Cambridge firm readies push on alcoholism drugIn the high-stakes world of biotechnology, a Cambridge company's experimental injection to treat alcoholics should have all the makings of a big winner.
But first the company, Alkermes, will have to convince doctors across the country that alcoholics should be put on a drug in the first place.
The drug, called Vivitrex, has a distinct advantage over alcoholism pills now on the market: A single shot delivered by a needle slowly releases itself into the bloodstream ov... (more)
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Guilty burglars detected by glowA sprinkler system which showers burglars with an invisible liquid is being used to cut crime in Newcastle.
SmartWater, which shows up under ultra-violet light, contains a unique DNA-style code.
When a break-in happens the thief is sprayed with the liquid, which cannot be washed off and lasts for months.
Custody offices are now fitted with ultra-violet arches which every prisoner will pass through to show if they have been sprayed.
Thos... (more)
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New Orleans: Police kill army contractorsPolice shot eight people carrying guns on a New Orleans bridge on Sunday, killing five or six, a deputy chief said.
A spokesperson for the army corps of engineers said the victims were contractors on their way to repair a canal.
The contractors were walking across a bridge on their way to launch barges into Lake Pontchartrain to fix the 17th Street Canal, said John Hall, a spokesperson for the corps.
Earlier on Sunday, New Orleans deputy police chief ... (more)
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Venezuela donates 1 million barrels of oil to the United States of AmericaSpeaking on his Sunday radio show, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Frias has announced that Venezuela will send 1 million barrels of oil to the USA to attend the emergency caused by Hurricane Katrina.
The donation came after a telephone conversation with Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) US subsidiary, Citgo, president Felix Rodriguez.
According to Rodriguez, Citgo has escaped Katrina's ravages and is at the peak of its productive capacity.
Citgo's r... (more)
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Web military technology aiding in storm recoveryAerial drones, sonic 'lasers' join bloggers in relief effort.
Amidst scenes of chaos in New Orleans and devastation across Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, an army of Internet bloggers – as well as some of the most sophisticated military equipment used in the Iraq war – have been marshaled to aid the recovery effort.
With cell phone towers damaged and most land line telephones out of commission, local websites, run by individuals or businesses that st... (more)
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Doctors Taser stopped teen's heartA 14-year-old shocked by a Chicago Police stun gun has become the first Taser-linked cardiac arrest to be documented in a medical journal, two doctors from Children's Memorial Hospital say.
The doctors, in a letter published in the New England Journal of Medicine last week, say the electricity delivered from the Taser stun gun led the boy to suffer "ventricular fibrillation,'' in which the heart stops beating.
In the boy's case, paramedics already on the scene immed... (more)
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Scandal of the children locked up in 'adult' jailsHardline measures to curb anti-social behaviour are to blame for an unprecedented rise in the number of children, especially young girls, being sent to jail. A memo written by the Government's youth justice chief and leaked to The Independent on Sunday reveals that the number of teenagers in custody has soared over the past three months, with figures now at a three-year high - with a serious risk of suicide and self-harm.
In a personal warning to the Home Secretary, Charles Clarke... (more)
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FEMA Outsourced N.O. Disaster Plans To Political Cronies/DonorsFEMA privatized hurricane disaster recovery planning for New Orleans and Southeastern Louisiana. The firms that received the contract are big GOP contributors. Adding to the controversy regarding the Army Corps of Engineers diverting $250 million from the SELA (Southeast Louisiana) Urban Flood Control Program to Iraq and Halliburton reconstruction projects, is the revelation that FEMA outsourced hurricane recovery planning to the Baton Rouge-based consulting firm Innovative Emergency Management ... (more)
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New Orleans mayor fears CIA to take him outNew Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said he's feeling better about his city, he feels confident he has gotten the attention of Gov. Kathleen Blanco and President Bush, but he said he fears the Central Intelligence Agency may take him out because he's been yelling at these officials.
He didn't say it once. He said it twice.
Last night he told a reporter for the Associated Press: "If the CIA slips me something and next week you don't see me, you'll all know what happened."... (more)
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Why did help take so long to arrive?'It is incredible, the government had no evacuation plan ... the first power in the world and it left its own population adrift." It will be particularly galling that the man voicing those thoughts, echoed yesterday by many across the United States and around the world, was Hugo Chávez, the president of Venezuela, and one of the Bush administration's main hate figures.
That bewilderment, tinged with anger towards officials at local and national level, was shared at the scen... (more)
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London bombers 'recorded video in Pakistan' with help of al-QaedaThe chilling video message of Mohammad Sidique Khan, the British suicide bomber, was recorded in Pakistan after he was given orders to attack London, MI5 investigators suspect.
According to senior Whitehall officials, the Security Service is probing the theory that Khan, 30, was filmed during a three-month visit to Pakistan with fellow bomber Shehzad Tanweer, which began in November last year.
British investigators are working with security services in Pakistan to t... (more)
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Babes in Warland The toddlers were at the pizza parlor to celebrate Kristina's 3rd birthday. A dozen youngsters jumped and clapped their hands as a giant rat, Chuck E. Cheese, came out to greet them. The Iraq War was far from my mind.
If you have never been to Chuck E. Cheese, it is a mix of carnival and play park, with so-so pizza, lots of video games, coin operated kiddie rides, and arcade games like ski ball. The place is designed for 2- to 10-year-olds, with occasional adults playing the g... (more)
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Bush sends marines as flood fury growsPresident George Bush ordered an extra 17,000 troops - including 7,000 elite airborne troops and marines - into New Orleans and the devastated Gulf Coast yesterday to try to bolster the stumbling flood relief effort and salvage the reputation of his presidency.
The order was announced after it became clear that National Guard troops sent into the city on Friday were no match for the scale of the disaster unleashed by Hurricane Katrina and the consequent collapse of the levees arou... (more)
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An Angry 'Times-Picayune' Calls for Firing of FEMA Chief and Others in Open Letter to President On Sunday he Times-Picayune of New Orleans on Sunday published its third print edition since the hurricane disaster struck, chronicling the arrival, finally, of some relief but also taking President Bush to task for his handling of the crisis, and calling for the firing of FEMA director Michael Brown and others.
In an "open letter" to the president, published on page 15 of the 16-page edition, the paper said it still had grounds for "skepticism" that he would follow through on saving the ci... (more)
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Search for ideal adhesive leads to fake gecko feet: Team reports the synthetic hairs have 200 times the sticking power made by natureThe scientific quest to make artificial gecko feet has taken a leap forward.
Geckos, lizards that are notorious for their sticky feet, can run up walls and across ceilings, and hang tauntingly by one toe. They have no suction cups, hooks or glue on their feet, so how do they do it?
Five years ago, researchers at the University of California at Berkeley, Stanford University and Lewis & Clark College found the secret: About 500,000 minute hairs cover the sole of each ... (more)
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NH to monitor highways with camerasThe state plans to use surveillance cameras to keep watch over New Hampshire's busiest roadways.
The idea is to start with the interstates, then add cameras to other commuter routes. The images will be monitored by state transportation and law enforcement officials, and available on-line — most of the time — to the rest of us.
State officials say the camera surveillance will make New Hampshire roads safer, by helping them manage traffic during emergencie... (more)
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India commits support to Iran's peaceful nuke programmeIndia on Saturday declared support to Iran's "peaceful" nuclear energy programme and made it clear that it should be within the framework of International Atomic Energy Agency guidelines.
"We support the pursuit by Iran of its peaceful nuclear energy programme in keeping with Iran's international obligations," External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh said after his hour-long meeting with Tehran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani on the nuclear issue.
Singh said, "W... (more)
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National guard not allowing aid into the cityFrom http://getyouracton.com.
I am copying the information from the site about this. Just posted at 9:00PM
Get Your Act On! (Jeffrey and Andrea) are currently in Waco, TX. We are organizing a relief effort to bring much needed supplies directly into the City of New Orleans as almost NOTHING is getting in via 'official' channels (we have spoken to people still in the city).
Our house is still standing and should be relatively free of flood waters by now, so it... (more)
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The Military Is Frisking Little Children Before Rescuing ThemI have not seen this, but reader Aaron (who I know and trust) said he just watched ABC World News This Weekend and they showed footage of a black family being rescued from some highway above the waters and put on a military helicopter. But before the family was allowed inside, everyone was frisked -- including a little boy that was maybe ten years old! ABC assured us that military leaders insisted this was necessary. Yes, everyone standing politely by and waiting to be rescued needs to be treate... (more)
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Bush visit halts food deliveryThree tons of food ready for delivery by air to refugees in St. Bernard Parish and on Algiers Point sat on the Crescent City Connection bridge Friday afternoon as air traffic was halted because of President Bush’s visit to New Orleans, officials said.
The provisions, secured by U.S. Rep. Charlie Melancon, D-Napoleonville, and state Agriculture Commissioner Bob Odom, baked in the afternoon sun as Bush surveyed damage across southeast Louisiana five days after Katrina made lan... (more)
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Knight Ridder Exposes Horsey Background of FEMA Chief So who is Michael Brown, now catching all kinds of criticism for his handling of the catastrophe in New Orleans? It seems his primary career experience before nabbing a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) post was running a Arabian horse association. An article by Matt Stearns and Seth Borenstein for Knght Ridder Newspapers observes, "there was little in Michael D. Brown's background to prepare him for the fury of Hurricane Katrina."
The reporters quote Kate Hale, former Mi... (more)
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California governor bypassed charities, gave cash back to NoeCalifornia Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger could have cleared his campaign coffers of Tom Noe’s $10,000 in contributions by donating the money to a charity or the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, but instead he sent the cash back to the embattled coin dealer.
Marty Wilson, Mr. Schwarzenegger’s spokesman, said yesterday the governor was not aware there were other options for disposing of the money contributed by Mr. Noe, who is facing accusations that he stole mil... (more)
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'They Just Left Us Here to Die'On Saturday afternoon, as the Louisiana Superdome was finally emptying out, a lesser-known humanitarian crisis was in its fifth day a few blocks east, at the wrecked, mile-long Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.
There, up to 20,000 survivors of Hurricane Katrina, desperate and dehydrated, waited in the punishing midday sun to board buses bound for Texas. By nightfall, almost 19,000 had been evacuated, according to the National Guard.
An unknown number remained, sus... (more)
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'My Pet Goat' -- The SequelWhile a rising chorus in the press has taken the White House, FEMA and the Pentagon to task for performing miserably in their response to the human disaster on the Gulf Coast, few have focused on the most telling aspect of the entire failure. It’s not just incompetence. It’s a shameful lack of concern: The 9/11 “My Pet Goat” dithering on an administration-wide scale.
Simply stated, the president and his top advisers chose vacation over action.
... (more)
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