[news] Health officers tell of swimming risks

A deadly amoeba that killed a Brevard County teenager last weekend may be present in any warm freshwater lake, pond or river in Florida this time of year.

ST. PETERSBURG - A deadly amoeba that killed a Brevard County teenager last weekend may be present in any warm freshwater lake, pond or river in Florida this time of year.

"We want people to be aware of these risks, because they certainly do not want more deaths," said Andrea Castillo, the Pinellas County Public Health Department's health services manager.

Doctors believe that 16-year-old Courtney Nash contracted the Naegleria fowleri amoeba while swimming in the San Juan River with his family.

Infection N. fowleri can cause inflammation of the rare but serious brain, primary amoebic meningoencephalitis. Nash symptoms including severe headache and fever. She died Saturday.

The last confirmed case of primary amoebic meningoencephalitis was a pensioner of 22 years old Orlando wakes up in 2009. In 2007, three Central Florida children died from the infection.

The microscopic organisms live in the sediment of freshwater bodies. Warm temperatures to activate it, which poses a threat to swimmers. The amoeba usually enters through the nose of the swimmer. Infection or PAM, stroke victim and spinal cord. Symptoms begin one to seven days after infection.


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[news] Brain-eating amoeba: 2nd prey in previous month

Amebic meningoencephalitis due to Naegleria fowleri 

(CBS News) The news that a Virginia boy 9 years old, recently died of a brain infection linked to a waterborne "brain-eating amoeba" is intended to raise concerns such as water- lovers find a way to cool off in the dog days of summer.

Autopsy results confirmed the cause of death as an inflammation of the brain and its lining. The victim's mother said the boy, Christian Alexander Strickland, had attended a fishing camp in several places the week before he died.

"It's important that people be aware of the messages ... swim safely," said Dr. Keri Hall, state epidemiologist in the Department of Health of Virginia, Richmond Times-Dispatch in a statement.

It is the second death in the last month on the same parasitic infection, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which confirmed that a Floridan 16 years old, Courtney Nash, died Saturday, shortly after swimming in the San Juan River.

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[news] Seclusion, raids take toll in Gaddafi's Libya

TRIPOLI, Aug 12 (Reuters) - The impact of the two strands of Western efforts to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi was evident this week in Tripoli, where doctors struggled to deal with Libya wounded in recent attacks on NATO amid a shortage of deepening of electricity and medical supplies.

Hassan Moussa, head doctor of the Central Hospital of Tripoli, said doctors were forced to improvise the treatment of critically injured patients such as providing oxygen and other short-term needs six months after the United Nations renewed the sanctions Libya.

"We are doctors, but we can not save people. Where is the oxygen? Where are the lab supplies, electricity, refrigeration?" said. "We ask God to end this nightmare."

Machines hummed in the intensive care unit of the hospital while doctors tended to patients who said they were injured in NATO air strikes this week. Authorities said the attack killed 85 people, including women and children in a group of villages near where the rebels are fighting to end 41 years of government Gaddafi.

The longtime leader remains defiant despite months of bombing, and there is little evidence that his best armed army will soon give way to the rebels making fitful progress.

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[news] PM compliments London transport labors for duty during riots

London buses came under attack during the riots

Transport workers have been praised by the Prime Minister, David Cameron, for its value to "keep London moving."

In a letter to Transport for London Cameron paid tribute to those who "protect passengers" during the riots.

He made special mention of the nearly full bus driver was attacked in Croydon on Monday and a shuttle bus driver at Tottenham, who worked with a broken wrist after being beaten.

TfL said he wanted to make sure it is "business as usual" for Londoners.

More than 1,000 people have been arrested and charged about 600 rioting and looting after all the capital on Saturday.

The letter from Mr Cameron thanked the staff for working "day and night to keep London moving against the terrible violence and vandalism."

"They all deserve our gratitude and admiration."

Among the incidents highlighted was that of an "almost full" double-decker bus that came under "sustained attack" in London Road, Croydon, on Monday night. The driver managed to drive the passengers.

On Saturday night, when the riots first erupted, a bus service driver was assaulted at Tottenham, but he continued to work throughout the night. It later emerged he had broken his wrist in the attack.

Transport Commissioner Peter Hendy said: "I welcome and echo the recognition of the prime minister simply outstanding work done by the staff right across London's transport network, as well as police and services emergency. "

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[news] Syrian Armies Kill 50 in the Previous Three Days, Activist Articulates

Aug. 12 (Bloomberg) - Syrian security forces killed at least 50 people in the past three days, the activists said, as regional and international pressure mounted on President Bashar al-Assad to end the repression of Protesters against the government.

The deaths occurred in the eastern town of Deir al-Zour, the central province of Homs, the northern province of Idlib and the southern part of Dara, where the uprising began in March, said Ammar Qurabi of the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria. At least 11 protesters were killed in Homs, Idlib, the governorate of Hama, the city of Aleppo, Deir al-Zour and the suburbs of the capital, Damascus, thousands of people marched, said Mahmoud Merhi, president of the Arab Organization for Rights Human.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, speaking in an interview with CBS News yesterday called on Europe, India and China to increase pressure on Assad to leave and to impose sanctions on Syria's oil and gas.

The Obama soon called Assad to resign, said a U.S. official who requested anonymity because the administration is still discussing the issue and taking into account the timing of any announcement. While the U.S. is concerned about the possibility of a civil war in Syria, which is more focused on the prospect of sectarian violence promoted by the government and the possibility that the situation in Syria will cause instability in the Middle East, the official said yesterday.

Ramadan violence

More than 300 have died since July 31, the eve of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, according Qurabi and Merhi. Protesters across Syria, including the suburbs of Damascus took to the streets yesterday afternoon after breaking the Ramadan fast day and evening prayers complete, Merhi said by telephone today.

Merhi and Qurabi, who compiled the names of the dead, saying Assad's forces have killed more than 2,400 protesters and arrested thousands of people since the revolt began.

Another activist, Abdul-Karim Rihawi, head of the League of Human Rights in Syria, was arrested yesterday at a cafe in downtown Damascus, Qurabi said.

The impulse may be to build a bolder Assad to stop after Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain withdrew their ambassadors from Damascus this week and said his neighbor Turkey is entering a "critical" period.

Army desertions

"The desertions in the army is growing, we are in the hundreds and thousands now going to be soon," Hussein said Harmoush, a lieutenant colonel who was separated from the military in June and the Speaker of the Syrian Arab Army Free, today in a telephone interview from Syria, near the border with Turkey.

Harmoush, 39, who served in the army since 1991, said he and other deserters from the forces to the left when the mission "has changed from state protection and the preservation of order to kill innocent people." He said the defector forces not actively engaged government troops in battle and are present in the protests in a "protection capability to defend the protesters."

European nations renewed the momentum of a United Nations resolution against the bloodshed and the U.S. imposed new financial sanctions in Syrian banks and telecommunications. Russia has indicated he is not convinced that a UN resolution is necessary. The European Union is considering extending its sanctions against Syria, EU spokesman Michael Mann told reporters today in Brussels.

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[news] German court to attend Apple-Samsung debate

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co. (SSNHY, 005930.SE) will go to court on August 25 to appeal an earlier decision to ban the giant South Korean technology selling your computer tablet Galaxy in most part of the European Union, as has become a global battle for intellectual property rights rages on.

The Regional Court of Duesseldorf earlier this month issued a preliminary injunction, made at the request of Apple Inc. AAPL 0.47%, but Samsung's distribution of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet touch screen most of Europe, except the Netherlands.

The device - released earlier this summer, and that works with Google Inc. 's 0.28% GOOG Android operating system - is widely regarded as the most promising competitor to Apple's iPhone, which has dominated the market since its launch year past. Samsung copied Apple says its products.

In April, Apple sued Samsung in a California court, claiming the South Korean manufacturer infringed its patents and "slavish" copying their designs. Legal battles between the company's Cupertino, Calif., and Samsung have been around the world, with performances in several Asian and European countries and the International Trade Commission.

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[news] England riots: What's the anticipation of the words behind the mobocracy?

It may have been that England was rocked by violence, looting and disorder.

However, many of the terms used by their authors came from a very different place altogether - and because the coverage of the riots, which have found a wider audience than ever.

"If you see a food ... Shoot!" read a message distributed BlackBerry Messenger, imploring readers to revolt.

Another widely reported in the aftermath of chaos, urged everyone to "Tottenham and thrown into the [expletive] the 5-0." There were thousands of references, so the "po po".

Mark Duggan, whose fatal shooting by police sparked the violence, sent a text message shortly before his death saying. "Feds follow me"

These terms are used to express dislike of the police involvement a common characteristic - all are derived from the inner cities of the U.S., not UK.

To outsiders, it seems incongruous that these terms were commonly used by young people who went directly from the integral, not Compton.

But when politicians and pundits use terms to argue that the pernicious influence of hip hop and rap is responsible for feeding the unrest, which was completed using vernacular obtained from your game box from The Wire.

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[news] Medvedev authorize Libya sanctions 5 months after UN vote

The measures approved by Medvedev include a ban on the use of Russian airspace by Libyan planes (AFP/POOL/File, Sergei Karpukhin)

MOSCOW - President Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree tightening sanctions on Libya five months after the measure passed by the Security Council of the UN in March, the Kremlin said Friday.

It was not immediately clear why Medvedev signed a decree implementing the sanctions long after resolution 1973 was passed.

Russia was forced to sign the measure as a member of the Security Council of the UN, and Medvedev's decree makes no mention of military action abroad is specified in the measure.

Medvedev approved measures include a ban on the use of Russian airspace to Libyan planes or humanitarian flights to Libya.

The decree also hits the freezing of assets of Muammar Qadhafi, his close relatives and his entourage, and barred from traveling to Russia.

Russia abstained from voting on the resolution, while not using their veto power, worry that the establishment of a no-fly zone in Libya would open the way for large-scale military operation.

The March 17 resolution crashed in Libya for breach of an earlier resolution adopted in February and called a no-fly zone and the protection of the rebel forces of Kadhafi.

Medvedev had signed a decree in March of implementation of resolution 1970 adopted in February, that Russia supported.

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[news] Assad declares unceasing crackdown

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad pledged on Tuesday to pursue an unceasing battle against "terrorist groups" he claims are behind prodemocracy protests as the death toll mounted from his regime's crackdown on dissent.

World pressure to end the bloody crackdown that has claimed more than 2,000 lives since mid-March mounted Tuesday with condemnations pouring in from Egypt, Iraq and Russia as the Turkish foreign minister delivered to Assad a stern message from Ankara.

"We will not waver in our pursuit of terrorist groups," Assad told visiting Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, according to state news agency SANA.

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[news] Syrian authority annihilate 19, U.S. threatens more sanctions

(Reuters) - Syrian forces killed at least 19 people in raids near the Lebanon border and in the country's Sunni tribal heartland, activists said, pursuing a military campaign to crush street protests against President Bashar al-Assad.

Assad's forces have intensified assaults on towns and cities across the country since the start of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan to subdue mounting dissent against the ruling family, despite threats of new U.S. sanctions and calls from Turkey, Syria's powerful northern neighbour, and Arab nations, to halt the attacks.

"Assad remains convinced that the military solution is working, ignoring the fact that as soon as he contains demonstrations in one town they erupt in another," a Western diplomat in the Syrian capital said.

"At one point he may not have enough loyalist troops capable of exerting control over simultaneous centres of protests," he added. Assad belongs to Shia Islam's minority Alawite sect.

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[news] Somalia's starvation may worsen

UNITED NATIONS - A senior UN official has warned that the Famine in Somalia, Utara is afflicting some 12 million people, Could worsen. Catherine Bragg, the UN assistant secretary-general for Humanitarian Affairs and deputy emergency relief coordinator, Issued the warning When she briefed the SCouncil on the "most severe humanitarian crisis in the world today." The UN has already declared Famine When malnutrition rates exceeded 30pc Among children, more than two people per 10,000 die per day.

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[news] Gold's Gym personal coach helps Craig shed 110kg

Craig Wilson with personal trainer Jonathon Bates.

THROW 110 kg in less than a year means Craig Wilson can fit back in high school rugby jersey.

"I'm sore from training, but I feel great," Wilson said.

Although no specific targets for weight loss, Mr. Wilson, 35, considered himself "morbid obesity", weighing 240 kg, when he began training in September 2010.

"I had no set goal or part time, but I knew this was the right thing to do," he said.

"I got the goal about 31 to lose weight in 35 and I've almost done."

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[news] UAE hands out $500,000 to support Joplin schools

Kansas City, MO - A $ 500.00 gift from the embassy of the UAE to spend on laptops is the latest donation to help a tornado damaged Joplin, Missouri, schools are preparing to open next week.

School district officials said Wednesday the $ 500,000 will help meet the goal of providing the 2,200 students at Joplin High School with a personal laptop.

The embassy of the UAE will donate up to $ 500,000 to match any contribution to laptops, district officials said.

Laptops allow students to access educational resources, such as textbooks online, in the wake of May 22 tornado that destroyed the high school and two schools, while other damage than half of all school buildings.

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