Top 5 Headlines:
1. Dead Satellite Shot Down; U.S. Declares 'Success' (Courrier Post Online)
2. Protein in Deer Tick Saliva Prevents HIV-1 from Attaching to T Cells (Science Daily)
3. Treasure hunter: I've Found Nazi Plunder (CNN)
4. Morocco Busts Terror Network Funded by Crime (CNN)
5. Deadly Ebola Outbreak in Western Uganda is Over (Scoop News NZ)
Honorable Mention:
Unable to publish:
Wolves to be Removed from (Endangered) Species List
Feb 21, 12:50 PM ESTBy MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press Writer
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WOLF_DELISTING?SITE=NWCN&TEMPLATE=USHEADS.html&SECTION=HOME© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy.
1. Dead Satellite Shot Down; U.S. Declares 'Success'
By ROBERT BURNS and LOLITA C. BALDOR •Associated Press Writers •
February 21, 2008
http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080221/NEWS01/80221002
A U.S. Navy cruiser blasted a disabled spy satellite with a pinpoint missile strike that achieved the main mission of exploding a tank of toxic fuel 130 miles above the Pacific Ocean, defense officials said.
Destroying the satellite's onboard tank of about 1,000 pounds of hydrazine fuel was the primary goal, and a senior defense official close to the mission said Thursday that it appears the tank was destroyed, and the strike with a specially designed missile was a complete success.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates ordered the shootdown, which came late Wednesday as he began an eight-day, around-the-world trip on which he likely will face questions about the mission.
The elaborate intercept may trigger worries from some international leaders, who could see it as a thinly disguised attempt to test an anti-satellite weapon -- one that could take out other nation's orbiting communications and spy spacecraft.
Within hours of the reported success, China said it was on the alert for possible harmful fallout from the shootdown and urged Washington to promptly release data on the action.
"China is continuously following closely the possible harm caused by the U.S. action to outer space security and relevant countries," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said at news conference in Beijing. "China requests the U.S. to fulfill its international obligations in real earnest and provide to the international community necessary information and relevant data in a timely and prompt way so that relevant countries can take precautions."
While Pentagon officials stressed that the satellite strike was a one-time incident, it certainly will spin off massive amounts of data and research that can be studied by the military as it works to improve its missile defense technologies.
Officials had expressed cautious optimism that the missile would hit the bus-sized satellite, but they were less certain of hitting the smaller, more worrisome fuel tank.
In a statement released after the satellite was shot, the Pentagon said, "Confirmation that the fuel tank has been fragmented should be available within 24 hours." But a short time later, several defense officials close to the situation said it appeared the fuel tank was hit. One said observers saw what appeared to be an explosion. Those officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the results had not been formally documented at the time they spoke.
Because the satellite was orbiting at a relatively low altitude at the time it was hit by the missile, debris will begin to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere immediately, the Pentagon statement said.
"Nearly all of the debris will burn up on re-entry within 24-48 hours and the remaining debris should re-enter within 40 days," it said.
Gates approved the missile launch at about 1:40 p.m. EST, while en route from Washington to Hawaii. Within nine hours -- at 10:26 p.m. EST -- the USS Lake Erie, fired the SM-3 missile originally designed to knock down incoming missiles rather than orbiting satellites.
It hit the satellite about three minutes later as the spacecraft traveled in polar orbit at more than 17,000 mph.
The Lake Erie and two other Navy warships, as well as the missile and other components, were modified in a hurry-up project started in January. The missile alone cost nearly $10 million, and officials estimated that the total cost of the project was at least $30 million.
The operation was so extraordinary, with such intense international publicity and political ramifications, that Gates -- not a military commander down the chain of command -- made the decision to pull the trigger.
Gates had arrived in Hawaii less than two hours before the missile was launched. His press secretary, Geoff Morrell, said Gates had a conference call during his flight with Air Force Gen. Kevin Chilton, head of Strategic Command, and Marine Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. They told him that "the conditions were ripe for an attempt, and that is when the secretary gave the go-ahead to take the shot, and wished them good luck," Morrell said.
At 10:35 p.m. EST, Gates spoke to both generals again and "was informed that the mission was a success, that the missile had intercepted the decaying satellite, and the secretary was obviously very pleased to learn that," said Morrell.
Adm. Timothy J. Keating, chief of U.S. Pacific Command, told reporters shortly before the strike that he made calls to a number of international leaders to alert them to the mission. He said none said they had concerns, but he acknowledged he did not speak to the Chinese.
China and Russia both expressed concerns about the shootdown in advance, saying it could harm security in outer space.
The government organized hazardous materials teams, under the code name "Burnt Frost," to be flown to the site of any dangerous or otherwise sensitive debris that might land in the United States or elsewhere.
Also, six federal response groups regularly positioned across the country by the Federal Emergency Management Agency were alerted but had not been activated Wednesday, FEMA spokesman James McIntyre said before the missile launch. "These are purely precautionary and preparedness actions only," he said.
President Bush approved the shootdown mission last week, deciding it was important to destroy the toxic hydrazine fuel to prevent any possible injuries if the satellite came down in a populated area.
The three-stage Navy missile used for the mission has chalked up a high rate of success in a series of tests since 2002, in each case targeting a short- or medium-range ballistic missile, never a satellite. Modifications to the missile for the mission were completed in a matter of weeks, and Navy officials said the changes would be reversed once this satellite was down.
The government issued notices to aviators and mariners to remain clear of a section of the Pacific Ocean beginning at 10:30 p.m. EST Wednesday.
Having lost power shortly after it reached orbit in late 2006, the satellite was out of control and well below the altitude of a normal satellite. The Pentagon determined it should hit it with the missile just before it re-entered Earth's atmosphere, to minimize the amount of debris that would remain in space.
Left alone, the satellite would have hit Earth during the first week of March. About half of the 5,000-pound spacecraft was expected to survive its blazing descent through the atmosphere and would have scattered debris over several hundred miles.
------
Robert Burns reported from Washington, Lolita C. Baldor from Honolulu. Pauline Jelinek in Washington contributed to this report.
2. Protein in Deer Tick Saliva Prevents HIV-1 from Attaching to T Cells
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080217224459.htm
ScienceDaily (Feb. 21, 2008)
— The HIV-1 virus cripples the human immune system by targeting white blood cells called T cells that form the body’s first line of defense in fighting infections. A recent study by researchers from the University of Massachusetts Amherst shows that a protein found in the saliva of deer ticks prevents the HIV-1 virus from attaching to the surface of T cells, which is the critical first step in the virus’ attack strategy.
Since the protein suppresses the action of T cells, it may also prove to be an effective treatment for autoimmune diseases like asthma and multiple sclerosis caused by an overactive immune system that mounts an attack against the body’s own cells and tissues, and it could be useful to suppress the immune system to prevent the rejection of transplanted organs.
When the HIV-1 virus enters a human host, it attaches to the surface of T cells before fusing with the cell membrane and injecting its DNA into the nucleus. “This allows the virus to use the machinery of the T cell to copy itself and multiply,” says Juan Anguita of the UMass Amherst department of veterinary and animal sciences. “Deer ticks, which are carriers of Lyme disease, produce a protein that can interfere with the initial attachment of the HIV-1 virus, which could lead to new treatments that stop the infection process before it begins.” Additional members of the research team include Ignacio Juncandella, Tonya Bates and Elias Olivera of veterinary and animal sciences.
Deer tick saliva contains the protein Salp15, which stops T cells from activating by binding to a specific site on their surface called the CD4 receptor. Since T cells initiate the body’s immune response to invading viruses and bacteria, this strategy allows the tick to evade a host’s immune system as it feeds for up to seven days. As it turns out, the CD4 receptor is also the site used by the HIV-1 virus to attach to T cells.
“Salp15 binds to proteins in the CD4 receptor that are furthest from the cell membrane in both mouse and human cells,” says Anguita. “This region overlaps with the binding region used by a protein on the envelope of the HIV-1 virus called gp120, making Salp15 one of several potential molecules being studied as entry-targeting inhibitors.”
Laboratory studies showed that the presence of Salp15 could inhibit the attachment of HIV-1 by almost 70 percent at the highest concentration tested. This effect may result from changes in the shape of the CD4 receptor caused by the binding of Salp15. Additional studies showed that Salp15 was also able to bind gp120, making it unable to attach to the CD4 receptor.
Since gp120 can only attach to one site on the CD4 receptor, and its shape has to fit exactly into the receptor’s proteins, this interaction is as specific as opening a lock with a key. Salp15 changes the shape of the key and the lock, preventing the system from working.
Anguita and Juncandella were also part of a study performed in cooperation with the Vermont Lung Center and the University of Vermont showing that Salp15 inhibited the development of asthma in mice. The researchers induced asthma in a group of mice that also received Salp15 and compared them to a control group. Mice that received Salp15 had airways that were less reactive, and showed lower levels of several biochemical markers that indicate a T cell response. Results were published in June 2007 in The Journal of Immunology.
“The activation of T Cells is necessary for the development of allergic airway disease in mice, which shares many features of human allergic asthma,” says Anguita. “Effectively controlling the activities of these cells could be a panacea for asthma therapy.”
Anguita believes that Salp15 may lead to treatments for HIV-1, transplant rejection and autoimmune diseases with fewer side effects than traditional medications like steroids and protease inhibitors, partly because its action is so specific. “HIV-1 and transplant patients are on powerful medications for life, and most of these have secondary effects like nerve damage and liver problems, says Angiuta. “This makes the development of new treatments an important area of research.”
Results were published in the February 2008 issue of Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications.
3. Treasure Hunter: I've Found Nazi Plunder
Updated 21 Feb 2008, 2:07 pm EST
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/02/21/nazi.treasure.ap/index.html?iref=hpmostpop
BERLIN, Germany (AP) -- A German lawmaker and part-time treasure hunter claimed Thursday he may have found where the Nazis stashed pieces of the storied Amber Room treasure plundered from the Soviet Union during World War II.
Working from a map and notes that were among the possessions of a dead Nazi air force radio operator, Hans-Peter Haustein maintains he has now pinpointed the location of the treasure buried in the mountains in the state of Saxony on the Czech border.
"A scientific test of the soil has also proven that there is gold in the mountain," Haustein told The Associated Press. Haustein said he would give more details about his discovery at a news conference Friday.
The claim, which was first reported by German media this week, has been met with skepticism by experts who point out that stories of the Amber Room surface regularly, only to be proved wrong.
"We hear people saying they found the Amber Room three or four times a year," said Larisa Bardovskaya, director of the Tsarskoye Selo museum outside St. Petersburg, which housed the original Amber Room and has displayed a copy of it since 2003.
"After a check, it all turns out to be wishful thinking," she said in televised comments.
The Amber Room, completed in 1711 after a decade of work, was installed in a palace the czar built for his wife, Catherine I, outside St. Petersburg.
Retreating Nazi troops looted the palace in World War II and the Amber Room -- named for magnificent wall panels of golden-brown amber that were a gift from Prussian King Frederick William to Czar Peter the Great -- was moved to a castle in Koenigsberg, now the Russian city of Kaliningrad.
It disappeared in 1945 and though some pieces have been found, nobody has ever been able to locate the rest, despite massive search efforts.
Most experts suspect that the Amber Room probably spent the entire war in Kaliningrad, and many believe it could easily have been largely destroyed in the fierce fighting in the final weeks of the war.
Haustein is a member of the opposition Free Democratic Party in parliament and the mayor of the town of Deutschneudorf -- near where he claims the treasure is thought to be buried. He was approached in October by Christian Hanisch, the son of a Nazi air force radio operator, with the map and notes that were in the possessions of Hanisch's late father.
Working together, the two claim to have pinpointed where they think the treasure is buried, in a man-made cavern 20 yards deep in the mountainside.
Treasure hunters of all sorts -- including the Stasi, the former East German security service -- have scoured Germany in search of it only to come up with nothing.
In 1998, a German expert thought he had found the Amber Room's resting place in a blocked mine in Czech territory near to where Haustein is searching, but turned up nothing.
But Haustein has long been convinced that Deutschneudorf has held the remnants of the Amber Room -- a suspicion that he says was only strengthened by Hanisch's map.
Haustein is now hoping that he can find enough private investors to finance the costly effort to access the cavern he suspects holds the treasure -- which he believes could be booby-trapped.
Were he to find anything, Haustein said it would belong to the state of Saxony, but it would surely arouse the attention of Russia, which would want it back. A mosaic and a chest of drawers from the Amber Room that turned up in private collections in Germany were returned to Russia in 2000 as part of a swap of "trophy art" pilfered by both sides during the war.
Even if the cavern does not hold the Amber Room treasure, Haustein said he could very well have stumbled on to something else.
"There's still (a lot) of Nazi loot unaccounted for," he said
4. Morocco Busts Terror Network Funded by Crime
updated 1:42 pm
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/02/21/morocco.ring.ap/index.html?iref=24hours
PARIS, France (AP) -- Morocco's government said it has dismantled a terrorist network that raised funds through heists in Europe and plotted to assassinate Cabinet ministers and members of the North African kingdom's Jewish community.
Morocco has also banned an Islamist political party, Al Badil Al Hadari, and its leader has been taken into police custody in connection with the case, the Interior Ministry said.
Police arrested 32 people in sweeps this week.
Besides the political leader, Mostafa Lmouatassime, those arrested included Abdelhafid Sriti, correspondent for the Hezbollah militant group's Al-Manar television, as well as a university professor and a police superintendent, the official MAP news agency reported.
5. Deadly Ebola Outbreak in Western Uganda is Over
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0802/S00265.htm
Thursday, 21 February 2008, 11:03 am
Press Release: United Nations
Deadly Ebola outbreak in western Uganda is over, says UN health agency
20 February 2008 – Ugandan health authorities have declared that the deadly outbreak of Ebola haemorrhagic fever in the country’s west is over, the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) reported today.
The last person in Bundibugyo district, which shares a border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), to be infected by the virus was discharged from hospital on 8 January – more than double the maximum incubation period for the disease, WHO said in an update on the outbreak.
Laboratory analysis in the United States has confirmed that the virus in this outbreak is different from the three known African Ebola species and should be considered as a new species.
After the outbreak emerged last year, WHO, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP) joined forces with Ugandan health authorities and a series of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other international partners to fight the spread of the disease.
At least 37 people died in the outbreak, and there were 149 confirmed cases, according to Ugandan officials.
The Ebola virus is transmitted by direct contact with the blood, secretions, other bodily fluids or organs of infected persons or animals such as chimpanzees, gorillas, monkeys and antelopes, and it has an incubation period of two to 21 days.
Sufferers can experience fever, intense weakness, muscle pain, headaches and a sore throat, as well as vomiting, diarrhoea, rashes and impaired kidney and liver function. In the most severe cases, the virus can lead to both external and internal bleeding.
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