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		<title>Instant Breaking News - World News</title>
		<link>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/</link>
		<description>Instant Breaking News Articles</description>
		<language>en</language>
		<pubDate>Tue, 07 Feb 2012 07:35:09 -0500</pubDate>

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			<title>W.H.O. Rasies Swine Flu Threat Level  1 away From Full Pandemic</title>
			<description><![CDATA[MEXICO CITY &ndash; Global health authorities warned Wednesday that swine flu was threatening to bloom into a pandemic, and the virus spread farther i[...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[MEXICO CITY &ndash; Global health authorities warned Wednesday that swine flu was threatening to bloom into a pandemic, and the virus spread farther in Europe even as the outbreak appeared to stabilize at its epicenter. A toddler who succumbed in Texas became the first death outside Mexico.
New cases and deaths finally seemed to be leveling off in Mexico, where 160 people have been killed, after an aggressive public health campaign. But the World Health Organization said the global threat is nevertheless serious enough to ramp up efforts to produce a vaccine against the virus.
&quot;It really is all of humanity that is under threat during a pandemic,&quot; WHO Director General Margaret Chan said in Geneva. &quot;We do not have all the answers right now, but we will get them.&quot;
It was the first time the WHO had declared a Phase 5 outbreak, the second-highest on its threat scale, indicating a pandemic could be imminent.
The first U.S. death from the outbreak was a Mexico City toddler who traveled to Texas with family and died Monday night at a Houston hospital. U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius predicted the child would not be the last U.S. death from swine flu.
The virus, a mix of pig, bird and human genes to which people have limited natural immunity, had spread to at least nine countries. In the United States, nearly 100 have been sickened in 11 states.
Eight states closed schools Wednesday, affecting 53,000 students in Texas alone, and President Barack Obama said wider school closings might be necessary to keep crowds from spreading the flu. Mexico has already closed schools nationwide until at least May 6.
&quot;Every American should know that the federal government is prepared to do whatever is necessary to control the impact of this virus,&quot; Obama said, highlighting his request for $1.5 billion in emergency funding for vaccines.
Just north of the Mexican border, 39 Marines were being confined to their California base after one contracted what may be swine flu. Senators questioned Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano about her decision not to close the border, action she said &quot;has not been merited by the facts.&quot;
Ecuador joined Cuba and Argentina in banning travel either to or from Mexico, and other nations considered similar bans. In France, President Nicolas Sarkozy met with cabinet ministers to discuss swine flu, and the health minister said France would ask the European Union to suspend flights to Mexico.
The U.S., the European Union and other countries have discouraged nonessential travel to Mexico. Some countries have urged their citizens to avoid the United States and Canada as well. Health officials said such bans would do little to stop the virus.
Germany and Austria became the latest countries to report swine flu infections Wednesday, with cases already confirmed in Canada, Britain, Israel, New Zealand and Spain.
In addition to the 160 deaths, the virus is believed to have sickened 2,498 people across Mexico. But only 1,311 suspected swine flu patients remained hospitalized, and a closer look at daily admissions and deaths at Mexico's public hospitals suggests the outbreak may have peaked during three grim days last week when thousands of people complained of flu symptoms.
Scientists believe that somewhere in the world, months or even a year ago, a pig virus jumped to a human and mutated, and has been spreading between humans ever since. Unlike with bird flu, doctors have no evidence suggesting a direct pig-to-human infection from this strain, which is why they haven't recommended killing pigs.
Medical detectives have not zeroed in on where the outbreak began. Mexico's chief epidemiologist suggested Wednesday that someone could have carried it in from Pakistan or Bangladesh &mdash; or just about anywhere else in the world.
By March 9, the first symptoms were showing up in the Mexican state of Veracruz, where pig farming is a key industry in mountain hamlets and where small clinics provide the only health care.
The earliest confirmed case was there: a 5-year-old boy who was one of hundreds of people in the town of La Gloria whose flu symptoms left them struggling to breathe.
Days later, a door-to-door tax inspector was hospitalized with acute respiratory problems in the neighboring state of Oaxaca, infecting 16 hospital workers before she became Mexico's first confirmed death.
Neighbors of the inspector, Maria Adela Gutierrez, said Wednesday that she fell ill after pairing up with a temporary worker from Veracruz who seemed to have a very bad cold. Other people from La Gloria kept going to jobs in Mexico City despite their illnesses, and could have infected people in the capital.
The deaths were already leveling off by the time Mexico announced the epidemic April 23. At hospitals Wednesday, lines of anxious citizens seeking care for flu symptoms dwindled markedly.
The Mexican health secretary, Jose Angel Cordova, said getting proper treatment within 48 hours of falling ill &quot;is fundamental for getting the best results&quot; and said the country's supply of medicine was sufficient.
Cordova has suggested the virus can be beaten if caught quickly and treated properly. But it was neither caught quickly nor treated properly in the early days in Mexico, which lacked the capacity to identify the virus, and whose health care system has become the target of widespread anger and distrust.
In case after case, patients have complained of being misdiagnosed, turned away by doctors and denied access to drugs. Monica Gonzalez said her husband, Alejandro, already had a bad cough when he returned to Mexico City from Veracruz two weeks ago and soon developed a fever and swollen tonsils.
As the 32-year-old truck driver's symptoms worsened, she took him to a series of doctors and finally a large hospital. By then, he had a temperature of 102 and could barely stand.
&quot;They sent him away because they said it was just tonsillitis,&quot; she said. &quot;That hospital is garbage.&quot;
That was April 22, a day before Mexico's health secretary announced the swine flu outbreak. But the medical community was already aware of a disturbing trend in respiratory infections, and Veracruz had been identified as a place of concern.
Gonzalez finally took her husband to Mexico City's main respiratory hospital, &quot;dying in the taxi.&quot; Doctors diagnosed pneumonia, but it may have been too late: He has suffered a collapsed lung and is unconscious. Doctors doubt he will survive.
Swine flu has symptoms nearly identical to regular flu &mdash; fever, cough and sore throat &mdash; and spreads like regular flu, through tiny particles in the air, when people cough or sneeze. People with flu symptoms are advised to stay at home, wash their hands and cover their sneezes.
While epidemiologists stress it is humans, not pigs, who are spreading the disease, sales have plunged for pork producers around the world. Egypt began slaughtering its roughly 300,000 pigs on Wednesday, even though no cases have been reported there. WHO says eating pork is safe, but Mexicans have even cut back on their beloved greasy pork tacos.
Pork producers are trying to get people to stop calling the disease swine flu, and Obama notably referred to it Wednesday only by its scientific name, H1N1. U.N. animal health expert Juan Lubroth noted some scientists say &quot;Mexican flu&quot; would be more accurate, a suggestion already inflaming passions in Mexico.
Authorities have sought to keep the crisis in context. In the U.S. alone, health officials say about 36,000 people die every year from flu-related causes.
Mexico's government said it remains too early to ease restrictions that have shut down public life in the overcrowded capital and much of the country. Pyramids, museums and restaurants were closed to keep crowds from spreading contagion.
&quot;None of these measures are popular. We're not looking for that &mdash; we're looking for effectiveness,&quot; Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard said. &quot;The most important thing to protect is human life.&quot; 

Courtesy of new.yahoo.com]]></content:encoded>			<link>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/741/W.H.O._Rasies_Swine_Flu_Threat_Level__1_away_From_Full_Pandemic</link>
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			<pubDate>Wed, 29 Apr 2009 18:59:33 -0400</pubDate>
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			<title>First US Swine Flu Death</title>
			<description><![CDATA[A 23-month-old Texas toddler became the first confirmed swine flu death outside of Mexico as authorities around the world struggled to contain a growi[...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[A 23-month-old Texas toddler became the first confirmed swine flu death outside of Mexico as authorities around the world struggled to contain a growing global health menace that has also swept Germany onto the roster of afflicted nations.
&quot;Even though we've been expecting this, it is very, very sad,&quot; Dr. Richard Besser, acting chief of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Wednesday of the infant's death. &quot;As a pediatrician and a parent, my heart goes out to the family.&quot;
President Barack Obama said this morning that Americans should know the government is doing all it can to control virus. Obama also says schools should consider closing if the spread of the swine flu virus worsens.
Canada, Austria, New Zealand, Israel, Spain, Britain and Germany also have reported cases of swine flu sickness. Deaths reported so far have been limited to Mexico, and now the U.S.
As the United States grappled with this widening health crisis, Besser went from network to network Wednesday morning to give an update on what the Obama administration is doing. He said authorities essentially are still &quot;trying to learn more about this strain of the flu.&quot; His appearances as Germany reported its first cases of swine flu infection, with three victims.
&quot;It's very important that people take their concern and channel it into action,&quot; Besser said, adding that &quot;it is crucial that people understand what they need to do if symptoms appear.
&quot;I don't think it (the reported death in Texas) indicates any change in the strain,&quot; he said. &quot;We see with any flu virus a spectrum of disease symptoms.&quot;
Asked why the problem seems so much more severe in Mexico, Besser said U.S. officials &quot;have teams on the ground, a tri-national team in Mexico, working with Canada and Mexico, to try and understand those differences, because they can be helpful as we plan and implement our control strategies.&quot;
Sixty-six infections had been reported in the United States before the report of the toddler's death in Texas.
The world has no vaccine to prevent infection but U.S. health officials aim to have a key ingredient for one ready in early May, the big step that vaccine manufacturers are awaiting. But even if the World Health Organization ordered up emergency vaccine supplies &mdash; and that decision hasn't been made yet &mdash; it would take at least two more months to produce the initial shots needed for human safety testing.
&quot;We're working together at 100 miles an hour to get material that will be useful,&quot; Dr. Jesse Goodman, who oversees the Food and Drug Administration's swine flu work, told The Associated Press.
The U.S. is shipping to states not only enough anti-flu medication for 11 million people, but also masks, hospital supplies and flu test kits. President Barack Obama asked Congress for $1.5 billion in emergency funds to help build more drug stockpiles and monitor future cases, as well as help international efforts to avoid a full-fledged pandemic.
&quot;It's a very serious possibility, but it is still too early to say that this is inevitable,&quot; the WHO's flu chief, Dr. Keiji Fukuda, told a telephone news conference.
Cuba and Argentina banned flights to Mexico, where swine flu is suspected of killing more than 150 people and sickening well over 2,000. In a bit of good news, Mexico's health secretary, Jose Cordova, late Tuesday called the death toll there &quot;more or less stable.&quot;
Mexico City, one of the world's largest cities, has taken drastic steps to curb the virus' spread, starting with shutting down schools and on Tuesday expanding closures to gyms and swimming pools and even telling restaurants to limit service to takeout. People who venture out tend to wear masks in hopes of protection.
The number of confirmed swine flu cases in the United States rose to 66 in six states, with 45 in New York, 11 in California, six in Texas, two in Kansas and one each in Indiana and Ohio, but cities and states suspected more. In New York, the city's health commissioner said &quot;many hundreds&quot; of schoolchildren were ill at a school where some students had confirmed cases.
The WHO argues against closing borders to stem the spread, and the U.S. &mdash; although checking arriving travelers for the ill who may need care &mdash; agrees it's too late for that tactic.
&quot;Sealing a border as an approach to containment is something that has been discussed and it was our planning assumption should an outbreak of a new strain of influenza occur overseas. We had plans for trying to swoop in and knockout or quench an outbreak if it were occurring far from our borders. That's not the case here,&quot; Besser told a telephone briefing of Nevada-based health providers and reporters. &quot;The idea of trying to limit the spread to Mexico is not realistic or at all possible.&quot;
&quot;Border controls do not work. Travel restrictions do not work,&quot; WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said in Geneva, recalling the SARS epidemic earlier in the decade that killed 774 people, mostly in Asia, and slowed the global economy.
Authorities sought to keep the crisis in context: Flu deaths are common around the world. In the U.S. alone, the CDC says about 36,000 people a year die of flu-related causes. Still, the CDC calls the new strain a combination of pig, bird and human viruses for which people may have limited natural immunity.
Hence the need for a vaccine. Using samples of the flu taken from people who fell ill in Mexico and the U.S., scientists are engineering a strain that could trigger the immune system without causing illness. The hope is to get that ingredient &mdash; called a &quot;reference strain&quot; in vaccine jargon &mdash; to manufacturers around the second week of May, so they can begin their own laborious production work, said CDC's Dr. Ruben Donis, who is leading that effort.
Vaccine manufacturers are just beginning production for next winter's regular influenza vaccine, which protects against three human flu strains. The WHO wants them to stay with that course for now &mdash; it won't call for mass production of a swine flu vaccine unless the outbreak worsens globally. But sometimes new flu strains pop up briefly at the end of one flu season and go away only to re-emerge the next fall, and at the very least there should be a vaccine in time for next winter's flu season, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the National Institutes of Health's infectious diseases chief, said Tuesday. 

Courtesy of new.yahoo.com]]></content:encoded>			<link>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/734/First_US_Swine_Flu_Death_</link>
			<guid>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/734/First_US_Swine_Flu_Death_</guid>
			<pubDate>Wed, 29 Apr 2009 07:44:39 -0400</pubDate>
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			<title>Jesus vs. Mohammed? Video Game Upsets Islamic Group</title>
			<description><![CDATA[CAIRO &nbsp;&mdash;&nbsp; An influential Islamic group branded an online video game depicting religious figures fighting each other[...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[CAIRO &nbsp;&mdash;&nbsp; An influential Islamic group branded an online video game depicting religious figures fighting each other as offensive to Muslims and Christians and successfully demanded Tuesday that it be taken offline.

Mohammed and Jesus face off in the video game 'Faith Fighter.'

In the game &quot;Faith Fighter,&quot; caricatures of Jesus, the Prophet Muhammad, Buddha, God and the Hindu god Ganesh fight each other against a backdrop of burning buildings.
God attacks with bolts of lighting and pillars of fire while the turbaned Muhammad can summon a burning black meteorite.
The Saudi-based Organization of the Islamic Conference, which represents most Muslim nations, said it should be removed from the Internet.
&quot;The computer game was incendiary in its content and offensive to Muslims and Christians. ... The game would serve no other purpose than to incite intolerance,&quot; an OIC statement said.

Game designer Molleindustria told the Associated Press the game, which had been around for more than a year and played millions of times, was misunderstood, but had been removed.

&quot;This was meant to be a game against intolerance and against the one-way Islamophobic satire of the Danish Muhammad cartoons,&quot; Molleindustria said in an e-mail message. &quot;So if a respectable organization didn't understand the irony and the message, we failed.&quot;
Islamic law generally opposes physical depictions of the prophet.
When a Danish newspaper in 2005 printed 12 cartoons showing negative portrayals of Muhammad, Muslims around the world were enraged.
Deadly protests erupted from Morocco to Indonesia, with rioters torching Danish and other Western diplomatic missions. Some Muslim countries boycotted Danish products.
The style of the game, with characters jumping, kicking and knocking each other out, mimics the martial-arts arcade games popular in the 1980s and 1990s.
Though the game had been around for a while, the OIC was responding to an article in the online British publication Metro UK, which stated the game had offended religious groups.

We suspect that people at OIC never played carefully the game and only referred to the article on Metro UK that successfully manufactured this controversy,&quot; said Molleindustria.
In a statement on its Web site, where the game can be found, Molleindustria said the intention was not to be offensive to any religion.
&quot;Its aim is to push the gamers to reflect on how the religious and sacred representations are often instrumentally used to fuel or justify conflicts between nations and people,&quot; it said.
The site also described the game as a way to &quot;give vent to your intolerance! Religious hate has never been so much fun.&quot;
However, the authors of the game did offer a &quot;censored&quot; option, which blocks out the face of Muhammad.
Molleindustria's Web site describes the company as &quot;an Italian team of artists, designers and programmers that aims at starting a serious discussion about social and political implications of video games.&quot;
Other games designed by Molleindustria include Operation: Pedopriest, Queer Power and Oiligarchy, satirizing the Catholic Church, sexual orientation and the oil industry.]]></content:encoded>			<link>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/731/Jesus_vs._Mohammed?_Video_Game_Upsets_Islamic_Group</link>
			<guid>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/731/Jesus_vs._Mohammed?_Video_Game_Upsets_Islamic_Group</guid>
			<pubDate>Tue, 28 Apr 2009 13:36:20 -0400</pubDate>
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			<title>Conficker Virus Attacking More and More Computers</title>
			<description><![CDATA[&nbsp;A malicious software program known as Conficker that many feared would wreak havoc on April 1 is slowly being activated, weeks after being dismi[...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[&nbsp;A malicious software program known as Conficker that many feared would wreak havoc on April 1 is slowly being activated, weeks after being dismissed as a false alarm, security experts said.
Conficker, also known as Downadup or Kido, is quietly turning thousands of personal computers into servers of e-mail spam and installing spyware, they said.
The worm started spreading late last year, infecting millions of computers and turning them into &quot;slaves&quot; that respond to commands sent from a remote server that effectively controls an army of computers known as a botnet.
Its unidentified creators started using those machines for criminal purposes in recent weeks by loading more malicious software onto a small percentage of computers under their control, said Vincent Weafer, a vice president with Symantec Security Response, the research arm of the world's largest security software maker, Symantec Corp.
He said that while he believes the number of infected machines that have become active is relatively small, he expects a consistent stream of attacks to follow, with other types of malware distributed by Conficker's authors.
&quot;Expect this to be long-term, slowly changing,&quot; Weafer said of the worm. &quot;It's not going to be fast, aggressive.&quot;
Conficker installs a second virus, known as Waledac, that sends out e-mail spam without knowledge of the PC's owner, along with a fake anti-spyware program, Weafer said.
The Waledac virus recruits the PCs into a second botnet that has existed for several years and specializes in distributing e-mail spam.
Conficker also carries a third virus that warns users their PCs are infected and offers them a fake anti-virus program, Spyware Protect 2009 for $49.95, according to Russian-based security researcher Kaspersky Lab.
If they buy it, their credit card information is stolen and the virus downloads even more malicious software.
&quot;This is probably one of the most sophisticated botnets on the planet. The guys behind this are very professional. They absolutely know what they are doing,&quot; said Paul Ferguson, a senior researcher with Trend Micro Inc, the world's third-largest security software maker.
He said Conficker's authors likely installed a spam engine and another malicious software program on tens of thousands of computers since April 7.
He said the worm will stop distributing the software on infected PCs on May 3 but more attacks will likely follow.
&quot;We expect to see a different component or a whole new twist to the way this botnet does business,&quot; said Ferguson, a member of The Conficker Working Group, an international alliance of companies fighting the worm.
Researchers had feared the network controlled by the Conficker worm might be deployed on April 1 since the worm surfaced last year because it was programed to increase communication attempts from that date.
The security industry formed the task force to fight the worm, bringing widespread attention that experts said probably scared off the criminals who command the slave computers.
The task force initially thwarted the worm using the Internet's traffic control system to block access to servers that control the slave computers.
Viruses that turn PCs into slaves exploit weaknesses in Microsoft's Windows operating system. The Conficker worm is especially tricky because it can evade corporate firewalls by passing from an infected machine onto a USB memory stick, then onto another PC.
The Conficker botnet is one of many such networks controlled by syndicates that authorities believe are based in eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, China and Latin America.

Courtesy of Foxnews.com]]></content:encoded>			<link>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/729/Conficker_Virus_Attacking_More_and_More_Computers</link>
			<guid>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/729/Conficker_Virus_Attacking_More_and_More_Computers</guid>
			<pubDate>Mon, 27 Apr 2009 15:35:02 -0400</pubDate>
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			<title>More Confirmed Cases of Swine Flu in US</title>
			<description><![CDATA[Seventy-three cases of swine flu have been confirmed worldwide, the World Health Organization said Monday.




&nbsp;


Later Monday, health o[...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[Seventy-three cases of swine flu have been confirmed worldwide, the World Health Organization said Monday.




&nbsp;


Later Monday, health officials in Scotland said two cases of swine flu had been confirmed there.






Hundreds more cases are suspected, especially in Mexico, where as many as 103 deaths are thought to have been caused by the virus, the country's health minister said. More than 2,000 cases have been reported but not confirmed in the country.
Federal officials confirmed 20 new U.S. cases on Monday.
A federal official said they were at the same school in New York in which eight U.S. cases were confirmed earlier. More than 100 students at the school were out with flu-like symptoms last week.
The outbreak is a particular concern because of who it is hitting hard, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Monday.
&quot;We are concerned that in Mexico, most of those who died were young and healthy adults,&quot; he said.  
President Obama said Monday that the swine flu outbreak is a &quot;cause for concern and requires a heightened state of alert,&quot; but is not a &quot;cause for alarm.&quot;

Courtesy of CNN.com]]></content:encoded>			<link>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/728/More_Confirmed_Cases_of_Swine_Flu_in_US</link>
			<guid>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/728/More_Confirmed_Cases_of_Swine_Flu_in_US</guid>
			<pubDate>Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:14:12 -0400</pubDate>
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			<title>World Races to Battle the Swine Flu</title>
			<description><![CDATA[&nbsp;WASHINGTON&nbsp;&mdash;&nbsp; Governments are racing to find and contain pockets of swine flu around the globe, seeking to stem both the threa[...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[&nbsp;WASHINGTON&nbsp;&mdash;&nbsp; Governments are racing to find and contain pockets of swine flu around the globe, seeking to stem both the threat of a pandemic and public panic.
&quot;We're preparing in an environment where we really don't know ultimately what the size or seriousness of this outbreak is going to be,&quot; U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Sunday.
In Mexico, the outbreak's epicenter, soldiers handed out 6 million face masks to help stop the spread of the novel virus that is suspected in up to 103 deaths. Most other countries are reporting only mild cases so far, with most of the sick already recovering. Cases have been confirmed in Canada &mdash; six &mdash; and the U.S. &mdash; 20.
Spain reported its first confirmed swine flu case on Monday and said another 17 people were suspected of having the disease. The European Union health commissioner advised Europeans to avoid nonessential travel to Mexico and the United States.
Other countries, including New Zealand, were investigating whether other people with flulike symptoms really have this new swine flu or something else.

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There is not a global pandemic yet, but waiting until scientists know if the new virus is going to spread rapidly and easily would be too late.
The U.S. declared the health emergency amid confusion about whether new numbers really mean ongoing infections &mdash; or just that health officials had missed something simmering for weeks or months. But the move allows the government to ship roughly 12 million doses of flu-fighting medications from a federal stockpile to states in case they eventually need them.
A spokesman for the World Health Organization, Peter Cordingley, said the virus was spreading quickly in Mexico and the southern U.S. and has the potential to become a pandemic and a global threat.
President Barack Obama is set to address the health crisis Monday in remarks to a meeting of the nation's top scientists. His administration sought on Sunday to strike a balance, informing Americans without panicking them.
&quot;We do think this will continue to spread but we are taking aggressive actions to minimize the impact on people's health,&quot; said Dr. Richard Besser, acting chief of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The World Bank said it would send Mexico $25 million in loans for immediate aid and $180 million in long-term assistance to address the outbreak, plus advice on how other nations have dealt with similar crises. Mexico officials say the flu strain may have sickened 1,614 people since April 13 but laboratory testing to confirm that and how many truly died from it &mdash; at least 22 so far out of the 103 suspected deaths &mdash; is taking time.
Worldwide, attention focused sharply on travelers.
&quot;It was acquired in Mexico, brought home and spread,&quot; Nova Scotia's chief public health officer, Dr. Robert Strang, said of Canada's first confirmed cases.
A New York City school where eight cases were confirmed will be closed Monday and Tuesday, and 14 schools in Texas, including a high school where two cases were confirmed, will be closed for at least the next week. Some schools in California and Ohio also were closing after students were found or suspected to have the flu.
China, Russia and Taiwan began planning to quarantine travelers arriving from flu-affected areas if they have symptoms. Italy, Poland and Venezuela advised citizens to postpone travel to affected parts of Mexico and the U.S.
Singapore, Thailand, Japan, Indonesia, South Korea and the Philippines were checking for signs of fever among passengers arriving at airports from North America. In Malaysia, health workers in face masks took the temperatures of passengers as they arrived from a flight from Los Angeles.
Travelers with flu-like symptoms would be given detailed health checks.
Multiple airlines, including American, United, Continental, US Airways, Mexicana and Air Canada, are waiving their usual penalties for changing reservations for anyone traveling to, from, or through Mexico, but have not canceled flights.
Officials along the U.S.-Mexico border were asking health care providers to take respiratory samples from patients who appear to have the flu. Travelers were being asked if they visited flu-stricken areas.
The U.S. hasn't advised against travel to Mexico but does urge precautions such as frequent hand-washing while there, and began questioning arriving travelers about flu symptoms.

Courtesy of Foxnews.com]]></content:encoded>			<link>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/727/World_Races_to_Battle_the_Swine_Flu</link>
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			<pubDate>Mon, 27 Apr 2009 08:33:16 -0400</pubDate>
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			<title>North Korea begins extracting plutonium</title>
			<description><![CDATA[North Korea has started to extract plutonium from spent fuel rods at its nuclear arms plant, its foreign ministry said on Saturday,[...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[North Korea has started to extract plutonium from spent fuel rods at its nuclear arms plant, its foreign ministry said on Saturday, further raising regional tensions already stoked by its defiant rocket launch this month.
The announcement came hours after a U.N. Security Council committee on Friday placed three North Korean companies on a U.N. blacklist for aiding Pyongyang's missile and nuclear programs, eliciting a sharp rebuke from a North Korean envoy.
Reclusive North Korea has lashed out at being punished for the April 5 launch, widely seen as a disguised long-range missile test that violated U.N. resolutions, saying it would boycott six-way nuclear talks and bolster its nuclear deterrent.
&quot;The reprocessing of spent fuel rods from the pilot atomic power plant began as declared in the Foreign Ministry statement dated April 14,&quot; North Korea's official news agency KCNA quoted a foreign ministry spokesman as saying.
&quot;This will contribute to bolstering the nuclear deterrence for self-defense in every way to cope with the increasing military threats from the hostile forces,&quot; it said.
South Korea's foreign ministry said it had no immediate comment on the North's announcement and Japan said it would urge Pyongyang to resume international nuclear talks.
&quot;The UN Security Council... is telling North Korea to respond to the calls for resuming the six-party talks at an early stage. Japan will also try to persuade (North Korea),&quot; Kazuo Kodama, a spokesman at the Japanese foreign ministry, told Reuters.
PRESSURING WASHINGTON
North Korea, which was hit with U.N. sanctions after missile tests in July 2006 and its only nuclear test a few months later, has used its military threat for years to gain global attention and squeeze concessions out of regional powers.
By making these moves early in the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama, it has more cards to play during his presidency and forces him to make crucial decisions about how it will manage its relations with Pyongyang, analysts said.
&quot;North Korea wants to continue provoking new crises, to demand the attention of the U.S. and others,&quot; said Zhu Feng, professor at Peking University.
&quot;The biggest issue is still North Korea provoking a crisis, and the U.S. ignoring them. That makes getting the six-party talks restarted again a difficult diplomatic issue.&quot; 

North Korea struck a deal with China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States to disable its Soviet-era Yongbyon nuclear plant in exchange for massive aid and ending its international ostracism.
It has expelled U.N. and U.S. nuclear inspectors at Yongbyon, located about 100 km (60 miles) north of Pyongyang, who had been overseeing steps to put the entire plant out of operation for at least a year.
Rebuilding parts of Yongbyon could increase the regional security threat because Pyongyang could add to its meager stockpile of fissile material, increasing the likelihood that it could conduct another nuclear weapons test.
Experts said it could take North Korea, which conducted its only nuclear test in October 2006, as little as three months to have the reprocessing facility up and running again.
Experts said North Korea, which has enough fissile material for six to eight nuclear bombs, wants to separate plutonium from spent fuel rods cooling at the plant that could yield it enough material for at least one more nuclear bomb.
North Korea has told foreign nuclear experts that it can produce domestically all the material it needs to run the reprocessing facility, such as non-corrosive metals and various chemicals.
But other parts of the plant may be beyond repair, because international trade sanctions make it difficult for it to obtain components needed for its reactor and nuclear fuel fabrication facility.
The North would also need to rebuild the cooling tower in order to resume the reactor's operations. North Korea blew up the tower almost a year ago in what it said was a demonstration of its commitment to the nuclear deal.
North Korea will stay away from international nuclear disarmament talks, Russia's foreign minister said on Friday after visiting Pyongyang and pressing North Korea to return to the sputtering discussions.




Source: By Miyoung Kim and Jon Herskovitz / Reuters&nbsp;&nbsp; North Korea begins extracting plutonium]]></content:encoded>			<link>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/722/North_Korea_begins_extracting_plutonium_</link>
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			<pubDate>Sat, 25 Apr 2009 07:55:04 -0400</pubDate>
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			<title>Deady Swine Flue Hits U.S.</title>
			<description><![CDATA[MEXICO CITY (Reuters) &ndash; A deadly strain of swine flu never seen before has killed as many as 61 people in Mexico and has spread into the United[...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[MEXICO CITY (Reuters) &ndash; A deadly strain of swine flu never seen before has killed as many as 61 people in Mexico and has spread into the United States, where several people were reported ill.
Mexico's government said on Friday that at least 16 people have died of the disease in central Mexico and that it may also have been responsible for 45 other deaths.
The World Health Organization said the virus that killed at least 12 of the victims in Mexico had the same genetic structure as an outbreak discovered in California.
With the swine flu being passed between people, raising fears of a major outbreak in North America, Mexico's government canceled classes for millions of children in its sprawling capital city and surrounding areas.
&quot;It is a virus that mutated from pigs and then at some point was transmitted to humans,&quot; Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova said.
It first looked mostly like a swine virus but closer analysis showed it is a never-before-seen mixture of swine, human and avian viruses.
Humans can occasionally catch swine flu from pigs but rarely have they been known to pass it on to other people.
CLOSE TO 1,000 SUSPECTED CASES IN MEXICO
Seven people have been made ill by the new strain in California and Texas, but all of them have recovered. Mexico said it had close to 1,000 suspected cases there.
Worldwide, seasonal flu kills between 250,000 and 500,000 people in an average year.
The White House was closely following the new cases in the United States and Mexico, and President Barack Obama has been informed, an administration official said.
The Mexican government warned people not to shake hands or kiss when greeting or share food, glasses or cutlery for fear of contracting the flu.
Mexico City, one of the world's biggest cities and home to some 20 million people, was quieter than usual on Friday morning. Normally choking traffic was less chaotic in the absence of school buses and parents driving kids to school.
Many people waiting to enter subway stations had their faces covered with surgical masks.
The virus is an influenza A virus, carrying the designation H1N1. It contains DNA typical to avian, swine and human viruses, including elements from European and Asian swine viruses, the CDC has said.
The Geneva-based U.N. agency WHO said it was in daily contact with U.S., Canadian and Mexican authorities and had activated its Strategic Health Operations Center (SHOC) -- its command and control center for acute public health events.
Surveillance for and scrutiny of influenza has been stepped up since 2003, when H5N1 bird flu reappeared in Asia. Experts fear this strain, or another strain, could spark a pandemic that could kill millions.
The CDC said it will issue daily updates at http://www.cdc.gov/flu/swine/investigation.htm.]]></content:encoded>			<link>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/720/Deady_Swine_Flue_Hits_U.S.</link>
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			<pubDate>Sat, 25 Apr 2009 07:45:22 -0400</pubDate>
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			<title>New Report States Over 80000 Iraqis Killed Since 2005</title>
			<description><![CDATA[Relatives grieve over coffin of Salih al-Jibouri, an assassinated Iraqi police offic[...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[Relatives grieve over coffin of Salih al-Jibouri, an assassinated Iraqi police officer, during his funeral in Kirkuk, 24 Apr 2009
        
    

The Associated Press reports that the Iraqi government has counted more than 87,000 Iraqis killed in violence since 2005. 
&nbsp;
The news agency said it received the information from a government official who requested anonymity. The source said the death toll could be 10 - 20 percent higher because of thousands more civilians missing or unaccounted for.

On Thursday, three suicide bombings in Iraq killed at least 78 people - making it one of the most violent days in the country in more than a year.

In the deadliest attack, a bomber detonated explosives in a restaurant in Diyala province. Police say at least 47 people were killed, many of them Iranian Shi'ite pilgrims.

In Baghdad, police say at least 28 people were killed when a suicide bomber detonated explosives where police were distributing aid to displaced families.

Top Sunni militant captured

Also Thursday, authorities in Baghdad announced the capture of a top Sunni insurgent, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi.

A security spokesman, General Qassem Mohammed Atta, said al-Baghdadi was arrested in the capital. The detainee is said to lead the al-Qaida-linked Islamic State of Iraq. 

Iraqi authorities in the past have announced the arrest or killing of major insurgent leaders, only to later say the reports were false.

In Washington, Pentagon Spokesman Bryan Whitman said that if the report is true, it would be very good news. &nbsp;

Much of the recent violence has been blamed on Sunni insurgents.

The Iraqi security spokesman said Thursday's blasts that wounded more than 100 people bore the hallmarks of al-Qaida in Iraq.]]></content:encoded>			<link>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/714/New_Report_States_Over_80000_Iraqis_Killed_Since_2005</link>
			<guid>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/714/New_Report_States_Over_80000_Iraqis_Killed_Since_2005</guid>
			<pubDate>Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:41:21 -0400</pubDate>
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			<title>Suicide Attacks Kill 76</title>
			<description><![CDATA[BAGHDAD &ndash; Two suicide bombers wearing vests full of explosives blew themselves up in separate attacks on Thursday, killing 76 people, including[...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[BAGHDAD &ndash; Two suicide bombers wearing vests full of explosives blew themselves up in separate attacks on Thursday, killing 76 people, including many Iranian pilgrims, in what appeared to be Iraq's bloodiest day in over a year.
Shortly after the two attacks, the authorities in Baghdad said they had arrested the purported leader of an al Qaeda-affiliated insurgent group, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi. The identity of the man detained was being verified, officials said.
The blasts occurred as apprehension grows in Iraq ahead of a pullout by U.S. troops from city centers in June, a move that officials say insurgents may try to take advantage of.
A year-end election also threatens to stir a resurgence in violence just as the sectarian bloodshed and insurgency triggered by the 2003 U.S.-led invasion appeared to be receding.
One of the attacks occurred near Muqdadiya, 80 km (50 miles) northeast of Baghdad, in the volatile province of Diyala. The suicide bomber targeted a group of Iranian pilgrims in a crowded roadside restaurant at lunchtime.
All but two of the 48 dead were Iranian pilgrims, who have flocked to Iraq in the millions since the fall of Sunni Arab dictator Saddam Hussein to visit Shi'ite Muslim religious sites. Seventy-seven people were wounded, police said.
It was the single deadliest attack since 50 people were killed by a suicide bomber in a restaurant near the northern city of Kirkuk on December 11 last year.
&quot;Words can't express it. It is a dirty, cowardly terrorist act,&quot; said Abdulnasir al-Muntasirbillah, who marked his first day in office as Diyala governor on Thursday.
The other blast took place in central Baghdad as a group of Iraqi national police were distributing relief supplies to families driven from their homes at the height of the violence.
Twenty-eight people died, and 50 were wounded, police said. At least five children and two Red Crescent workers were among the dead. Some witnesses said the bomber was a woman.
Red Crescent food parcels, police helmets and packets of biscuits were strewn in the blood pooled on the pavement, while a woman in a black robe wailed and beat her thighs in anguish.
&quot;It is a suicide bomber. Obviously that has the fingerprints of al Qaeda,&quot; said Baghdad security spokesman Major-General Qassim Moussawi.
&quot;THEIR IDEOLOGY IS KILLING&quot;
Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said al Qaeda was trying to trigger broader conflict by targeting the most vulnerable.
&quot;They don't differentiate between people. Their ideology is killing,&quot; Dabbagh told the U.S.-funded al-Hurra TV station.
Violence in Iraq has fallen sharply over the past year, but insurgents such as Sunni Islamist al Qaeda still carry out attacks.
Yet, while the bombings remain routine, it has been a while since so many people were killed on a single day.
Last June 17, a truck bomb in Baghdad killed 63, two bombs on March 6, 2008, killed 68, also in Baghdad, and female suicide bombers killed 99 in a Baghdad pet market on February 1, 2008.
Shortly after Thursday's bombings, Moussawi's office said that Baghdadi had been arrested in east Baghdad.
Baghdadi is said to be the head of the Islamic State of Iraq, close to al Qaeda's main organization in Iraq, which is led by Abu Ayyub al-Masri, also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir.
&quot;This would be a significant capture if the report is true,&quot; Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said in Washington.
Dabbagh said authorities were trying to verify the identify of the man, also called Ahmed Abid Ahmed Khamis al-Majmai.
&quot;We need time to confirm that he is Abu Omar al-Baghdadi but the initial information affirms that he is Abu Omar al-Baghdadi as he claims,&quot; Dabbagh said.
Security experts have speculated that Baghdadi was a character invented by extremists in order to put an Iraqi face to a group criticised for being composed of foreign fighters.
But Whitman said the U.S. military did believe there was a single al Qaeda leader with that name.
Some Iraqis expect violence to increase in Iraq as rival political and armed groups position themselves ahead of a national election due to take place at the end of the year.
Iraqi officials say al Qaeda and others are also likely to try to test Iraqi security forces as U.S. troops prepare to pull out of cities ahead of a full withdrawal by the end of 2011.
(Additional reporting by Waleed Ibrahim and Wathiq Ibrahim in Baghdad and Andrew Gray in Washington; Writing by Michael Christie; Editing by Louise Ireland)

Courtesy of news.yahoo.com]]></content:encoded>			<link>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/713/Suicide_Attacks_Kill_76</link>
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			<pubDate>Thu, 23 Apr 2009 15:53:01 -0400</pubDate>
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			<title>Chrysler Could File Bankruptcy Next Week</title>
			<description><![CDATA[DETROIT &ndash; The Treasury is preparing a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing for Chrysler LLC that could come as soon as next week, The New York Times rep[...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[DETROIT &ndash; The Treasury is preparing a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing for Chrysler LLC that could come as soon as next week, The New York Times reported on Thursday, citing people with direct knowledge of the matter.
The Treasury has an agreement in principle with the United Auto Workers union to protect pensions and retiree health care benefits as a condition of the bankruptcy filing, the paper said.
Italy's Fiat would finalize its alliance with Chrysler while the U.S. automaker is under bankruptcy protection, the paper reported.
Chrysler has until April 30 to complete its partnership with Fiat and win concessions from its first-lien lenders and the UAW, or face a cut-off of government funding and a potential bankruptcy.
The Times said U.S. and Canadian governments were prepared to provide the financing that Chrysler needed to operate while under bankruptcy protection.
Chrysler was not immediately available for comment.

Courtesy of news.yahoo.com]]></content:encoded>			<link>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/711/Chrysler_Could_File_Bankruptcy_Next_Week</link>
			<guid>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/711/Chrysler_Could_File_Bankruptcy_Next_Week</guid>
			<pubDate>Thu, 23 Apr 2009 15:31:03 -0400</pubDate>
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			<title>'Slumdog' dad off the hook</title>
			<description><![CDATA[Police in Mumbai, India have concluded that Rafiq Qureshi did not attempt to  sell his young daughter, Slumdog Millionaire actress Rubina Ali. &quot;S[...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[Police in Mumbai, India have concluded that Rafiq Qureshi did not attempt to  sell his young daughter, Slumdog Millionaire actress Rubina Ali. &quot;So  far there is no evidence of any offense, hence there is no registration of  complaint and no arrest,&quot; Nisar Tamboli, a senior police officer, informed Reuters.
Qureshi, 36, had previously told PEOPLE that a British newspaper story that  he was prepared to place his 9-year-old up for adoption for $300,000 was a &quot;lie made up by foreign journalists playing games with me.&quot;]]></content:encoded>			<link>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/702/'Slumdog'_dad_off_the_hook_</link>
			<guid>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/702/'Slumdog'_dad_off_the_hook_</guid>
			<pubDate>Wed, 22 Apr 2009 10:53:45 -0400</pubDate>
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			<title>Man Missing After Fall From Cruise Ship</title>
			<description><![CDATA[MIAMI, Fla.&nbsp;&mdash;&nbsp; The Coast Guard is searching for a 39-year-old  man who went overboard a Norwegian Cruise Line ship off the  Bahamas.[...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[MIAMI, Fla.&nbsp;&mdash;&nbsp; The Coast Guard is searching for a 39-year-old  man who went overboard a Norwegian Cruise Line ship off the  Bahamas.
The incident happened early Saturday  morning, about 60 miles north of Nassau.
The man was not immediately identified, but  fellow passengers saw him go overboard.
The ship was headed to Nassau, its first  port of call on a three-day voyage. Several cruise ships in the area were  assisting Coast Guard crews in the search.]]></content:encoded>			<link>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/668/Man_Missing_After_Fall_From_Cruise_Ship_</link>
			<guid>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/668/Man_Missing_After_Fall_From_Cruise_Ship_</guid>
			<pubDate>Sat, 18 Apr 2009 17:15:45 -0400</pubDate>
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			<title>Obama offers Cuba 'new beginning'</title>
			<description><![CDATA[President Barack Obama has said the US seeks a &quot;new beginning&quot; with Cuba and an &quot;equal partnership&quot; with all the nations of the Am[...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[President Barack Obama has said the US seeks a &quot;new beginning&quot; with Cuba and an &quot;equal partnership&quot; with all the nations of the Americas. 

Mr Obama was addressing Latin American and Caribbean leaders at the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago. 

The summit follows a thaw in US-Cuban relations. Cuba is not at the summit. 

Earlier, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton welcomed an offer for talks from Cuban President Raul Castro, saying the old US policy had failed.

Mr Castro said on Thursday that he was ready to talk about &quot;everything&quot; with the US, including human rights, political prisoners and freedom of the press.

His comments came after the US eased its long-standing embargo of the communist nation, allowing Cuban-Americans to visit relatives in Cuba and send money home more easily.

Call for change
Speaking to leaders gathered in Port of Spain, Mr Obama declared: &quot;The US seeks a new beginning with Cuba.&quot;

&quot;I know there is a longer journey that must be travelled to overcome decades of mistrust, but there are critical steps we can take toward a new day,&quot; he said.

Cuba is excluded from the summit, which includes 34 members of the Organisation of American States (OAS), though Latin American leaders have been calling for the communist country to be readmitted.

The US has not maintained high-level diplomatic relations with Cuba since Fidel Castro led the island's revolution in 1960.

Washington imposed a trade embargo in the same year which has regularly been beefed up and backed by policies aimed at hastening the fall of the communist government.

Under former US President George W Bush, measures were put in place to support Cuban opposition and &quot;hasten the end&quot; of the Castro regime.

However, speaking on Friday in the Dominican Republic, Mrs Clinton acknowledged that US policy towards Cuba had &quot;failed&quot; and said Washington was &quot;taking a very serious look at how to respond.&quot;

Chavez handshake
Addressing the summit, Mr Obama said he wanted to move forward with a sense of &quot;equal partnership&quot; with all the nations of the Americas despite decades of mistrust.

&quot;I am here to launch a new chapter of engagement that will be sustained throughout my administration,&quot; he said to applause from the delegates.

Mr Obama earlier greeted and shook hands with Venezuela's President, Hugo Chavez, during an impromptu meeting.

Before the summit began Mr Chavez appeared to chastise the US for its approach to Cuba, which is not a member of the OAS.

In a pre-summit statement, he also said that &quot;there is more democracy in Cuba than in the United States&quot;.

But he greeted the US president warmly when the opportunity arrived, gripping the Mr Obama's hand in welcome.

&quot;I greeted Bush with this hand eight years ago; I want to be your friend,&quot; Mr Chavez told Mr Obama, according to a Venezuelan presidential press office statement.

&quot;It was very, very short,&quot; said a US official. &quot;The president shook his hand, smiled and then went back to his position in the line.&quot;

Summit leaders are also expected to address the economic downturn and the region's energy and security needs at the weekend talks.

Courtesy of BBC News]]></content:encoded>			<link>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/662/Obama_offers_Cuba_'new_beginning'_</link>
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			<pubDate>Sat, 18 Apr 2009 07:20:11 -0400</pubDate>
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			<title>Lawyer: Iran convicts US journalist of spying</title>
			<description><![CDATA[TEHRAN, Iran &ndash; An Iranian court has convicted an American journalist of espionage and sentenced her to eight years in prison.
&nbsp;
That's ac[...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[TEHRAN, Iran &ndash; An Iranian court has convicted an American journalist of espionage and sentenced her to eight years in prison.
&nbsp;
That's according to Roxana Saberi's lawyer, Abdolsamad Khorramshahi. He told The Associated Press on Saturday that he'll appeal the verdict.
&nbsp;
It's unclear when Saberi was convicted. She was put on trial on Monday.
&nbsp;
The American-Iranian citizen was arrested in January and initially accused of working without press credentials. But later, an Iranian judge charged her with spying for the United States.
&nbsp;
The U.S. has called the charges baseless and demanded her release.
&nbsp;
Saberi is from Fargo, N.D., and worked as a freelance reporter for news organizations including National Public Radio.
&nbsp;

Reported by: Associated Press]]></content:encoded>			<link>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/658/Lawyer:_Iran_convicts_US_journalist_of_spying</link>
			<guid>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/658/Lawyer:_Iran_convicts_US_journalist_of_spying</guid>
			<pubDate>Sat, 18 Apr 2009 07:19:59 -0400</pubDate>
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			<title>Plane Crashes into Home in Ft. Lauderdale</title>
			<description><![CDATA[OAKLAND PARK, Fla. &ndash; A small plane has crashed into a house outside Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and smoke can be seen rising from the crash site.
Th[...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[OAKLAND PARK, Fla. &ndash; A small plane has crashed into a house outside Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and smoke can be seen rising from the crash site.
The crash happened Friday morning. Television images show the house has a gaping hole, and firefighters are working to extinguish the flames.
The home is near Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport.
It isn't immediately clear if anyone was inside the home, or how many people were aboard the plane.

Courtesy of news.yahoo.com

&nbsp;]]></content:encoded>			<link>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/655/Plane_Crashes_into_Home_in_Ft._Lauderdale_</link>
			<guid>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/655/Plane_Crashes_into_Home_in_Ft._Lauderdale_</guid>
			<pubDate>Fri, 17 Apr 2009 11:11:00 -0400</pubDate>
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			<title>Captain Held By Pirates Heads Home: Neighbors 'feel a need to express their joy' following high-seas ordeal</title>
			<description><![CDATA[The Associated Press
updated 7:27 a.m. ET, Fri., April  17, 2009

		function UpdateTimeStamp(pdt) {
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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[The Associated Press
updated 7:27 a.m. ET, Fri., April  17, 2009

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UNDERHILL, Vt. - Five days after being rescued from the clutches of Somali pirates, cargo ship captain Richard Phillips is headed home. And the &quot;Welcome Home&quot; balloons and signs are already up.
The 53-year-old sea captain, who was held hostage for five days after the aborted hijacking of his ship, was expected to fly to Vermont in a chartered airplane, arriving Friday afternoon at Burlington International Airport before being taken to Underhill.
&quot;He's our hero,&quot; said resident David Villeneuve, who put up signs in his yard to welcome Phillips. &quot;He's the best thing to happen to the U.S. in a while.&quot;
The crew members of Phillips' ship, the Maersk Alabama, flew into Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington, D.C., early Thursday.
Phillips, who was originally supposed to fly with them, was delayed when the USS Bainbridge, which was carrying him after his rescue by Navy SEALs, diverted to help another pirated ship. He left Kenya on an executive jet, the first step of the long-awaited journey home.
George Bacigalupo, general manager of Atlantic Aviation, which handles corporate and private aircraft flying into Burlington International Airport, said a plane carrying Phillips was expected about 4:30 p.m. Friday.
Giddy
It wasn't immediately disclosed what kind of homecoming Phillips' family and friends had in store once he returns to the small rural community at the foot of Mount Mansfield. There was no immediate plan for a parade or public celebration.
&quot;We're respecting the family's wishes and waiting to see what they'd like to do,&quot; said Kari Papelbon, the town's zoning administrator.
But many were giddy with anticipation Thursday.
At Poker Hill Arts, an after-school art program for elementary school students, owner Chris Gluck and her charges put the finishing touches on a banner before fastening it to the wooden porch of the Underhill Country Store.
The 18-foot-long banner, made of tar paper, added &quot;Captain Phillips&quot; beneath one erected Monday that said &quot;Welcome Home.&quot; Both left plenty of room inside the white block letters for people to write their greetings with pens tied to them.
&quot;Welcome Home Capt. Phillips (Biggest Celebrity in Underhill),&quot; read one scribbled note.
&quot;Richard, glad you came out of this safe you are a good man with high standards. More Americans should be like you,&quot; said another.
&quot;It's just really exciting that he's coming home,&quot; said Nate King, 10, pointing to an inscription by his family. &quot;He's going to be very surprised when he sees it.&quot;
For many in Underhill, the only dilemma was how to balance their excitement with the Phillips family's need for privacy.
&quot;Even if the family says they don't want something, there will be people who feel a need to express their joy,&quot; said Town Constable Jennifer Silpe. &quot;It isn't because anyone wants to interfere with their privacy or be disrespectful, it's just that they feel compelled to express their excitement that he's home.&quot;
Even Phillips' home was showing its colors. Besides the yellow ribbons that neighbors and friends fastened to the white picket fence outside while he was being held, three yellow-and-greeen helium balloons reading &quot;Welcome Home&quot; flapped in a stiff breeze Thursday.]]></content:encoded>			<link>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/652/Captain_Held_By_Pirates_Heads_Home:_Neighbors_'feel_a_need_to_express_their_joy'_following_high-seas_ordeal</link>
			<guid>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/652/Captain_Held_By_Pirates_Heads_Home:_Neighbors_'feel_a_need_to_express_their_joy'_following_high-seas_ordeal</guid>
			<pubDate>Fri, 17 Apr 2009 07:23:01 -0400</pubDate>
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			<title>Afghans Throw Stones at Women Protesting Rape in Marriage Law</title>
			<description><![CDATA[&nbsp;AP April 15: Afghan Shiite counter protesters shout slogans in Kabul, Afghanistan.

KABUL&nbsp;&mdash;&nbsp; Dozens of young women braved cr[...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[&nbsp;AP April 15: Afghan Shiite counter protesters shout slogans in Kabul, Afghanistan.

KABUL&nbsp;&mdash;&nbsp; Dozens of young women braved crowds of bearded men screaming &quot;dogs!&quot; on Wednesday to protest an Afghan law that lets husbands demand sex from their wives. Some of the men picked up small stones and pelted the women.
&quot;Slaves of the Christians!&quot; chanted the 800 or so counter-demonstrators, a mix of men and women. A line of female police officers locked hands to keep the groups apart.
The warring protests highlight the explosive nature of the women's rights debate in Afghanistan. Both sides are girding for battle over the legislation, which has sparked an international uproar since being quietly signed into law last month.
The law says a husband can demand sex with his wife every four days, unless she is ill or would be harmed by intercourse. It also regulates when and for what reasons a wife may leave her home without a male escort.
Though the law would apply only to the country's Shiites, who make up less than 20 percent of Afghanistan's 30 million people, many fear its passage marks a return to Taliban-style oppression of women. The Taliban, who ruled Afghanistan from 1996-2001, required women to wear all-covering burqas and banned them from leaving home unless accompanied by a male relative.
Governments and rights groups around the world have condemned the legislation, and President Barack Obama has labeled it &quot;abhorrent.&quot; Afghan President Hamid Karzai has remanded the law to the Justice Department for review and put enforcement on hold.
A host of Afghan intellectuals, politicians and even a number of Cabinet ministers have come out against the law. But those who decry the legislation face quick criticism from conservative Muslim clerics and their followers, as Wednesday's protests showed.
&quot;You are a dog! You are not a Shiite woman!&quot; one man shouted to a young woman in a head scarf.
The woman, who held a banner reading &quot;We don't want Taliban law,&quot; replied quietly: &quot;This is my land and my people.&quot;
The demonstrators chose a risky spot to hold their protest &mdash; in front of the mosque of the legislation's main backer &mdash; and were easily outnumbered by supporters of the law. They said many women had been stopped on their way to the protest.
In the end, more women demonstrated in favor of the law than against it: A few hundred Shiite women marched with banners to join the angry men. They blamed foreigners for inciting the protests.
&quot;We don't want foreigners interfering in our lives. They are the enemy of Afghanistan,&quot; said 24-year-old Mariam Sajadi.
Sajadi is engaged to be married, and said she plans to ask her husband's permission to leave the house as put forth in the law. She said other articles &mdash; such as the one allowing husbands to demand sex &mdash; have been misinterpreted by Westerners prejudiced against Islam. She did not elaborate.
On the other side of the shouting, Mehri Rezai, 32, urged her countrymen to reject the law.
&quot;This law treats women as if we were sheep,&quot; she said.
Both sides say they're defending their constitutional rights &mdash; but Afghanistan's constitution is unclear. It defers to Islamic law as the highest authority, but also guarantees equal rights for women.
Abbas Noyan, a Shiite lawmaker who opposes the law, said he is hopeful it will be changed. But others are less sure, and even the country's minister of women's affairs, who is female, has declined to comment on the law.
New York-based Human Rights Watch maintains that the judicial review ordered by Karzai is unlikely to be truly independent because those leading the process come from a conservative Shiite background.
&nbsp;]]></content:encoded>			<link>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/638/Afghans_Throw_Stones_at_Women_Protesting_Rape_in_Marriage_Law</link>
			<guid>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/638/Afghans_Throw_Stones_at_Women_Protesting_Rape_in_Marriage_Law</guid>
			<pubDate>Wed, 15 Apr 2009 20:43:19 -0400</pubDate>
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			<title>Ten High-Tech Weapons to Repel Pirates</title>
			<description><![CDATA[&nbsp;
&nbsp;U.S. Air Force

The 'Dazzle Rifle' gun developed by the Air Force, intended to temporarily blind adversaries.
How does a small gang o[...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[&nbsp;
&nbsp;U.S. Air Force

The 'Dazzle Rifle' gun developed by the Air Force, intended to temporarily blind adversaries.
How does a small gang of lightly armed Somali pirates hijack a modern cargo ship?
Speed and weaponry, mainly. Modern pirates, whether off the coast of Somalia or in the crowded shipping lanes of southeast Asia, typically use fast speedboats to zoom up to the sterns of slow-moving cargo ships. They then toss grappling hooks up to the rails and climb up ropes to clamber on deck.
Pirates are generally armed with assault rifles and, increasingly, rocket-propelled grenade launchers. Modern ships' crews are usually unarmed for a number of reasons, among them laws that prevent armed vessels from docking in the ports of many countries.
&quot;The maritime unions, shipping companies and the International Maritime Organization all agree that ship's crews should not be armed,&quot; says Capt. George Quick, vice president of the International Organization of Masters, Mates and Pilots, based in Linthicum, Md. &quot;It would only escalate the situation The [Somali] pirates are pretty well funded, and they'd just get bigger weapons
Modern ships also don't need many people to sail them &mdash; the 500-foot, 17,000-ton Maersk Alabama has a total of 20 crewmembers, including the captain. Hence it's pretty easy for pirates with AK-47s to boss them around, provided they can find all the crewmembers.
So if the cargo ships can't fire back, how can they defend themselves against pirates? A number of non-lethal solutions have been suggested and tried, some low-tech, some practically science fiction.
Fire hoses. The simplest way to repel boarders is to train high-pressure hoses on them. Spraying them straight down the sides of the ship at bad guys trying to climb aboard usually works. But there's a catch &mdash; if there's more baddies standing in the speedboats aiming guns at the crew, then you have to give up.
&quot;Some companies encourage the use of fire hoses, but even that's controversial,&quot; says Quick. &quot;When you've got a boatload of guys with AK-47s pointed at your crew, it's not really a fair fight.&quot;
Remote-controlled fire hoses. To get around that logistical problem, several companies market high-pressure water cannons that can wash pirates overboard without exposing anyone to enemy fire.
Molotov cocktails. If ships' crews aren't given weapons, they can always make their own. In December, Somali pirates shadowed the Zhenhua 4, a Chinese cargo ship, for days, giving its crew ample time to prepare a stockpile of Molotov cocktails using empty beer bottles.
The baddies got on board, but the crew used the homemade bombs and fire hoses to fend them off for six hours, enough time for Malaysian Navy helicopters to show up and scare the pirates away.
Quick advises against such heroics, however.
&quot;Standard maritime doctrine is that crews should not resist once boarders are on deck,&quot; he says. &quot;The [Somali] pirates are really just after the ransom money, so it's best to keep things as calm as possible.&quot;
Sonic weapons. In November 2005, the cruise ship Seabourn Spirit in the western Indian Ocean fended off pirate speedboats, partly by blasting them with an long range acoustic device (LRAD), which is designed to cause painful level of sound up to 300 meters away. (The Seabourn Spirit also ran over one of the speedboats.)
That, ahem, sounded great at the time, but a similar use of an LRAD three years later didn't stop a chemical tanker from being seized by more Somali pirates. The bad guys may have figured out that earplugs or blast muffs greatly reduce the LRAD's effectiveness as a weapon.
Slippery foam. Boat decks are wet places. Somali pirates are often barefoot. Hence the need for what the acronym-happy Marine Corps calls its Mobility Denial System (MDS), also known as Non-Lethal Slippery Foam (NLSF) or Anti-Traction Material (ATM).
Basically, it's water, drilling-mud additive (used for boreholes) and a flocculent, an electrically charged suspension of solids that makes liquids even more slippery. No one's actually deployed this stuff yet, but a few serious squirts would send pirates sliding around helplessly like happy penguins on an ice floe.
Rubber bullets. Riot police typically fire non-lethal projectiles from real guns, which wouldn't be allowed on many ships. But high-powered air guns could fire plastic or rubber bullets almost as easily, causing pain if not serious injury to boarders hit in the torso or limbs. Head shots could cause injury or even death, however, and there's always the chance they could be used in a mutiny.
Electric fencing. At least one company sells a high-voltage fence that sticks horizontally outward from a ship's sides, zapping any would-be boarders like so many wayward cattle.
&quot;Only a few [ships have that] so far,&quot; says Quick. &quot;I don't know if it's worked or not. In the long run, nothing will against a persistent group of pirates.&quot;
Nets. In the same way that police lay out nail strips to stop speeding cars, ships could launch small nets into the water to entangle the propellers of the pirate speedboats. The Coast Guard and the Dept. of Defense are testing these by dropping these from helicopters, but it's possible smaller versions could be launched from the stern of a cargo ship using the sort of catapults that launch clay pigeons in skeet shooting.
Blinding weapons. Airline pilots already deal with jokers who shine laser pointers into the cockpits of landing planes. Pirates might have to face the Dazzle Gun, a futuristic-looking laser rifle designed by the Air Force that temporarily blinds adversaries who get too close to bases and personnel.
The pain ray. The Air Force had fun a couple of year ago bringing reporters to a test facility at Moody Air Force base in Georgia and zapping them with the Active Denial System, a truck-mounted weapon that focuses a tight beam of electromagnetic waves on your skin.
Basically, it's like sticking your hand in a microwave oven. It's nonlethal and very painful. There's a smaller version as well that's effective up to 500 yards, which might work against pirates coming up to a ship.
Quick, however, feels that nothing can really stop the pirates short of a naval engagement.
&quot;It's not really up to the ship owners or crews to solve the pirate problem,&quot; he says. &quot;It's a governmental issue. It's why navies were formed in the first place.&quot;
By Paul Wagenseil]]></content:encoded>			<link>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/637/Ten_High-Tech_Weapons_to_Repel_Pirates</link>
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			<pubDate>Wed, 15 Apr 2009 20:43:15 -0400</pubDate>
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			<title>French Navy capture 11 suspected pirates off Kenya</title>
			<description><![CDATA[Reported by CNN:

The navy tracked the pirates overnight after they attacked a ship called the Safmarine Asia, then seized them at dawn Wednesday mo[...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[Reported by CNN:

The navy tracked the pirates overnight after they attacked a ship called the Safmarine Asia, then seized them at dawn Wednesday morning, the statement said.&nbsp;
The European Union, NATO and the United States have been patrolling the region since an upsurge in piracy off the coast of Somalia last year.

U.S. snipers killed three pirates holding a U.S. ship captain hostage Sunday. The captain, Richard Phillips, was held in a lifeboat for five days after his ship, the Maersk Alabama, was seized last week.

But pirates in Somalia vowed revenge, saying that an attack Tuesday on another ship, the Liberty Sun, was a response to the killing of Phillips' captors.

&quot;It was a revenge,&quot; Hassan Mohamud told a Somali journalist. &quot;The U.S. ship escaped by a matter of chance.&quot;

&quot;We sent out 14 boats full of well-armed men, and we are looking for vessels of U.S. and French nationals,&quot; said Hassan Mohamud, a pirate leader based Gara'ad in Puntland, a semi-autonomous Somali region with a long coastline along the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden.

&quot;The U.S. and French governments should know this because they started the aggression on us,&quot; he said.

Other pirates in the region have also vowed revenge since the U.S. Navy freed Phillips on Sunday.

The men who held him were killed two days after the French military freed four hostages, including a child, who had been held by pirates for nearly a week on a yacht off Somalia's coast. In that operation, a hostage and two pirates were killed, the French Defense Ministry said, while three pirates were captured.

Separately, a court in Puntland sentenced 27 Somali pirates to prison sentences, with the judge saying they had been caught red-handed.

Shiekh Mohamed Abdi Aware, the presiding judge, read the verdict to the press inside the court. He said that each of the pirates would face three years in prison.

A crew member aboard the Liberty Sun, the ship which was unsuccessfully attacked Tuesday, managed to e-mail his mother while the ship was under fire. &quot;We are under attack by pirates, we are being hit by rockets. Also bullets.&quot;

Katy Urbik said her heart stopped as she read that in an e-mail from her son Thomas.

&quot;We are barricaded in the engine room and so far no one is hurt. [A] rocket penetrated the bulkhead but the hole is small. Small fire too but put out,&quot; the message from her son continued.

&quot;Navy is on the way and helos and ships are coming. I'll try to send you another message soon. [G]ot to go now. I love you mom and dad and all my brothers and family.&quot; 

Ubrik, of Wheaton, Illinois, said her son e-mailed again half an hour later. &quot;The Navy has showed up in full force and we are now under military escort ... all is well. I love you all and thank you for the prayers,&quot; his message said.
The ordeal followed a tense week for the family, said Ubrik, who had closely followed news of the hijacking of the Maersk Alabama and the kidnapping of its captain.
She said of receiving her son's shocking e-mail:
&quot;My heart stopped as soon as I realized there wasn't going to be a 'just kidding' after his comment. Because I had heard from his earlier [Tuesday] morning, saying they had a plan with the Navy, they were being monitored, they had been practicing drills to get into the engine room.&quot;
&quot;I opened up my e-mail and it was one of those surreal moments where, am I really reading this?&quot;

After the thwarted attack on the Liberty Sun, the vessel was being escorted by the USS Bainbridge -- the same ship carrying Phillips after his dramatic rescue Sunday.
About 20 U.S. citizens are aboard the Liberty Sun, delivering humanitarian supplies from the U.N. World Food Programme, CARE and other groups, two senior defense officials told CNN.
Pirates off the coast of Somalia seized two other freighters Tuesday.
First, they hijacked the MV Irene EM, a 35,000-ton Greek-owned bulk carrier, according to a NATO spokesman and the European Union's Maritime Security Center.
The crew of the Greek carrier was thought to be unhurt and ships have been warned to stay clear of the area for fear of further attack, the Security Center said.
Later Tuesday, pirates on four skiffs seized the 5,000-ton MV Sea Horse, a Lebanese-owned and Togo-flagged vessel, Cmdr. Chris Davies said from NATO's Maritime Component Command Headquarters in Northwood, England.
Details about the ship and its crew weren't immediately available.
The two freighters seized Tuesday are the third and fourth vessels to be hijacked in two days off the Somali coast.
Pirates on Monday hijacked two Egyptian fishing boats carrying a total of between 18 and 24 people, the Egyptian Information Ministry told CNN.
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry is working to end the hijacking, the information ministry said.

Piracy accelerated after the fall of the Somali government in the early 1990s and began to flourish after shipping companies started paying ransoms. Those payments started out being in the tens of thousands of dollars and have since climbed into the millions.
advertisement

Some experts say companies are simply making the problem worse by paying the pirates.

About 16,000 ships a year pass through the region, according to the French Foreign Ministry.]]></content:encoded>			<link>http://www.instantbreakingnews.com/article/630/French_Navy_capture_11_suspected_pirates_off_Kenya</link>
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			<pubDate>Wed, 15 Apr 2009 13:07:49 -0400</pubDate>
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