A tuberculosis patient under the first federal quarantine since 1963 was taken Thursday to National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver, which specializes in respiratory disorders, officials said. He walked in under his own power after flying from Atlanta with his wife and federal marshals, hospital spokesman William Allstetter said.
CBS News has learned the man with the extreme form of tuberculosis is Andrew Harley Speaker, a 31-year-old lawyer from Atlanta. A medical official in Atlanta also confirmed the name on condition of anonymity.
The man has a rare and dangerous form of tuberculosis that has proved resistant to drugs. He looked healthy and tan, and "he said he still felt fine," Allstetter said.
Doctors plan to begin treating the man immediately with two antibiotics, one oral and one intravenous. He also will undergo a basic physical exam, a test to evaluate how infectious he is and a CT scan and lung X-ray, Allstetter said. Doctors hope to also determine where he contracted the disease. He will be kept in a special unit with two rooms and a ventilation system, Allstetter said. "He may not leave that room much for several weeks," Allstetter said.
According to a biography posted on a Web site connected with Speaker's law firm, he attended the U.S. Naval Academy, graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in finance, and then attended University of Georgia's law school.
In a phone interview with the Atlanta Constitution-Journal from an Atlanta hospital earlier this week, he explained that he knew he had TB when he flew from Atlanta to Europe in mid-May for his wedding and honeymoon, but that he didn't find out until he was already there that it was an extensively drug-resistant strain considered especially dangerous.
Despite warnings from federal health officials not to board another long flight, he flew home for treatment fearing he wouldn't survive if he didn't reach the U.S.
Health officials in North America and Europe are trying to track down about 80 passengers who sat near him on the two trans-Atlantic flights, and they want passenger lists from four shorter flights he took while in Europe. Patients on the shorter flights are not expected to be as much at risk, health officials said.
Speaker had flown to Paris on May 12 aboard Air France Flight 385, also listed as Delta Air Lines codeshare Flight 8517, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Speaker and his bride also took four shorter flights while in Europe Paris to Athens on May 14; Athens to Thira Island May 16; Mykonos Island to Athens May 21; and Athens to Rome May 21 but CDC officials said there was less risk of infection during the shorter hops compared to the trans-Atlantic flights, which each lasted eight hours or more.
It was while they were in Rome that he learned further U.S. tests had determined his TB was the rare, extensively drug-resistant form, far more dangerous than he knew. Officials told Speaker to turn himself over to Italian health officials and not to fly on any commercial airlines. Instead, on May 24, he flew from Rome to Prague on Czech Air Flight 0727, then flew to Montreal aboard Czech Air Flight 0104 and drove into the U.S., according to CDC officials.
Speaker told the Journal-Constitution that he wasn't coughing and that doctors initially did not order him not to fly and only suggested he put off his long-planned wedding. "We headed off to Greece thinking everything's fine," he told the newspaper.
Alison Young, the Journal-Constitution reporter who interviewed Speaker by telephone, told CBS News correspondent Kelly Cobiella the man said health officials never required him to wear masks or isolate himself.
Dr. Charles Daley, head of the infectious disease division at National Jewish Hospital, said the hospital has treated two other patients with what appears to be the same strain of tuberculosis since 2000, although that strain had not been identified and named at the time. He said the patients had improved enough to be released. "With drug-resistant tuberculosis, it's quite a challenge to treat this," Daley told CNN on Thursday. "The cure rate that's been reported in other places is very low. It's about 30 percent for XDR-TB."
"This is a different patient, though. We're told that this is very early in the course, and most of the time when we get patients that it's very extensive and very far advanced. So I think we're more optimistic," he said. "We're aiming for cure. We know it's an uphill battle, but we hope to get there."
ATLANTA (AP) - The honeymooner quarantined with a dangerous strain of tuberculosis was identified Thursday as a 31-year-old personal injury lawyer whose new father-in-law is a CDC microbiologist specializing in the spread of TB.
The father-in-law, Bob Cooksey, would not comment on whether he reported his son-in-law to federal health authorities. He said only that he gave 31-year-old Andrew Speaker "fatherly advice" when he learned the young man had contracted the disease.
#3
This rectal cavity needs to be confined as a public menace. He has repeatedly ignored demands to consider the danger he poses to others and has gone on to expose hundreds of people to this dangerous strain. Lock his consumptive ass up.
Typical for most lawyers though. Only thinking about themselves and screw everyone else around them.
(The rantburg lawyers are exempt from the above statement) ;)
#8
The father-in-law, Bob Cooksey, would not comment on whether he reported his son-in-law to federal health authorities. He said only that he gave 31-year-old Andrew Speaker "fatherly advice" when he learned the young man had contracted the disease.
I hope it was something like, "Ummmmm, Bob? Stay the fuck away from me with that shit, will ya?"
#9
ATLANTA (AP) - The honeymooner quarantined with a dangerous strain of tuberculosis was identified Thursday as a 31-year-old personal injury lawyer whose new father-in-law is a CDC microbiologist specializing in the spread of TB.
Did the Father-in-Law bring home something nasty from the office?
#11
To learn that he was an educated man, that endangered everyone on board all of the many flights that he took while knowingly having TB.
Horrors. If this is any showing of his intellect, I don't want him being my lawyer.
To come back to America because he wanted the best care. Yes thinking only of himself, not caring how many he puts at risk to save his own skin. Bastard. If any of the folks on any of those flights are diagnosed with this TB he should pick up their bills.
Posted by: Jan ||
05/31/2007 16:46 Comments ||
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#12
I wouldn't be too quick to jump on this guy. TB is not a very obvious disease in its early stages, and its typical treatment is also strange.
To start with, you are given one test, to see if you have TB exposure. If it comes back positive, then you are told you will need to take a course of treatment for about six months, to prevent you from developing the disease.
But after the first test comes back positive, then you are given a *second* test, to see if the exposure has developed into the disease, which is no sure thing. If *it* is positive, then you get a *different* series of drugs that you have to take for at least a year and a half.
Now there is a *third* test they would have to perform, to determine if you have ordinary TB, the resistant form, or the extra resistant form. It is still rare in North America, and most of the TB is of the ordinary variety.
In any event, he was probably notified that he had exposure to the disease *and* had developed TB, so they had issued him the second series of drugs to take. Then they suggested that it might not be a good idea to travel, before they knew or had told him he *might* have the resistant or extra resistant strain.
He was already traveling when they discovered that he had the extra resistant strain. And *that* is when the flares went up and alarm bells went off.
So it's all in the timetable. Who knows why he got his first test, anyway, as it is normally given to school teachers, firemen, and certain other groups.
So, why didn't they freak out when he was diagnosed with TB?
"Over one-third of the world's population now has the TB bacterium in their bodies and new infections are occurring at a rate of one per second. Not everyone who is infected develops the disease and asymptomatic latent TB infection is most common. However, one in ten latent infections will progress to active TB disease which, if left untreated, kills more than half of its victims."
In the US, annually, are about 14,000 cases of TB, of which only 150 or so are drug resistant.
Finally, we have widespread AIDS to thank for the new strains of TB.
#14
I know you're about to tour the world, son but first, take a huff of this beaker.
OH, ooff, that stuff is Too Bad. It's Total Bile.
Why it's Toxic Beans, pop.
#15
Anonymoose, I agree with all that you've said.
I do however still maintain that being an educated man you don't place all those people at risk by only thinking of yourself.
I've recently learned that some countries require you to have some sort of health documentation. I only know this as I will be travelling this summer so have been preparing by getting the proper info so I'm prepared for my travel. While looking to see if Ireland had any health documentation necessary, I remember seeing that Germany did have. link
scroll down to where it says; "Review your itinerary
What countries will you visit, and in what order?
Some countries require proof of vaccination"
There are probably better sites, I only grabbed this one online quickly to make my point.
Makes me want to think seriously about wearing a mask when I fly.
Posted by: Jan ||
05/31/2007 17:45 Comments ||
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#16
Does the TB organism have unique DNA that would allow an infection to be traced to a source?
#17
Jan echoes my thoughts precisely. Plus, the father-in-law's occupation strikes me as an astonishing coincidence. WTF?
I'm also blown away that this asshole won't be prosecuted. If some jihadi wanted to set off a spectacular BW attack, this is an excellent way to do it. We also throw HIV+ people in prison when they knowingly expose others, regardless of intent. Whether they're selfish idiots or malicious psychopaths, the results are the same. How is this any different?
#18
JohnQC, yes, tuberculosis is spread by bacteria, and different strains are a result of, and can be distinguished by, DNA polymorphisms. I read that they did indeed do a comparison of douchebag's strain with those the father-in-law works with. No match. Weird.
#19
I cut him NO slack - he endangered others selfishly, typical for a PI atty. His Father-In-Law says he gave him advise. He should be prosecuted if he knew the status yet didn't turn him in. He deliberately exposed others in an attempt to circumvent rules in place to save others. I hope this POS is sued for every penny he has or earns in the future. I'm pissed, if you can't tell.....
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/31/2007 18:15 Comments ||
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#20
First of all, thanks to the mod who moved this to the appropriate page. I try not to be stupid, and sometimes I actually succeed. Not this time, sadly, but y'all got my back anyway. :-)
This reminds me of a girlfriend, also an American expatriate, back when we lived in Germany. She had four young children, and the family had tickets to go back to the States for Christmas. Then in mid-December the kids caught the chicken pox. The next week her husband was told he was being transferred back to the States -- effective Monday -- and his wife could handle the details of the move so as to follow at the beginning of January. She was so angered by the whole situation that she bundled the kids onto the airplane as originally planned -- and if any of the passengers were infected, too bad.
Me? I'd be seriously annoyed if it turned out that not only had my brand new husband infected possibly dozens of innocent bystanders with a possibly incurable and deadly disease, but that he'd done the same to me and our wedding guests, when the right thing to do would have been to postpone the wedding. But then, I have a very high standard for the intelligent and thoughtful behaviour of my husbands.
#22
This PI lawyer has opened himself up to a truly vast amount of personal-injury lawsuits, from apprehensive victims exposed to him to the airlines he rode on. None need to die or even be infected to file a suit against him for pain & suffering. I wonder what lawyers would be willing to take these cases on contingency? Standards of evidence in such cases are much slacker than in criminal cases, and the cash awards sympathetic juries could hand out might be astronomical. IANAL! Maybe he could change his identity & live underground for a few decades.
#23
Other news about this guy. First was that he was put on the US No Fly list as soon as he was diagnosed. He evaded the US No Fly list by flying to Montreal first, then entered the US from there.
Somebody is going to get their ass kicked over that one.
Second, though he isn't showing symptoms yet, FOX News just reported that they are considering removing the part of his lung where the infection is collecting.
#24
Integrity and honor used to actually mean something and I thought existed in high numbers of folks. Nowadays it seems that a handshake means squat that you need everything written down witnessed, notarized registered hell all sorts of things. As with this guy possibly infecting loads of people. To think he wouldn't do the right thing here as a show of the downward spiral our society has started going in. That we actually need rules about the obvious here.
If Johnny is sick he used to stay home from school, nowadays he goes to school only to infect all the other kids because mom has to go to work and doesn't have daycare for her sick Johnny. That is 'okay' because many sympathize with the parent's situation.
I don't know what the answer is, I would like to see us get back to a handshake actually meaning something. Maybe we need to look at what we've allowed to change in our society as a whole as having all to do with this. A strong family unit that teaches what the right thing to do is very important, an example, by returning that candy bar that the kid took to teach him the right way and why, I feel is essential and we've really gotten away from that.
This obviously was a well educated person, if this goes on with him and his family, who knows what will happen with the less fortunate.
I'm usually a very postive thinking person. When I'm feeling crummy, I tend to get negative and don't like being around myself. So I'm sorry, I know I've jumped around from thought to thought here.
Posted by: Jan ||
05/31/2007 19:51 Comments ||
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#25
This guy reminds me of one of a bunch of lawyer jokes I received in an e-mail last week:
ATTORNEY: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for blood pressure?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: Did you check for breathing?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?
WITNESS: No.
ATTORNEY: How can you be so sure, Doctor?
WITNESS: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar.
ATTORNEY: But could the patient have still been alive, nevertheless?
WITNESS: Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practicing law.
#26
they are considering removing the part of his lung where the infection is collecting.
I hope they carefully considered the alternative of leaving it in to find out how the disease progresses. Perhaps they can also assure that he and dad-in-law get to spend lots of quality time together.
#27
The story just keeps getting worse. This just out on AP/Yahoo: Border worker disregarded TB warning
[The patient] was allowed back into the U.S. by a border inspector who disregarded a computer warning to stop him and don protective gear, officials said Thursday.
The inspector has been removed from border duty.
The inspector ran Speaker's passport through a computer, and a warning including instructions to hold the traveler, don a protective mask in dealing with him, and telephone health authorities popped up, officials said. About a minute later, Speaker was instead cleared to continue on his journey, according to officials familiar with the records.
The Homeland Security Department is investigating.
"The border agent who questioned that person is at present performing administrative duties," said Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke, adding those duties do not include checking people at the land border crossing.
[The patient's father said] "The way he's been shown and spoken about on TV, it's like a terrorist traveling around the world escaping authorities. It's blown out of proportion immensely."
Blown out of proportion? Only another lawyer would say something like that. Whoops, dad IS ALSO a lawyer.
A former neighbor said, "He's a great guy. Gregarious,"
A little too gregarious, I'd say. Of course, if he'd been the hermit type things would have never gotten this far.
#28
It would be wise to put that border agent into guarded quarantine until his XDR-TB tests come back... after enough time has passed that if he's actually been infected the bacteria load becomes high enough that the test is accurate. Then fire him, and provide no references. He's not intelligent enough for the job, if he can't tell the difference between his training and that of an MD/PhD epidemiologist. Ass.
#29
Lessee - this genius promises his new wife they will be together until death do them part.
"And, by the way, honey, that death and parting thing may come sooner rather than later - since I've just infected YOU with my deadly drug-resistant TB."
Ain't not wanting to lose his honeymoon deposit money love grand? >:-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/31/2007 23:44 Comments ||
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#30
Barbara, have I told you lately how much I lubs ya? You're still the one!
SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - US prosecutors said they captured on Wednesday a nefarious Internet marketer responsible so much junk e-mail they called him "Spam King." Robert Soloway, 27, was arrested in Seattle, Washington, a week after being indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of identity theft, money laundering, and mail, wire, and e-mail fraud.
"Spam is a scourge of the Internet, and Robert Soloway is one of its most prolific practitioners," said US Attorney for the Western District of Washington Jeffrey Sullivan. "Our investigators dubbed him the 'Spam King' because he is responsible for millions of spam emails."
Between November of 2003 and May of 2007 Soloway "spammed" tens of millions of e-mail messages to promote websites at which his company, Newport Internet Marketing, sold products and services, according to prosecutors.
Soloway routinely moved his website to different Internet addresses to dodge detection and began registering them through Chinese Internet service providers in 2006 in an apparent ploy to mask his involvement. Spam messages sent by Soloway used misleading "header" information to dupe people into opening them, according to Sullivan.
Soloway is accused of using "botnets," networks of computers, to disguise where e-mail originated and of forging return addresses of real people or businesses that wound up blamed for unwanted mailings.
If convicted as charged, Soloway will face a maximum sentence of more than 65 years in prison and a fine of 250,000 dollars. Prosecutors want to seize approximately 773,000 dollars they say Soloway made from his spamming-related activities.
#1
Spammers are second to jihadis on my list.
Of course, it is a given that someone else will take over the spam biz space that Soloway involuntarily vacated.
They need to get life sentence when caught, to discourage potential spammers. Noose would be probably more appropriate, though.
#3
Spam, bad as it is, takes a back seat to malware and spyware. It is a form of vandalism to purposefully inhibit the functionality of an individual's property (i.e., computer) without their consent. That said, spam needs to be outlawed. We have regulations prohibiting junk faxes, so limiting spam email should not be a real problem. It reduces productivity and consumes massive amounts of server bandwidth to the tune of BILLIONS lost per year. Spammers have a special place awaiting them in Hell. I envision them having to wade through and individually delete thousands of junk emails in a desperate search for vital news of an injured loved one.
#7
If he's got anything to do with the #(%&#!s who generate the automated spam-coments on blogs (which I have spent several months of my life deleting and/or installing programs to defeat) then I'd like to invoice him for my time spent.
Otherwise, I'm in favor of burning him at the stake... with green wood.
#8
Spammers have a special place awaiting them in Hell.
Community service working in the IRS? Community service in Nigeria? I like the suggestion of burning at the stake, hanging with a computer cable, or deleting spam for the rest of his life.
South Africa again rejected calls for tough action against Zimbabwe on Tuesday ahead of a visit by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is expected to press the issue. Blair is scheduled to meet South African President Thabo Mbeki, who has been mediating between President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF party and the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) opposition through quiet diplomacy. Britain and other Western powers have accused Mugabe of widespread human rights abuses and mismanaging the economy.
British newspapers said Blair, who has urged African leaders to pressure Mugabe, might make another attempt to push Mbeki on Zimbabwe this week during a farewell trip to the continent. South African Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said in a speech to Parliament on Tuesday that a hard line on Zimbabwe would only backfire. "You must not push the country over the brink, you must pull it back from the brink. That is our approach," she said. Dlamini-Zuma said political dialogue will succeed only if Zimbabweans show they are serious about finding solutions to that country's crisis. "The success of President Mbeki's facilitation largely depends on the political will of the Zimbabwean government and opposition political parties to take Zimbabwe out of this crisis," she said in her budget-vote debate in the National Assembly.
However, the Inkatha Freedom Party's Ben Skosana told MPs in the House that Mbeki is doomed to fail as long as other parties - such as ordinary Zimbabweans, churches and the country's business community - are excluded. Joe Seremane of the Democratic Alliance said the South African government's lack of condemnation of the situation in Zimbabwe is regrettable. "Daily, thousands of Zimbabweans illegally enter South Africa in search of money and food to keep their families alive. The Department of Foreign Affairs should make it clear that they would not support a government that does this to its citizens," he said.
Mbeki, who successfully mediated in several conflicts on the African continent, has been criticised for being too soft on Mugabe and his increasingly authoritarian government. South Africa wields considerable power by having Africa's biggest economy and is seen as setting an example on democracy after decades of apartheid.
#1
I don't know why they sound so surprised. The ANC is not much unlike the Zanu-PF. In fact, the ANC would love to implement some of the "forward thinking" of Zimbobwe's policies like land reform.
#3
Zimbabwe is 10 years further down the road to destruction than is South Africa. At the present rate, the ANC will have SA with the same level of unemployment, inflation, poverty, misery, and deindustrialization as Zimbabwe has today, in 2015.
Pyongyang, May 27 (KCNA) -- Everything in Zimbabwe is associated with the exploits of President Kim Il Sung.
Zimbabwean President Robert G. Mugabe said this, recalling the fact that Kim Il Sung rendered material and mental assistance to the Zimbabwean people in the struggle for the independence of the country and the building of a new society.
On May 17 when receiving credentials from the DPRK ambassador to his country, he said that Zimbabwe and the DPRK have very good friendly relations.
He further said: We sincerely hope that Korea would be reunified in a peaceful way as early as possible. Zimbabwe attaches great importance to the relations with the DPRK and is willing to boost these relations in the future.
JEDDAH In view of the growing number of Umra and Haj pilgrim, the capacity of the Grand Mosque in the holy city of Makkah is planned to be increased by 35 per cent, according to sources close to the project.
The sources said that the Makkah Development Authority, the Makkah Municipality and the Presidency of the Two Holy Mosques Affairs are currently conducting intensive studies concerning the expansion project to be completed by 2020. The Makkah Development Authority has approved the master plan for the development of the citys central region. The plan aims at accommodating three million residents and eight million pilgrims.
Is there a lock and a key?
The Saudi Binladin Group has begun work on the expansion of the running area (masaa) between Safa and Marwa. The project aims at reducing overcrowding and will be completed before the next Haj season.
Plans are also under way to air-condition the entire built-up area of the Mosque. In recent years, the Saudi government has spent more than SR70 billion on the expansion of the Two Holy Mosques. Each mosque can now hold more than a million worshippers at a time.
Boggle.
As part of efforts to develop Makkahs central region, in 2005 Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz launched six major projects, including the SR12 billion Jabal Omar Residential Towers. Spread over 230,000 square metres, the Jabal Omar project includes five-star hotels, commercial centres and prayer facilities.
According to Habib Zain Al Abidine, Under-Secretary at the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs, some 25 new real estate projects are being carried out in the centre of Makkah. The total cost will exceed SR100 billion. Sami Barhameen, secretary-general of the Makkah Development Authority, said the development projects to be implemented around the Grand Mosque were designed to enable worshippers to follow the imam at the Grand Mosque during prayers. The projects will not affect the underground flow of Zamzam water.
So that's where they get Zamzam!
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/31/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Hmmm. Each holds a milliom targets now. Going to enlarge each by 35 %.Hmmmmm. Just taking them both out when fully loaded would stagger the camel lovers for a least a couple of years. It's too good to pass up.
#3
Didn't they just finish improving the ramps going round the Kaaba to improve pilgrim throughput, and to prevent those lower down from being hit by the stones throne by those higher up? I thought that was done just before the last Haj...
#5
"The Makkah (Mecca) Development Authority has approved the master plan for the development of the citys central region. The plan aims at accommodating three million residents and eight million pilgrims."
Scribbles note to self:
Haj at Mecca - 11 million muzzies in a ten-kilometer area. Primary strike.
#6
The Saudi Binladin Group has begun work on the expansion of the running area (masaa) between Safa and Marwa. The project aims at reducing overcrowding and will be completed before the next Haj season.
Cuban leader Fidel Castro on Monday repeated his attack on U.S. President George W. Bush for increasing the spending for military operations in Iraq, saying that the money will only increase the sorrows of Iraqi and American families. In an article published on Monday, Castro, who is still recovering from an intestinal surgery, said the fund should instead be used to train doctors so that more people could receive medical services.
The article said that Bush now has 100 billion U.S. dollars at hand, which can be used to train nearly 1 million doctors to provide medical services to 2 billion people. Even in the United States, there are nearly 50 million people who do not have medical insurance, Castro wrote. In less developed countries, diseases are rampant, but doctors are scarce, he said, adding that if once such infectious disease like AIDS hit them, millions of people would die in less than 20 years.
Castro said 600,000 people have died and another 2 million-plus have been displaced since the beginning of Iraq war in 2003.
Bush on Friday signed a bill that will fund the war in Iraq through September, and does not set any date for a troop withdrawal from the country.
Castro underwent an intestinal operation in July 2006 and later handed over power to Cuban Defense Minister Raul Castro. He has not made any public appearances since then, and from March this year someone using his name started issuing articles commenting on major current world affairs.
#1
Why is dipweed so interested in the US all of a sudden? He has enough problems at home that we could make fun of him for the next 100 years and still not be finished.
I wonder what he would do with $100B if we handed it to him. Perhaps he could start by spending a million bucks or so training a few doctors to be able to handle intestinal surgery a little better.
#2
Why is dipweed so interested in the US all of a sudden? He has enough problems at home that we could make fun of him for the next 100 years and still not be finished.
I wonder what he would do with $100B if we handed it to him. Perhaps he could start by spending a million bucks or so training a few doctors to be able to handle intestinal surgery a little better.
Aircraft manufacturer Airbus, already struggling with delays to its A380 superjumbo, now faces problems with its A350 long-range widebody aircraft due to customer dissatisfaction with the current design.
A tube with wings. Can it be that hard?
The first version of the new A350 was rejected out of hand, now the second version hasn't come up to scratch either. A number of important customers are demanding changes in Airbus' technology, which could cause further delays at the troubled aircraft manufacturer. The latest incarnation of the A350 has been found wanting by Emirates, Singapore Airplines, Qatar Airways and the leasing company ILFC, Germany's Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper reports on Tuesday. "In my opinion the current Airbus proposal represents an intermediate stage," the newspaper quotes Emirates boss Tim Clark.
The customers have called on Airbus to modify its design of the fuselage by baking the body, made out of carbon-fiber composites, on a huge mold, as Boeing does with its 787 Dreamliner, instead of riveting sections together. The current design's use of separate sections increases the maintenance costs, the airlines argue. To be able to burn the entire fuselage in giant ovens -- called autoclaves -- Airbus would have to invest in new technology and infrastructure, the newspaper reports.
However, an Airbus spokeswoman rejected the reports of a design rethink. "We are working on the basis of the existing designs," she told the Süddeutsche Zeitung, adding that everything else was pure speculation. She also dismissed reports that Airbus is planning to announce a new change of strategy during the Le Bourget airshow in France in mid June.
The development costs for the A350 have already doubled to more than 10 billion. Originally the company had only wanted to upgrade its Airbus A330 jets, but when customers were unimpressed and demanded a wider body, it went back to the drawing board and came up with the Airbus A350 XWB. Even based on the existing plans, the new A350 model won't be ready until 2013, a good five years later than Boeing's 787 Dreamliner. Not surprisingly the US aircraft manufacturer has received a considerably higher number of orders for the 787 than Airbus has for its A350.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/31/2007 00:02 ||
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#1
This is a bit misleading; the 787 still uses rivets, and the Boeing company is facing a shortage of fasteners. The carbon fiber structure requires specially coated fasteners to prevent the rivet from corroding and the rivet industry hasn't recovered capacity following the 9/11 collapse of the commercial aircraft market. the 787 sub assemblies being received @ Everett are held together with temp. fasteners that require replacement prior to delivery. how this will unfold is anybody's guess, but for now the Boeing company is still all roses and cream.
(although involved to some degree w/ 787 stuff, this is all from open source news reports)
#2
USN Ret. (thanks for your service, BTW), I assume the rivet shortage will only cause some delivery delays in the short run, and be resolved in the longer run? I like roses and cream with my Boeing - first stock I bought quite a few years ago, a few flat spells but has done nicely for some time and bids fair to continue its non-turkey-like ascent. I'd say with Airbus looking like it's beset with comprehensive problems, from management ethics to business judgement to technical execution, Boeing has some breathing room on the commercial side to complement its robust defense and space ops.
#4
How much more bad news can there be? It's a quagmire, I tellya!
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/31/2007 6:31 Comments ||
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#5
And besides, Dr. Steve, a tube is statically indeterminate. Fourth-order differential equations are (or used to be) involved.
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/31/2007 6:33 Comments ||
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#6
Verlaine:
the problem is the corrosion protection requirements for the metallic fasteners. The Carbon Fiber and rivets ( or bolts for that matter) are quite a bit apart as far as compatibility and the introduction of any liquid that can act as an electrolyte will cause the creation of a battery. and all batteries have an anode and a cathode. one gets consumed during the electron movement and the carbon is pretty stable so that leaves the fastener. since an aircraft also has lots of other things that must be attached to it, the selection of a satisfactory fastener is a bit more complex than walking into the local True Value and picking up a handful of 1/4-20 stove bolts. Titanium has shown promise as a fastener, but cost gets in the way.
Yes the fastener industry will rebound but i would not be surprised to see some delivery delays, at least in the early days for the Dreamliner.
I am still waiting for Boeing to announce the sale of some Dreamlifters to air freight companies. take market share away from the Anatov 124s.
SENIOR managers at Airbus's parent company, EADS, knew of delays in aircraft production when they sold their stock options in March 2006, shortly before the firm's shares crashed, it was reported yesterday. While the A380's delays were not officially mentioned during the board's meeting on 7 March, 2006, members did discuss "significant" hold-ups to the programme, as well as "serious industrial difficulties", the French business newspaper La Tribune has reported.
The article cites as evidence a telephone conversation between Alain Garcia, the Airbus technical director who was present at the meeting, and Jean Galli Douani, a businessman. Mr Douani is in dispute with Airbus over a jet sale, according to La Tribune. Earlier this month, he handed over a recording of the 20-minute conversation with Mr Garcia to French investigators looking into the stock sales, the paper said. The conversations allegedly indicate that Mr Garcia told board members about problems with the A380 on 7 March, 2006 - the day executives began selling shares and three months before the delays were announced.
"This we deny categorically," a spokeswoman for Airbus, Barbara Kracht, said. "The A380 was not the subject of Mr Garcia's intervention." She did not say what was.
La Tribune also claimed it had an internal production document written on 6 March, 2006, which cut back the A380 delivery schedule for 2007 from 29 of the superjumbos to 24, leaving the plane-maker no margin for error. The board meeting was the next day, 7 March. That evening, Noel Forgeard, then the co-chief executive of Airbus, began the sale of millions of euros in his stock options, the report said. EADS' website shows that Mr Forgeard and other executives exercised stock options within two weeks following the 6 March meeting. Some 85 per cent of the company's 800 leading officials sold stock options soon afterwards, despite an 8 March announcement of record profits in 2005, the report said.
As far as ordinary shareholders were aware, Airbus was flying high, beating its American rival, Boeing, on orders in 2005 and expecting to increase profitability in 2006. But on 13 June, 2006, the board met again and announced new delays to the A380. EADS then issued a profit warning that sent its share price plunging 26 per cent in one day. The stock has yet to recover.
Mr Forgeard left in July with a widely criticised £5.7 million severance package, and a series of management changes ensued. The company announced a huge restructuring plan earlier this year that will mean thousands of lay-offs and factory closures.
#4
The whole "Tax the rich" argument. Problem is, it ain't the rich that are hurt when taxes are raised. They have enough loopholes and credits to get around any raises (you honestly think the Clinton's are gonna pay more taxes when they raise them?), it is the small business owners that get raped.
The sick thing is, they are taxed on what the business brings in, not what they take home. So if you bring in $300,000, your are rich according to the government. Even if you set your salary to only $52,000. The poor small business owners get raped every time the tax law and social security laws are changed. Nevermind the fact that they account for a good chunk of our economy.
Fred Thompson is giving up his post as D.A. on NBC's "Law & Order." Thompson, a former Republican senator from Tennessee who has flirted with the idea of running for president but has yet to announce his candidacy, played District Attorney Arthur Branch on the long-running crime drama for the past five seasons.
"I've spoken to Fred today, and although he told me he has not made a firm decision about his political future, he felt that given the creative and scheduling constraints of the upcoming season, he asked to be released from his responsibilities to the show," "Law & Order" creator/executive producer Dick Wolf said Wednesday. "I will sincerely miss working with him on a regular basis, and I obviously wish him the best of luck with whatever the future holds." Maybe he figures the show is about to tank?
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/31/2007 07:17 ||
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#1
he's gonna be busy ...doing...something
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/31/2007 8:20 Comments ||
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#5
A2U, I know what you mean. I used to enjoy L&O but lately it seems like they never miss an opportunity to bash America or conservatives.
My wife doesn't like it when I yell at the TV.
A surge in violent crime that began last year accelerated in the first half of 2006, the FBI reported yesterday, providing the clearest signal yet that the historic drop in the U.S. crime rate has ended and is being reversed.
Reports of homicides, assaults and other violent offenses surged by nearly 4 percent in the first six months of the year compared with the same time period in 2005, according to the FBI's latest Uniform Crime Report. The numbers included an increase of nearly 10 percent for robberies, which many criminologists consider a leading indicator of coming trends.
The results follow a 2.5 percent jump in violent crime for 2005, which at the time represented the largest increase in 15 years. The latest numbers suggest that those results were not an anomaly but rather part of the first significant uptick in violent crime since the early 1990s, according to criminal justice experts.
Many communities, particularly those in urbanized areas, may be headed into a period of sustained crime increases, they said. While no one is certain of the causes, experts cited an increase in the number of young men in their crime-prone years, diminished crime-fighting assistance from the federal government, fewer jobs for people with marginal skills and even the ongoing growth in methamphetamine use in some places. Illegal immigration, of course, is completely unrelated. But there must be some political spin we can give this, Elrod. Aha!
The numbers come amid heightened criticism of the federal government from many police chiefs and state law enforcement officials, who complain that the Bush administration has retreated from fighting traditional crime in favor of combating terrorism and protecting homeland security. Justice officials dispute those contentions and pointed yesterday to an ongoing study designed to identify solutions to the rise in violent crime. Can we work Katrina in here, too, Elrod? Sure, Boss!
The increase was especially dramatic in many cities of 500,000 residents or more, the FBI report showed, including a 28 percent increase in Houston that appears attributable in part to an influx of residents displaced by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Homicides in New Orleans, whose population was greatly reduced after the storm, plunged by more than 60 percent in the same time period.
The numbers are certain to increase pressure on the Bush administration, whose detractors say local police concerns have been slighted by the focus on homeland security and counterterrorism. Say Elrod, how about Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo? Not this time, Boss.
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/31/2007 07:02 ||
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#4
On this one Bush can't hide, nor the governors of the states and administrators of the cities who turn a blind eye to the illegal issue. They are the problem. You can hide their illegal status but you can't hide their crimes -
# Ninety-five percent of warrants for murder in Los Angeles, Calif. are for illegal aliens.
# Eighty-three percent of warrants for murder in Phoenix, Ariz. are for illegal aliens.
# Eighty-six percent of warrants for murder in Albuquerque, N.M., are for illegal aliens.
# Seventy-five percent of people on the "Most Wanted" list in Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Albuquerque are illegal aliens.
# Twenty-five percent of all inmates in California detention centers are Mexican nationals who are here illegally.
# Forty percent of all inmates in Arizona detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally.
# Forty-eight percent of all inmates in New Mexico detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally.
# Twenty-nine percent (630,000) convicted illegal alien felons occupy our state and federal prisons at a cost of $1.6 billion annually.
# More than 53 percent of burglaries in California, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, and Texas are perpetrated by illegal aliens.
# More than half of all gang members in Los Angeles are illegal aliens from south of the border.
# More than 70 percent of all cars stolen in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and California are stolen by illegals.
# Forty-seven percent of drivers stopped by police in California have no license, insurance, or registration; and of that 47 percent, 92 percent are illegal aliens.
# Sixty-three percent of stopped drivers in Arizona have no license, insurance, or registration for the vehicle. Of that 63 percent, 97 percent are illegal aliens.
# Sixty-six percent of stopped drivers in New Mexico have no license, insurance, or registration; and of that 66 percent, 98 percent are illegals.
#5
The numbers come amid heightened criticism of the federal government from many police chiefs and state law enforcement officials, who complain that the Bush administration has retreated from fighting traditional crime in favor of combating terrorism and protecting homeland security.
'T'ain't the Fed's job to fight "traditional crime". That's the job of states and localities.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
05/31/2007 12:20 Comments ||
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#6
Who will the liberals blame once Bush is gone?
Oh ya, this type of story will vanish from the papers....
Remember, if it ain't reported by the MSM, it ain't real news!
#8
'T'ain't the Fed's job to fight "traditional crime". That's the job of states and localities.
It has been the Feds' failure to control the border that has depleted states' funding for law enforcement. Also, many of our Guard are also in law enforcement & security jobs that removes them from service when deployed overseas. Most of the increased violent crime is tied to drug use and trafficking, and the increased interdictions a factor. Rather than blame Bush, they should probably be congratulated for tackling the problem everyone else has avoided previously.
#9
true, the bill for arrests, incarceration and judicial action on illegals, along with health care, and education should be a Fed responsibility, with each American told what their share of that bill is. When that number gets published, you'll see a tide turn
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/31/2007 18:12 Comments ||
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Bob Shrum says Edwards "nearly got the nod" to be Al Gore's running mate. Pages 343-344:
Warren Christopher, the congenitally cautious former secretary of state, was in charge of the search process; he thought Edwards was untested, unprepared, a reckless gamble. Edwards himself had first broached the long-shot possibility of being Gore's running mate with me early in 1999...
Gore was troubled by the report - ironically compiled by someone who had worked for Edwards but was now our campaign's research director - that as a lawyer, Edwards had taken the legal but potentially controversial step of incorporating himself to avoid paying Medicare taxes. It had come up in the 1998 Senate race, and we'd beaten it back; but it now gave Warren Christopher an opening to renew the case against Edwards as too callow, too uncertain, too far out of the box. He pressed Gore. How could he risk his reputation by making such a choice?
Let me get this straight - Edwards was elected in November 1998 and sworn in January 1999; he was angling to be vice president after serving in the Senate for... a couple of months?
"Well, at least he's ambitious and self-confident."
I can see the campaign slogan now: "Gore-Edwards 2000: the VP is the pretty one."
From Bob Shrum's "No Excuses: Concessions of a Serial Campaigner," page 325:
[Early in the day of the 2000 New Hampshire primary, Al Gore's campaign had been hearing bad news - the last wave of exit polls suggested Gore would lose by 5 points to Bill Bradley...]
John Kerry unexpectedly materialized, virtually the only outsider that night to make it past the check points and the Secret Service... Like everybody else, Kerry had heard about the exit surveys - which were withheld from the public until the polls closed, but were the common currency of political insider trading all through Election Day. When Kerry arrived, Gore came out to greet him and promptly got an earful, as Kerry expounded on why Gore was losing in New Hampshire. The stump speech didn't work; he didn't have a clear focused message - the critique went on and on. Tipper took me aside and told me to somehow get Kerry out of here... Tipper didn't forget that night and that moment - and when the time came, she was distinctly unenthusiastic about picking Kerry for vice president.
Smart woman, that Tipper.
"Gore-Kerry 2000: Don't You Know Who We Are?"
Posted by: Mike ||
05/31/2007 07:01 ||
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#2
Beyond the fact that Edwards had no experience than (and barely any now) he probably would have made a better choice than Lieberman in 2000. The 2000 election was pre-Sept 11 and Lieberman's real additions with strong defense weren't seen as a strong point. And Edwards had charisma that Liberman lacked.
The reverse is also true. Lieberman would have helped the Kerry campaign. He wouldn't have overshadowed Kerry the way Edwards did and would have pumped up the military bonified.
Of course we have to assume the left wouldn't have turned on him by then.
Mayor Ray Nagin, in his first State of the City address since Hurricane Katrina, said New Orleans is on the road to recovery but called on the administrations of both the president and governor to help the city rebuild and bring back its residents. Nagin, in prepared remarks Wednesday evening, said President Bush promised "to do whatever it takes to heal New Orleans. Because the funding has not reached the affected areas and the people, that promise is unfulfilled."
Nagin called on Bush to forgive millions of dollars in disaster loans the city took out after Hurricane Katrina struck Aug. 29, 2005, to help it continue to operate. He also called on Gov. Kathleen Blanco to tap into the state's surplus to help the city and other parts of the state still struggling to recover from Katrina and Hurricane Rita, which struck a month later.
"Use the $3 billion surplus to ensure a strong future for our state," Nagin urged state lawmakers. "As New Orleans recovers, so does Louisiana."
The speech comes just two days before the start of a new hurricane season, and against the backdrop of a city still fighting to recover from a storm 21 months ago. While more than half the city's pre-Katrina population is back, according to one recent estimate, swaths of some neighborhoods remain in shambles, with houses empty and many small businesses ailing or shuttered.
Violent crime, including a rash of recent killings that has brought the city's murder total for the year to at least 78, is a worry. And progress so far has been largely driven by private efforts, as local, state and federal officials have traded blame over the slow pace of rebuilding. As of mid-month, the city said it had received just $163 million in federal rebuilding aid, a fraction of the $1 billion or more it says it will need just to restore what Katrina damaged and with little earmarked for permanent infrastructure work.
Nagin named a recovery director in December, and the director, Ed Blakely, unveiled a targeted $1.1 billion rebuilding plan in March. But funding for that plan is tenuous, with at least one-third of the money in doubt as the state considers using it to help bail out a homeowner aid program.
#2
People will return if they think there is a hopeful future. If they aren't returning, ...
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
05/31/2007 5:48 Comments ||
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#3
Visited New Orleans a couple of months ago. Residents lay a lot of blame for slow rebuilding on Nagin. They say whenever he opens his mouth, a different plan comes out. For example, he won't restore services to a area (water, power, police, fire, etc.) until a certain percentage of people move back in. Of course, no one wants to move back until services are restored.
We went on a tour of the major disaster areas, and there is a lot of rebuilding going on. Most of the houses have been gutted to the bare studs. They then have to pass a structural safety inspection, and they test the framework for water content. Only after they pass both can the internal rebuild start. Lots of people are trying to rebuild themselves, working nights or weekends. That's going to take a very long time, but they'll be back. Nagin won't.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/31/2007 7:34 Comments ||
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#4
It took decades and generations to build the city. It's not going to be rebuilt overnight, in a year, in two years.....
#5
Lots of obstacles to rebuilding here.
1) Bureaucratic inefficiencies (redundancy alert) in granting permits and performing inspections - MANY required for the simplest tasks.
2) Difficulty in obtaining financing - government programs mired in corruption and red tape; private funds hard to get because insurance is very hard to get, and development/flood protection plans uncertain.
3) Difficult to obtain tradesmen - plumbers, electricians, etc. - to do the work, especially the small jobs for individuals rebuilding their own homes one piece at a time. Finding laborers is easy (especially if you speak Spanish) but licensed AND skilled people are in short supply.
4) Criminals keep stealing the pipes and wires as fast as you get them put in. Sell it for metal value at scrap yards so they can buy their malt liquor. You spend $1000 (and weeks/months of waiting) to get a room wired or plumbed, then some bastard rips out the wire ($50 parts, $950 labor) and sells it for $5 scrap. I'd save him the work and give him the $5 just to not rip it out (or give him 50 cents worth of copper-sheathed base metal at 2000 fps if I catch him.)
5) Nature really doesn't want a big population concentration here - she's going to flush the toilet every so often just to keep the stench down.
#6
The damn place is a natural swamp and really is not safe or welcoming to human habitation. Beyond that, the insurance companies took a huge hit. First & last for most of them. If you haven't noticed, they have almost unamimously declined to write any further coverage for all the Southern coast areas, Florida, and much of the East coast. This goes for most major writers and the re-insurance underwriters. This really prevents a lot of commerce going forward and substantially depresses the land values in the affected regions. States themselves can be the underwriters, but this quickly turns to a debacle. Witness California. The insurers did this after the last So. Cal quake. No more coverage.You could buy it but you couldn't afford it. State came in with their coverage. Result: worse coverage & higher premiums than the privates. So most folks in Cal go without quake coverage now. Just cross your fingers.
#8
If white folks there in New Orleans hate Ray Nagin's guts so much, why did they reelect him to office? My guess is, they figured if someone else was put in and the same things didn't happen, they wouldn't be able to bitch and moan like they're doing now. The so call "hate who you know, is better than hating who you don't" feeling of satisfaction.
#9
Let the Mississipi move its mouth over to the Atchafalaya like it wants to, and build a new port/city there- New New Orleans. They will get 2 or 3 hundred years out of it before subsidence and siltation repeat the whole process.
#11
Because the funding has not reached the affected areas and the people, that promise is unfulfilled
Nagin needs to take the money out of his pockets and stop blaming Bush.
The money given compared to the amount of restructure and redevelopment is disgusting.
Posted by: Jan ||
05/31/2007 16:58 Comments ||
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Federal Education Minister Javed Ashraf Qazi said the histories of Ashok and Chandra Gupta Maurya could not be omitted from the curriculum, but they were only included so that students could have greater knowledge of the history of the subcontinent.
He was addressing the National Assemblys Standing Committee on Education here on Wednesday. The committee was reviewing a calling-attention notice by the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal concerning the inclusion of non-Muslim historical figures in the revised history curriculum for classes VI to VIII.
Qazi made it clear that the history curriculum dealt only with historical events and not religious incidents. Non-Muslims were involved in the history of the subcontinent and therefore could not be omitted from the curriculum. MMA members, however, were not satisfied with his stance.
Qazi made it clear that the history curriculum dealt only with historical events and not religious incidents, reported Online. He said non-Muslims were involved in the history of the subcontinent and therefore could not be omitted from the curriculum. MMA members, however, were not satisfied with Qazis stance even though a majority of the committee expressed its agreement with the federal education minister. Committee members said the revised syllabus provided students with complete information about the changes that occurred in various rulers regimes.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/31/2007 14:25 ||
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#1
the histories of Ashok and Chandra Gupta Maurya could not be omitted from the curriculum, but they were only included so that students could have greater knowledge of the history of the subcontinent.
How magnanimous of them, mentioning the Emperor Ashoka (Androcottus), he being a non-muslim and all....
from Vita Alexandri by Plutarch
"But this last combat with Porus took off the edge of the Macedonians' courage, and stayed their further progress into India. For having found it hard enough to defeat an enemy who brought but twenty thousand foot and two thousand horse into the field, they thought they had reason to oppose Alexander's design of leading them on to pass the Ganges, too, which they were told was thirty-two furlongs broad and a fathoms deep, and the banks on the further side covered with multitudes of enemies. For they were told the kings of the Gandaritans and Praesians expected them there with eighty thousand horse, two hundred thousand foot, eight thousand armed chariots, and six thousand fighting elephants. Nor was this a mere vain report, spread to discourage them. For Androcottus, who not long after reigned in those parts, made a present of five hundred elephants at once to Seleucus, and with an army of six hundred thousand men subdued all India"
Posted by: John Frum ||
05/31/2007 20:04 Comments ||
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#2
Emperor Ashoka (Androcottus)
My bad... Androcottus would be the grandfather of Ashoka .. the emperor Chandragupta, to whom Seleucus I Nicator ceded territory, and was given 500 war elephants.
Posted by: John Frum ||
05/31/2007 20:56 Comments ||
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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday tangled fiercely over U.S. proposals to grant Kosovo independence and build a missile defense shield. Lavrov accused the United States of starting a new arms race with its plan to install a radar system in the Czech Republic and 10 interceptor missiles in Poland.
On Kosovo, Lavrov all but threatened a veto if Western nations attempted to pass a U.N. Security Council resolution backing a plan for Kosovo's independence, saying he hoped such a response would not be necessary. "This is an issue on which our positions are diametrically opposed," he said. "At the moment I don't see any chance of the positions moving towards each other."
The disputes, laid bare at a news conference following a meeting of the Group of Eight foreign ministers, signaled that rising U.S.-Russia tensions could dominate next week's G-8 summit on the Baltic Coast. The foreign ministers spent the day meeting in the English Tudor-style Cecilienhof Palace, where President Harry S. Truman, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and other victorious allies met in 1945 to negotiate the postwar landscape of Europe.
Now, growing strains and suspicion between Russia and the United States have begun to mirror some of the disputes over power and influence that led to the Cold War. The statement issued afterward by the German host covered a list of issues, such as Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan, but even it could not soft-pedal the increasingly contentious dispute over Kosovo. During the meetings, diplomats said, only Lavrov opposed moving forward on Kosovo, citing other separatist conflicts that he said should be settled first, including Cyprus, Western Sahara, the breakaway Moldovan province of Trans-Dniester and the breakaway Georgian province of South Ossetia.
On Kosovo, Russia backs Serbia, its longtime ally, in opposing a plan proposed by U.N. mediator Martti Ahtisaari that would give the ethnic Albanian majority of the Serbian province independence with international supervision. Serbia wants to grant Kosovo only broad autonomy. The Germans, French and British also back the Ahtisaari plan. Lavrov looked irritated whenever one of the foreign ministers expressed a desire to bring Serbia into Western institutions such as the European Union.
Kosovo has been independent of Serbian control and under U.N. supervision since the end of the NATO-led war in 1999. U.S. officials say a failure to resolve the issue would destabilize the region. Rice argued that Ahtisaari offered his plan only after attempting to mediate a solution between the Serbs and the Kosovo Albanians. But Lavrov insisted that the two sides should reach their own solution.
"Until that happens, we don't see any way to solve this problem," Lavrov said. "As to whether we would slap a veto on a Kosovo resolution, I hope that this will not be necessary."
The missile defense issue was not raised in the meeting, but Lavrov and Rice traded barbs over it during the news conference. The United States says the shield is necessary to defend against rogue states such as North Korea and Iran, but Lavrov asserted that "the arms race is starting again." Lavrov objected to Rice's assertion Tuesday, as she was flying to Europe, that "the idea that this somehow would degrade Russia's strategic nuclear deterrent is just ludicrous, and the Russians know it's ludicrous."
He said the Americans had provided only facile explanations for the plan, but Rice noted that a succession of U.S. officials, including Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, had tried to assuage Russian concerns with "detailed analysis" and offers of cooperation. Rice noted that Russia had said this week that its ballistic missiles could "overwhelm, penetrate, destroy" any missile shield the United States would build. To laughter, she pointedly added: "We quite agree."
Lavrov jabbed back: "I hope that nobody has to actually prove that Condi's right about that."
#1
What is Russia so upset about re. the missile shield? Are they planning on attacking? Even then it would be nothing to get through it with the number of missiles they posess. Perhaps they are worried that Iran will insist that Russia upgrade their systems with the latest and greatest, which I doubt Russia is stupid enough to do, in which case there could be a falling out. Maybe, mabye not, but they sure are making a lot more fuss about this than they ought to be. Whipping up nationalism again perhaps?
#2
The armistice with the Serbs included a provision for perpetual Serb sovereignty over Kosovo. Why the hell do we have to cater to Muslims at every opportunity? Albanians prohibit establishment of Christian churches; they even resist re-building existing ones. We should be imposing sanctions against them.
"It was the height of summer in February 2005 and the hospital was filled with patients with both TB and HIV/AIDS," recalled Dr. Tony Moll, the anti-retroviral program manager at the Church of Scotland Hospital in Tugela Ferry.
"I remember there were two patients who just weren't getting better. I don't know why, but I had this terrible feeling that something really sinister was happening," Moll said.
In most instances, HIV/AIDS positive patients being treated with both anti-retrovirals and tuberculosis drugs improved, Dr. Moll explained, but not these two. "They were getting worse by the hour."
With a lack of testing facilities in his rural hospital in South Africa's Kwazulu-Natal province, Dr. Moll asked for special permission to have the sputum samples of 45 patients sent to Durban and tested for resistance to TB drugs.
Nurses collected samples from the two very ill patients, as well as 43 others being treated with TB and anti-retroviral drugs, and sent them off. By the time the results came back eight weeks later, 10 of the patients were dead, including the two who had been very ill.
Of the 45 samples, 10 were resistant to all six TB drugs they tested for.
"I got a cold shiver, with such fear in my heart," Moll said. "I thought, 'This is airborne. Could I be infected? Could my staff be infected?' To go into a new realm of XDR-TB, which is basically untreatable, was almost unthinkable," he said, using the acronym for Extremely Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis.
Moll's worst fears eventually were realized: Four of the hospital nurses died in those first few months. From that point on, the hospital began identifying more and more patients -- and in almost all cases, the patients with XDR-TB were dead before the lab results were back. Most die within 16 days of being identified as a possible XDR-TB case. The mortality rate of XDR-TB is 84 percent.
Since the first two cases, close to three years ago, doctors at the Church of Scotland Hospital have identified 266 people with XDR-TB.
That is just one small hospital. Across South Africa, doctors in all nine provinces have reported XDR-TB cases.
"It seems to be simmering, with increasing numbers each month," says Moll said. "It's not explosive, but it's slow, insidious, increasing numbers."
With recent U.S. fears of tuberculosis being stoked by a Georgia man's trans-Atlantic travels while infected with XDR-TB, South Africa's struggles serve as an ominous reminder of how deadly the disease can be.
The South African government has installed extractor fans in all TB wards and hospital staff use surgical face masks, but doctors claim there is a lack of good isolation facilities available. It has been reported that small rural clinics and hospitals can sometimes wait for up to three weeks with an XDR-TB patient in a general ward before a bed is available in one of the few urban hospitals better equipped to deal with the disease.
Experts claim a drug to deal specifically with XDR-TB is more than a decade away, so doctors use a combination of six to eight TB drugs to treat it.
Currently, a small group of XDR patients have been treated for more than five months in a Durban hospital, but their results have fallen short of doctors' expectations.
"Ultimately we need prevention, as the current treatment regime just isn't the way to go," Moll said. "The bulk of the patients just die so quickly."
#1
84% mortality in 16 days? Jeesh! Ebola virus has 90% mortality. Even smallpox had only 30% mortality during its heyday. XDR-TB is up there with the biggies.
#7
Years ago, I was in restaurant in Belfast, incidentally I'm pretty sure it was the Abercorn which got blown up a short while later, and the Irish girl with me told me that man with the soft persistent cough at the next table had TB.
"That cough, you can hardly hear. That's why the Irish call it the polite disease."
#8
And it's sinse by a full two lengths with a rare quadruple post!
Still, I'm confident that most of us who look at the following picture would want to drive a fist into his grinning mug.
#9
How comforting that border guys feel they know more than the intel given them about said travelers.
The unidentified inspector explained that he was no doctor but that the infected man seemed perfectly healthy and that he thought the warning was merely "discretionary," officials briefed on the case told The Associated Press.
So he knew he was sick and should have been detained but allowed him free entry?! What a stupid a**.
And yes let me straighten his tie it's not tight enough.
Posted by: Jan ||
05/31/2007 21:30 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - US prosecutors said they captured on Wednesday a nefarious Internet marketer responsible so much junk e-mail they called him "Spam King." Robert Soloway, 27, was arrested in Seattle, Washington, a week after being indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of identity theft, money laundering, and mail, wire, and e-mail fraud.
South Africa again rejected calls for tough action against Zimbabwe on Tuesday ahead of a visit by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is expected to press the issue. Blair is scheduled to meet South African President Thabo Mbeki, who has been mediating between President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF party and the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) opposition through quiet diplomacy. Britain and other Western powers have accused Mugabe of widespread human rights abuses and mismanaging the economy. 
JEDDAH In view of the growing number of Umra and Haj pilgrim, the capacity of the Grand Mosque in the holy city of Makkah is planned to be increased by 35 per cent, according to sources close to the project.
Cuban leader Fidel Castro on Monday repeated his attack on U.S. President George W. Bush for increasing the spending for military operations in Iraq, saying that the money will only increase the sorrows of Iraqi and American families. In an article published on Monday, Castro, who is still recovering from an intestinal surgery, said the fund should instead be used to train doctors so that more people could receive medical services.
Aircraft manufacturer Airbus, already struggling with delays to its A380 superjumbo, now faces problems with its A350 long-range widebody aircraft due to customer dissatisfaction with the current design.
Reports of homicides, assaults and other violent offenses surged by nearly 4 percent in the first six months of the year compared with the same time period in 2005, according to the FBI's latest Uniform Crime Report. The numbers included an increase of nearly 10 percent for robberies, which many criminologists consider a leading indicator of coming trends.
Mayor Ray Nagin, in his first State of the City address since Hurricane Katrina, said New Orleans is on the road to recovery but called on the administrations of both the president and governor to help the city rebuild and bring back its residents. Nagin, in prepared remarks Wednesday evening, said President Bush promised "to do whatever it takes to heal New Orleans. Because the funding has not reached the affected areas and the people, that promise is unfulfilled."
