Tensions are high in Lebanon, following a general strike and clashes last week that stirred memories of the country's vicious civil war in the 1970s and 80s, and raised fears that a repetition could erupt at any moment. At least seven people were killed and hundreds injured in the violence. For many Lebanese, the most worrying confrontation was between Shia and Sunni Muslims, respectively opponents and supporters of the Western-backed Beirut government.
This war is becoming increasingly hard to stop. It apparently can't be halted by agreements, by meetings between Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Khaled Mashaal or by Saudi, Syrian or Egyptian intervention. Even the establishment of a national unity government is unlikely to halt the battles.
President George W Bush has declared four Florida counties disaster areas, after storms and a tornado killed at least 20 people in the US state. Mr Bush's move frees federal aid for recovery operations in Florida to supplement local efforts. Rescuers have completed their search for survivors, and damage assessment teams are investigating the scene. The storms hit before dawn on Friday, damaging some 1,500 houses and leaving more than 10,000 people without power.
With heads bowed reverently, Democrats were led in prayer yesterday by a Muslim imam who essentially asked Allah to assist in converting the party members to Islam, according to a scholar and author.
The current discussions about the future of American foreign policy in the Middle East touch directly upon Israel-U.S. relations. U.S. policymakers, however, have not yet given enough consideration to the unprecedented weight that the European Union increasingly exerts in the region. In the case of Israel as well as on other U.S. fronts, no durable progress is reachable without the agreement, not to say the active involvement, of the slowly uniting Europe.
Understand that vaccine mandates in Texas automatically trigger an insurance mandate for coverage so we all pay through higher premiums whether we want the vaccine or not. We all pay federal taxes to cover the cost of the HPV vaccine through the Vaccine for Children Program - with all that money flowing straight back to Merck. Don't forget that now that ACIP has added HPV to the CHILDHOOD vaccine schedule, MERCK IS PROTECTED FROM LIABILITY for the harm this vaccine may cause. Industry analysts project that HPV mandates across the US could mean in excess of $4 billion dollars to Merck a year in sales which is not too shabby for a company currently plagued by lawsuits for withholding critical safety information to doctors and patients about their popular painkiller drug Vioxx!
Merck & Co. is helping bankroll efforts to pass state laws requiring girls as young as 11 or 12 to receive the drugmaker's new vaccine against the sexually transmitted cervical-cancer virus. Some conservatives and parents'-rights groups say such a requirement would encourage premarital sex and interfere with the way they raise their children, and they say Merck's push for such laws is underhanded. But the company said its lobbying efforts have been above-board. With at least 18 states debating whether to require Merck's Gardasil vaccine for schoolgirls, Merck has funneled money through Women in Government, an advocacy group made up of female state legislators around the country.
The replacement tomorrow in the Al Aqsa Mosque of a key podium transported with the coordination of Israeli security forces is "proof" the Temple Mount belongs only to Muslims and will never be returned to Jewish sovereignty, according to the leader of the Wafq the Muslim custodians of the Temple Mount. "This historic occasion proves that the extremist Jews will never achieve their goals of taking over the [Temple Mount.] It shows that we are much closer to liberating the Al Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem from Israeli occupation," said Waqf chief Adnan Husseini.
YAOUNDE, Cameroon: A crowd of 3,000 lined the airport tarmac in this West African nation and cheered the arrival of Chinese President Hu Jintao, the first Chinese leader to visit Cameroon in 36 years of bilateral relations. Hu's stop in Cameroon was the first in an eight-nation tour of the continent, one that highlights China's economic interest in Africa and appeared designed to answer criticism it only wants to exploit the continent's resources without addressing development and political problems. Trade between China and Africa has quadrupled over the last decade, generating US$40 billion in 2005. Beijing has also become a major supplier of aid, last year announcing US$10 billion in assistance from 2006 to 2009.
THE Grand Orange Lodge of Scotland has backed the Catholic Church in its war of words with the government over Tony Blair's decision to push ahead with controversial gay equality laws. The support from the staunchly Protestant order is a sign that the government's refusal to exempt religious groups from the Sexual Orientation Regulations is uniting Christians in opposition.
Muslim countries need to club together in a new initiative to resolve turbulence and violence in the Middle East, the leaders of Indonesia and Pakistan said on Wednesday. "We reviewed the turmoil in Palestine, in Iraq, in Lebanon, in Afghanistan and we both have consonance of views in a requirement of a new initiative," Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf told a joint news conference.
Saudi Arabia's king has said Iran is putting the Gulf region in danger and has advised Tehran leaders to know "their limits". In an interview published in Kuwait's al-Seyassah newspaper on Saturday, King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud said attempts by Iran to spread Shia beliefs in Sunni communities would fail.
Brief News events from around the world
North Korea is helping Iran to prepare an underground nuclear test similar to the one Pyongyang carried out last year. Under the terms of a new understanding between the two countries, the North Koreans have agreed to share all the data and information they received from their successful test last October with Teheran's nuclear scientists. North Korea provoked an international outcry when it successfully fired a bomb at a secret underground location and Western intelligence officials are convinced that Iran is working on its own weapons programme.
The deadly Clostridium difficile hospital bug is on the rise, while MRSA superbug rates are falling too slowly to meet government targets. The Health Protection Agency figures show the C difficile rate rose by 5.5% in England during the first three quarters of 2006 to 42,625.