Haaretz
Israeli Arab charged with giving Hamas explosive material
By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent, Haaretz Service, and The Associated Press
The Tel Aviv District Court on Thursday indicted an Israeli Arab from the Triangle region for supplying a Hamas agent with material for explosives.
A Hamas agent from the West Bank city of Tul Karm told security forces that Mohammed Halaf, 54, had supplied him with potassium and sulfur, whose sale Israel bans in the West Bank because they can be used to make explosives.
Halaf was charged with assisting the enemy in wartime, making contact with a foreign agent, possessing weapons without a license and conspiracy to commit a crime. He denied all charges.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/636439.html
Jordanian veterinarians to work in Israeli lab to combat avian flu
By Amiram Cohen, Yoav Stern, Ran Reznick and Asaf Oni, Haaretz Correspondents and AP
Officials from Israel's Veterinary Service and their Jordanian counterparts agreed Thursday to collaborate at an Israeli laboratory in Beit Dagan in an effort to combat the avian flu.
Representatives from the two countries, meeting at the Allenby Bridge border crossing Thursday morning, also decided to have another bi-national meeting in three weeks to evaluate their progress.
The meeting was organized at the request of the Jordanians, who want to find out what steps Israel is taking to prepare for a possible outbreak of the virus in the region.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/636091.html
Israel: No new plans to separate Israeli and Palestinian traffic
By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent and Haaretz Staff
Officials in Jerusalem have clarified on Wednesday that Israel has no new plans to separate Israel and Palestinian traffic on the roads of the West Bank. The clarification comes in the wake of harsh U.S. criticism of the restrictions imposed by Israel on Tuesday on Palestinian vehicular traffic in the territories.
The traffic restrictions were put in place following the terrorist attack on Sunday at the Gush Etzion junction and near Eli, in which three Israelis were murdered. Despite the fact that Fatah's military wing claimed responsibility for the attack, there are increasing signs that Hamas gunmen from the Hebron area were the perpetrators.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/636149.html
Chief UN investigator to issue report on Hariri assassination
By The Associated Press
BEIRUT, Lebanon - Chief UN investigator Detlev Mehlis will Thursday present his findings on the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
Lebanon's president and its top military commander sought to reassure jittery Lebanese amid fears the findings of the probe might jeopardize this country's stability.
President Emile Lahoud and Army Commander Gen. Michel Suleiman said in separate statements Wednesday that Lebanon's military and security services have been mobilized to protect public safety and prevent attempts at disturbances.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/636155.html
Statistical warning signs
By Avraham Tal
Last week the Central Bureau of Statistics reiterated its announcement from last September, confirming that the initial assessments of the national accounts indicate a growth of 5.1 percent in gross domestic product, based on an increase of 6.4 percent in business sector output.
This announcement does not at first appear to be saying anything new, but the details supplied by the CBS require slightly more fundamental consideration. It turns out that problems requiring attention are hiding behind the cheerful collective statistic.
The accelerated growth in 2005 stemmed in large part from the encouragement of two out of three major causes of growth (or the "engines") in 2004: Growth in private consumption jumped from 0.9 percent in 2003 to 5 percent in 2004, while growth in exports soared from 7.5 percent to 17.4 percent. This impressive trend appears to have halted this year, when private consumption is expected to increase by only 3.5 percent and growth in exports will contract to 6.5 percent.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/636124.html
State: More jail time for man who drove bomber to 2003 attack
By Yuval Yoaz and David Ratner, Haaretz Correspondents
The state prosecution asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to add 53 years to the jail term of an Israeli Arab who drove a suicide bomber to the Maxim restaurant in Haifa, where 21 people were killed in October 2003.
Jamal Mahnaje, a 49-year-old Umm al-Fahm resident, was sentenced in September to 10 years in jail and an additional two years of probation.
During his trial, the prosecution demanded that Mahnaje be jailed for 63 years, calculating three years in jail for every person killed in the restaurant.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/636473.html
The Jerusalem Post
Syria expels Saddam's nephew
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
CAIRO, Egypt
Iraqi security forces have arrested a nephew of Saddam Hussein, described as the top financier of the Sunni-dominated insurgency, after Syrian authorities forced him to return to his native country and told American officials where he was hiding in Baghdad.
Yasir Sabhawi Ibrahim, son of Saddam's half brother Sabhawi Ibrahim Hasan al-Tikriti, was arrested in a Baghdad apartment, several days after Syrian authorities forced him to return to Iraq, security officials told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from Cairo. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to deal with the media. They did not say exactly when the arrest was made.
Syria handed over Yasir Sabhawi Ibrahim's father, No. 36 on the US list of 55 most-wanted Iraqis, along with 29 other former Ba'ath Party officials in late February, after months of denying Iraqi accusations that Damascus was harboring fugitives
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1129540568814&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Navy to deploy speedboat drone
By ARIEH O'SULLIVAN
The Navy has revealed it is deploying an unmanned speedboat equipped with a remote-controlled machine gun capable of being operated up to a range of 20 kilometers, reportedly the first of its kind in the world
Developed by Rafael, the nine-meter-long, rigid hull, inflatable vessel is being called the "Protector" and has been undergoing sea trials for a number of months. Navy officials said it has "already drawn blood" but declined to elaborate. They stressed that the unmanned boat was an "all-Israeli" assembly.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1129540566580&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
The Boston Globe
Austrians await wedding of crystal heiress
Austria's Finance Minister Karl-Heinz Grasser and Fiona Swarovski pose in Reifnitz, Austria in this Aug. 19, 2005 file photo. Austrians are abuzz over this weekend's wedding of Finance Minister Karl-Heinz Grasser to crystal heiress Fiona Swarovski _ the country's closest thing to a royal couple, complete with scandals and paparazzi in hot pursuit. With the wedding's venue being treated like a state secret, Austrian media speculation centered on Vienna's ornate Liechtenstein Palace, the alpine ski resort of Kitzbuehel, or Duernstein, a quaint village with a powder-blue church on the banks of the River Danube just west of the capital. (AP Photo/Gert Eggenberger)
By William J. Kole, Associated Press Writer October 20, 2005
VIENNA, Austria --He's a tall, dark and handsome politician. She's the beautiful and wealthy daughter of a dynasty. Austrians are abuzz over Saturday's wedding of Finance Minister Karl-Heinz Grasser to crystal heiress Fiona Swarovski -- the country's closest thing to a royal couple, complete with scandals and paparazzi in hot pursuit.
"They fill Austrians' jet set needs," said Wolfgang Bachmayer, a pollster who has been tracking the alpine nation's obsession with the couple. "Grasser and Swarovski are in a completely different league."
After weeks of denial, Grasser's office confirmed the upcoming nuptials, but won't say where the wedding will be held.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2005/10/20/austrians_await_wedding_of_crystal_heiress/
Avian flu
Further reports of Tamiflu resistance in avian flu virus pending: expert
Helen Branswell
Canadian Press
October 18, 2005
TORONTO (CP) - There is additional, unpublished evidence of resistance to the anti-flu drug Tamiflu in human cases of H5N1 avian influenza, an U.S. expert in antiviral drugs hinted Saturday.
Dr. Frederick Hayden suggested data that have not yet hit scientific literature point to the existence of more cases where H5N1 viruses evaded the drug that countries around the world have been stockpiling as a hedge against a feared pandemic.
http://www.canada.com/health/story.html?id=bd866740-2f4f-42d0-a327-6f7bddbe3227
Avian flu drug: Central panel to decide on patent
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Govt has the right to cancel patents in emergencies
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TOUFIQ RASHID
NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 15: The pharma war between Roche and Cipla over the manufacture of Oseltamivir, the generic version of the avian flu drug, has led the government to set up an expert panel as manufacture of the drug is illegal under the patent law.
“A committee of experts headed by high-level officials in the Health Ministry is being constituted on October 17. We can answer the questions regarding the issue only after it submits its report,” Secretary, Health, P K Hota, said.
http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=80147
EU voices caution over avian flu outbreak in Romania
http://www.chinaview.cn/ 2005-10-11 06:59:22
BRUSSELS, Oct. 10 (Xinhuanet) -- The European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union (EU), said on Monday that it was studying the possibility of avian flu outbreak in its candidate country Romania.
Tests are being carried out to check whether the death of a flock of 40 ducks was due to the bird flu virus, said a press release of the Commission.
Results of laboratory tests are due out on October 12, it added.
The results should confirm whether the dreaded H5N1 strain of avian flu - which has decimated 125 million birds and killed 50 people in South East Asia since 2003 - is approaching European borders.
The news comes barely a month after EU Health and Consumer Commissioner Markos Kyprianou urged Romania to get on with implementing EU veterinary and food safety rules during a visit tothe country.
The EU has stepped up surveillance on wild birds and poultry inrecent months amid fears that the H5N1 strain of avian influenza could reach Europe. Enditem
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-10/11/content_3602977.htm
U.S.'s Leavitt Urges Nations to Increase Flu Vaccines (Update1)
Oct. 10 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt urged countries to increase their capacities to manufacture antiviral drugs and vaccines amid fears mutated bird flu may spread globally among humans.
Leavitt, 54, is meeting leaders in Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia this week to urge fuller international cooperation against an outbreak of the lethal flu that has killed 60 people in Southeast Asia.
The World Health Organization has warned that the risk of a bird-flu pandemic that may kill as many as 7.4 million people is at its highest since a 1968 outbreak in which about 3 million died. WHO Director General Jong Woo Lee said today in Bangkok the organization believes ``there will be'' another human influenza pandemic.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000080&sid=aM_rVpQz5GfY&refer=asia
U.S.'s Leavitt Urges Nations to Increase Flu Vaccines (Update1)
Oct. 10 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt urged countries to increase their capacities to manufacture antiviral drugs and vaccines amid fears mutated bird flu may spread globally among humans.
Leavitt, 54, is meeting leaders in Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia this week to urge fuller international cooperation against an outbreak of the lethal flu that has killed 60 people in Southeast Asia.
The World Health Organization has warned that the risk of a bird-flu pandemic that may kill as many as 7.4 million people is at its highest since a 1968 outbreak in which about 3 million died. WHO Director General Jong Woo Lee said today in Bangkok the organization believes ``there will be'' another human influenza pandemic.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000080&sid=aM_rVpQz5GfY&refer=asia
Joint efforts pledged to combat global bird flu threat
http://www.chinaview.cn/ 2005-10-10 22:45:54
BANGKOK, Oct. 10 (Xinhuanet) -- Thailand, the United States and the World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday agreed to joint hands in combating the looming influenza and avian flu outbreak that will raise havoc at a global level, the Thai News Agency reported.
At the meeting on International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza (IPAPI) here, top public health officials from Thailand, the United States and leading international organizations discussed joint measures to prevent the influenza and bird flu and agreed to form a network to fight the epidemics.
According to the WHO, once the H5N1 virus that causes bird flu mutates, over 1 billion people around the world could be affected, potentially killing up to seven million people. It will also inflict a loss of 30 billion US dollars to the world economy.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-10/10/content_3602601.htm
Thousands of birds culled to stop avian flu.
Ankara -- Turkey and Romania culled thousands of birds and imposed quarantine zones yesterday to try to stop the spread of avian flu as scientists worked to discover whether the outbreaks could be the deadly H5N1 strain. Reports of Turkey's outbreak surfaced only on Saturday night, but nearly 2,000 turkeys had died at the affected farm near the Aegean Sea on Tuesday and Wednesday and hundreds more were culled overnight in the affected area, local media said. Authorities slapped a three-kilometre quarantine ring around the site.
Romania's suspected outbreak was detected in poultry in the Danube delta, on the Black Sea, and the European Commission said the two cases are different but they have raised the spectre of the disease reaching European Union countries.
If the Romanian cases turn out to be the deadly H5N1 virus, they will be the first evidence the strain has spread to Europe from Asia, where it has killed more than 60 people and millions of birds since 2003.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20051010/WORLDREPO10-3/TPInternational/Africa
EU ministers call spread of bird flu 'global threat,' say EU ill-prepared
11:56 AM EDT Oct 20
A veterinarian in protective clothes collects a dead dove from the street in downtown Belgrade. (AP Photo/Srdjan Ilic)
ROBERT WIELAARD
LUXEMBOURG (AP) - The European Union declared Tuesday the spread of bird flu from Asia into the EU a "global threat" requiring international co-operation, saying western Europe was ill prepared to deal with an influenza emergency.
Western European governments scrambled to buy industrial quantities of flu vaccines and face masks to protect citizens from possible infection.
EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou said most of the 25 EU governments lack sufficient stocks of anti-viral drugs designed to boost resistance to the common flu of such risk groups as the elderly, the young, diabetics and others.
http://www.cbc.ca/cp/world/051018/w101870.html
Bird flu vaccine 'may not work'
19oct05
A VACCINE for a mass inoculation against bird flu could be ineffective by the time it comes into production, Health Minister Tony Abbott says.
The Federal Government is considering vaccinating every Australian against bird flu under a national program if trials on a new vaccine are successful.
Tests on the vaccine, being developed by research company CSL, should be finished by the end of the year.
But with the possibility of the bird flu virus mutating quickly, Mr Abbott is warning people not to put too much faith in the possibility or effectiveness of a mass vaccination campaign.
http://www.theadvertiser.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,16966897^1702,00.html
Roche promises new plant for bird flu drug
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., demands the Swiss pharmaceutical giant, Roche, license it's bird flu treatment at a news conference at the Capitol on Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2005 in Washington. Sen. Schumer will call on Roche to license Tamiflu production to five U.S. companies within 30 days, he said in a statement Tuesday. Schumer has said that if Roche does not allow the additional production voluntarily, he will introduce legislation to force the move. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)
By Paul Elias, AP Biotechnology Writer October 18, 2005
SAN FRANCISCO --Roche AG says it will build a U.S. plant to make more of its anti-bird flu drug Tamiflu, but that promise failed to tamp growing international pressure on the Swiss drug giant to ease its monopoly grip on the drug.
European Union foreign ministers on Tuesday called bird flu a global threat following the discovery of new cases in Greece, Romania and Turkey in recent days, which led to bans on poultry from those countries.
Meanwhile, demand for Tamiflu is far outstripping Roche's ability to make it.
Some 40 countries are scrambling to create Tamiflu stockpiles to treat millions if a pandemic occurs and there's growing international pressure to ignore Roche's patent rights and manufacturer inexpensive generic versions.
http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/diseases/articles/2005/10/18/eu_nations_declare_bird_flu_global_threat/
The A to Z of bird flu
STEPHEN McGINTY
A is for Avian flu: First discovered in Italy a century ago, avian flu or bird flu, is a contagious viral disease which has dozens of different strains, some almost harmless and others that can kill infected fowl in a matter of hours. While all bird species are susceptible to the virus - which is loosely connected to human influenza - domestic poultry are particularly vulnerable.
B is for Ban: The European Union has now banned the import of fowl from Turkey, Romania and other nations who have suffered recent outbreaks of avian flu, in an attempt to prevent the spread of infection.
C is for China: The Medical Research Council is working closely with Chinese scientists to develop vaccines for avian flu and other diseases, known as "emerging infections". China is particularly at risk because of the country's large rural population who live close to livestock.
D is for Decontamination suits: This autumn's most desirable look among rural health workers. These puffy white suits, complete with matching hood and face mask are just the thing for sashaying through an infected farm. Let's hope they don't become next season's must-have.
E is for Emergency government powers: Should there be a pandemic, the Government has the power to isolate Britain from the rest of the world by grounding planes, canceling ferries and closing the Channel Tunnel. It is more likely, though that it would cancel large gatherings, such as concerts and football matches, in an attempt to slow the spread of the virus.
http://news.scotsman.com/features.cfm?id=2105012005
Spreading day by day, virus strikes at heart of Russia
LOUISE GRAY
BIRD flu continued its spread across the globe yesterday, appearing for the first time in European Russia and again in rural China.
Preliminary tests on hundreds of birds to the south of Moscow detected the H5N1 flu strain. Russia's agriculture ministry said 220 of 3,000 domestic birds in the village of Yandovka had died. Birds on six affected farms were being destroyed, and local officials had decided to kill all poultry in the village.
It was also reported that some 200,000 people in the region were given standard flu vaccinations, so that if anyone became infected with the bird flu virus, it would hopefully not mix with a human flu strain in the body and create a dangerous hybrid.
China, meanwhile, announced a fresh outbreak of bird flu, saying 2,600 birds had died from the disease in Inner Mongolia.
The deaths, at a farm near the region's capital, Hohhot, were due to the H5N1 strain.
http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=161&id=2115242005
Bird Flu Spreads
Bangkok — A 48-year-old man died of bird flu in Thailand after eating his neighbour's sick chickens, and Taiwan confirmed on Thursday the island nation's first case of the disease in birds smuggled in from China.
In Russia, emergency workers were killing domestic and wild fowl in and near a bird flu-affected village south of Moscow while the World Health Organization said China had destroyed 91,100 birds around a farm in the country's north to stop a bird flu outbreak. The birds were culled after 2,600 chickens and ducks died of the H5N1 strain of the virus in a breeding facility in a village in the Inner Mongolia region.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20051020.wbirdflu1020/BNStory/International/
Nanotech Battles Bird Flu
By Colin C. Haley
Health officials around the world are sounding the alarm about Bird Flu. The virus has killed 60 people in Asia and its discovery in Europe this week has heightened fears of a pandemic.
While the medical community works to eradicate Bird Flu, several nanotech (define) and IT firms say their products could help control it.
"Nanotechnology will undoubtedly be used in some form -- either as a vaccine, a treatment, a delivery method for a drug, or as a means to detect, control or limit the spread of the influenza," Adrian Burden, CEO of Singular ID, told internetnews.com.
Singular ID was founded in December and makes magnetic tags that give a "fingerprint" to objects. The tags are similar to RFID (define) chips, but are smaller, stronger and aren't susceptible to signal interference, Singular ID said.
http://www.internetnews.com/infra/article.php/3556471
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Avian Flu Under the Microscope
Here's key information about the potentially deadly disease that has governments and scientists on high alert, since it may spread around the globe
Suddenly the news is filled with dire warnings about avian flu, a potentially deadly disease that may -- or may not -- sweep the globe in the next few years. Infectious-disease experts have been warning for years that the virus that has killed tens of millions of chickens and waterfowl in Asia since 1997 could mutate into a form that would infect humans. If that happens, it could produce a devastating flu pandemic such as the Spanish flu of 1918 that killed as many as 50 million people worldwide (see BW Online, 10/6/05, "'Eerie' Discoveries about Flu").
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/oct2005/tc20051010_0869_tc024.htm
Meet to be convened on avian flu soon
Special Correspondent
Preparedness against possible attack of epidemic to be reviewed
NEW DELHI: : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will soon convene a high-level meeting to review the state of preparedness to deal with the bird flu epidemic, in case it hits the country.
The Union Health Ministry has also sought directions from the World Health Organisation to take steps to meet any exigencies, Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Anbumani Ramadoss told reporters here on Monday.
Asking people not to be scared, Dr. Ramadoss said the Ministry had set up a facility to manufacture influenza vaccine and for the production-cum-procurement of anti-viral drugs. "We have been having a series of fruitful meeting with other Ministries on the issue. These are not empty meetings but eventful interactions where issues such as medicine procurement and stockpiling were discussed," he said.
http://www.hindu.com/2005/10/18/stories/2005101805101300.htm
European Union adopts measures to prevent avian flu
Officials try to ease fears after lethal strain found in Turkey
By Emma Ross
Associated Press
LONDON -- Senior veterinary officials from around the European Union agreed Friday on new measures aimed at preventing a lethal strain of bird flu from entering the bloc, a day after it was confirmed on the continent's doorstep in Turkey.
The officials also moved to calm fears on a continent with vivid memories of mad cow disease, saying there was no reason to avoid cooked chicken because bird flu is killed in seconds when the meat is cooked.
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051015/NEWS01/510150464/1012/NEWS06
Culling plan to combat avian flu
Jonathon Carr-Brown, Health Correspondent
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THE government is to respond to criticism that it has failed to act quickly enough to prepare for a potential flu pandemic by bringing in new measures to tackle the threat.
The initiatives come as scientists confirmed yesterday that the Romanian outbreak nine days ago was caused by the deadly avian flu virus H5N1.
Sir Liam Donaldson, the chief medical officer, is expected to announce on Thursday government plans to buy additional H5N1 flu vaccine or possibly more anti-viral drugs. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is also seeking powers to carry out “firebreak” culls of uninfected birds.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1827842,00.html
From Washington, a Story About a Killer Flu
By GARDINER HARRIS
Published: October 16, 2005
THERE was the killer asteroid scare that spawned two big-budget 1998 movies. Anxiety about SARS in Canada led to a movie-of-the-week last summer. And this week, the Bush administration is expected to release its pandemic flu plan, which could generate its own movie epic.
The New York Times obtained a draft of the plan, dated Sept. 30. No one would confuse the 381-page document with a screenplay, but pages 45 through 47, the section titled "Pandemic Scenario - Origin and Initial Spread," are gripping. They describe a flu epidemic moving from a village in Asia to the United States, where it causes panic and as many as 1.9 million deaths.
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Map: Influenza 1918 (PBS.org)
The plan's writers might have been inspired by John M. Barry's hair-raising history of the 1918 flu epidemic, "The Great Influenza," which President Bush, in an Oct. 5 press conference, said he had recently read. After criticism of his response to Hurricane Katrina, Mr. Bush, who said he was taking the risks of a pandemic "very seriously," has been eager to show that his administration is aggressively preparing for it. Top health officials, including Michael O. Leavitt, the secretary of health and human services, spent last week in Asia discussing avian flu preparations. On Friday, Mr. Leavitt called the newly confirmed spread of the disease to Turkey a "troubling sign." The administration is expected to ask Congress this week for $7.1 billion to respond to the threat.
Is a flu pandemic likely in the next few years? No one knows. The deadly H5N1 strain of avian flu does not currently spread from person to person, but the government's vision of what a pandemic would look like is grimly compelling. Excerpts from the document follow.
Act I: Illness Strikes a Village
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/16/weekinreview/16harris.html
Avian flu strain confirmed in Romania
Officials appeal for calm in Europe
By Colin Nickerson, Globe Staff October 16, 2005
BERLIN -- As lab tests confirmed yesterday that the most lethal strain of bird flu has reached mainland Europe for the first time, people across the continent sought to protect themselves against a disease for which there is no existing vaccine. Officials, meanwhile, urged calm after a week of issuing dire forecasts.
Germans streamed to doctors' offices demanding flu shots; Belgians descended upon pharmacies in search of fast-dwindling stocks of antiflu medication, while Serbians snapped up tens of thousands of surgical face masks.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/10/16/avian_flu_strain_confirmed_in_romania/
The Guardian
Thailand confirms 13th bird flu death
James Sturcke and agencies
Thursday October 20, 2005
Authorities in Thailand confirmed today that a 13th person, the first for over a year, had died from bird flu in the country.
Officials initially denied there was any connection with the disease, which has killed over 61 people in Asia, but today the prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, said new lab results confirmed the bird flu diagnosis.
Bang-on Benphat, 48, was admitted to hospital with severe pneumonia on Sunday, about two weeks after he killed, cooked and ate his neighbour's chickens. Officials said the birds had died of abnormal causes but were not tested for bird flu.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/birdflu/story/0,14207,1596753,00.html
Women face pension poverty
Hilary Osborne
Thursday October 20, 2005
Women are failing to adequately save for a pension and millions face poverty in retirement, according a report published today.
Survey pensions provider Scottish Widows found that men of all ages were more likely to put money into a scheme than women, and once children arrived the gap between the sexes widened.
While 52% of men said they were saving for retirement, just 31% of women were doing the same, and one in two women said they had stopped saving when they had children.
As a result, just 15% of mothers with children aged under five were paying into a scheme, compared with 50% of fathers of children the same age.
http://money.guardian.co.uk/pensions/story/0,6453,1596876,00.html
Annan: Aid quake victims before more die
Thursday October 20, 2005
The UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, warned today that a huge shortfall in relief funds after the south Asia earthquake risked causing a "massive second wave of death".
Mr Annan said that with so many people still in need of shelter, food and other aid in Pakistan, the risk to life there was "not over yet".
He appealed for a big increase in international donations, saying that of the funds secured so far only 12% had been given with firm commitments.
He said this sum amounted to only £20m of the UN's appeal for £176m after the October 8 quake, which is estimated to have killed 79,000 people as it devastated Pakistani Kashmir and the surrounding regions.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/naturaldisasters/story/0,7369,1596767,00.html
Guardian journalist abducted in Baghdad
Ewen MacAskill
Thursday October 20, 2005
The Guardian
The Guardian's Iraq correspondent, Rory Carroll, was last night missing after being kidnapped by gunmen in Baghdad. Carroll, 33, an experienced foreign correspondent, had been conducting an interview in the city with a victim of Saddam Hussein's regime. He had been preparing an article for today's paper on the opening of the former dictator's trial yesterday.
Carroll, who was accompanied by two drivers and a translator, was confronted by the gunmen as he left the house where he had been carrying out the interview. He and one of the drivers were bundled into cars. The driver was released about 20 minutes later.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/rorycarroll/story/0,16647,1596820,00.html
Violent crime up 6%
Staff and agencies
Thursday October 20, 2005
The number of violent crimes recorded by police in England and Wales jumped by 6% in the three months to the end of June, Home Office figures revealed today.
The latest rise comes after annual figures in July that showed incidents of violence against the person were up 8% from the previous year.
The Home Office said the latest increase - compared to the same three-month period in 2004 - reflected the improved police recording of crime and more "proactive policing" of violent disorder.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,2763,1596620,00.html
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