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Bush nominates Harriet Ellan Miers for U.S. Supreme Court United States President George Bush announced Monday his nomination of Harriet Ellan Miers to replace Sandra Day O'Connor as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Iraqi insurgents guilty of war crimes, says Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch released a study of attacks on civilians by members of the Iraqi insurgency. They claim these attacks are illegal under international law, and violate the Geneva Convention.

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Ulcer researchers awarded '05 Nobel Prize Warren and Marshall were awarded their prize "for their discovery of the bacterium Helicobacter pylori and its role in gastritis and peptic ulcer disease." Before their discovery, peptic ulcer was often a chronic disease which was attributed to stress and lifestyle.

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Conflict in Iraq: The British Government alleges that Iran is responsible for recent attacks on British military forces.

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In a ceremony at 10 Downing Street, London, Russian president Vladimir Putin awards the Order of Maritime Service to six British naval, air force, and civillian personnel who were responsible for the rescue of the mini-submarine AS-28 off Kamchatka on 7 August. Five Thai soldiers are killed in a drive-by shooting in Thailand's Narathiwat province. Hurricane Stan strikes Mexico and Central America, at least 66 people have died, most of them in landslides in El Salvador.

Seabrook city councilman takes heat for words

John Buhman of the Seabrook City council is accused racism as counselwoman Dee Wright says his use of the word "tarbaby" is derogatory. Wright is calling for his resignation.

Buhman holds that the word is used to refer to a business deal that is a sticky situation, and invited others to look it up in the dictionary. The council will vote on the need to involve an ethics review board.

Merriam-Webster Online lists the sole definition of "tarbaby" as "something from which it is nearly impossible to extricate oneself".

Python pops after eating gator

Scientists report that alligators might not be as effective as hoped for in controlling the burmese python population in the Florida Everglades. A six foot alligator was found with its rear half hanging out of the belly of a 13-foot python last week. Because of injuries on the alligator's body, Frank Mazotti, a University of Florida wildlife professor, believes that the gator was injured but alive when the python attacked.

"Encounters like that are almost never seen in the wild. ... And we here are, it's happened for the fourth time," Mazzotti said. These remains were discovered on September 26 by pilot and researcher Michael Barron.

The nonnative pythons are often released by individuals who find their pet grows more than expected and they are ill equipped to handle it. Iguanas present similar problems. The invading species often consume natives like the alligator, or tropical flowers, in the case of the iguanas.

While some have expressed concern that children are in danger from these pythons, Joe Wasilewski, a wildlife biologist and crocodile tracker, says it's not a great issue. "I don't think this is an imminent threat. This is not a 'Be afraid, be very afraid situation.'"

Scientists recreating the 1918 flu virus say 'it came from birds'

US Scientists have recreated the flu virus from the 1918 flu (aka 'Spanish Flu') via reverse genetics from lung tissue samples kept from persons who died from the pandemic. The flu was resurrected and injected into mice, according to Terrence Tumpey of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "to understand the biological properties that made the 1918 virus so exceptionally deadly."

Disturbingly, the scientists have found genetic mutations and markers that are similar to those in flu viruses found in birds. This has raised concerns that the so-called "Asian bird flu" could spread to humans and become the next global flu pandemic.

Jefferson to face forward on new nickel

For the first time, the United States Mint will feature a president facing forward on a coin. President Thomas Jefferson will face forward on the 2006-dated five cent coin. This image is based on an 1800 painting of the president by Rembrandt Peale. This design is referred to by the mint as the "Jefferson 1800".

"The changing images in the Westward Journey Nickel Series™ lead us back to Thomas Jefferson, who envisioned the Louisiana Purchase and Lewis and Clark expedition as a way to move the Nation forward. The image of a forward-looking Jefferson is a fitting tribute to that vision," said United States Mint Acting Director David A. Lebryk.

United States Mint Artistic Infusion Program artist Jamie Franki, of Concord, NC, designed the obverse. It will be sculpted by Donna Weaver, and will feature the word "Liberty" in Jefferson's handwriting. The reverse will feature Monticello, designed by Felix Schlag, and restored from original work by John Mercanti.

Cool front to bring lasting relief for Texas

A cool front is expected to pass Texas Thursday night, bringing an end to the record high temperatures of late. Temperatures are expected to fall to the low 60s across the area, and may reach the lower 50s for inland areas.

There is some speculation that the low pressure area associated with the front may draw a yet-to-be-formed tropical storm in from the gulf with little to no warning, as happened with Hurricane Alicia in 1983. Experts say there is no specific reason to believe this will happen, but plan to keep an eye on the situation.

Dock worker killed by snapped cable

A dock worker on the Panamanian cargo vessel Ma Altair was killed when a cable snapped and threw him through the air. Witnesses say that the 54 year old worker was struck by a 1-1/2 inch cable on his right side. It was being used to unload steel products.

Authorities were notified at 8:10 am. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.

Snapped cables are a significant occupational hazard, capable of maiming and dismembering people nearby. Equipment struck by cables snapping under load is often destroyed.

UK cable TV operator NTL acquires Telewest

United Kingdom cable TV operator NTL has agreed to buy Telewest Broadband for $6 billion USD (3.4 billion pounds). NTL’s and Telewest’s service territories do currently overlap. The acquisition is expected to save the companies 1.5 billion pounds.

NTL has agreed to pay $23.93 for each Telewest share, in cash and NTL stock. Current Telewest shareholders will own approximately 25 percent of the combined company. While both companies operate exclusively in the UK, they are listed in New York on the U.S. NASDAQ exchange.

Once the acquisition is complete the combined company will have 5 million customers in the UK . Competitor British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) has almost 8 million. The combined company will also be the second-largest residential telephone company in Britain behind BT Group plc.

If the deal is approved regulators and both companies shareholders it should close in to close in the first quarter of 2006.

Broadcasters push for new layer of intellectual monopoly at WIPO

Government delegates are meeting this week at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) general assembly in Geneva to discuss the WIPO Development Agenda. The meeting will determine how developing countries must implement existing controversial intellectual property rights laws including copyrights, patents, and trademarks. They will also consider the disputed proposal for a global Treaty on the the Protection of Broadcastings and Webcasting Organizations.

The Broadcastings/Webcasting Treaty proposal, pushed by traditional broadcast organizations, and lobbyists for a handful of Internet pubishers, including Yahoo, is being pushed hardest by the United States government, which ironically, has never considered such legislation domestically. The treaty would create a new layer of intellectual monopoly rights for broadcasters, potentially including 'webcasters'. Broadcasters would then be able to claim rights over material they broadcast - even material that was in the public domain or licensed under creative commons or copyleft licenses.

Many developing countries including Brazil, South Africa, India, Iran, Chile, Venezuela are asking for time to evaluate and study the proposals, and opposition to the treaty has been registered by numerous NGOs and public interest advocates. Fearing a repeat of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA), when US copyright law was made more strict to conform to WIPO standards, a coalition of U.S. NGOs is currently circulating a sign on letter calling for public hearings on the implications of the Broadcaster Treaty.

In a recent Financial Times article Professor James Boyle (Law, Duke University) [1] raised objections to the Broadcasting/Webcasting Treaty, saying "intellectual property laws are created without any empirical evidence that they are necessary or that they will help rather than hurt". He elaborated that such laws are made "as though it were just a deal brokered between industry groups" and that concerns for "public interest in competition, access, free speech and vigorous technological markets takes a back seat." Professor Boyle fears that 'communications networks are increasingly built around intellectual property rules" with harmful effects.

F. Scott Fitzgerald house struck by lightning

During a thunderstorm tonight, lightning set fire to a former home of F. Scott Fitzgerald in St. Paul, Minnesota. Amidst reports about flash flood warnings and floating cars, KSTP TV said that lightning had set the steeple of the F. Scott Fitzgerald house on fire. Fire fighters were working to extinguish the smoky fire, which seemed to be limited to the steeple. Video images suggest the building is the 599 Summit Avenue residence where Fitzgerald wrote This Side of Paradise.

Today in History
105 BC - The Cimbri and the Teutons inflicted a major defeat on the Roman Republic in the Battle of Arausio.

1927 - The first successful talking movie "The Jazz Singer", starring Al Jolson, was released.

1976 - Premier Hua Guofeng ordered the arrest of the Gang of Four and their associates, putting an end to the Cultural Revolution in China.

1981 - President Mohamed Anwar el-Sadat of Egypt was assassinated while attending a parade in Cairo to mark the eighth anniversary of the start of the 1973 Arab-Israeli War.

1995 - An article in the journal Nature reported the discovery of a planet orbiting 51 Pegasi as the first known extrasolar planet around a main-sequence star.

October 06 is German-American Day in the United States

Quote of the Day

Old age hath yet his honor and his toil.

Death closes all; but something ere the end,

Some work of noble note, may yet be done,

Not unbecoming men that strove with gods.

~ Alfred, Lord Tennyson ~

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