Abdulmutallab in the first place.

The president suggested that he would overhaul the nation’s watch-list system. “We’ve achieved much since 9/11 in terms of collecting information that relates to terrorists and potential terrorist attacks,” he said. “But it’s becoming clear that the system that has been in place for years now is not sufficiently up to date to take full advantage of the information we collect and the knowledge we have.”

Mr. Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian who claims links to a branch of Al Qaeda, came to the attention of American authorities when his father went to the embassy last month to report that his son had become radicalized. The father, a respected retired banker, did not say his son planned to attack Americans but sought help locating him and bringing him home, according to American officials.

The embassy sent a cable to Washington that resulted in Mr. Abdulmutallab’s name being entered in a broad database of 550,000 people with possible ties to terrorism. But he was not put on the much smaller no-fly list of 4,000 people, or a list of 14,000 people who require additional screening before flying, nor was his multiple-entry visa to the United States revoked.

“It now appears that weeks ago this information was passed to a component of our intelligence community but was not effectively distributed so as to get the suspect’s name on a no-fly list,” Mr. Obama said of the father’s warning. “There appears to be other deficiencies as well. Even without this one report, there were bits of information available within the intelligence community that could have and should have been pieced together.”

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