Australia, Asia kick off New Year’s parties
Monday, December 31st, 2007Read full story for latest details.
Archive for December, 2007
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Second-lowest U.S. death in Iraq
Monday, December 31st, 2007The U.S. military death toll in Iraq for December is the second-lowest monthly death toll of the war, although 2007 has been the deadliest year for U.S. troops.
U.N. takes control of Darfur peacekeeping
Monday, December 31st, 2007Read full story for latest details.
Kenya election violence kills ‘at least 124′
Monday, December 31st, 2007At least 124 people have now died in violence sparked by allegations of vote-rigging in Kenya’s disputed presidential elections, according to local media. Earlier reports said 46 bodies were taken overnight to a morgue in the western city of Kisumu alone.
Decision on Pakistan election delayed
Monday, December 31st, 2007Pakistan’s Central Election Commission said Monday that a decision is expected Tuesday on whether to hold parliamentary elections as scheduled on January 8.
France faces end of coffee and cigarettes
Monday, December 31st, 2007As a look, it is about as quintessentially French as it gets. All the same, from the New Year enjoying a cigarette while you sip on your cafe au lait will become a thing of the past.
U.S. prods N. Korea on nuclear deadline
Monday, December 31st, 2007In a last-minute nudge to North Korea, the U.S. State Department said Sunday it was “unfortunate” that Pyongyang had not supplied a complete declaration of its nuclear programs before a Monday deadline but signaled it would continue disarmament talks with its allies.
New Bhutto video emerges
Monday, December 31st, 2007Dramatic new videotape of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto emerged Sunday, showing her headscarf flapping up on the side opposite the alleged gunman before she slumps forward.
Riots follow Kenya president’s re-election
Sunday, December 30th, 2007Incumbent president Mwai Kibaki has been re-elected as leader of Kenya, the country’s electoral commission announced Sunday.
MINNEAPOLIS: Victim awake after 9 weeks in coma - (WCCO TV)
Sunday, December 30th, 200720-year-old Stephanie Smith’s family is calling her recovery a miracle after she recently regained consciousness after spending more than nine weeks in a drug-induced coma. Stephanie Smith contracted the E. coli bacteria after eating Sam’s Club hamburger in September. She has been at St. Mary’s Hospital in Rochester ever since. Until last ...
U.S. troops kill 6 al Qaeda suspects
Sunday, December 30th, 2007U.S. troops killed six suspected al Qaeda terrorists and captured 14 others in operations Saturday and Sunday in central and northern Iraq, the U.S. military said.
US: Taco Bell comeback slow - (Orange County Register)
Sunday, December 30th, 2007http://www.ocregister.com/business/taco-bell-comeback-1932084-slow-business A year ago today, Taco Bell, according to this story, learned that East Coast customers were getting sick after eating food from its restaurants. By mid-December 2006, 71 people were sickened and some were treated for kidney failure. A few months later, TV cameras captured rats running amuck inside a ...
Bhutto’s son to lead her party
Sunday, December 30th, 2007Benazir Bhutto’s 19-year-old son Bilawal will succeed her as chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party, officials say. The party also says it intends to take part in elections on January 8.
Iraq marks one year since Hussein’s execution
Sunday, December 30th, 2007Read full story for latest details.
Report: Iran nuclear plant to launch in 2008
Sunday, December 30th, 2007Read full story for latest details.
Bhutto’s party to discuss successor
Sunday, December 30th, 2007The party of slain opposition leader Benazir Bhutto is to meet Sunday to discuss her successor and whether to boycott Pakistan’s elections in January.
Alleged bin Laden tape warns Iraq, Israel
Saturday, December 29th, 2007Read full story for latest details.
Kenya president narrows poll gap
Saturday, December 29th, 2007Opposition leader Raila Odinga’s party claimed Saturday that it had won the most closely fought election in Kenya’s history and asked President Mwai Kibaki to concede defeat.
US: Raw milk turns up the heat - (Marler Blog)
Saturday, December 29th, 2007I love a lawsuit…… The AP reported yesterday, Dairies sue to stop enforcement of raw milk standard.” This one will be fun to watch. The raw milk folks (who sell their product for $10.00 per gallon - pasteurized milk sells for about $4.00) better watch what they are stepping into. ...
BARFBLOG: Top 10 movie poop scenes - (barfblog)
Saturday, December 29th, 2007Propellor.com has posted what it deems to be the Top 10 Poop Movie Scenes. http://www.propeller.com/viewstory/2007/12/28/top-10-poop-movie-scenes/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fweirdworldstuff.blogspot.com%2F2007%2F12%2Ftop-10-poop-movie-scenes.html&frame=true Below is the list of movies. You can visit propellor.com for pics and descriptions. And I’ve seen all the movies except the last one, Friday. It’s hard to argue with the classic simplicity of Caddyshack — a Baby Ruth ...
FDA warns consumers not to eat raw oysters harvested from the West Karako bay section of growing area 3 in LOUISIANA - (US Food and Drug Administration)
Saturday, December 29th, 2007The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning consumers not to eat raw oysters harvested from West Karako Bay, a section of Growing Area 3 in Louisiana. These oysters, harvested from Dec. 3 through Dec. 21, may be contaminated with norovirus. Symptoms of norovirus infection include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and ...
UK: Restaurant fined £14,000 - (Manchester Evening News)
Saturday, December 29th, 2007In June 2006, eight people who dined at Fu’s restaurant on Manchester Road, Mossley, suffered food poisoning and contacted Tameside Council environmental health department. Eventually, 12 complaints of salmonella were reported. Environmental health officers visited, and found cooked duck stored in cardboard boxes where raw poultry had been, dirty chopping boards ...
Colombia hostage rescue mission starts
Saturday, December 29th, 2007Two Venezuelan helicopters and their crews waited in central Colombia Saturday morning for directions as to where in the jungle to fly to pick up three hostages being freed by leftist rebels.
Australia frees Guantanamo convict
Saturday, December 29th, 2007Read full story for latest details.
Opposition claims victory in Kenya
Saturday, December 29th, 2007Opposition leader Raila Odinga’s party claimed Saturday that it had won the most closely fought election in Kenya’s history and asked President Mwai Kibaki to concede defeat.
Al Qaeda, Taliban link suspected
Saturday, December 29th, 2007U.S. officials suspect a Taliban leader, Baitullah Mehsud, was behind the plot to assassinate former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, a senior official said — a suspicion also shared by the Pakistani Interior Ministry.
How did Pakistan’s Bhutto die?
Friday, December 28th, 2007Conflicting reports about what caused the death of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto are fueling questions about the circumstances of her assassination.
Mission begins to free FARC hostages
Friday, December 28th, 2007Two helicopters left Venezuela on Friday in the first leg of an operation that could free three hostages from the jungles of Colombia.
KANSAS: Concert to raise money for e-coli victim - (WIBW-KAKE Kansas)
Friday, December 28th, 2007The gym at Sterling High School is quiet right now, but on Saturday it will be packed not for a game or a pep rally, but for a little girl who’s become Sterling’s Christmas miracle. “Everyday I tell her, ‘You know that you’re a walking miracle,’” says Karen Anderson, Aubrey’s mom. “To ...
UK: Morrisons recalls its 6 Iced Lemon Bakewell Slices - (Food Standards Agency (UK))
Friday, December 28th, 2007Morrisons has recalled its own-brand 6 Iced Lemon Bakewell Slices because the product contains almonds in the pastry. Almonds are shown in the ingredients list but are not mentioned in the allergy advice making the product a potential health risk for customers who are allergic to nuts. The Agency has ...
INDIA: 21 students taken ill - (The Hindu)
Friday, December 28th, 2007BERHAMPUR–Twenty-one students of the residential blind school at Ambapua on the outskirts of the city were admitted to MKCG Medical College hospital on Thursday following symptoms of food-poisoning after taking their breakfast in the hostel. Initially 12 of them were admitted to the medical college hospital. The rest were brought later. According ...
Dr. Germ: Charles P. Gerba - (Dental Office Magazine)
Friday, December 28th, 2007Charles John Palenik, director of Infection Control Research and Services at the Indiana University School of Dentistry http://www.dentalofficemag.com/display_article/315663/54/none/none/Dept/Dr.-Germ Charles P. Gerba, PhD, professor of environmental microbiology at the University of Arizona, is an expert on drinking water quality and pathogens in the environment. He has published more than 400 scientific articles and ...
CHINA: Undercooked kidney beans sicken 248 Students - (CRI Online)
Friday, December 28th, 2007A Fuyuan County government spokesman was cited as saying Friday that a food-poisoning outbreak at a school in southwest China’s Yunnan Province sickened 81 students and sent another 167 to hospital over mass hysteria. The story says that the 248 students, from Zhuyuan Township High School in Fuyuan County, complained of ...
UK: Kosher restaurants fail food-safety test - (The Jewish Chronicle)
Friday, December 28th, 2007Many kosher restaurants, delis and bakeries visited by local-authority inspectors are, according to this story, receiving very poor and poor ratings for food safety. A JC investigation of 59 establishments assessed over the last two years found that 30 received either zero- or one-star ratings. Just two were graded five-star and ...
CALIFORNIA: Dairies sue to stop enforcement of raw milk standard - (San Francisco Gate/Associated Press)
Friday, December 28th, 2007Dairies that produce unpasteurized milk are suing to stop the state from enforcing strict new standards. Claravale Farm, of Paicines, and Organic Pastures of Fresno filed the suit against the state Department of Food and Agriculture in San Benito County Superior Court Thursday. The dairies hope to stop a law that would ...
MASSACHUSETTS: State investigating rare outbreak in pasteurized milk - (Associated Press)
Friday, December 28th, 2007Boston — State health officials say the pasteurization process at a dairy connected to a deadly outbreak of a bacterial illness appeared to have been working properly, meaning that the listeria bacteria that killed two elderly men and sickened two others in Massachusetts entered Whittier Farms’ milk supply after it ...
CHINA: Heavier fines to ensure food safety - (China Daily)
Friday, December 28th, 2007Exporters of food products that fail to meet safety standards of destination countries face a fine of up to 20 times the value of the consignment and can even be charged for committing a crime if the top legislature approves a draft law. Food product exporters who fail to go through ...
CHINA moves to improve quality of its seafood - (The New York Times)
Friday, December 28th, 2007SHANGHAI–Responding to growing global concerns about the quality and safety of its seafood, China was cited as saying this week that it would introduce an array of production standards to improve safety and guard against the use of illegal veterinary drugs. An official of the Ministry of Agriculture said in a ...
NEW ZEALAND: The rotten link in the food chain - (The Dominion Post)
Friday, December 28th, 2007According to this story, some 200,000 New Zealanders are stricken with foodborne illnesses each year, and almost half of those are caused by unsafe food handling at home. New Zealand’s rate of food poisoning is considerably higher than other OECD countries. World Health Organisation figures show there were 271 cases of ...
CHICAGO: 2007 in retrospect - (Daily Herald)
Friday, December 28th, 2007A flooded Fox River, public health scares and transportation issues were three of the biggest issues Kane County leaders dealt with in 2007. The county’s public health department responded to outbreaks of hepatitis A and salmonella this year. More than 2,900 people who ate at Houlihan’s in Geneva in January, when ...
HONG KONG: 10 ill with food poisoning - (news.gov.hk)
Friday, December 28th, 2007The Centre for Health Protection is, according to this story, investigating a food poisoning outbreak involving 10 men, aged 18 to 63. They came down with vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain and nausea about one to five hours after consuming turkey on December 27. The turkey was purchased from a Central restaurant ...
WASHINGTON: FSIS issues public health alert for ground beef products due to possible E. coli O157:H7 contamination - (USDA News Release)
Friday, December 28th, 2007WASHINGTON–The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is issuing a public health alert for approximately 14,800 pounds of ground beef products that may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7, that were produced by Texas American Food Service Corporation, a Fort Worth, Texas, establishment doing business as ...