The world’s political elite, top thinkers and powerful business folk gathered here for an annual, ultra-secretive Bilderberg conference as heavy security kept conspiracy theorists and curious onlookers at bay. Global luminaries such as former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger, US banker David Rockefeller and Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands were greeted at the airport by limousine drivers holding single-letter ‘B’ signs late Thursday, said local reports. They were quickly whisked away to the Brookstreet Hotel in a serene suburb of Ottawa for three-day talks on oil markets, security concerns tied to Iran’s nuclear ambitions, terrorism, and immigration, the Ottawa Citizen reported. Conspiracy theorists who follow the group accuse it of plotting world domination at its informal annual gatherings. But, Richard Perle, former US defence policy advisor, upon his arrival in Ottawa, denied allegations the group crafts public policy behind closed doors. ‘It discusses public policy,’ he stressed to a Citizen reporter. A statement from the group said the meetings were private to encourage ‘frank and open discussions.’ But skeptic Daniel Estulin, who flew from Spain to try to cover the conference, said their intent is to ‘create a world government ruled by an […]
WASHINGTON — The first vaccine to protect against most cervical cancer won federal approval Thursday. The vaccine Gardasil, approved for use in girls and women ages 9 to 26, prevents infection by four strains of the human papillomavirus, or HPV, Merck & Co. (MRK) Inc. said. The virus is the most prevalent sexually transmitted disease. Gardasil protects against the two types of HPV responsible for about 70 percent of cervical cancer cases. The vaccine also blocks infection by two other strains responsible for 90 percent of genital wart cases. Merck is expected to market Gardasil as a cancer, rather than an STD, vaccine. It remains unclear how widespread will be the use of the three-shot series, in part because of its estimated cost of $300 to $500. Conservative opposition to making the vaccine mandatory for school attendance may also curb its adoption. The target age for receiving Gardasil is low because the vaccine works best when given to girls before they begin having sex and run the risk of HPV infection. The vaccine may not protect people already infected and may increase their risk of the kind of lesions that can lead to cervical cancer, the […]
Hurricane Katrina displaced more than 400,000 people from the New Orleans area and the Mississippi Gulf Coast, according to a Census Bureau report to be released today, one of the most comprehensive looks at the hurricane-induced migration. The figures show that the New Orleans metropolitan area, and not just the city, remains vastly shrunken in population four months after the storm, having lost 378,000 people, and that those who remained were more prosperous and were far more likely to be white. Whereas the population of the New Orleans region was 54 percent non-Hispanic white before the storm, that proportion had grown to 68 percent in the months after the storm, the figures show. ‘We knew the city was becoming whiter and less poor, but now we know the entire New Orleans region was,’ said William H. Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution who analyzed the new figures. ‘This is the first real numbers on this. Everything else has been guesswork.’ The figures show that the Gulfport-Biloxi region lost 41,000 people from before Katrina to January, ranking it second among metropolitan areas for population loss. But in contrast to the New Orleans region, the Mississippi […]
WASHINGTON — Democratic lawmakers say Congress will be working in the dark on big issues such as Social Security and Medicaid if the Census Bureau eliminates a unique survey of poverty and income. The Bush administration has proposed cutting the Survey of Income and Program Participation. It is the government’s only survey that repeatedly questions thousands of people over time about how income changes affect their poverty status, health coverage and use of government services. Democrats are trying to save the program, which will cost $32 million this year, while some Republicans are looking to cut the agency’s spending. A House committee is scheduled to take up the Census Bureau’s 2007 budget next week. A dozen Democrats in Congress wrote Bush’s budget director on Wednesday questioning the elimination of the survey. Supporters say the 22-year-old survey has been crucial for measuring the effects of welfare changes, unemployment insurance, food stamps and other services. They argue it could be an important tool to evaluate how older people will be affected by the new Medicare drug plan. Every four months, the same people are asked the same survey questions. The sample sizes have ranged from 14,000 to […]
Scientists are developing a new way of tackling HIV, using a drug which blocks the assembly of the virus. US researchers, working with Panacos Pharmaceuticals which makes the drug, found it was effective in a small-scale human trial, New Scientist reports. PA-457 will now be given in combination with other HIV drugs to people whose existing treatment is failing. Experts said there was a lot of interest in PA-457, but warned it would not be available for some years. The demand for new forms of medication is great. About 80% of people being treated for HIV show resistance to one or more of their drugs, a spokesman for Panacos said. There are several existing ways of tackling HIV. Many medications work by blocking reverse transcriptase, an enzyme which enables HIV to replicate within a cell. Others disable protease, which helps to assemble the virus into particles to infect other cells. Shield ‘disabled’ PA- 457, a derivative of betulinic acid, is a cheap by-product of the paper industry and one of a new class of drugs called maturation inhibitors. It works by interfering with the production of the capsid protein, […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
