Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya has appealed for calm after fresh fighting between Hamas and Fatah in Gaza, despite a renewed truce. Mr Haniya, of Hamas, called for an immediate ceasefire and for gunmen to withdraw from the streets. At least eight people were wounded in the latest clashes, although some calm has been restored. Two truces since Tuesday have failed to take hold, as the two sides remain locked in a violent power struggle. Some 22 people have died since a resurgence of violence on Thursday. Makeshift barricades Representatives from Hamas and Fatah met on Saturday to try to agree on how to enforce a ceasefire. ... http://news.bbc.co.uk censor News |
Editor - 07:38:00 02-03-07 |
Tests show bird flu is H5N1 virus |
The avian flu which killed 2,600 turkeys at a Suffolk farm has been confirmed as the H5N1 virus. That strain can be fatal if it is passed on to humans but experts said the outbreak was being contained and posed little danger to people. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the European Commission carried out virus tests at laboratories in Weybridge, Surrey. The 159,000 other turkeys on the farm will now have to be slaughtered. A three-kilometre protection zone and a 10km surveillance zone will be set up around Holton, which is approximately 27km south-west of Lowestoft. A Defra statement said: "Further tests to characterise the virus are under way in order to ascertain whether or not it is the Asian strain." It is the first case on a UK commercial farm of infection with the H5N1 strain, which has killed 164 people worldwide - most in south-east Asia - since 2003. However, the virus cannot pass from human to human at present. ... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/suffolk/6327193.stm
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Editor - 07:34:00 02-03-07 |
Bush says budget will limit non-defense spending |
President George W. Bush said on Saturday that his upcoming budget proposal would emphasize restraint on domestic spending while putting defense and war costs for Iraq and Afghanistan as the top priority."Cutting the deficit during a time of war requires us to restrain spending in other areas," Bush said in his weekly radio address. Previewing the fiscal year 2008 budget he will unveil on Monday, Bush also said it would show that his goal of erasing the deficit by 2012 could be accomplished while making his tax cuts permanent. "Congress needs to make this tax relief permanent, so we can keep America's economy growing. Pro-growth economic policies also play a vital role in our plan to balance the federal budget," he said. ... http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2846943
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Editor - 07:20:00 02-03-07 |
Non-aligned envoys in Iran to see nuclear sites |
Six envoys representing the Non-Aligned Movement of developing nations arrived in Iran on Saturday to visit nuclear sites as part of an effort by Tehran to show "transparency" over its disputed atomic project. The United States, which accuses Iran of secretly working to make atomic bombs under cover of a civilian nuclear program to generate electricity, has said that simply putting Iran's nuclear activities on display would not build confidence abroad. The NAM diplomats, accredited to the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, are due to visit a facility near the central Iranian city of Isfahan that converts uranium ore into feedstock uranium hexafluoride (UF6) gas. Journalists have been invited to join them on the trip.... http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070203/ts_nm/iran_nuclear_dc
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Editor - 00:10:00 02-03-07 |
Justifications for attacking Iran on shaky ground |
The Bush administration is escalating its confrontation with Iran, sending an additional aircraft carrier and minesweepers into the Persian Gulf as it accuses the Islamic regime in Tehran of arming Shiite Muslim militias in Iraq for attacks on American troops. A new U.S. intelligence estimate on Friday, however, concluded that Iranian and other outside meddling is "not likely" a major cause of the bloodshed in Iraq, and a new McClatchy analysis of U.S. casualties in Iraq found that Sunni Muslim insurgents, not Iranian-backed Shiites, have mounted most - but not all - of the attacks on American forces. The Bush administration, which made exaggerated or false claims about Iraq's weapons programs and ties to al-Qaida to justify its 2003 invasion of Iraq, hasn't provided evidence to back up its charges... http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/16609594.htm
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Editor - 00:07:00 02-03-07 |
Care for U.S. veterans could cost $662 bln: study |
Medical costs for U.S. veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could range from $350 billion to $662 billion over the next 40 years, as soldiers survive injuries that would have killed them in past conflicts, according to a Harvard University study.Due to improvements in battlefield medicine and equipment, there are now about 16 "nonmortally wounded" soldiers for every death, far more than the 2.6 soldiers wounded per death in Vietnam, the study said, citing Department of Veterans' Affairs data.The author of the study, Linda Bilmes, a lecturer at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, presented her findings at an academic conference in January. They were released publicly by the university this week.... http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/02/AR2007020200881_pf.html
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Editor - 00:05:00 02-03-07 |
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