The outbreak of swine flu in North America is not a cause for alarm, President Obama said Monday, calling the government’s decision to declare a health emergency a “precautionary tool.” Obama said the government is “closely monitoring” emerging cases of the strain, as the United States launches border screening for swine flu exposure. “This is obviously a cause for concern and requires a heightened state of alert,” Obama said. “But it’s not a cause for alarm.”
A Moscow police chief went on a killing spree early today after arguing with his wife at a celebration for his 32nd birthday. Major Denis Yevsyukov killed three people and injured six at a supermarket after first returning home to change into his police uniform. Russian television broadcast CCTV footage from inside the supermarket showing Mr Yevsyukov calmly reloading his weapon as he walked down one of the food aisles.
Circulation at U.S. newspapers continues to fall. The Audit Bureau of Circulations said Monday that average daily circulation declined 7.1 percent in the October-March period from the same six-month span in 2007-2008. The latest figure represents data from 395 daily U.S. newspapers that reported in both the current and year-ago periods. The most recent drop was faster than the 4.6 percent fall recorded in the April-September period of 2008, and the 3.6 percent fall recorded in the October 2007-March 2008 span.
A plane circling Lower Manhattan escorted by two fighter jets is part of a “photo op,” said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Jim Peters. The event caused some evacuations of office buildings in Lower Manhattan and Jersey City, N.J., on Monday morning. Mr. Peters said the Defense Department is conducting a photo op that involves deploying two F-16s and escorting a Boeing 747 [Air Force One look alike…ed] in the vicinity of Lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty.
Video here.
The “other white meat” industry concerned about business body blow over flu outbreak.
The U.S. pork industry shifted into rapid-response mode following the news of an outbreak of swine flu in humans, trying to quell disease fears and protect an already weak pork market. Although there appears to be no evidence yet tying the flu to human contact with pigs, Russia banned meat imports from Mexico, several U.S. states and nine Latin American nations. In a news release Sunday, the National Pork Producers Council said, “Pork is safe to eat.” The producers council, citing the Centers for Disease Control, said “preliminary investigations have determined that none of the people infected with the hybrid flu had contact with hogs.”
Airbags on cars to protect pedestrians? And just how does a car know it “is about to hit someone?”
A team, led by crash specialists at Cranfield University in Bedfordshire, has devised a new design which is fitted under the bonnet. When it believes the car is about to hit a pedestrian the u-shaped airbag inflates, providing extra protection while not interfering with the driver’s field of vision. The design protects pedestrians by pushing up the bonnet beneath the windscreen, increasing the gap from the engine below so the bonnet is better able to absorb some of the energy on impact.
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Ohio school closes because one kid sick with the swine flu.
An Ohio elementary school is closed for the week as health officials work to contain the spread of swine flu, which has sickened a 9-year-old student. Officials say a cleaning crew has sanitized doorknobs, desktops and telephones at Ely Elementary School in Elyria.
Swiss town says nein danke to people, mostly Germans, hiking around their area in the buff.
Voters in the heart of the Swiss Alps have passed legislation banning naked hiking after dozens of mostly German nudists started rambling through their picturesque region. By a show of hands citizens of the tiny canton (state) of Appenzell Inner Rhodes voted overwhelmingly yesterday at their traditional open-air annual assembly to impose a 200 Swiss franc ($A245) fine on violators.
Dumb &%$^&*# fly model airplane within feet of jet airliner then post their stupidity on youtube.
Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority says it is investigating the appearance of a model airplane near a jet at a Perth airport, a spokesman says. CASA spokesman Peter Gibson said the remote-controlled airplane incident, which was documented in a video placed on the Web site YouTube, is being investigated to determine what breaches of safety guidelines may have been broken, The Times of London said Wednesday.
Forget about waving fists and wagging middle fingers. A few Alaska motorists are venting road rage with something more high-tech: Twitter. AKBadDrivers, a Twitter feed that started last month, allows drivers to write in and publicly call-out red-light runners, tail-gaters, close-parkers, cutter-offers, errant-honkers, median-swervers, hit-and-runners, cell-phone chatterers, and all other manner of annoying and dangerous drivers.
US SECRETARY of State Hillary Clinton said yesterday that last week’s deadly bombings in Iraq are a sign that extremists are afraid the Iraqi government is succeeding.
Making her first trip to Iraq as America’s top diplomat, Clinton said the country has made great strides despite the recent violence that killed at least 159 people on Thursday and Friday. “I think that these suicide bombings… are unfortunately, in a tragic way, a signal that the rejectionists fear that Iraq is going in the right direction,” Clinton told reporters travelling aboard her plane ahead of her unannounced visit to Baghdad.
Eat a lot of alfalfa? You should probably stop now.
Government health officials are telling people to avoid eating raw alfalfa sprouts, because they could be contaminated with a strain of salmonella. Officials have received 31 reports of illness associated with eating raw alfalfa sprouts in Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Utah and West Virginia.
The government is set to require all telcos to record data between communications – mobile phones, text message, emails and instant messages, as well as internet browsing sessions to social networking sites such as Facebook. The details of the Intercept Modernisation Programme were laid out in a consultation document released today. The government will be accepting advice on the plans until July 2009. Any firm considered a communications service provider (CSP) – such as internet service providers (ISPS) and mobile operators – would be required to hold onto such data in case the government needed it, for anti-terror or policing reasons, for example.
Quote of the day.
We must reject the idea that every time a law’s broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.
-Ronald Reagan