News for October 6, 2005

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Iran warns Israel: Don’t attack us (October 6, 2005) - Speaker of the Iranian parliament tells London-based Arabic-language newspaper al-Hayat, ‘Our goal is to establish trust with world and express our true intentions to utilize our nuclear energy to achieve peace; we in Iran will never yield to the arrogance of our enemies’ Iranian parliament speaker Ghulam Ali Haddad-Adel warned Israel against “folly that would lead it to strike at Iran’s nuclear facilities,” London-based Arabic-language newspaper al-Hayat reported. “If Israel realizes its threats and strikes our nuclear facilities, as happened in Iraq in 1981, we’ll teach her a lesson she will never forget,” the official warned following his recent meeting with Syrian president Bashar Assad in Damascus. Haddad-Adel added, “Our goal is to establish trust with the world and express our true intentions to utilize our nuclear energy to achieve peace. In the past two years more than 1,200 International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors have visited Iran, but they did not find any proof indicating that we are planning to direct our nuclear plan toward producing military weapons.”

‘Atomic energy for peaceful purposes’

According to Haddad-Adel, should the Iranian nuclear program be referred to the U.N. Security Council, in accordance with the recent IAEA decision, “we will regard this as certain pressure that is being applied on us. We in Iran will never yield to the arrogance of our enemies.” more...

We Can’t Pay It Off by John Finger (October 5, 2005) - Besides having been a crooked president who managed to do a few good things, President Nixon took the United States off the gold standard, turning the U.S. dollar into a fiat currency. A fiat currency, for those of you who don’t know, has nothing to back it up. It’s just paper, unredeemable for gold or anything else of true value. Since Nixon took us off the gold standard in 1971, the U.S. dollar has lost over 70% of its purchasing power. The government has been able to borrow and spend money at will, borrowing from the kids and grandchildren in order to buy votes today. Our national debt stands at nearly $8 trillion. Our federal deficit, which had been scheduled to decline this year, will be about the same as last year (over $450 billion) after the disastrous costs of the hurricanes are added in. President Bush continually declines to say how we’ll pay for the costs. But one rule has become much more clear: when Democrats are in control, we pay for the costs of government and our ballooning debt. When Republicans are in control, our kids and grandchildren pay. The trade deficit is also a national disgrace. It runs over $500 billion a year and shows no signs of letting up, even with a weakening dollar. Even with declining real wages in America, we can’t compete with the Far East or Latin America, where most workers are willing to work for 1/10 of what Americans earn, and they don’t demand benefits, either. Social Security faces a deficit starting in 2018. It has no surplus now, since those funds go into the Treasury coffers with an IOU. But the baby-boomer retirement will put an extra strain on the system. And our true crisis, Medicare, is 10 times worse than the Social Security. All these debts keep piling up. Who’s buying it? Nations with assets, that’s who. China, Japan and India are among the heaviest buyers of U.S. debt. Over 52% of U.S. debt is now held by foreigners. If they ever decide to sell their debt, the dollar would plunge, causing a massive inflation in the U.S. Besides, do we really want so many dollars held by communist nations such as China? Isn’t that detrimental to our national security? more...

Researchers Have Reconstructed the 1918 Virus (October 5, 2005) - The strain of avian influenza that has led to the deaths of 140 million birds and 60 people in Asia in the past two years appears to be slowly acquiring the genetic changes characteristic of the “Spanish flu” virus that killed 50 million people nearly a century ago. How far “bird flu” has traveled down the evolutionary path to becoming a pandemic virus is unknown. Nor is it certain the worrisome strain, designated influenza A/H5N1, will ever acquire all the genetic features necessary for rapid, worldwide spread. Nevertheless, the similarities between the Spanish flu virus of 1918 and H5N1 strain slowly spreading through Asia provides unusually concrete evidence of how dangerous the latter virus is. “These H5N1 viruses might be acquiring the ability to adapt to humans, increasing their pandemic risk . . . there is a suggestion there may be some parallel evolution going on,” said Jeffery K. Taubenberger, a molecular pathologist at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Rockville. The comparison of the old and new influenza viruses is the first practical use of an extraordinary accomplishment whose completion was announced today in two papers, one published in the journal Science and the other in its chief competitor, Nature. After 10 years of work, Taubenberger and his team reported they had successfully reconstructed the Spanish flu virus, responsible for the deadliest epidemic since the Black Death of the Middle Ages. “Reborn” in mid-August at a high-security laboratory at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the pathogen has already been shown in animal experiments to be just as lethal as it was out in the world 87 years ago. more...

Hardball diplomacy goes public (October 5, 2005) - The British accusation that Iranian elements are behind lethal attacks on British troops in southern Iraq came out after months of frustration. The British ambassador to Baghdad, William Patey, has time and again complained to his Iranian counterpart that there is a traceable link between bombs that have killed eight British soldiers and devices used by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, which is backed by Iran. The Iranians have always denied any such link. Up until now, the British approach has been the classic one of hints and suggestions. The official who was the source of the accusation in a briefing for correspondents had previously been much more circumspect. This time he was quite open and direct. And having just come from a meeting with the prime minister, he was not speaking by accident. He spoke of the “explosively shaped projectiles” which were now such a threat to British armoured vehicles. more...

Vaccine Ingredients - Formaldehyde, Aspartame, Mercury, Etc (October 5, 2005) - This following list of common vaccines and their ingredients should shock anyone. The numbers of microbes, antibiotics, chemicals, heavy metals and animal byproducts is staggering. Would you knowingly inject these materials into your children?

• Acel-Immune DTaP - Diphtheria-Tetanus-Pertussis Wyeth-Ayerst 800.934.5556
  * diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and acellular pertussis adsorbed, formaldehyde, aluminum hydroxide, aluminum phosphate, thimerosal, and polysorbate 80 (Tween-80) gelatin Act HIB
• Haemophilus - Influenza B Connaught Laboratories 800.822.2463
  * Haemophilus influenza Type B, polyribosylribitol phosphate ammonium sulfate, formalin, and sucrose
• Attenuvax - Measles Merck & Co., Inc. 800-672-6372
  * measles live virus neomycin sorbitol hydrolized gelatin, chick embryo
• Biavax - Rubella Merck & Co., Inc. 800-672-6372
  * rubella live virus neomycin sorbitol hydrolized gelatin, human diploid cells from aborted fetal tissue
• BioThrax - Anthrax Adsorbed BioPort Corporation 517.327.1500
  * nonencapsulated strain of Bacillus anthracis aluminum hydroxide, benzethonium chloride, and formaldehyde

UFO-spotters tell extraterrestrial tales (October 6, 2005) - LIMA, Peru - One minute Jonathan Reed was hiking with his golden retriever in a forest in Seattle. The next, his pet was being torn apart by a “gray” — an alien being with an elongated head, smelling of rotting fruit. A scene from a sci-fi film? No, maintains Reed, who says he took the alien home and lived with it for nine days, during which it communicated via telepathy and was able to pull thoughts from his mind. Reed and others — including Uruguayan Rafael Ulloa, who says aliens in spaceships spirited away people from New York’s twin towers during the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks — are gathering in Lima this week for a world extraterrestrial congress. Peru has long been a mecca for mystics, and there have been abundant reports of flying saucers, especially over the southern town of Chilca. Some locals reckon aliens imbued mud springs there with special curative and fertility powers. This week's congress has been organized by the Alfa y Omega group, which believes that a fleet of UFOs will fly to Earth at the end of the world and that Jesus Christ could use one for his second coming. During the event's Oct. 6-9 run, participants will pore over photos and grainy films of bright flashes and spooky shapes that they say point to alien life forms. Retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Col Donald Ware, 69, told a news conference Tuesday that his first contact with aliens was in 1953, when he saw seven spacecraft flying over Washington. He spotted no signs of extraterrestrial life during his service, but said he had seen alien craft eight times since retiring in 1982. more...

Bin Laden to surface after new attack on US soil: ex-CIA expert (October 6, 2005) - Osama bin laden is expected to remain in hiding until he stages another attack on the United States, an ex-CIA expert who had tracked the terror mastermind for two decades warned in an interview. “As soon as he hits us in the United States again we’ll see how important he is in the Islamic world,” Michael Scheuer, the former head of the “bin Laden unit” at the CIA, told AFP in an interview. Despite his low profile, bin Laden remains powerful, Scheuer said, shrugging off reports that the Al-Qaeda chief was isolated and his communication network shattered due to a relentless hunt for him. “We mistake quiet for defeat or irrelevance. And all quiet is disquiet,” said Scheuer, a fierce critic of the Bush administration and its “War on Terror” policy since he left the CIA in November last year. Scheuer said that bin Laden’s right-hand-man Ayman al-Zawahiri, who last appeared on a video aired 10 days before the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, seemed to have temporarily taken over the Al-Qaeda leadership apparently for the boss to prepare for another US strike. Bin Laden last surfaced in a video footage aired on the eve of the US presidential elections in November last year. In the tape, declared authentic by the authorities, the Saudi-born radical directly admitted he ordered the September 11 attacks. more...

Catholic Church no longer swears by truth of the Bible (October 5, 2005) - THE hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church has published a teaching document instructing the faithful that some parts of the Bible are not actually true. The Catholic bishops of England, Wales and Scotland are warning their five million worshippers, as well as any others drawn to the study of scripture, that they should not expect “total accuracy” from the Bible. “We should not expect to find in Scripture full scientific accuracy or complete historical precision,” they say in The Gift of Scripture. The document is timely, coming as it does amid the rise of the religious Right, in particular in the US. Some Christians want a literal interpretation of the story of creation, as told in Genesis, taught alongside Darwin’s theory of evolution in schools, believing “intelligent design” to be an equally plausible theory of how the world began. But the first 11 chapters of Genesis, in which two different and at times conflicting stories of creation are told, are among those that this country’s Catholic bishops insist cannot be “historical”. At most, they say, they may contain “historical traces”. The document shows how far the Catholic Church has come since the 17th century, when Galileo was condemned as a heretic for flouting a near-universal belief in the divine inspiration of the Bible by advocating the Copernican view of the solar system. Only a century ago, Pope Pius X condemned Modernist Catholic scholars who adapted historical-critical methods of analysing ancient literature to the Bible. In the document, the bishops acknowledge their debt to biblical scholars. They say the Bible must be approached in the knowledge that it is “God’s word expressed in human language” and that proper acknowledgement should be given both to the word of God and its human dimensions. They say the Church must offer the gospel in ways “appropriate to changing times, intelligible and attractive to our contemporaries”. The Bible is true in passages relating to human salvation, they say, but continue: “We should not expect total accuracy from the Bible in other, secular matters.” more...

A season to put spirituality first (October 5, 2005) - A rare convergence of holy days has Jewish, Muslim and Christian congregations celebrating in different ways almost simultaneously -- and all with periods of fasting. With the Jewish High Holy Days and the month-long Muslim celebration of Ramadan beginning within days of each other this week, millions of people around the world will forgo food and drink in a bid for spiritual growth. In addition, Eastern Orthodox Christians will fast starting Nov. 15 to celebrate Advent, the 40 days leading to Christmas. “There’s a deeply felt human instinct that uses fasting as a universal language with God,” said Rev. Tom Ryan, a Catholic priest from New York whose recent book, “The Sacred Art of Fasting: Preparing to Practice,” covered the topic. “Food and drink represent life and growth. One who voluntarily gives up food and drink basically is communicating to the Divine that he is more important than life itself.” “With 1 billion Muslims, 16 million Jews and (millions) of Orthodox Christians, that’s a lot of people fasting around the world,” said Ryan, who added that people of other faiths, including Hindus and Buddhists, also fasted for spiritual cleansing. more...

No relief from busy hurricane season: forecaster (October 5, 2005) - The Atlantic hurricane season may produce two more hurricanes in October, adding to what is already one of the busiest and most destructive seasons on record, a noted forecaster predicted on Monday. Dr. William Gray of Colorado State University, who has had some success predicting hurricane frequency in the past, said in a monthly forecast update that October should produce three tropical storms, which would take the season total to 21 and tie the record for a single season set in 1933. Tropical Storm Stan, which formed on Sunday, was the 18th storm of the season. It hit the Yucatan Peninsula and was moving through the Bay of Campeche on Monday toward a second landfall on the Mexican coast on Wednesday. The Atlantic season has already brought misery to the U.S. Gulf of Mexico coast, where hurricanes Dennis, Katrina and Rita displaced hundreds of thousands of people, destroyed tens of thousands of homes and disrupted Gulf oil rigs and refineries. Risk analysts have estimated that Katrina, which caused the levees protecting New Orleans to fail, will be the costliest hurricane in U.S. history. Gray said two of the three October storms would become hurricanes, one of which would be a major hurricane with winds over 110 mph (177 kph). The season has already seen five major hurricanes, double the long-term average for a season. more...

Indonesia Quake Triggers Panic (October 5, 2005) - A strong earthquake rocked Indonesia’s tsunami-ravaged Aceh province on Wednesday, causing panicked residents to flee their homes. As the earthquake hit the province, people started running for higher ground. There were no immediate reports of serious damage or casualties. The magnitude 5.6 magnitude was centered about 30 miles southeast of the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, said Erida Wati of the local Meteorology and Geophysics office. “It caused panic among people. Some ran out of houses,” she said. This time there were no killer waves. A quake with a magnitude of less than 6 is not thought to be strong enough to induce a tsunami. Witnesses say hundreds of panicked people ran, or crammed into cars or onto motorbikes to flee inland or to higher ground. One vegetable seller says “it felt like a dream.” more...

Ethiopian volcano erupts again (October 5, 2005) - An 11th earthquake, measuring 4.2 on the Richter scale, jolted northern Ethiopia on Tuesday, triggering another eruption of the previously dormant Mount Arteale, which has been spewing lava for several days, geologists said. The quake, which struck the remote region of Afar, about 980km northeast of the capital, is the 11th temblor to rumble across the region since last month, they said. “A quake, measuring 4.2 on the Richter scale, occurred in Teru (in Afar) and was followed by volcanic eruption,” said Manahlo Belachew, an expert in the seismology department of Addis Ababa University. “Quakes and eruptions have been monitored since September 18 at a small scale,” he added. On September 24, a quake measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale caused the same volcano to erupt. The earthquakes have damaged roads in the region’s Teru and Dubti districts, making transportation difficult in a region largely inhabited by salt-mining Afar pastoralists, Ethiopian News Agency reported. more...

CHEP Announces Its Latest RFID Innovation: 3-in-1 Tag (October 5, 2005) - CHEP today announced their latest RFID product innovation here at the 7th CGCSA/ECR-SA Conference. The company showcased the new 3-in-1 tag, which provides the facility to be read through RFID, Bar code, or visually using a human readable identification number. CHEP is an industry leader in supply chain RFID research, and incorporated important findings from its practical experience in RFID implementations. The new tag innovation demonstrates a number of key features:

• Multi-mode readability (RFID, Bar-code and Visual identification), reducing the need for installation of RFID readers in all supply chain locations
• Total conformance to EPCglobal standards
• Full Read-Write capability, with two pages of user memory enabling CHEP customers to temporarily write product-related information, such as serial shipping container code (SSCC) to the tag, whilst permanently identifying the CHEP asset
• Unique packaging format that both protects the tag from external interference (metals and moisture), and optimizes the readability of the tag with standard EPC readers
• Clear identification of the tag through coloring and high quality symbology printing

The first application of this innovative tag solution will be in CHEP’s United States Intermediate Bulk Container (IBC) business. These containers are used to ship liquid raw materials and food ingredients. The new tag design is particularly appropriate for the metallic construction of the IBC and the liquid contents. Through the deployment of the 3-in-1 tag, CHEP customers will be able to further improve their product traceability. more...

Two earthquakes shake Sumatra Island, no casualties or damage (October 4, 2005) - Two earthquakes were registered on Indonesia’s Sumatra Island on Tuesday. There were no immediate reports about damage or casualties. The first earthquake measuring 5.5 points on the open-ended Richter scale rattled Indonesian Banda-Acheh town overnight to Tuesday, seismologists said. Another quake measuring 5.3 points on the Richter scale was registered on Sumatra in the evening. The quake epicenter was located 120 kilometres away off Banda-Acheh and 41.8 kilometres under the seabed of the Indian Ocean. Both quakes caused no tsunami threats.