 Swedish authorities said Tuesday that an aggressive strain of bird flu had been found in two wild ducks in southern Sweden, and that further tests would likely confirm it was the deadly H5N1 strain. Experts said the virus was a "highly pathogenic" form of the H5 virus, and samples had been sent to the European Union's reference laboratory in Weybridge, England for further analysis. "I would be surprised if it is not H5N1," Marianne Elvander of the National Veterinary Institute told the AP after a news conference. She said tests showed the virus was identical to strains found in Nigeria, Russia and China. "This means that we have bird flu in Sweden. It's serious, but not unexpected," Agriculture Minister Ann-Christin Nykvist told reporters in Stockholm. ...
http://www.cbsnews.com
censor News |
Editor - 09:55:00 02-28-06
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 Europeans Offer $144 Million Aid to Palestinians |
After receiving a dire warning that the Palestinian Authority was so short of money that it might collapse in two weeks, the European Union on Monday offered $144 million in aid to the Palestinians before a Hamas government takes power. The Europeans acted in partial response to a letter from James D. Wolfensohn, the special Middle East envoy of the so-called Quartet made up of the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations. Mr. Wolfensohn warned in a letter dated Saturday that "unless a solution is found, we may be facing the financial collapse of the P.A. within two weeks," referring to the Palestinian Authority. The money from the European Union will not solve the Palestinian money crunch for very long, especially since most of it is not in cash, but it will ease the burden of repayments to suppliers....
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/28/international/middleeast/28mideast.html?ex=1298782800&en=fc003eb3294f86c6&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
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Editor - 09:50:00 02-28-06
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| China Criticizes Taiwan's Scrapping of Unification Body, Warns Against Independence Moves |
Chinese President Hu Jintao denounced the Taiwanese president's decision to scrap an agency dedicated to uniting Taiwan with the communist mainland, and warned Tuesday that Beijing will not permit the self-ruled island to pursue formal independence. Hu's criticism came amid a series of stern Chinese statements Tuesday that vilified Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian but refrained from repeating Beijing's frequent threats to attack the island, which it claims as part of its territory. The Chinese Foreign Ministry called on the United States, Taiwan's only major ally, to block any moves toward independence for the island, split from the mainland since 1949. Hu accused Chen of taking a "dangerous step" toward independence. ...
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1670014&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312
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Editor - 09:45:00 02-28-06
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| Baghdad blasts kill at least 35 |
At least 35 people have been killed and scores injured by four bomb blasts in Baghdad, a day after a curfew to stop escalating violence was lifted. In the bloodiest attack, 24 people were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up next to a petrol station in a Shia district of the city. Bush denounced the recent violence, saying Iraqis had to choose between "chaos or unity". As the carnage continued, Saddam Hussein's trial resumed in Baghdad. The former president and 7 co-defendants are charged with killing 148 people in the town of Dujail after a failed assassination attempt against him. In other developments: The bodies of 9 Iraqis, including a Sunni Arab tribal leader, are found, riddled with bullets, in Tarfaya, south of the city of Baquba. Two British soldiers are killed and another is injured by a roadside bomb on the outskirts of Amara, in southern Iraq A US soldier is killed by small-arms fire in the west of Baghdad A bomb damages a mosque erected by Saddam Hussein over ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4757964.stm
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Editor - 09:38:00 02-28-06
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| Iraqis 'Optimistic' On Reporter's Fate |
The U.S. ambassador to Iraq said Monday that Iraqi authorities have informed him that kidnapped American journalist Jill Carroll is alive and they are optimistic about her release. Zalmay Khalilzad said he had spoken with Iraq's interior minister "and he said that based on the information that he has, that she is alive and that they have information with regard to where she might be held." Khalilzad told Fox News the minister was "optimistic about her release." The news comes a day after the deadline set Carroll's kidnappers in a message this month to a Kuwaiti television station passed without any new message from her abductors. Meanwhile, sectarian violence appeared to be receding throughout the country and Sunni Arabs signaled they may be ready to return to talks to form a new Iraqi government. ...
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/02/24/iraq/main541815.shtml?CMP=OTC-RSSFeed&source=RSS&attr=World_541815
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Editor - 10:07:00 02-27-06
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| Iraqi forces capture Zarqawi aide: |
Iraqi Interior Ministry forces have captured a senior aide to al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Iraqi state television said on Monday. Iraqiya named the man as Abu Farouq and said he was captured with five others in the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Ramadi, west of the capital. It said Abu Farouq al-Suri, previously unknown to the media, was captured by the Wolf Brigade, one of several counter-insurgency units operating within the Shi'ite-run Interior Ministry but accused by Sunnis of targeting civilians in their community. The word Suri is Arabic for Syrian, indicating that the captured man may have come from Iraq's western neighbor. This man must have more Aides than he can count for it seems that every time a crisis happens we have another of his Aides captured or killed. ...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060227/ts_nm/iraq_qaeda_capture_dc
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Editor - 10:03:00 02-27-06
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