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The International Herald Tribune reports: “A statement purportedly from an al-Qaeda-linked group threatens ‘waterfalls of blood’ in European cities because the continent didn’t respond to Osama bin Laden’s demand that they leave Iraq and Afghanistan within three months.

The statement, dated Wednesday, was posted on an Islamic Web Site known for its extremist content. It was written in the name of the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades, which has made similar threats in the past.

According to the threat, Italy will be the first to face attack for not meeting bin Laden’s demand. Premier Silvio Berlusconi has been a steadfast U.S. ally and contributed about 3,000 soldiers to the coalition, behind only the United States and Britain. Poland has about 2,400 troops in Iraq, while several other European countries have smaller contingents there.

‘We will create waterfalls of blood that will drag you to their depths. You have condemned your people to that. The infidel Europe has done the same to its people by following America. We will destroy European cities, starting by you, Berlusconi,’ the statement said. ‘The cities will bleed until all of you, European leaders and people, come to your senses. Withdraw your deadly missions from Iraq.’

There was no immediate comment from the Italian government, but it had approved continued funding for the Iraq mission Tuesday, a day after the other statement.

In an audiotape on April 15, bin Laden said he was calling a truce for three months and urged European states to leave Iraq, Afghanistan and other Muslim countries within that period or risk a terror campaign…”

The Middle East Newsline reports: “Fatah insurgents have acquired short-range missiles from the Islamic opposition.

Palestinian sources said Fatah's Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades have received several dozens of Kassam-class short-range missiles from Hamas over the last month. The sources said the Kassam missiles were transferred to Fatah as part of operational cooperation between the two groups.

‘There was an assessment that Hamas activists did not have the same freedom of movement as Al Aqsa, so a transfer of missiles was arranged,’ a Palestinian source said.

On Wednesday, Palestinian gunners fired two Kassam missiles from the Gaza Strip into Israel. The missiles were said to have landed in the western Negev desert and no injuries or damage was reported…”

The Christian Science Monitor reports: “One Al Qaeda website offers chilling details on how to conduct private and public kidnappings. It points out the number of cells essential to target and hide victims. It details how to handle hostages - force them to taste the food first, for instance. It gives advice on negotiating tactics (gradually kill the hostages if ‘the enemy’ stalls) and on releasing captives (be alert to tracking devices planted in the ransom money).

The Al Qaeda site, called Al Battar, which means The Sword, is posted on the Internet twice a month. It's one of several websites that the terrorist group and its supporters built after the US successfully routed them from Afghanistan in late 2001.

And it is one of some 4,000 websites that, experts say, now exist to carry on a ‘virtual’ terror war - and plan actual attacks.

‘When I began tracking terrorist websites seven years ago, there were 12 sites in my database,’ says Gabriel Weimann, an Israeli communications professor who researches terrorist websites at the United States Institute of Peace in Washington. ‘After [Al Qaeda members] were chased from the camps, they went to the Internet. They began adding two a day, going up to 50, then a hundred, to thousands.’

The rapid proliferation of the terror sites provides a dilemma for intelligence officials and terror experts alike…”

The Daily Star reports: “The head of Israeli military intelligence warned Sunday that Hizbullah has developed rockets capable of reaching the Tel Aviv region from its bases in Southern Lebanon, public radio reported.

Hizbullah's press officer Sheikh Hassan Izzedine declined to comment Sunday on the report, saying: ‘We don't comment on such issues.’

Agence France Presse reported that General Aharon Zeevi Farkash told the weekly Cabinet meeting that Hizbullah had dozens of missiles with a 105-kilometer range and several with a 205-kilometer range which would represent a threat to Israel's commercial capital.

The missiles were supplied by Syria, the chief sponsors of the militia, public radio said.

Israeli officials warned two years ago that Hizbullah possessed 8,000 Katyusha rockets with a range of up to 70 kilometers, representing a direct threat to the north of the country…”

Jane’s Defense Weekly reports: “The US armed forces infrastructure, and American society at large, remain vulnerable to a debilitating attack by an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) generated by a high-altitude nuclear blast, a senior-level, congressionally appointed panel has warned.

Several potential adversaries, such as China, are capable of launching a crippling EMP strike against the US with a nuclear-tipped ballistic missile, and others, such as North Korea or even terrorist groups, could have the capability by 2015, the panel said in its findings that it unveiled to US legislators at a hearing on 22 July.

Panel members said this type of attack may be an appealing option, especially for an unsophisticated opponent. One possible scenario is a 'Scud' missile, with a modified nuclear warhead to maximize the EMP effect, launched from a barge off the US coast.

While the US military has grown increasingly dependent on computers, electronics and information systems, it has relaxed requirements for EMP-hardened systems since the end of the Cold War and its overall record of adherence to its guidelines for such robust equipment ‘has been spotty’, they said. This trend continues ‘in the wrong direction’, the panel noted.

Similarly, the US civilian critical infrastructure is not adequately prepared to deal with the effects of an EMP attack, according to the panel, which is known formally as the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse Attack. Congress created the panel in 2000 out of concern that this issue was not receiving enough attention…”

Hizbullah's press officer Sheikh Hassan Izzedine declined to comment Sunday on the report, saying: ‘We don't comment on such issues.’

The missiles were supplied by Syria, the chief sponsors of the militia, public radio said.

Israeli officials warned two years ago that Hizbullah possessed 8,000 Katyusha rockets with a range of up to 70 kilometers, representing a direct threat to the north of the country…”

The Middle East Newsline reports: “Fatah dissidents have continued attacks on Palestinian Authority facilities in the Gaza Strip.

Fatah gunmen attacked PA police stations and government installations over the weekend. At least two facilities were vandalized or torched.

On Saturday, 12 Fatah insurgents commandeered and vandalized the PA headquarters in Khan Yunis. After five hours, the insurgents left the building.

At the same time, Fatah gunmen attacked a police facility in the village of Zweideh in the southern Gaza Strip. Palestinian sources said the building was torched…”

News.com.au reports: “Islamic terrorists have told the Government to pull troops out of Iraq or they will swamp Australia in ‘pools of blood’.

An internet site run by the Tawhid Islamic Group, which claims to be al-Qaeda's European wing, said: ‘We will shake the earth under your feet as we did in Indonesia, and lines of car bombs will not cease.’

ASIO was last night investigating the credibility of the group, which was unknown until last Wednesday when it made similar threats against Bulgaria and Poland. Italy also received a similar threat in the internet warning.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said yesterday the Government would not bow to the terrorists' demands.

And he blamed decisions by the Philippines and Spanish governments to withdraw their troops from Iraq after terrorist threats for the danger now faced by Australia.

‘If we allow these sorts of threats to determine our foreign policy, then what we'll do is empower the terrorists,’ he said. However, he told Channel 9's Sunday program the Government was taking the threat seriously.

The threat came as the Iraq hostage crisis escalated with the seizure of a state company director and the apparent abduction of two Pakistanis, as Egyptian and Iraqi officials sought the release of a kidnapped Egyptian diplomat and a truck driver…"

Ha’aretz reports: “Israeli security officials have recently become increasingly concerned that right-wing extremists might be plotting an attack on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem to derail Israel's planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. The Shin Bet security service and the police are preparing for a number of possible terror attack scenarios at the sacred Old City site, Israeli security sources said on Saturday night.

Speaking on the Channel Two ‘Meet the Press’ program yesterday, Public Security Minister Tzachi Hanegbi confirmed that the security establishment had identified rising intent among right-wing extremists to carry out a Temple Mount attack.

‘There is no information about specific individuals, because the Shin Bet and police would not let them continue [with their plot],’ said Hanegbi. ‘But there are troubling indications of purposeful thinking, and not detached philosophy... There is a danger that [extremists] would make use of the most explosive site, in the hope that a chain reaction would bring about the destruction of the peace process.’

Security sources on Saturday night said possible actions included an attempt to crash a drone packed with explosives on the Temple Mount, or a manned suicide attack with a light aircraft during mass Muslim worship on the Mount. Other possibilities include an attempt by right-wing extremists to assassinate a prominent Temple Mount Muslim leader, perhaps from the Waqf Islamic trust…”

NewScientist.com reports: “The strongest evidence yet for a long sought after form of matter in which particles that normally abhor each other pair up and flow together has been shown by Austrian researchers.

The feat - which is being hotly pursued by at least six other groups - may lend insight into the nature of neutron stars and the creation of room-temperature superconductors.

Over the last decade, physicists working with extremely cold gases have created nine different frictionless ‘superfluids’ with bosons, elementary particles with integer spins (1, 2, etc.). In a superfluid, particles do not lose energy when they flow, for example, by heat due to friction.

But creating a superfluid made of subatomic particles called fermions, which include protons, neutrons and electrons and have half-integer spins (1/2, 3/2, etc.), initially seemed impossible. That is because a quantum mechanical law prevents identical fermions from sharing the same state of being. For example, having the same location or momentum - conditions required for superfluidity.

But recently physicists have discovered that fermions can be coaxed to pair up, so that their spins add together for a split second, so the pair behaves like a boson.

‘At first, fermions were considered boring’ compared to bosons, says Rudolf Grimm, a physicist at Innsbruck University in Austria and an author of one of the new studies published in this week's Science. ‘Now that we have learned they can pair up, we have learned the physics of fermions is even more interesting.’…”

NewScientist.com reports: “If intelligent life exists elsewhere in our galaxy, advances in computer processing power and radio telescope technology will ensure we detect their transmissions within two decades. That is the bold prediction from a leading light at the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute in Mountain View, California.

Seth Shostak, the SETI Institute's senior astronomer, based his prediction on accepted assumptions about the likelihood of alien civilizations existing, combined with projected increases in computing power.

Shostak, whose calculations will be published in a forthcoming edition of the space science journal Acta Astronautica, first estimated the number of alien civilizations in our galaxy that might currently be broadcasting radio signals.

For this he used a formula created in 1961 by astronomer Frank Drake which factors in aspects such the number of stars with planets, how many of those planets might be expected to have life, and so on. Shostak came up with an estimate of between 10,000 and one million radio transmitters in the galaxy.

To find them will involve observing and inspecting radio emissions from most of the galaxy's 100 billion stars. The time necessary for this formidable task can be estimated from the capabilities of planned radio telescopes such as SETI's 1-hectare Allen Telescope Array and the internationally run Square Kilometre Array and expected increases in the power of the microchips that sift through radio signals from space…”

NewScientist.com reports: “Fertility regulators in the UK have ruled that families can pre-select embryos which could potentially save ill siblings.

To date, applications to pick genetically matched embryos for implantation for this purpose in the UK have been mired in legal opposition. The new ruling clears the way for families to proceed unhindered.

‘In terms of officially sanctioning this, we're the first in the world,’ said a spokeswoman for the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority (HFEA), which regulates all in-vitro fertilization procedures and experiments on embryos in the UK.

Through pre-screening of embryos, parents could proceed with a full pregnancy only when an embryo has tissues matched with those of the sick sibling.

One family in Britain, the Hashmis, had earlier received explicit permission from the HFEA to try and create a baby whose cord blood could be used to treat a sibling with the blood disorder, beta thallassaemia.

Another family, the Fletchers from Northern Ireland, are now hoping the procedure can be used to create a donor for their son, Joshua, who has a condition called Diamond Blackfan anemia.

But while the ruling has given hope to such families, it has been attacked by pro-life and other opposition groups who say it turns babies into commodities.

‘It's wrong to create a child simply as a means to an end, however good that end might be,’ says David King of the London-based lobby group, Human Genetics Alert.

But the authority is adamant that its ruling is practical, ethical and humane. ‘This treatment can benefit the whole family,’ said Suzi Leather, chair of the HFEA in a statement on Wednesday.

Leather says that although the ethical issues are important, the primary focus of the authority has been whether the screening procedure itself - which involves removal of cells - harms embryos and babies.

The HFEA says that in the past three years, some 300 healthy babies have been born in Europe and elsewhere that have undergone pre-implantation diagnosis - usually to screen out babies otherwise fated to suffer an inherited disease…”

WorldNetDaily.com reports: “Four masked men shot dead a Presbyterian pastor as she spoke from the pulpit at her church in Central Sulawei, Indonesia.

According to the Barnabas Fund, which assists persecuted Christians around the globe, the killers arrived by motorbike at the Presbyterian Christian Church during last Sunday's 6 p.m. service. They opened fire on the Rev. Susianty Tinulele and members of the worship team.

The group says Tinulele was shot in the head and died instantly. Four teenagers were hospitalized with serious injuries and one, a 17-year old girl, has since died.

Tinulele is the latest victim of what appears to be a campaign to assassinate Christian leaders in Central Sulawesi that began in November. She had taken food to a fellow pastor, Rinaldy Damanik, in prison two days before her death, and her support for him may be one reason she was targeted, Barnabas Fund reported.

Central Sulawesi's police chief, Brig. Gen. Taufik Ridha, believes the campaign to kill prominent Christian figures may be an attempt to disrupt this year's elections in Indonesia. When police arrested suspected Jemaah Islamiah militants last year they found detailed descriptions of church services and lists of Christian officials…”

TODAY - EU unanimous in condemnation of Israeli barrier

The European Union has unanimously backed a resolution at the Untied Nations general assembly condemning Israel’s West Bank barrier.
The General Assembly voted yesterday (Tuesday) to condemn the series of fences and walls, with 150 in favour, six nations against and 10 abstaintions.
The resolution backs a recent verdict from the International Court of Justice which said the barriers could not be justified for military reasons.
Tough negotiations within the EU and with Palestinain representatives eventually resulted in a draft that could bridge the EU’s differing viewpoints.
In the end all EU members agreed to accept the court's ruling and back the resolution.
According to Haaretz the Israeli Ambassador to the UN Dan Gillerman described the vote as "one-sided and totally counterproductive".
Israeli officials had pressed the EU to vote against the resolution or at the very least abstain.
But many in the EU were keen to show their support for the ICJ as well as having a moderating influencing on the langauge in the text.

A last minute addition to the text called on "the Palestinian Authority to undertake visible efforts on the ground to arrest, disrupt and restrain individuals and groups conducting and planning violent attacks".
Addressing the assembly a Dutch EU representative was keen to stress that while the Union voted in favour of the resolution, it supports Israel's right to act in self-defence. But with a vote so immensly damaging to Israel, already difficult relations will be further strained.

Only Australia, Israel, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau the United States voted against the resolution.

WorldNetDaily.com reports: “A Swedish court has sentenced Ake Green, a pastor belonging to the Pentecostal movement, to a month in prison, under a law against incitement, after he was found guilty of having offended homosexuals in a sermon, according to Ecumenical News International.

Green had described homosexuality as ‘abnormal, a horrible cancerous tumor in the body of society’ in a 2003 sermon.

Soren Andersson, the president of the Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender rights, said on hearing Green's jail sentence that religious freedom could never be used as a reason to offend people…”

BBC News reports: “Senior advisers to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon have said work will continue on the West Bank security barrier despite condemnation at the UN.

The General Assembly in New York voted by an overwhelming majority to demand that Israel dismantle the barrier in line with a UN world court ruling.

But the resolution has no legal force and Israel insists the barrier is needed to protect its citizens.

The non-binding resolution was passed on Tuesday with 150 in favor, six opposed and 10 abstentions.

It was drafted after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled the barrier illegally cut into Palestinian land.

The BBC's UN correspondent, Susannah Price, says the resolution is an attempt to put moral pressure on Israel…”

The Middle East Newsline reports: “Dissidents of the ruling Fatah movement plan to expand the revolt against the Palestinian Authority to the West Bank.

But unlike the situation in the Gaza Strip, the Fatah dissidents face a determined PA Chairman Yasser Arafat. Palestinian sources said PA forces loyal to Arafat have prevented Fatah attacks on PA facilities in the northern West Bank.

The sources said Fatah insurgents tried to storm PA facilities in Jenin on late Sunday. But PA security forces repelled the attack.

In the Gaza Strip, Fatah dissidents have met little resistance. They torched the security facility in Khan Yunis and stormed another installation in Rafah as part of their protest against the appointment of Mussa Arafat as commander of the Palestinian National Security Forces…”

Voice of America News reports: “Bird flu has resurfaced in parts of Indonesia, prompting health officials to implement a massive campaign to vaccinate chickens. The latest outbreak follows a resurgence of bird flu in China, Thailand and Vietnam in recent weeks.

Indonesian agricultural ministry officials said Wednesday, the government plans to distribute as many as 300 million doses of vaccine to poultry farmers in a bid to halt a fresh outbreak of bird flu.

Indonesia is the latest country to report an outbreak of the H5N1 strain of avian flu that has hit Southeast Asia. Thailand, Vietnam and southern China also have reported recent outbreaks.

Earlier this year, the virus swept through much of Asia, forcing governments to cull millions of birds. More than 20 people died after contracting the virus from sick birds.

The World Health Organization says it remains concerned that the H5N1 virus could change to become easier for humans to contract. The agency is calling on governments to ensure that people involved in culling birds are well protected from the virus.

Thai Health Ministry spokeswoman Nitaya Mahaphol says her government is better prepared for this outbreak than it was for the first.

Mrs. Nitaya also notes that the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome last year helped prepare medical officials to deal with new health threats. ‘We have been very well prepared because of the experiences with the SARS and avian flu at the very beginning of the year,’ she said. ‘We have been training our health officials in order to deal with surveillance and prevention.’…”

Voice of America News reports: “The United States Monday accused Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat of hampering the consolidation of security services and other steps needed to bring order to the increasingly chaotic situation in the Gaza and the West Bank.

Officials here say the intra-Palestinian clashes in Gaza since Sunday only underline the need for reforms, including creation of a single security service, and they are blaming Mr. Arafat for impeding a process that could restore order and lead to creation of a Palestinian state.

At a news briefing, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said U.S. diplomats are monitoring the political turmoil in the Gaza and the West Bank with deep concern. While taking no position on Saturday's resignation of Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia, which was refused by Mr. Arafat, Mr. Boucher made clear the United States is sympathetic to Mr. Qureia's frustration over the lack of security and a centralized authority.

‘We think that the security services need to be consolidated, that the governmental authority, the prime minister in the government, need to have authority over the security services as well as the other institutions of government. That's a process that Chairman Arafat has hampered, and appears to be continuing to hamper to this day,’ he said…”

The Middle East Newsline reports: “The Palestinian Authority has been rocked by an unprecedented level of unrest in the Gaza Strip initiated by the ruling Fatah movement.

The PA has declared a state of emergency in the Gaza Strip after a spate of abductions, including that of the PA police chief, a security official and five French nationals. At the same time, Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei and at least two senior security officials have submitted their resignations to protest corruption and their lack of authority.

The spate of abductions began on July 16 when Fatah insurgents ambushed a three-car convoy that contained Brig. Gen. Ghazi Jabali south of Gaza City. Two of Jabali's bodyguards were shot and the police chief was taken to the Palestinian refugee camp of Bureij, where he was paraded along the main street.

Hours later, Jabali was released as a result of the intervention of PA Chairman Yasser Arafat. Jabali, accused of corruption and torture, had been the target of several attacks by Fatah insurgents over the last six months…”

The London Daily Telegraph reports: “The Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, was yesterday facing the most serious internal challenge to his leadership since returning from exile, with a gun battle, an audacious attack on Palestinian Authority security offices and street protests in the Gaza Strip.

Coming on the heels of a spate of abductions, there were further signs of a breakdown of security in the Gaza Strip when the Palestinian intelligence service's headquarters was set ablaze by masked gunmen who stole weapons and released every prisoner in the compound.

The fire was a protest against the nomination of Mr. Arafat's unpopular relative Moussa Arafat, who is widely seen as incompetent and corrupt, to head the Gaza preventative security apparatus.

More than 2,000 protesters, including many masked gunmen, from Mr. Arafat's Fatah movement took to the streets and, firing in the air, marched to the Palestinian Legislative Council building, loudly denouncing Moussa Arafat as a ‘Mossad collaborator’.

Then 18 members of the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades - a militant group linked to Fatah - were wounded when security services opened fire as more than 150 protesters tried to storm the intelligence service headquarters.

‘There is a consensus in the Palestinian nation - and not just in Gaza - that what is happening now can't continue,’ Soufian Abu Zaida, a Fatah leader in Gaza told Israel Radio. ‘The new thing is that people won't accept what had been accepted until now.’…”

The Independent.co.uk reports: “Satellite technology will be used to track 5,000 career criminals who are responsible for one in every 10 crimes in Britain, the Home Secretary David Blunkett will announce tomorrow.

The radical new technology, which has been developed in the US, will enable law enforcement officers to pinpoint the exact location of criminals who have been released early from prison and fitted with electronic tags.

It will feature among a series of measures in a five-year plan to tackle burgeoning violent crime and antisocial behaviour. Home Office figures released next week will show police forces recording rises as high as 25 per cent.

A Home Office source said: ‘We are the largest users of tagging outside the US and we will continue to do this. We will introduce satellite tracing for prolific offenders as well as for domestic violence and sex offenders.’

Other measures include increasing the number of community support officers from 5,000 to 20,000 by 2008, putting drug-using criminals through treatment programs and locking up those who refuse help, as well as making greater use of antisocial behaviour orders.

Tony Blair is expected to reassure voters that protecting ‘law-abiding citizens’ from lawless teenage gangs and drunken yobs will be central to government policy…”

The International Herald Tribune reports: “The Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, urged French Jews on Sunday to flee the country to escape a rising tide of anti-Semitism, while acknowledging that the French government was fighting racial violence.

The latest French Interior Ministry figures show 510 anti-Jewish acts or threats in the first six months of 2004 — compared with 593 for all of last year.

‘If I have to advocate to our brothers in France, I will tell them one thing,’ Sharon told visiting American Jewish leaders in Jerusalem. ‘Move to Israel, as early as possible.’

In Paris, the French Foreign Ministry was clearly offended by Sharon’s appeal.

‘We have immediately made contact with Israeli authorities to ask them for explanations about these unacceptable statements,’ a ministry spokesman, Hervé Ladsous, said.

Anti-Semitic acts against Jewish schools, synagogues and cemeteries have risen in France in recent years, coinciding with the growth of tension in the Middle East. Young Muslims have been blamed for many attacks.

‘We see the spread of the wildest anti-Semitism there,’ Sharon said. He said that in France, about 10 percent of the people are Muslims: ‘That gets a different kind of anti-Semitism, based on anti-Israeli feelings and propaganda.’

He added, ‘I must say that the French government are taking steps against that.’

French Jewish leaders interviewed on France-2 Television said Sharon’s remarks had been unhelpful.

‘These comments do not bring calm, peace and serenity that we all need,’ said Patrick Gaubert, president of the International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism, known by the acronym LICRA.

Théo Klein, honorary president of the Representative Council of the Jewish Institutions of France, or CRIF, an umbrella group representing major French Jewish organizations, said Sharon should let the French Jewish community take care of its own problems…”

BBC News reports: “Plans to relax ‘designer baby’ rules to allow more screening and selection of embryos have been welcomed by medics but condemned by pro-life groups.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) may alter its rules on creating babies to help sick siblings.

It will consider the case of a Northern Ireland boy with a rare blood disorder who cannot get cells from his family.

Anti-abortion charity Lifelabelled the HFEA ‘feeble’ and said the plans are ‘another move down the slippery slope’.

But the British Medical Association (BMA) has given its approval to the proposed changes.

Dr Michael Wilks, who chairs the BMA's medical ethics committee, told BBC News that there would be no free-for-all.

He said: ‘Yes it is relaxing the principles, but we're talking about a very contained clinical situation, not about a free-for-all.

‘I think the absolute key to this is the fact that this technology is regulated by the most efficient regulatory body in the world.’

Dr Mohamed Taranissi, the director of London's Assisted Reproduction Gynaecology Centre, is pursuing a rule change in a bid to help two-year-old Joshua Fletcher, from Moira, County Down.

Joshua has a potentially fatal blood disorder called Diamond Blackfan anaemia (DBA), which can be treated by using stem cells to stimulate his body to produce healthy red blood cells.

Neither his parents, Joe and Julie, nor his five-year-old brother Adam are close enough matches to give him the stem cells he needs.

But IVF technology could be used to create a baby who can provide these cells…”

The Middle East Newsline reports: “Yemen's military was preparing for a final onslaught on an Iranian-backed insurgent near the border with Saudi Arabia.

Yemeni officials said the military has achieved significant gains over the last few weeks and captured most of the territory controlled by former Yemeni parliamentarian Hussein Badreddine Al Houthi. Officials said the month-long Shi'ite insurgency in northern Yemen has been financed by Iran and Hizbullah. Al Qassimi said the military had planned to attack Al Houthi's hideout in Maran at an earlier stage of the insurgency. But he said the operation was delayed because of the difficult topography in the Saada region…”

The Washington Times reports: “North Korea has acknowledged its nuclear weapons aspirations, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly told a Senate committee Thursday.

‘While they said they wanted to maintain a civil nuclear program, they also acknowledged that most of their nuclear programs are weapons related,’ Kelly told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Kelly said the revelations came during the recent six-party talks with the communist nation aimed at ending the standoff over the country's nuclear program.

The third round of talks ended in Beijing last month and included the United States, North Korea, Russia, Japan, China and South Korea.

North Korea's leaders have sent somewhat conflicting signals about their nuclear programs in the past, although they have spoken about their nuclear deterrent options and experts believe the country could have at least one nuclear warhead.

Kelly said the North Korean delegation identified the five-megawatt nuclear reactor at Yongbyon, which was reactivated in 2002, as a nuclear weapons facility.

He also said the country proposed a freeze its program in exchange for energy aid and the lifting of economic sanctions among other issues, all considered main goals of the poor nation…”

Mexico's attorney general, Rafael Macedo de la Concha, announced this week that he has a microchip implanted in one of his arms. The chip, enclosed in a sleek capsule about the size of a grain of rice, emits a low-frequency radio wave that can be used to locate Macedo, as he told reporters, ‘at any moment, wherever I am.’

The chips also function as an electronic identification that grants Macedo and about 160 of his lieutenants access to a suite of offices on the third floor of the attorney general's headquarters, which houses a state-of-the-art, $30 million computerized database of crime, which President Vicente Fox inaugurated Monday.

A scanner at the door reads the identification numbers in the chips. Once scanned and recognized, Macedo and the others are permitted to enter the offices, where officials are focused on using computers to organize and analyze crime statistics. Analysts said Mexico's lack of centralized and computerized crime data is a key reason that most crimes here are never solved…

The chips, injected through a syringe-like device, are the latest and most high-tech weapons in the government's offensive against crime, prompting jokes in Wednesday's newspapers that Macedo was Mexico's ‘Robocop.’…

About 1,000 people in Mexico have had the VeriChip implanted, said Antonio Aceves, president of Solusat, the Mexican distributor of the chip, which was created by a Florida company, Applied Digital Solutions. He said most of the customers have been people with medical problems, including diabetes and Alzheimer's disease. The chip can be programmed to carry medical information, which can be read by scanners that several Mexico City hospitals now have, he said.

Aceves said only a few people had bought the chip for security purposes, including one family that had one implanted in their 2-year-old daughter. He said the company hopes that the chips can ultimately make door keys obsolete; he said home doors could be equipped to read the chips of residents…”

Sky News reports: “Killer superbugs are now out of control with 5,000 people a year dying from viruses picked up in hospitals says a damning report. Health chiefs have been slammed for allowing patients to be treated in filthy hospitals where the number of patients contracting infections is soaring. The numbers of blood infections from Staphylococcus aureus has gone up almost 8% from 17,933 in 2001-02 to 19,311 in 2003-04 - of these 40% were a strain of the deadly MRSA.

Britain has the highest infection rate in Europe for MRSA which is resistant to most antibiotics.

The report says our hospitals are dirtier than those in countries such as Romania.

Staff are still not washing their hands properly says the report but this is not because they are lazy.

Nurses and other staff are so overworked they don't have time to use the bathroom.

No-one knows how many people have died from MRSA but the bug was mentioned in 800 death certificates in 2002.

Hospital overcrowding and the fast turnover of patients is highlighted by the report as one of the causes of the increase in bugs…”

Reuters reports: “The terrorist threat against the United States in the run-up to the November election is as serious as at any time since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, acting CIA Director John McLaughlin said on Tuesday.

‘This is about as serious a threat environment as I have seen since 9/11,’ said McLaughlin, the deputy director who took over on Sunday pending appointment of a permanent successor to Director George Tenet who resigned amid criticism of the agency's performance.

‘The quality of the information we have now is such that we have high confidence that the nation needs to be on guard,’ McLaughlin told Reuters in a telephone interview.

He said the threats were not pinned specifically to the Democratic and Republican political conventions this summer but to the whole period before the November presidential election.

‘It's related to this period during which the country is exercising its democracy, it's this period particularly in the run-up to the election, but it's always a mistake in the counterterrorism business to focus uniquely on a date,’ McLaughlin said. The attackers would strike when they are ready and not because of a specific date, he said…”

The Middle East Newsline reports: “Britain has been quietly moving toward selling military systems to Libya.

British industry sources and officials said contractors have been discussing the prospect of selling weapons to Libya. The sources said the process could take a year before the first contracts would be signed.

The British effort seeks to focus on the transfer of dual-use aviation. Officials said they could include the upgrade of Libyan airports as well as training of Libyan military and security officers. So far, the British government of Prime Minister Tony Blair has not approved military sales to Tripoli.

‘We are looking forward to the day -- much closer than many think -- when we have a normal working relationship with Libya,’ Maj. Gen. Alan Sherman, director-general of the UK Defence Manufacturers Association, said. ‘The UK has much to offer and we only await the green light from Whitehall.’…”

The Middle East Newsline reports: “Hamas was said to have invested up to $25 million in housing projects throughout the United States.

U.S. officials said the investment was believed to have stemmed from Saudi and other Gulf Arab sources as part of an effort to finance Hamas insurgency operations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. They said the funding pointed to the close links between Hamas and Gulf Arab supporters.

Hamas investments in the United States began in the early 1990s through Mussa Abu Marzouk, a member of Hamas's political bureau, officials said. The investments were handled mostly through a firm founded by an Egyptian national sentenced in January 2004 to one year in prison for relaying millions of dollars to Al Qaida as well as other Islamic insurgency groups.

FBI officials have provided evidence of Hamas investments during the investigation of Soliman Biheiri, alleged to have been a key conduit of Saudi and Gulf funding to Al Qaida and Hamas. The investigation of Biheiri, sentenced to one year in jail, was conducted by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and included numerous Saudi-sponsored groups in the Washington D.C. area…”

The Middle East Newsline reports: “Al Qaida could drive the price of oil to $3 dollars a gallon in the United States.

A leading U.S. energy analyst, Paul Michael Wihbey, told a Hudson Institute conference on Saudi Arabia that Al Qaida has already driven the price of oil to beyond $40 a barrel. Wihbey, president of Global Water and Energy Strategy Team, said Al Qaida could seek to drive this price to $60 a barrel by attacking Saudi oil infrastructure.

‘The possibility exists that Al Qaida, with its intimate knowledge of the market, could spike prices up to as high as $60 a barrel,’ Wihbey told the conference on July 9. ‘This is a significant number, because it means $3 a gallon.’

Wihbey said Al Qaida has followed the communist example to erode the authority of the Saudi royal family. He said Al Qaida has already shattered the image of the kingdom as a bedrock of stability and forced the departure of skilled foreigners in the energy sector…”

The Middle East Newsline reports: “Palestinian insurgents have succeeded in resuming major strikes in Israel.

After a four month lull, Palestinian operatives have bombed a civilian target in a major Israeli city. On Sunday, at least one person -- an Israeli military sergeant -- was killed and 34 others were injured in a bombing of a crowded bus station in Tel Aviv.

‘The lull was mendacious,’ Israeli police chief Inspector General Shlomo Aharonishki said. ‘It wasn't that the terrorists didn't try to carry out attacks. They were just unable to.’

Officials said Israeli authorities were placed on alert for a renewed Palestinian insurgency campaign in wake of the July 9 ruling by the International Court of Justice against Israel's security fence and barrier along the West Bank. Officials had attributed the lull in attacks in Israel to the security fence, which covers the northern and central line of the West Bank…”

The Middle East Newsline reports: “Israel's military has determined that Palestinian insurgency groups have been strengthened by the introduction of new Hezbollah-supplied weaponry smuggled from Egypt.

Israeli military sources said insurgency groups have been bolstered over the last few months by the arrival of improved anti-tank rocket-propelled grenades and longer-range Kassam-class missiles. They said the weaponry was either bought, supplied or developed by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah and smuggled through the Sinai Peninsula into the Gaza Strip.

The weaponry has included the Cobra RPG launcher and grenades, the sources said. They said the Cobra, manufactured by Egypt's state-owned defense industry, constituted an enhanced version of the Russian-origin RPG-7, which can penetrate most armored combat vehicles.

Hezbollah has also helped improve the Kassam-class short-range missile, the sources said. They said the latest version of the Hamas-developed Kassam contained a larger warhead and improved accuracy…”

Voice of America News reports: “One day after the World Court issued a ruling against Israel's construction of a security barrier on parts of the West Bank, Palestinian officials say they will go to the United Nations to seek a resolution supporting the ruling.

The Palestinian officials say they will seek a resolution as early as next week, first in the General Assembly and then with the 15-nation Security Council.

The international court's non-binding ruling found the barrier illegal and said it should be torn down.

Israel says it needs the barrier to keep potential suicide bombers out of its cities. But Palestinians say Israel should build the security barrier on its own land, not Palestinian land…”

The Middle East Newsline reports: “The U.S. intelligence community has concluded that Al Qaida plans to launch a massive attack meant to disrupt or influence the presidential elections scheduled for November.

U.S. officials said the Bush administration and Congress have been briefed by the CIA, FBI and Homeland Security Department regarding evidence of Al Qaida plans to attack the United States over the next few months. They said the intelligence community believes Al Qaida has sought to match or top the casualty toll from its September 2001 strikes in New York and Washington, in which 3,000 people were killed.

‘What we know about this most recent information is that it is being directed from the senior-most levels of the Al Qaida organization,’ a senior administration official said. ‘It sounds like a corporate effort.’

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said Al Qaida intends to attack somewhere in the United States between now and the November elections. In a briefing on Thursday, Ridge said prospective targets include the Democratic National Convention, scheduled for July 26-29 in Boston, and the Republican National Convention scheduled for Aug. 30 to Sept. 2 in New York. So far, Ridge said, the intelligence community has not received information regarding Al Qaida's proposed targets or timetable…”

The Middle East Newsline reports: “Israel's defense industry has prepared for an austere 2004 amid severe cuts in the military budget.

Israel's defense companies expect a sharp reduction in Defense Ministry orders in 2004 that will significantly affect their balance sheets. Executives said the drop in orders could reach more than $400 million.

Israel's government approved a 32.5 billion shekel [$7.2 billion] budget for fiscal 2004, a reduction of nearly 3 billion shekels. The spending cut -- somewhat offset by a supplemental budget of up to 1 billion shekels -- has threatened virtually every procurement order and research and development project.

Executives said the Defense Ministry has warned Israeli contractors that they will have to transfer weapons production lines to the United States to be considered for future projects. They said virtually every major Israeli defense firm has been negotiating with prospective U.S. partners to establish a production line so that any Israeli-origin weapon could be bought through U.S. military aid to the Jewish state. Israel will receive about $2.2 billion in U.S. military aid in 2004…”

The New York Times reports: “Osama bin Laden and his chief lieutenants, operating from hideouts suspected to be along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, are directing a Qaeda effort to launch an attack in the United States sometime this year, senior Bush administration officials said on Thursday.

‘What we know about this most recent information is that it is being directed from the senior most levels of the Al Qaeda organization,’ said a senior official at a briefing for reporters. He added, ‘We know that this leadership continues to operate along the border area between Afghanistan and Pakistan.’

Counterterrorism officials have said for weeks that they are increasingly worried by a continuing stream of intelligence suggesting that Al Qaeda wanted to carry out a significant terror attack on United States soil this year. But until the comments of the senior administration officials on Thursday, it was not clear that Mr. bin Laden and top deputies like Ayman Zawahiri were responsible for the concern.

Another senior administration official said on Thursday that the intelligence reports - apparently drawn partly from interviews with captured Qaeda members and partly from other intelligence - referred to efforts ‘to inflict catastrophic effects’ before the election.

This official said that the reports did not refer specifically to Mr. bin Laden's instructions or desires, but did make clear that instructions were coming from Qaeda leaders. ‘It sounds like a corporate effort,’ the official said…”

Space.com reports: “Scientists are analyzing a treasure trove of new data being transmitted from the Cassini spacecraft orbiting Saturn. They have encountered several head-scratching mysteries.

For one, a massive coughing up of oxygen within the planet’s ring system has been found. Another observation is that mixed in with Saturn’s rings of ice particles a ‘dirt-like’ signature has been detected - perhaps material drawn in from Phoebe, one of the planet’s entourage of 31 known moons.

Cassini’s high-resolution camera and special imaging techniques have begun to reveal surface features on Titan. Those features suggest active processes may be at work within the moon…”

Reuters reports: “Forget the notebook and the multicolored pen, a Japanese firm has developed the latest in school supplies -- chip-embedded student ID cards.

The cards make it easier for parents to keep tabs on their youngsters, said Toru Hasegawa, a spokesman for software firm NAJ Corp, based in western Japan.

Students scan ID cards on passing through the school entrance and the time is recorded and sent via email to their parents' mobile phones or computers, he said. Parents are also alerted if their child fails to arrive at school.

The same happens when school is over, so parents know when to expect their children to arrive home, Hasegawa said.

The system, which will go on sale in August, was conceived in response to growing concern about violence in Japan, he said.

‘Being able to quickly get the information that their kids are leaving school is a relief for parents,’ he said.

Japan has long prided itself on being relatively crime-free but has been horrified in recent years by increasingly violent crimes committed by ever-younger children.

Despite safety worries, many education-obsessed parents send small children to late-night cram schools. It is not unusual for primary or junior high school students to be returning home at 10 p.m., Hasegawa said…”

The Middle East Newsline reports: “The International Atomic Energy Agency has launched its first high-level visit to Israel since 1998.

IAEA director-general Mohammed El Baradei was scheduled to arrive on Tuesday for a three-day visit to Israel. Israeli officials said El Baradei would discuss a range of issues regarding Israel's nuclear program.

‘The visit was meant to show that the IAEA was not only concerned with Iran but Israel as well,’ an Israeli official said.

The official said El Baradei would meet Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and other senior government representatives. They said El Baradei would not visit any nuclear facilities, including the Dimona nuclear reactor, which has never come under IAEA inspection…”

The Middle East Newsline reports: “Arab militaries are investing heavily to upgrade their main battle tank fleet.

A report in the monthly strategic magazine Nativ asserted that Arab allies of the United States and Russia have been acquiring new tanks and modernizing older models. The report by the Ariel Center for Policy Research said Arab militaries have rejected assessments in the West of the demise of the tank in modern warfare.

‘For over a decade, countries like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Jordan have worked vigorously to modernize their heavy armored fleets. They have spent billions of dollars acquiring new, state-of-the-art platforms from the foremost tank manufacturers in America and Europe and billions more upgrading their old Soviet equipment with Western technology.’

Authored by former congressional aide Rand Fishbein, the report said improvements in training, maintenance, command and control and air-land battle tactics have given the Arab armored forces a new potency. The report cited Egypt's improvement in both the lethality and survivability of its tank force, deemed a powerful threat to Israel's security…”

The Middle East Newsline reports: “Hezbollah has significantly increased its missile and rocket arsenal over the past two years.

Israeli officials said Hezbollah has received more than 1,000 missiles and a range of rockets from Iran, Iraq and Syria in 2002 and 2003. They said the weapons included anti-tank missiles, Katyusha rockets and short-range missiles.

In all, officials said, Hezbollah has an estimated 12,000 rockets and missiles. They said the weapons have been deployed in southern Lebanon and presents a strategic threat to the Jewish state.

For several months, officials said, Iran and Syria withheld weapons shipments to Hezbollah during 2003. They said Syria, under Iranian pressure, allowed the resumption of missile and rocket deliveries at the end of last year…”

The EU Observer reports: “Home affairs ministers from the big five EU countries - the UK, France, Spain, Italy and Germany - are meeting today near Sheffield in Northern England to discuss anti-terror measures.

This is the fifth time the ministers from the most powerful EU states will be meeting to discuss the fight against terrorism.

On the agenda is improving information sharing, stopping terrorists' access to funds, policing, border control and technical measures in the fight against terror, such as the use of biometric indicators in passports.

The so-called ‘G5’ group will hope to push forward in these areas since progress has been scant since the Madrid bombings.

A declaration on combating terrorism was made by EU states in the wake of the attacks, which set out an implementation deadline of June for a raft of anti-terrorism measures.

Although progress has been made in certain areas, countries are lagging behind on others - notably the European Arrest Warrant, aimed at quickening extradition between EU states…”

The Middle East Newsline reports: “Arab militaries are investing heavily to upgrade their main battle tank fleet.

Voice of America News reports: “Security experts are warning Asian governments that terror groups could try to launch chemical or biological attacks in the region.

The head of the Southeast Asia Regional Center for Counterterrorism, Zainal Abidin Zain, told officials attending a conference in Kuala Lumpur Monday that it is easy for groups with limited expertise to produce or acquire deadly biological and chemical agents.

Mr. Zain and other experts pointed to the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway by a religious cult. And they cited the danger of such attacks by the al-Qaida-linked regional terrorist group, Jemaah Islamiyah, which is blamed for deadly bombings in Indonesia.

Some 50 representatives from Southeast Asia, China, Japan, Canada and the United States are attending the conference…”

Voice of America News reports: “One Israeli and two Palestinians have been killed in renewed violence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Sunday.

An Israeli man was shot and killed, as he drove with his wife near the West Bank town of Jenin early Sunday morning. His wife was not injured, but was treated for shock.

Israel Radio said the couple's car was fired at, as they drove between the Jewish settlements of Mevo Dotan and Shaked. The two were reported to be residents of the Mevo Dotan settlement. The Israeli military ordinarily provides security escorts to settlers using the road, but news reports said the couple had not asked to be accompanied on the early morning trip.

The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a militant group linked to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's mainstream Fatah faction, claimed responsibility for the attack. A statement said the shooting was revenge for Israel's killing of an al-Aqsa West Bank commander on June 26.

Several hours before the West Bank attack, Israeli soldiers killed a Palestinian gunman, who they said was trying to infiltrate a Jewish settlement near the West Bank city of Nablus. And in an incident just west of Jerusalem, police shot and killed a Palestinian man they said had tried to run down a police officer with a vehicle. Police said the man had been driving a vehicle carrying 10 Palestinians, who did not have permits to be in Israel. The driver was shot as he tried to flee the scene on foot.

Also on Sunday, five homemade Qassam rockets were fired toward the western Negev region of Israel. Four landed in an Israeli military zone, and the fifth hit a Palestinian Authority area. The rockets caused no injuries or damage. Last week a four-year-old Israeli boy and a 49-year-old man were killed by a Qassam rocket fired into the Israeli town of Sderot…”

Reuter’s reports: “The FBI on Thursday warned police of potential July 4 attacks by al Qaeda using tactics like assault teams, car bombs and suicide bombs, although it said it had no credible threat for the holiday.

In a weekly bulletin sent to law enforcement officials across the country, the FBI repeated recent warnings the United States remained a top al Qaeda target, but said it had no specific information regarding a July 4 attack.

‘Al Qaeda's targets generally have been of symbolic significance as well as directed at inflicting mass casualties with the timing of attacks driven more by operational considerations than specific timeframes,’ said the bulletin, entitled ‘Fourth of July Threat Environment.’

‘In recent overseas attacks, terrorists have employed small-arms equipped assault teams, large vehicle borne explosive devices, and suicide bombers,’ the bulletin said. ‘These or similar tactics could be used in the United States.’

U.S. officials have said since April they were worried al Qaeda might take advantage of holidays or special events over the summer to attack the United States or U.S. interests.

The bulletin gave a number of possible infrastructure targets that included gas refineries and pipelines, subways and trains, financial institutions, civil aviation and nuclear power plants.

Noting suicide bombers had been used overseas to attack ‘soft targets’ like restaurants or nightspots, the bulletin gave officers a list of visible indicators that someone might be a suicide bomber.

They include people wearing loose-fitting clothes or jackets even in hot weather, exposed wires under clothing, strange chemical odors or sweating and mumbling of prayers. It said suicide bombers may try to disguise themselves in military or police uniforms or pose as pregnant women.

Earlier this week, a top Homeland Security official said security would be tightened for the July 4 holiday weekend but that there was no intelligence of a possible attack that would justify raising the terror alert level

The Middle East Newsline reports: “Hamas has launched deadly attacks against Israeli civilian and military targets.

Hamas gunners fired Kassam-class short-range missiles that fell outside a kindergarten in the Israeli city of Sderot on Monday. Two people were killed, the first Israeli casualties from a Palestinian missile fired from the Gaza Strip. Eight other people were injured, one of them seriously.

Israeli officials said that the three missiles that landed in and around Sderot appeared to be more powerful than the Kassams that had struck the city before June 2004. Last week, a Fatah-dominated insurgency group in Gaza City identified this missile as the Nasser-3. Hamas claimed responsibility for Monday's missile strike.

‘We have been struck by a missile that is different in structure [from the Kassam] and with different warhead and accuracy,’ Yossi Cohen, a spokesman for the Sderot municipality, said. ‘Today, it is Sderot. Tomorrow, it is Askhelon. Today, it is a more advanced missile. Tomorrow, it could be an even more advanced missile.’…”

Voice of America News reports: “Eluding attempts by insurgents to disrupt the handover of sovereignty to Iraq, the U.S.-led coalition transferred power Monday to an interim government two days ahead of schedule.

At a small ceremony Monday morning inside the heavily guarded Green Zone area of Baghdad, Iraq's chief American administrator, Paul Bremer, reading a statement, turned over legal documents to interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, officially giving Iraqis long-awaited sovereignty.

‘We welcome Iraq's steps to take its rightful place with equality and honor among the free nations of the world,’ said Mr. Bremer.

Prime Minister Allawi thanked the United States. ‘They helped us in liberating our country, we are very thankful,’ said Mr. Allawi.

Mr. Allawi said he requested the early transfer of sovereignty because Iraqis needed to control their own destiny as soon as possible. He says the security of his people is his first priority…”

WorldNetDaily.com reports: “A day after the head of the CIA weapons inspection team warned that terrorists in Iraq are trying to get their hands on the Saddam Hussein regime's chemical weapons of mass destruction, Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin reports the first attack with these weapons of mass destruction has been launched inside Baghdad's Green Zone.

Few details are available, including any casualties associated with the attack using mustard gas.

"I think it's safe to say our little friends know where the cache is now," said one source sardonically.

The Green Zone is the area of Baghdad where the U.S.-led coalition authority established its headquarters in the immediate aftermath of the invasion in April last year.

On Thursday, Charles Duelfer, the head of the CIA weapons inspection team, said terrorists in Iraq are seeking chemical arms and expertise left over from the Hussein regime for possible use against U.S. and allied troops. He added that his team has so far found as many as a dozen chemical-filled bombs – far more than previously reported.

"What we are finding is that there are some networks that are seeking to tap into ... this expertise, and try to use it against the United States," Duelfer told Fox News Channel's Brit Hume. "And we are very concerned about that. That is a problem."

Duelfer said that investigations into arms laboratories in Iraq and interviews with former Iraqi arms specialists revealed that "former experts in the country's weapons of mass destruction program are being recruited by anti-coalition groups."

"They are being paid by anti-coalition groups," he said. "We're seeing interest in developing chemical munitions

The Detroit Free Press reports: "The Hubble Space Telescope may have discovered as many as 100 planets beyond the solar system orbiting stars in the Milky Way galaxy, astronomers say.

If confirmed, that would double the known number of planets since the first one was detected nine years ago, said Steven Beckwith, director of the Space Science Telescope Institute in Baltimore, which operates the Hubble.

Astronomers are coming to believe that almost every star similar to the sun is accompanied by one or more planets like our solar system, vastly increasing the chance that some form of extraterrestrial life could exist.

Hubble's expected harvest of previously unknown planets stems from a view of thousands of stars in a section of the sky.

For seven straight days in late February, Kailash Sahu, an astronomer at the Baltimore institute, used the 14-year-old telescope to monitor the amount of light streaming from the brightest stars within that view.

A tiny decrease -- less than one-tenth of 1 percent -- in the light was a sign that something, perhaps a planet, was passing in front of the star. A similar phenomenon entranced millions of Earthlings when Venus transited the sun June 8.

Sahu is now employing an older planetary-detection method to confirm that the transiting objects are really planets and not something else, such as dwarf stars or clouds of interstellar gas. Using a large ground-based telescope in Chile, he's looking for small irregularities, or wobbles, in a star's motion that would prove that it's accompanied by one or more planets.

This is the method that's been used since 1995 to spot about 100 extrasolar planets.

"If this is confirmed, in seven days we will have doubled the number of planets known in nine years," Beckwith earlier this week told a committee of the National Academy of Sciences.

Among the 100 possible planets, the Hubble team expects to find 10 to 20 transiting planets that are bright enough to be observed, Beckwith said. All of them are likely to be gas giants like Jupiter or Saturn, much larger than Earth and inhospitable to life as we know it.

NASA is planning telescopes that will be able to detect Earth-size planets and study their atmospheres..."

Voice of America News reports: “The United Nations says Southern Africa is in a death spiral because of the impact of AIDS on food shortages.

The director of the U.N. World Food Program says that HIV/AIDS is greatly exacerbating the effects of food shortages in southern Africa. James Morris says over and above natural disasters, such as drought, AIDS is killing those who would normally produce the region's food.

In addition, he says, the number of health and social workers dying from the disease is straining health and social services in the region.

Mr. Morris, who is also U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan's special representative for humanitarian needs for southern Africa, was speaking in Johannesburg at the end of a tour to Namibia, Lesotho, Swaziland, and Zambia.

He said this region is the worst hit by the AIDS pandemic and that it has resulted in the world's greatest humanitarian crises. ‘You have more than five million people living with the infection. You have a prevalence rate of 24 percent on the average.’

Mr. Morris said as many as 600 people die of AIDS each day in South Africa…”