Aug
30
Hundreds of sick Gazans crossed into Egypt after Hamas and Egyptian authorities temporarily opened the Rafah crossing for the first time in weeks.
Filed Under News, Women Health, World News | Leave a Comment
Over 600 people left the blockaded Palestinian territory into Egypt through the crossing — the only one that bypasses Israel. The people allowed to cross include hundreds of Palestinians requiring treatement in Egyptian hospitals as well as Egyptian nationals and Palestinians holding Egyptian passports.
Aug
27
A Sudanese passenger jet hijacked by unknown assailants soon after it took off from Darfur has landed in Libya.
Filed Under News, World News | Leave a Comment
There are more than 100 people on board the plane. The Libyan officials are holding dialogue with the unknown number of hijackers while all passengers remained on board. The hijackers, who are believed to be hard-line Darfur rebel group, have asked for jet fuel in order to fly on to Paris.
Aug
20
PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar has said that ruling coalition will hold another meeting after completion of intra-party consultations by ANP, JUI(F) and Fata MNAs.
Filed Under National News, News | Leave a Comment
In an interview he expressed the confidence that the issue of restoration of judges would be resolved amicably.
Aug
15
Rawalpindi General Hospital (RGH) has been named after former Prime Minister, Shahaeed Benazir Bhutto.
Filed Under National News, News | Leave a Comment
Federal Minister for Information & Broadcasting and Health Sherry Rehman unveiled the plaque of Benazir Bhutto Hospital in a ceremony held at the Administration Block of the hospital here on Thursday.
Besides others, the Federal Secretary Health Khasnood Akhtar Lashari, Managing Director Pakistan Bait ul Mal, Zumurad Khan, Senator Kh. Akbar, MPA Nargis Faiz Malik, Medical Superintendent of the Hospital Dr. Muhammad Zaman Niazi were also present on the occasion.
Sherry Rehman said it was a great honor for her to attend the ceremony on the auspicious occasion of Pakistan Independence Day.
She said it was the beginning of a new era for democracy in the country following the vision of father of the nation Quaid Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Shaheed Quaid-e- Awam Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and his brave daughter Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto.
She pledged to make the tiny sapling of democracy into a big tree following the great ideas of our leaders.
She said Benazir had dreamt to turn the country into a welfare state by bringing revolutionary changes in the life of the people.
PPP is determined to fulfill the dreams of its Quaid in letter and spirit, despite the challenges ahead with the help of people, she added.
Managing Director Pakistan Bait ul Mall former MNA Zumurad Khan and Medical Superintendent of the Hospital Dr. Zaman Niazi also spoke on the occasion.
Sherry Rehman paid glowing tributes to Benazir Bhutto for her courage, determination and firm resolve for the cause of nation following the footsteps of her Shaheed father Quaid -e-Awam, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.
“We are the followers of that Quaid who sacrificed her life for the promotion of democracy, progress and development and bring out the country from crises and chaos,” she added.
Sherry Rehman said that Mohtarma did revolutionary politics throughout her life. To get the country rid of turmoil and crisis, she did the politics of reconciliation and even gave her life for this purpose.
Sherry urged the nation to come forward and extend help in fulfillment of Mohtarma’s mission with patience, tolerance and courage, saying this is the time for taking decisions and to ensure implementation.
The PPP workers raised slogans, “Zinda Hai Zinda BB Zinda Hai.”
Sherry Rehman said since PPP believes in democracy, it never came into power from the backdoor, or using other channels. PPP always come into power in crises, through political and democratic process with public mandate.
She paid rich tributes to all those who sacrificed their lives at Liaquat Bagh with their beloved and brave Quaid.
She said Pakistan came into being after offering tremendous sacrifices and added this is the time for all of us to pledge to work for the country.
Jul
18
GORHAM, Maine - Mara Ranger will be a little paranoid doing laundry now. When she was removing clothes from the washing machine at her Maine farmhouse Wednesday, the clothes moved. She told WMTW-TV, “I jumped back” and saw a snake. She quickly shut the lid and called for help.
Maine Animal Damage Control operator Richard Burton reached into the machine and pulled and pulled - all 8 feet of a reticulated python.
Burton guesses the snake got into Ranger’s washing machine through water pipes. The snake’s future home will be York Animal Kingdom in York.
Ranger is going to start looking into every corner of her washing machine. She says, “I’m going to be looking in the tub first - before and after, maybe even during, the rinse cycle.”
Jul
16
NATO says it had abandoned an afghan outpost days after it was stormed by militants who killed nine US soldiers.
Filed Under News, Pakistani News, World News | Leave a Comment
Afghan officials said the soldiers pulled out of the outpost in Wanat village in northeastern Kunar province on Tuesday. NATO spokesman in Afghanistan, confirmed that they have vacated the combat outpost at Wanat saying all these kinds of outposts are temporary. Fifteen u.s. and four afghan soldiers were wounded in Sunday’s fighting, in which militants breached the outpost.
Source
May
19
McKINNEY, Texas - School officials say they are appalled by altered photos - including heads on different bodies - in hundreds of McKinney High School yearbooks delivered this week.
Besides the head and body switching, some necks were stretched, one girl’s arm was missing, and another girl’s head was placed on what appeared to be a nude body, with the chest blurred.
A spokeswoman for Minnesota-based Lifetouch National School Studios Inc. said the alterations were “an unfortunate lapse in judgment” by an employee but didn’t believe it was malicious.
The high school had required Lifetouch to make heads the same size and eyes at the same level in all student photos, company spokeswoman Sara Thurin Rollin said Saturday. The request was “unusual and definitely very particular, but that’s not to suggest what happened here is acceptable,” she said.
Rollin declined to say if the company fired or reprimanded the employee who altered the images. She said Lifetouch is taking full responsibility for the altered pictures, about 30 in all, and will pay to have the publication reprinted before the seniors graduate.
Lori Oglesbee, the school’s yearbook adviser at McKinney High School, said the yearbook staff would spend the weekend rebuilding the yearbook.
McKinney is about 20 miles north of Dallas.
Source
May
18
Kennedy hospitalized after seizure; not a stroke
Filed Under Most Pepular, News, USA News | Leave a Comment
BOSTON - Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the lone surviving son in a famed political family who helped define national Democratic Party politics, suffered a seizure at his Cape Cod home on Saturday and was recovering in good spirits at a Boston hospital.
Kennedy, 76, did not suffer a stroke and “is not in any immediate danger,” said Dr. Larry Ronan, the senator’s primary care physician.
“He’s resting comfortably, and watching the Red Sox game with his family,” Ronan said. “Over the next couple of days, Senator Kennedy will undergo further evaluation to determine the cause of the seizure, and a course of treatment will be determined at that time.”
Kennedy’s wife, Victoria, three of his children and his niece Caroline Kennedy were among those with him at the hospital.
On Saturday morning, Kennedy felt ill at his home and went to Cape Cod Hospital. After a discussion with his doctors in Boston, the senator was flown to Massachusetts General Hospital.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he spoke to Kennedy’s wife in the afternoon and was told “his condition is not life-threatening, but serious.”
“But the one thing I can say, if there ever was a fighter, anyone who stood for what we as Americans, we as Democrats, stand for, it’s Ted Kennedy,” Reid said addressing the Nevada Democratic Convention in Reno.
In October, Kennedy had surgery to repair a nearly complete blockage in a major neck artery. The discovery was made during a routine examination of a decades-old back injury.
The hourlong procedure on his left carotid artery - a main supplier of blood to the face and brain - was performed at Massachusetts General. This type of operation is performed on more than 180,000 people a year to prevent a stroke.
The doctor who operated on Kennedy said at the time that surgery is reserved for those with more than 70 percent blockage, and Kennedy had “a very high-grade blockage.”
Distinguishing between a seizure and a transient ischemic attack, TIA, often called a mini-stroke, can sometimes be difficult.
Seizures are little electrical storms in the brain. They tend to be brief; an occasional one can happen to anyone even without a prior history of seizures, especially if there has been some prior brain trauma.
A stroke is either ischemic - a clog in a blood vessel - or hemorrhagic, bleeding in the brain. Hemorrhagic ones are very rare. Kennedy had the carotid artery surgery to try to prevent the ischemic type. A stroke kills brain tissue; how much depends on how big it is and how long it lasts. Some people show no lasting effects; others can be partly paralyzed on one side or somewhere in-between.
“Sen. Kennedy was at high risk because he had surgery for an artery in his neck,” said Dr. Wendy Wright, The Emory Clinic, Assistant Professor, Departments of Neurology and Nuerosurgery,
But she said there are a lot of things that can cause seizures, such as an infection or medication.
“Certain medications are known to cause seizures. A stroke can cause a seizure, a brain tumor or a head injury, or something in the brain itself,” Wright said. “Common symptoms that we know about are falling on the ground, shaking and having confusion.”
Kennedy, the second-longest serving member of the Senate, was elected in 1962, filling out the term won by his brother, John F. Kennedy.
Kennedy eldest brother, Joseph, was killed in a World War II airplane crash. President John Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 and his brother Robert was assassinated in 1968.
Kennedy is active for his age, maintaining an aggressive schedule on Capitol Hill and across Massachusetts.
He has been vocal in both his opposition to the Iraq war and support for Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama, who is trying to become the first senator elected to the White House since John F. Kennedy.
Kennedy made several campaign appearances for the Illinois senator in February, and most recently another in April.
Always concerned about maintaining his health, Kennedy regularly consults with a battery of Massachusetts General doctors.
Still, he maintains homes in both Boston and Washington and attends not only official events, but numerous others recognizing his family’s political history.
Just last week, he and Caroline Kennedy awarded the annual “Profiles in Courage” award commemorating President Kennedy. And Friday, he attended a ribbon cutting at the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park.
He was preparing to host the annual Best Buddies Challenge event on Saturday afternoon, a fundraiser for the Best Buddies organization founded by Anthony Kennedy Shriver that helps people with intellectual disabilities. The event attracted celebrities, including New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and Olympian Carl Lewis.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife, Maria Shriver, Kennedy’s niece, said they appreciated all the messages of care they had received for the senator.
“It’s always a comfort to the family to know that Sen. Kennedy is in the prayers of millions,” their statement said.
Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, who went to the hospital, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Obama said were offering their prayers for his quick recovery.
Obama, beginning a tour of hospitals in Eugene, Ore., told reporters that he had been in touch with the senator’s family. He said, “We are going to be rooting for him. I insist on being optimistic about how it’s going to turn out.”
A man walking by Massachusetts General was startled by the news when he asked about the reason for the large media presence. “Ted? Is he all right? Jeez, I’m taken aback. I just saw him on television yesterday,” said Jerry Leonard, 76.
“He’s a Kennedy. His name is synonymous with this area,” the retired bartender said. “I’m a Bostonian, too, and he’s done a lot for us around here and for the senior citizens in particular.”
Source
May
18
Marine who died after cross-state chase wrote of war stress
Filed Under Most Pepular, News | Leave a Comment
TUCSON, Ariz. - Last month, Marine Staff Sgt. Travis N. “T-Bo” Twiggs went to the White House with a group of Iraq war veterans called the Wounded Warriors Regiment and met the president.
Twiggs had been through four tours in Iraq, one in Afghanistan and months of therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder in which he said he was on up to 12 different medications.
“He said, `Sir, I’ve served over there many times, and I would serve for you any time,’ and he grabbed the president and gave him a big hug,” said Kellee Twiggs, his widow.
About two weeks later, Travis Twiggs went absent without leave from his job in Quantico, Va.
He and his brother drove to the Grand Canyon, where their car was found hanging in a tree in what appeared to be a failed attempt to drive into the chasm.
The brothers carjacked a vehicle at the park Monday. Two days later they were at a southwestern Arizona border checkpoint, and took off when they were asked to pull into a secondary inspection area, Border Patrol spokesman Michael Bernacke said.
Eighty miles later, the car was on the Tohono O’odham reservation, its tires wrecked by spike strips.
As tribal police and Border Patrol agents closed in, Twiggs, 36, apparently fatally shot his 38-year-old brother, Willard J. “Will” Twiggs, then killed himself.
Pinal County Sheriff’s spokesman Mike Minter said no motive has been established. But Kellee Twiggs said the decorated Marine would still be alive if the military had given him enough help.
“All this violent behavior, him killing his brother, that was not my husband. If the PTSD would have been handled in a correct manner, none of this would have happened,” she said in a telephone interview from Stafford, Va.
Travis Twiggs, who enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1993 and held the combat action ribbon, wrote about his efforts to deal with post-traumatic stress disorder in the January issue of the Marine Corps Gazette.
The symptoms would disappear when he began each tour, he said, but came back stronger than ever when he came home.
He wrote that his life began to “spiral downward” after the tour in which two Marines from his platoon died.
“I cannot describe what a leader feels when he does not bring everyone home,” he wrote. “To make matters even worse, I arrived at the welcome home site only to find that those two Marines’ families were waiting to greet me as well. I remember thinking, ‘Why are they here?’”
Weeks later, Twiggs “saw a physician’s assistant who said that was the severest case of PTSD she’d seen in her life,” his widow said.
He began receiving treatment, but the Marine wrote that he mixed his medications with alcohol and that his symptoms didn’t go away until he started his final tour in Iraq.
When he came home, “All of my symptoms were back, and now I was in the process of destroying my family,” he wrote. “My only regrets are how I let my command down after they had put so much trust in me and how I let my family down by pushing them away.”
Kellee Twiggs said her husband was “very, very different, angry, agitated, isolated and so forth,” upon his return. “He was just doing crazy things.”
She said her husband was treated in the psychiatric ward of Bethesda Naval Medical Center and then sent to a Veterans Administration facility for four months.
Most recently, Travis Twiggs was assigned to the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory at Quantico, a job he said helped him “get my life back on track.”
“Every day is a better day now,” he wrote in the Marine Corps Gazette. “…Looking back, I don’t believe anyone is to blame for my craziness, but I do think we can do better.”
Twiggs urged others suffering from similar problems to seek help. “PTSD is not a weakness. It is a normal reaction to a very violent situation,” he wrote.
Kellee Twiggs said she can’t understand why her husband was not sent to a specialized PTSD clinic in New Jersey.
“They let him out. He was OK for a while and then it all started over again,” she said.
A spokesman at Quantico, 1st Lt. Brian Donnelly, said the Corps is committed to providing full medical, psychological and social support to anyone with a combat-related injury, including PTSD.
“Our leaders are trained to be alert for signs of PTSD in their Marines and to provide a supportive climate in which Marines can feel comfortable seeking help,” Donnelly said.
One lingering mystery in Twiggs’ case is his older brother. Kellee Twiggs said she thinks the Louisiana man joined her husband in driving west “because T-Bo was hurting so bad and for so long that Will’s life was a little in chaos.”
“For them to both drive off into the Grand Canyon, they both apparently wanted to end their lives,” she said.
Kellee Twiggs said “something needs to be fixed” in treating soldiers coming home from combat with PTSD.
“These boys and girls coming back, they need help, things need to be changed, and they don’t need to be made to feel weak for asking for help,” she said.
May
11
Leader of GOP convention quits after Myanmar ties reported
Filed Under Most Pepular, News | Leave a Comment
ST. PAUL, Minn. - The man picked by the John McCain campaign to run the 2008 Republican National Convention resigned Saturday after a report that his lobbying firm used to represent the military regime in Myanmar.
Doug Goodyear resigned as convention coordinator and issued a two sentence statement:
“Today I offered the convention my resignation so as not to become a distraction in this campaign. I continue to strongly support John McCain for president, and wish him the best of luck in this campaign.”
Goodyear, chief executive of lobbying firm DCI Group, resigned a few hours after Newsweek posted a story posted online that the company was paid $348,000 in 2002 and 2003 to represent Myanmar’s junta.
“We respect Mr. Goodyear’s decision, and look forward to the convention in September,” said Brian Rogers, a spokesman for the McCain campaign.
Cyclone Nargis left more than 60,000 people dead or missing, and the U.N. estimates that at least 1.5 million people have been severely affected. Human rights organizations and dissident groups have bitterly accused the junta of neglecting disaster victims and blocking foreign donations of relief supplies.
Justice Department records covering agents of foreign agents that are required to register with the U.S. government show DCI signed a contract to work to “improve relations between the United States and Myanmar” and to act as the junta’s public relations agent in Washington.
Newsweek said the firm drafted news releases praising Burma’s efforts to curb the drug trade and denouncing claims by the Bush administration that the regime engaged in rape and other abuses.
“It was our only foreign representation, it was for a short tenure, and it was six years ago,” Newsweek quoted Goodyear as saying. The magazine said Goodyear added that the junta’s record in the current cyclone crisis is “reprehensible.”
The Newsweek article also reported that some of Goodyear’s allies worry that worry the choice of Goodyear could fuel perceptions that McCain is surrounded by lobbyists. DCI Group earned $3 million last year lobbying for ExxonMobil, General Motors and other clients, the report said.
Newsweek also reported DCI has been a pioneer in running “independent” expenditure campaigns by so-called 527 groups, the kind of operations that McCain has denounced in his battle for campaign finance reform.
The convention runs Sept. 1-4 at the Xcel Energy Center in downtown St. Paul
Source: