May 2009
Was Bird Flu of 2003 made only to infect Arabs?
Genetically modified Avian Flu Virus created to target only Arab DNA.
London paper, Sunday Times, gives terrifying details of Israeli race program...
see entry in
Dec. 22
Saturday, 2 May 2009
Swat Polio Conspiracy
--
Swat valley population refused polio vaccine in 2008, and now war is declared....
The team has uncovered a major plot by powerful US-backed Multinational Pharmaceutical Industry.
16 May 2009
Thousands more flee Pakistan fighting
Pakistan has temporarily lifted a curfew in the Swat Valley to enable thousands of civilians to flee the fighting. #
They will join 830,000 people who have already fled their homes and ended up in overcrowded camps for those displaced by the fighting. A further 500,000 people were forced to leave their homes by earlier fighting in northwest pakistan.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has called for massive international help to avert a humanitarian tragedy.
The army launched an offensive in Swat last week to stop the spread of Taliban influence which had alarmed its nuclear-armed Pakistan's Western allies.
The military said the curfew was being lifted in Mingora, Swat's main town which the Taliban still control, and other areas for eight hours.
"We have been waiting for the curfew to be lifted as the fighting has intensified and our food was almost finished," said Mohammad Zari, fleeing Minogra on foot with his family.
Hundreds of people were streaming down a road from Swat, heading south where authorities have set up camps on the low land.
The army, which is surrounding Minogra, has banned private cars from entering the town but the government had laid on 150 vehicles about five miles southwest to take people away, the military said.
Residents began fleeing late last month when the army attacked the Taliban in two districts near Swat they had occupied in violation of a February peace pact aimed at ending violence.
Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani said the army would defeat the Taliban militarily but risked losing the support of the people if it did not help those forced from their homes in the country's largest ever internal displacement.
The offensive in Swat came after the US accused the government of "abdicating" to the militants.
Pakistani action against militants is vital for allied efforts to defeat al-Qaeda and the Taliban and stabilise neighbouring Afghanistan.
The military said about 124 militants and nine soldiers had been killed in the previous 24 hours. That would take the toll to around 870 militants and 45 soldiers.
There have been no independent confirmation of the casualties.
About 15,000 members of the security forces are facing about 5,000 militants in the Swat region, the military says.
---------------
Militants halt Swat Valley children’s vaccinations
Isambard Wilkinson, Foreign Correspondent - March 27. 2009 8:30AM
Militants in northern Pakistan have triggered an “emergency” by refusing to allow health officials to conduct a polio vaccination campaign on over 300,000 children in the former tourist destination of Swat Valley.#
Taliban militants have seized control of most of Swat and have extended their rule since striking a peace deal with the government and army earlier this year.#
The enforcement of religious law, Sharia, has led to the closing down of NGO offices and the end of polio vaccination for children, as well as leaving hundreds of lawyers and judges out of work.
“There is a real emergency there. It is urgent to go in and vaccinate children,” said Dr Nima Abid, the polio team leader from the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Pakistan.
Extremist clerics have used mosque loudspeakers and illegal radio stations to spread the idea that the vaccinations cause infertility and are part of a US-sponsored anti-Muslim plot to control the population.
Dr Abid said militants have not allowed polio vaccinations to take place at a critical time.
“Polio vaccination is effective in the first three months of the year when virus transmission is lowest and so there is no interference with the vaccine virus,” said Dr Abid.
Militants had reportedly agreed to allow the vaccination programme to take place as part of the peace agreements but reneged on their word, and despite strenuous efforts by the increasingly irrelevant local administration, no vaccinations have taken place.
In the neighbouring district of Dir, militants shut down the population welfare department, situated in Qambar Maidan, and ordered polio vaccination teams to leave the area.
A UN report stated that 31,928 children in Swat and neighbouring districts have been missed due to refusal by their parents during the March vaccination campaign.
The militants have not allowed health officials to conduct any of the 14 planned campaigns since last August.
“It’s a US tool to cut the population of the Muslims. It is against Islam that you take a medicine before the disease,” said Muslim Khan, Swat’s Taliban spokesman, speaking by telephone.
Militants in the tribal areas of Bajaur and Mohmand have also opposed polio vaccinations.
Dr Abdul Ghani was killed by a roadside bomb in Bajaur in 2007 as Islamist militants tried to halt a polio immunisation campaign.
Yesterday government officials convened another meeting in Swat in an attempt to break the impasse, according to Dr Abdul Jabbar, the WHO’s polio team leader in North West Frontier Province (NWFP).
Dr Jabbar said polio remains endemic in four countries: Nigeria, India, Afghanistan and Pakistan. In 1988 affected countries numbered 125.
While there remains no cure for polio, the progress towards its eradication is a result of the widespread use of polio vaccines. By 2002 the WHO had certified 124 countries polio-free.
Swat recorded four cases of polio last year out of the total 53 recorded in the NWFP and the tribal areas. Pakistan had 118 cases in 2009.
The WHO recorded 39 cases of polio in Pakistan in 2006, up from 28 in 2005. The disease is concentrated in the NWFP where 60 per cent of the vaccine refusals were attributed to “religious reasons”.
Poliomyelitis is an acute viral infection of the nervous system. Worldwide more than half of infections afflict children under the age of five.
One in 200 infections leads to permanent paralysis, usually in the legs.
In five per cent to 10 per cent of these cases the victims die when the breathing muscles are paralysed.
The Taliban spokesman, Muslim Khan, denied that militants had actively stopped the vaccination campaign.
“The people are not getting the vaccines because they know it is against Islam,” he said.
“We have asked the government to run the campaign, but the government isn’t doing so.”
Dr Abid contradicted his claim saying that militants had obstructed the polio campaign.
Last week a delegation of the provincial government headed by Azam Khan Hoti, the father of the NWFP’s chief minister, Amir Haider Hoti, held a meeting with a Swat militant leader, Sufi Mohammad, asking him to allow the polio campaign, but Mr Mohammad refused.
Dr Abid said the four cases of polio found in Pakistan this year were all in areas with security problems.
However, he added that in some notorious militant areas, such as South Waziristan tribal agency, the vaccination campaigns had been conducted unopposed.
“In some areas militants did not obstruct us. It depends on the local commander and how you can approach him,” he said.
Dr Mujahid Hussain, a senior polio officer in NWFP, said the problem of refusal was because of lack of education on the part of the parents and the deteriorating law and order situation in Swat.
“Why is the government not providing free treatment to those afflicted with hepatitis?” said Rafiq Jan, a resident of Kabal town in Swat and supporter of Maulana Fazlullah, the Taliban chief.
“But an anti-polio vaccine is a US plot. I will not administer it to my children ever.”
iwilkinson@thenational.ae
http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090327/FOREIGN/75612391/1103
---------------
Page last updated at 05:12 GMT, Friday, 18 July 2008 06:12 UK
Pakistan polio case despite truce
Pakistani health officials say they have recorded a new case of polio in Swat district despite local militants pledging not to resist vaccinations. #
A seven-year-old girl tested positive for polio, taking the number of new cases in Pakistan this year to 16.
Officials say Tanzeela Bibi had not received any vaccination due to the ongoing military operations and early opposition from the Taleban.
Pakistan is one of the few countries where polio still exists.
A fourth of the new polio cases in Pakistan this year are from the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), where Swat is located.
Security
Militant leaders in Swat have campaigned against polio vaccinations since 2006.
In May, they promised not to hamper the vaccination drive.
They made the pledge at the same time as agreeing a peace deal with the government.
Health officials in Swat alleged that local authorities had failed to assist them in the vaccination drive despite the peace deal. They said the security situation in the district was responsible for the situation.
In the past, vaccination teams have been beaten up or kidnapped in some of these areas.
The NWFP health department hopes to vaccinate 427,000 children during the current campaign.
Polio has been eradicated from most of the developed world, but new cases are still being reported from Pakistan, Nigeria, Afghanistan and India.
Links reveal US - EU plot since 1984.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/6299325.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/6936474.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/2070634.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/919394.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7046680.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/4481794.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3223874.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7513059.stm
---------------
Page last updated at 12:07 GMT, Saturday, 16 May 2009 13:07 UK
Swine flu hits India and Turkey
India and Turkey have recorded their first cases of swine flu, giving further evidence that the disease is spreading.
In both countries the H1N1 virus was detected following the screening of passengers arriving at airports. #
Meanwhile, health officials in Japan have identified the first domestic case of the disease in a 17-year-old student in the western port city of Kobe.
Two others are thought to be infected. None had been overseas recently.
Some 39 countries have reported 8,453 cases of the virus, a rise of nearly 1,000 in 24 hours.
At least 72 people have died of the virus, the World Health Organization says.
In the past week the number of people infected by the virus has risen sharply with the US, followed by Mexico, where the epidemic began, recording the highest number of cases.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8053437.stm
---------------
Swat valley population refused polio vaccine in 2008, and now war is declared....
The team has uncovered a major plot by powerful US-backed Multinational Pharmaceutical Industry.
16 May 2009
Thousands more flee Pakistan fighting
Pakistan has temporarily lifted a curfew in the Swat Valley to enable thousands of civilians to flee the fighting. #
They will join 830,000 people who have already fled their homes and ended up in overcrowded camps for those displaced by the fighting. A further 500,000 people were forced to leave their homes by earlier fighting in northwest pakistan.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has called for massive international help to avert a humanitarian tragedy.
The army launched an offensive in Swat last week to stop the spread of Taliban influence which had alarmed its nuclear-armed Pakistan's Western allies.
The military said the curfew was being lifted in Mingora, Swat's main town which the Taliban still control, and other areas for eight hours.
"We have been waiting for the curfew to be lifted as the fighting has intensified and our food was almost finished," said Mohammad Zari, fleeing Minogra on foot with his family.
Hundreds of people were streaming down a road from Swat, heading south where authorities have set up camps on the low land.
The army, which is surrounding Minogra, has banned private cars from entering the town but the government had laid on 150 vehicles about five miles southwest to take people away, the military said.
Residents began fleeing late last month when the army attacked the Taliban in two districts near Swat they had occupied in violation of a February peace pact aimed at ending violence.
Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani said the army would defeat the Taliban militarily but risked losing the support of the people if it did not help those forced from their homes in the country's largest ever internal displacement.
The offensive in Swat came after the US accused the government of "abdicating" to the militants.
Pakistani action against militants is vital for allied efforts to defeat al-Qaeda and the Taliban and stabilise neighbouring Afghanistan.
The military said about 124 militants and nine soldiers had been killed in the previous 24 hours. That would take the toll to around 870 militants and 45 soldiers.
There have been no independent confirmation of the casualties.
About 15,000 members of the security forces are facing about 5,000 militants in the Swat region, the military says.
---------------
Militants halt Swat Valley children’s vaccinations
Isambard Wilkinson, Foreign Correspondent - March 27. 2009 8:30AM
Militants in northern Pakistan have triggered an “emergency” by refusing to allow health officials to conduct a polio vaccination campaign on over 300,000 children in the former tourist destination of Swat Valley.#
Taliban militants have seized control of most of Swat and have extended their rule since striking a peace deal with the government and army earlier this year.#
The enforcement of religious law, Sharia, has led to the closing down of NGO offices and the end of polio vaccination for children, as well as leaving hundreds of lawyers and judges out of work.
“There is a real emergency there. It is urgent to go in and vaccinate children,” said Dr Nima Abid, the polio team leader from the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Pakistan.
Extremist clerics have used mosque loudspeakers and illegal radio stations to spread the idea that the vaccinations cause infertility and are part of a US-sponsored anti-Muslim plot to control the population.
Dr Abid said militants have not allowed polio vaccinations to take place at a critical time.
“Polio vaccination is effective in the first three months of the year when virus transmission is lowest and so there is no interference with the vaccine virus,” said Dr Abid.
Militants had reportedly agreed to allow the vaccination programme to take place as part of the peace agreements but reneged on their word, and despite strenuous efforts by the increasingly irrelevant local administration, no vaccinations have taken place.
In the neighbouring district of Dir, militants shut down the population welfare department, situated in Qambar Maidan, and ordered polio vaccination teams to leave the area.
A UN report stated that 31,928 children in Swat and neighbouring districts have been missed due to refusal by their parents during the March vaccination campaign.
The militants have not allowed health officials to conduct any of the 14 planned campaigns since last August.
“It’s a US tool to cut the population of the Muslims. It is against Islam that you take a medicine before the disease,” said Muslim Khan, Swat’s Taliban spokesman, speaking by telephone.
Militants in the tribal areas of Bajaur and Mohmand have also opposed polio vaccinations.
Dr Abdul Ghani was killed by a roadside bomb in Bajaur in 2007 as Islamist militants tried to halt a polio immunisation campaign.
Yesterday government officials convened another meeting in Swat in an attempt to break the impasse, according to Dr Abdul Jabbar, the WHO’s polio team leader in North West Frontier Province (NWFP).
Dr Jabbar said polio remains endemic in four countries: Nigeria, India, Afghanistan and Pakistan. In 1988 affected countries numbered 125.
While there remains no cure for polio, the progress towards its eradication is a result of the widespread use of polio vaccines. By 2002 the WHO had certified 124 countries polio-free.
Swat recorded four cases of polio last year out of the total 53 recorded in the NWFP and the tribal areas. Pakistan had 118 cases in 2009.
The WHO recorded 39 cases of polio in Pakistan in 2006, up from 28 in 2005. The disease is concentrated in the NWFP where 60 per cent of the vaccine refusals were attributed to “religious reasons”.
Poliomyelitis is an acute viral infection of the nervous system. Worldwide more than half of infections afflict children under the age of five.
One in 200 infections leads to permanent paralysis, usually in the legs.
In five per cent to 10 per cent of these cases the victims die when the breathing muscles are paralysed.
The Taliban spokesman, Muslim Khan, denied that militants had actively stopped the vaccination campaign.
“The people are not getting the vaccines because they know it is against Islam,” he said.
“We have asked the government to run the campaign, but the government isn’t doing so.”
Dr Abid contradicted his claim saying that militants had obstructed the polio campaign.
Last week a delegation of the provincial government headed by Azam Khan Hoti, the father of the NWFP’s chief minister, Amir Haider Hoti, held a meeting with a Swat militant leader, Sufi Mohammad, asking him to allow the polio campaign, but Mr Mohammad refused.
Dr Abid said the four cases of polio found in Pakistan this year were all in areas with security problems.
However, he added that in some notorious militant areas, such as South Waziristan tribal agency, the vaccination campaigns had been conducted unopposed.
“In some areas militants did not obstruct us. It depends on the local commander and how you can approach him,” he said.
Dr Mujahid Hussain, a senior polio officer in NWFP, said the problem of refusal was because of lack of education on the part of the parents and the deteriorating law and order situation in Swat.
“Why is the government not providing free treatment to those afflicted with hepatitis?” said Rafiq Jan, a resident of Kabal town in Swat and supporter of Maulana Fazlullah, the Taliban chief.
“But an anti-polio vaccine is a US plot. I will not administer it to my children ever.”
iwilkinson@thenational.ae
http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090327/FOREIGN/75612391/1103
---------------
Page last updated at 05:12 GMT, Friday, 18 July 2008 06:12 UK
Pakistan polio case despite truce
Pakistani health officials say they have recorded a new case of polio in Swat district despite local militants pledging not to resist vaccinations. #
A seven-year-old girl tested positive for polio, taking the number of new cases in Pakistan this year to 16.
Officials say Tanzeela Bibi had not received any vaccination due to the ongoing military operations and early opposition from the Taleban.
Pakistan is one of the few countries where polio still exists.
A fourth of the new polio cases in Pakistan this year are from the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), where Swat is located.
Security
Militant leaders in Swat have campaigned against polio vaccinations since 2006.
In May, they promised not to hamper the vaccination drive.
They made the pledge at the same time as agreeing a peace deal with the government.
Health officials in Swat alleged that local authorities had failed to assist them in the vaccination drive despite the peace deal. They said the security situation in the district was responsible for the situation.
In the past, vaccination teams have been beaten up or kidnapped in some of these areas.
The NWFP health department hopes to vaccinate 427,000 children during the current campaign.
Polio has been eradicated from most of the developed world, but new cases are still being reported from Pakistan, Nigeria, Afghanistan and India.
Links reveal US - EU plot since 1984.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/6299325.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/6936474.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/2070634.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/919394.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7046680.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/4481794.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3223874.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7513059.stm
---------------
Page last updated at 12:07 GMT, Saturday, 16 May 2009 13:07 UK
Swine flu hits India and Turkey
India and Turkey have recorded their first cases of swine flu, giving further evidence that the disease is spreading.
In both countries the H1N1 virus was detected following the screening of passengers arriving at airports. #
Meanwhile, health officials in Japan have identified the first domestic case of the disease in a 17-year-old student in the western port city of Kobe.
Two others are thought to be infected. None had been overseas recently.
Some 39 countries have reported 8,453 cases of the virus, a rise of nearly 1,000 in 24 hours.
At least 72 people have died of the virus, the World Health Organization says.
In the past week the number of people infected by the virus has risen sharply with the US, followed by Mexico, where the epidemic began, recording the highest number of cases.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8053437.stm
---------------
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