SUPERBUG SPREADS

LONDON – An entirely new super-toxic bug is causing the frightening food poisoning outbreak that has sickened at least 1,600 people and killed 18, researchers and global health officials said Thursday.

The DNA of the new E. coli strain, believed to have contaminated salad vegetables, was analyzed by Chinese and German scientists. It contains several genes that cause antibiotic resistance and is similar to a strain that causes serious diarrhea and is found in the Central African Republic, according to a statement from the Shenzhen, China-based laboratory, BGI. Those scientists were working together with the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf.

"This is a unique strain that has never been isolated from patients before," Hilde Kruse, a food safety expert at the World Health Organization, told The Associated Press. The new strain has "various characteristics that make it more virulent and toxin-producing" than the many E. coli strains people naturally carry in their intestines.

Preliminary genetic sequencing suggests the strain is a never before seen combination of two different E. coli bacteria, with aggressive genes that could explain why the outbreak appears to be so massive and dangerous, the agency said.

Researchers have so far been unable to pinpoint the food source of the illness, which has now spread to at least 10 European countries and fanned uncertainty about eating tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce. The germ has caused 499 to develop a kidney failure complication. Germany is hardest hit.

Fearful of the outbreak spreading east to Russia, the country extended a ban on vegetables to the entire European Union from just Germany and Spain, a move the bloc quickly called disproportionate.

Kruse said it's not uncommon for bacteria to continually mutate, evolving and swapping genes. It is difficult to explain where the new strain came from, she said, but strains of bacteria from both humans and animals easily trade genes, similar to how animal viruses like Ebola sometimes jump into humans.

"One should think of an animal source," Kruse said. "Many animals are hosts of various types of toxin-producing E. coli." Some scientists suspect the deadly E. coli might have originated in contaminated manure used to fertilize vegetables.

Flashback: Obama: U.S. Involvement in Libya Action Would Last 'Days, Not Weeks'

President Obama told a bipartisan group of members of Congress today that he expects the U.S. would be actively involved in any military action against Libya for "days, not weeks," after which he said the U.S. would take more of a supporting role, sources tell ABC News.

The White House meeting with 18 lawmakers came as Obama delivered an ultimatum to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi that he must immediately implement a ceasefire in all parts of Libya and allow international humanitarian assistance, or risk military action against his regime.

"Moammar Gadhafi has a choice. The [U.N.] resolution that passed lays out very clear conditions that must be met. The United States, the United Kingdom, France and Arab states agree that a ceasefire must be implemented immediately. That means all attacks against civilians must stop," the president said today. "Humanitarian assistance must be allowed to reach the people of Libya."

"These terms are not subject to negotiation," Obama said. "If Gadhafi does not comply with the resolution, the international community will impose consequences and the resolution will be enforced through military action."

Liger cubs nursed by dog in China's Xixiakou Zoo

                        

Four cubs were born at the Xixiakou Wildlife Zoo earlier this month but only two survived.

The mother stopped feeding the cubs after a few days so the dog, which had recently had its own puppies, was enlisted to help.

Ligers are extremely rare and are thought to only be born in captivity.

Zoo spokesman Cong Wen said it was not clear why the tiger had stopped feeding her cubs, the Associated Press reports.

But she said that after some initial problems, the pair were feeding well from their canine stepmother.

Although they are a different species, tigers and lions are able to breed together.

Ligers are the largest known cat, usually growing much larger than either parent.

Pile of debt would stretch beyond stratosphere!

President Ronald Reagan once famously said that a stack of $1,000 bills equivalent to the U.S. government's debt would be about 67 miles high.

                 

That was 1981. Since then, the national debt has climbed to $14.3 trillion. In $1,000 bills, it would now be more than 900 miles tall.

In $1 bills, the pile would reach to the moon and back twice.

The United States hit its legal borrowing limit on Monday, and the Treasury Department has said the U.S. Congress must raise the debt ceiling by August 2 to avoid a default.

The White House is trying to hammer out a deal with lawmakers to cut federal spending in exchange for a debt-limit increase.

Most people have trouble conceptualizing $14.3 trillion.

Stan Collender, a budget expert at Qorvis Communications, said the biggest sum most Americans have ever handled -- in real or play money -- is the $15,140 in the original, standard Monopoly board game.

The United States borrows about 185 times that amount each minute

Broadcaster silent as "Judgment Day" hours tick by ..

With no sign of Judgment Day arriving as he had forecast, the 89-year-old California evangelical broadcaster and former civil engineer behind the pronouncement seemed to have gone silent on Saturday.

Family Radio, the Christian stations network headed by Harold Camping which had spread his message of an approaching doomsday, was playing recorded church music, devotionals and life advice unrelated to the apocalypse.

Camping previously made a failed prediction Jesus Christ would return to Earth in 1994.

In his latest pronouncement, he had said doomsday would begin in Asia, but with midnight local time come and gone in Tokyo and Beijing and those cities already in the early hours of May 22, there was no indication of an apocalypse.

The Oakland, California, headquarters of the network of 66 U.S. stations was shuttered with a sign in the door that read "This Office is Closed. Sorry we missed you!"

Family Radio officials, with the help of supporters, had posted over 2,000 billboards around the country warning of a May 21 Judgment Day.

The headquarters, which appears to be normally closed on Saturday, was also shuttered on Friday.

Camping, whose deep sonorous voice is frequently heard on his radio network expounding the Bible, could not be reached for comment on Saturday.

Woman pulls sword at Pizza Hut

Police say a woman involved in an argument at a Louisville Pizza Hut raised the stakes considerably when she tried to pull a sword.

It happened Thursday night, shortly after 9 p.m. at the Pizza Hut on 7th St. Rd., near Dixie Hwy.

According to an arrest report, police were called to the restaurant after they received reports that 29-year-old Wynika Mason was "causing trouble." When they got there, she allegedly began yelling at the officers.

An employee told the officers that, shortly before they arrived, Mason began yelling at him and told him that she had a sword on her person. The employee said that Mason, "began to raise it out of the sheath" when her brother seized it from her and put it in their vehicle outside.

Police say Mason told them that she did indeed have a sword and it was still in the vehicle. Officers recovered the sword, according to the arrest report.

Officers say customers and employees were both inside the Pizza Hut when the events occurred, and that the employees, "felt threatened by her behavior."

Mason was charged with disorderly conduct and menacing.

(Wynika Mason)

7-Year-Old Gave Heroin To Classmates!

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Police are investigating after a teacher found bags of heroin in the backpack of a 7-year-old student.

The incident happened at Quentin Roosevelt Elementary School in Carrick. The school houses grades pre-K to 5.

Sources say the 7-year-old kindergarten student cut his finger with a razor blade. His teacher started questioning him and discovered 18 suspected heroin stamp bags in his backpack and locker.

Pittsburgh Police brought a drug-sniffing dog into the school Wednesday afternoon to search for heroin that might still be inside the building. No additional drugs were found.

Police sources say the boy told them he got the drugs from his father’s bedroom. Police searched the boy’s home, but did not find any drugs. The boy also said he gave heroin to three of his friends.

It’s unclear if he gave out the drugs on the school bus or in the school building or both.

This is crazy!!

21 Hospitalized After Elevator Falls 3 Floors To Ground In NYC

Nearly two dozen people have been injured in an elevator accident Wednesday morning in Chelsea.

The FDNY said 21 people have been taken to Bellevue and Beth Israel Hospitals to be evaluated for neck and back injuries. One person was not hospitalized.

It happened at the Bed, Bath and Beyond on 6th Avenue near 18th Street. Authorities say the freight elevator dropped three floors to the ground around 7:00 a.m.

“The elevator it fell down, that’s it,” a man injured in the accident said. “It felt like we were jumping.”

The Buildings Department will inspect the elevator and try to figure out what caused it to fall.

LED bulbs hit 100 watts

Two leading makers of lighting products are showcasing LED bulbs that are bright enough to replace energy-guzzling 100-watt light bulbs set to disappear from stores in January.

Their demonstrations at the LightFair trade show in Philadelphia this week mean that brighter LED bulbs will likely go on sale next year, but after a government ban takes effect.

The new bulbs will also be expensive — about $50 each — so the development may not prevent consumers from hoarding traditional bulbs.

The technology in traditional "incandescent" bulbs is more than a century old. Such bulbs waste most of the electricity that feeds them, turning it into heat. The 100-watt bulb, in particular, produces so much heat that it's used in Hasbro's Easy-Bake Oven.

MAN CURED OF AIDS!

 A 45-year-old man now living in the Bay Area may be the first person ever cured of the deadly disease AIDS, the result of the discovery of an apparent HIV immunity gene.

Timothy Ray Brown tested positive for HIV back in 1995, but has now entered scientific journals as the first man in world history to have that HIV virus completely eliminated from his body in what doctors call a “functional cure.”

Brown was living in Berlin, Germany back in 2007, dealing with HIV and leukemia, when scientists there gave him a bone marrow stem cell transplant that had astounding results.

“I quit taking my HIV medication the day that I got the transplant and haven’t had to take any since,” said Brown, who has been dubbed “The Berlin Patient” by the medical community.

Brown’s amazing progress continues to be monitored by doctors at San Francisco General Hospital and at the University of California at San Francisco medical center.

“I’m cured of HIV. I had HIV but I don’t anymore,” he said, using words that many in the scientific community are cautiously clinging to.

(Copyright 2011 by CBS San Francsico. All Rights Reserved.)

Mob attacks Christian protest in Egypt!

An angry mob attacked a group of mainly Christian protesters demanding drastic measures to heal religious tension amid a spike in violence, leaving 65 people injured, officials said Sunday.

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  By Khalil Hamra, AP
  A man stands in front of a church set on fire during clashes between Muslims and Christians May 8 in the Imbaba neighborhood of Cairo.

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By Khalil Hamra, AP

A man stands in front of a church set on fire during clashes between Muslims and Christians May 8 in the Imbaba neighborhood of Cairo.

The Christian protesters have been holding their sit-in outside the state television building in Cairo for nearly a week following deadly Christian-Muslim clashes that left a church burned and 15 people dead.

More than 100 people rushed into the sit-in area, lobbing rocks and fire bombs from an overpass and charging toward the few hundred protesters sleeping in the area. Vehicles were set on fire and fires burned in the middle of the street.

Police and army troops fired in the air to disperse the crowd, and a tree was set on fire under the overpass.

Arab protesters descend on Israeli borders!

Mobilized by calls on Facebook, thousands of Arab protesters marched on Israel's borders with Syria, Lebanon and Gaza on Sunday in an unprecedented wave of demonstrations, sparking clashes that left at least 15 people dead in an annual Palestinian mourning ritual marking the anniversary of Israel's birth.

In a surprising turn of events, hundreds of Palestinians and supporters poured across the Syrian frontier and staged riots, drawing Israeli accusations that Damascus, and its ally Iran, orchestrated the unrest to shift attention from an uprising back home. It was a rare incursion from the usually tightly controlled Syrian side and could upset the delicate balance between the two longtime foes.

Israel-Palestinian violence erupts on three borders

Violence erupted on Israel's borders with Syria, Lebanon and Gaza on Sunday, leaving at least eight dead and dozens wounded, as Palestinians marked what they term "the catastrophe" of Israel's founding in 1948.

Israeli troops shot at protesters in three separate locations to prevent crowds from crossing Israeli frontier lines in the deadliest such confrontation in years.

Israeli and Syrian media reports said Israeli gunfire killed four people after dozens of Palestinian refugees infiltrated the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights from Syria, along a disputed border that has been quiet for decades.

Witnesses on the nearby Lebanese frontier said four Palestinians were killed after Israeli forces fired at rock-throwing protesters to prevent them from crossing the border.

The Lebanese army had also earlier fired in the air in an attempt to hold back the crowds.

White House: No more photo re-enactments

The White House said it is ending its long-running practice of having presidents re-enact televised speeches for news photographers following major addresses to the country, a little-known arrangement that fed suggestions of fakery when Barack Obama announced the death of Osama bin Laden.

After Obama's live, late-evening address from the East Room of the White House on May 1, five photographers were ushered in to shoot pictures as the president stood at the podium and re-read a few lines of his speech — a practice that news organizations have protested for years.

This isn't the only thing the White House needs to stop faking

Baby Food and Juice Box Confiscated at Airport Security Checkpoint

FlyerTalk members are outraged not so much because the baby food and juice box were taken away from their rightful owners, but rather that if they indeed tested positive for trace amounts of explosive materials, why was further testing not performed by the Transportation Security Administration personnel — or, at least, treat the items as if they were indeed dangerous?

This incident leaves some FlyerTalk members wondering just how safe airport security really is in the United States…

I am flying to Wyoming and New York/Newark this summer and if I get caught up in this TSA bs I am going to be so mad. I am also flying to Belgium next year and the lord knows it's only going to be more difficult to fly in the future. 

What do you all think about the TSA and the flight restrictions? Because I know it makes us feel safe but there has to be a line drawn because it is getting quite ridiculous.

80 die as Taliban avenge Bin Laden

Injured ... police recruits are among the hurt

SUICIDE bombers left at least 80 people dead yesterday in revenge for the shooting of Osama Bin Laden.

Two Taliban terrorists on motorbikes killed 65 police recruits and around 15 bystanders - and maimed 140 more.

The attack, Pakistan's worst this year, came as it was revealed how al-Qaeda chief Bin Laden sent his henchmen a string of emails from his hideout despite not having internet access.

This is crazy!

Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3578697/Osama-Bin-Laden-revenge-blasts-kill-80.html#ixzz1MLb01mk3

Rangers Player Is Found Dead in His Home

Derek Boogaard, a 28-year-old Ranger regarded as one of the toughest fighters in the N.H.L., was found dead Friday, the team announced.

Derek Boogaard of the Rangers in December 2010.

The Rangersdid not release details of Boogaard’s death. But The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported that he was found dead in his home by members of his family. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s office in Minnesota confirmed those details and said an autopsy was pending.

Boogaard’s only season with the Rangers ended prematurely on Dec. 9, when he sustained a concussion in a fight with the Senators’ Matt Carkner in Ottawa. He did not play again.

Texas House Bans Offensive Security Pat-Downs

The Texas House passed a bill that would make it a criminal offense for public servants to inappropriately touch travelers during airport security pat-downs.

Approved late Thursday night, the measure makes it illegal for anyone conducting searches to touch “the anus, sexual organ, buttocks, or breast of another person” including through clothing.

It also prohibits searches “that would be offensive to a reasonable person.”

Pornography found in bin Laden hideout.

A stash of pornography was found in the hideout of Osama bin Laden by the U.S. commandos who killed him, current and former U.S. officials said on Friday.

The pornography recovered in bin Laden's compound inAbbottabad, Pakistan, consists of modern, electronically recorded video and is fairly extensive, according to the officials, who discussed the discovery with Reuters on condition of anonymity.

The officials said they were not yet sure precisely where in the compound the pornography was discovered or who had been viewing it. Specifically, the officials said they did not know if bin Laden himself had acquired or viewed the materials.

Is this hilarious or what!?

Gadhafi taunts NATO

TRIPOLI, Libya – Taunting NATO, Moammar Gadhafi said Friday that he is alive despite a series of airstrikes and "in a place where you can't get me." The defiant audio recording was broadcast after the Libyan government accused NATO of killing 11 Muslim clerics with an airstrike on a disputed eastern oil town. What do you think of Gadhafi?

Hello!

Hi! My name is Ross and up until 2 days ago i had a blog, but was deleted due to an error, but I'm back!