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Tag Archives: CIA

Peaceful Impossibilities!

10 Thursday Mar 2016

Posted by CricketDiane in Activism, Activism, Human Rights, Civil Rights, Learning, How To, Online Resourcing, New Technology, Cricket Diane C Sparky Phillips

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

CIA, diplomat corps, diplomats, NSA, State Department, UK, UN, U\s, War, world war

I love peace but it is not always possible. I know that. I love our military and I am so grateful for our military members. I’m just as grateful for our diplomats and other agency officers and support teams who often make military action unnecessary because of their efforts.

Every single day in my lifetime (and before I was born), the world has been lined up for war, toe to toe with each other. Ready to kill, ready to maim, ready to destroy all of civil society’s advances as quickly and fervently as possible

Had we not had the efforts of the many, we would not have the world we have today. Yet even in this moment, we are as close to the insanity of all out world war once again. Those efforts unsung, unheralded still being made every day.

It would be hard not to appreciate them. Sometimes, I thing maybe people forget.

  • cricketdiane, 03-10-2016

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US gives fresh details of CIA agent who killed two men in Pakistan shootout | World news | The Guardian

21 Monday Feb 2011

Posted by CricketDiane in Cricket Diane C Sparky Phillips

≈ Leave a comment

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blackwater, Blackwater Xe in Iraq and Afghanistan and now Pakistan, CIA, cricketdiane, Xe Contractors

US gives fresh details of CIA agent who killed two men in Pakistan shootout | World news | The Guardian.

US officials have provided fresh details about at the centre of a diplomatic stand-off in Pakistan, including confirmation that he (Raymond Davis who killed two Pakistanis) had worked for the private security contractor Xe, formerly known as Blackwater.

They also disclosed for the first time that he had been providing security for a CIA team tracking militants.

Davis was attached to the CIA’s Global Response Staff, whose duties include protecting case officers when they meet with sources. He was familiarising himself with a sensitive area of Lahore on the day he shot dead two Pakistanis.

(you just have to read this one – it just gets better and better. If the US contractors at Xe / Blackwater aren’t shooting somebody in cold blood – it is because they are in jail or asleep, wait – that’s wrong – maybe its only when they are having sex – no, wait, that’s not right either – they’ve shot people during that and kept right on going.)

The problem with the US policy of hiring these contractors is that they are accountable to no oversight as other officers of the CIA and other intel and security agencies have.

Well, that and the fact that Blackwater (Xe) contractors have taken paranoid, psychotic and pathological lying to all new extremes never even considered practical by the CIA, the NSA, the old KGB, Mossad.

They also give a bad name to all security contractors and subcontractors involved with US government contracts for the defense, intel and security needs of the US and businesses. It reflects negatively on the US as well. No one wants a bunch of renegade psychotic horror mongerers running around with guns backed by the multi-million dollar contracts they have so they can gun down anybody they want as they see fit, including killing innocent people as they did in New Orleans and elsewhere. (and now in Pakistan, and as they have done for over nine years in Iraq.)

It is obscene.

– cricketdiane

**

 

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Ex-Spy, Duane R. Clarridge, Runs His Own Private C.I.A. – NYTimes.com

23 Sunday Jan 2011

Posted by CricketDiane in Air Quality, Cricket Diane C Sparky Phillips, Intelligence, International Concerns, Money, Twenty-first Century, United States of America, US At Home - Domestic Policy, US Government, walking dead men club, War Stories

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Above the Law, blackwater, CIA, contract killers, cricketdiane, Democracy, Egypt, ex-spy in private practice, Freedom, Homeland Security contractors, Human Rights, Intel, Intelligence Contractors, International Concerns, KGB, mercenaries and spies, MidEast, military contractors, military intelligence consultants, Mossad, Mubarak, NSA, Private Contractors US Military and Intelligence, security industry, South America, Spies, Suleiman, US foreign aid, US foreign military aid, Xe

Ex-Spy, Duane R. Clarridge, Runs His Own Private C.I.A. – NYTimes.com.

Has a great photograph on page 3 of Ollie North (Oliver North) during the Iran-Contra hearings with Clarridge possibly? Who knows – they are whispering in the middle of nationally televised hearings where their butts were on the line – supposedly . . .

What conspiracy? How could any conspiracy in America be true? What would make anybody believe that?

Duh . . .

Our nation’s history and our world’s history is literally littered with the conspiracies of many, many different times – including the one where Lucretia Borgia and her “family members” had their own ways of dealing with things they didn’t like. And, yet – it is just something to be mocked, despite all evidence such as the very existence of Mr. Clarridge and others in his quasi-government, quasi-privatized war of information, misinformation, dissemination of information, agents, CIA spook stuff and generally malfeasance . . .

Durn – and they say I’m crazy.

These people held a way without Congress allowing it and then got caught and then got paid and then got away with it. And, now this guy and fourteen others like him are in business for themselves. Figures.

– cricketdiane

 

***

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CIA stuff – is it really a civilian agency?

13 Monday Jul 2009

Posted by CricketDiane in Cricket Diane C Sparky Phillips

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Tags

CIA, Congress

Central Intelligence Agency

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is the successor of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) formed, during World War II, to coordinate espionage activities between the branches of the US military services. The National Security Act of 1947 established the CIA, affording it “no police or law enforcement functions, either at home or abroad.” One year later his mandate was expanded to include “sabotage, anti-sabotage, demolition and evacuation measures…. Subversion (and) assistance to underground resistance movements, guerrillas and refugee liberation movements, and support of indigenous anti-communist elements in threatened countries of the free world” [6]

Today, the CIA’s primary function is collecting, and analyzing information about foreign governments, corporations, and individuals which it uses to advise public policymakers. The agency conducts covert operations, paramilitary actions and exerts foreign political influence through its Special Activities Division. Prior to December 2004, the CIA was literally the central intelligence organization for the US government, charged with coordinating and overseeing not only its own activities, but also the activities of the intelligence community as a whole.

[Etc.]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Intelligence_Agency

***

My Note –

I found this part interesting because I didn’t know it was a “civilian” agency –

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government.

What does that mean today? Are they a subcontractor of the US government who is not required to abide by the laws the rest of us must obey? Are they actually accountable to anyone? If they are not required to keep closed door acknowledgment of their activities with specific Intelligence Oversight Committees in the Senate and House – then, does it mean they are either running themselves and their activities, or answering only to whatever king’s advisors of the day are in charge within the executive branch or what?

Why is it commonly thought that the CIA has no domestic authority when many of their operations follow leads and information across the domestic landscape in the United States? Does anyone really believe that the only emails, internet searches information, phone taps, cellphone records and physical tracking of people done by the CIA and its authority over other agencies, was done exclusively concerning Al Qaeda or other known terrorist groups? That isn’t even possible without covering just about everybody else in the process.

But to hear it be “news” that the CIA lied and that they excluded mentioning their domestic activities to Congressional committees specific to them, doesn’t seem to be any real surprise making it worthy of the news as if it is somehow “new” information or “outlandish behavior for them.” To read their wall in entryway about the truth will set you free, etc. – seems ironic considering their stock in trade is to pretense, misleading, lying, pretending to be something other than who they are (in the James Bond sense) and generally, spying to get the information they sell to the federal government.

The real news would be to discover that any of them know how to tell the truth, or what that is, or how to not conceal the truth, or to accurately convey the truth to Congress, to the President and to the American people.

That would be news.

– cricketdiane, 07-13-09

***

***

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Republican Party Actions, Cronyism, Favoritism, Using the US government resources while they were in power to do whatever they wanted and cover their aristocratic Republican friends, used the CIA to serve their purposes and now are blockading and politically bombing by stalemate, hindrance and wasted efforts at every turn

09 Thursday Jul 2009

Posted by CricketDiane in Cricket Diane C Sparky Phillips

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Tags

CIA, Congress, Madoff, SEC

Glossary from Reality –

oxymoron – “political intelligence”

redundancy – “CIA lies”

***

Five SEC investigations missed Madoff

WASHINGTON, July 2 (UPI) — The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
failed to uncover Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme on five occasions in 20 years, a source close to the agency said.

http://www.upi.com/Business_News/2009/07/02/Five-SEC-investigations-missed-Madoff/UPI-51201246538744/

***

http://www.upi.com/Business_News/2009/07/09/Key-SEC-official-in-Madoff-inquiry-resigns/UPI-25311247148262/

Lori Richards is stepping down after 14 years as director of the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations, The Washington Post reported.

The agency had come under scrutiny for its role in the SEC’s monitoring of Madoff’s business without detecting his multibillion-dollar fraud. Her office reviewed his firm at least three times, in 1999, 2004 and 2005.

WASHINGTON, July 9 (UPI) — A senior U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission official who oversaw key investigations of Bernard L. Madoff’s activities is resigning, the agency said.

Key SEC official in Madoff inquiry resigns

Published: July 9, 2009 at 10:04 AM

http://www.upi.com/Business_News/2009/07/09/Key-SEC-official-in-Madoff-inquiry-resigns/UPI-25311247148262/

****

With a staff of more than 700, the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations is responsible for ensuring brokers, investment advisers and mutual funds comply with securities laws.

http://www.upi.com/Business_News/2009/07/09/Key-SEC-official-in-Madoff-inquiry-resigns/UPI-25311247148262/

***

But in a letter disclosed Wednesday, seven Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee asserted that Panetta told Congress last month that senior CIA officials have concealed significant actions and misled lawmakers repeatedly since 2001.

Posted by Foon Rhee, deputy national political editor July 9, 2009 11:39 AM

Does letter back Pelosi on CIA criticism?

***

Video: CIA Mislead Congress – Panetta – Bloomberg

Bloomberg

***

My Note –

How could that be a surprise?

For a place that has “The Truth Will Set You Free” on the wall coming in the door, the CIA has trained in creatively loose interpretations of reality as a way of life. It is what they do. How could that be unanticipated?

– cricketdiane, 07-09-09

***

Albany Republicans Seek to Block Paterson’s Nominee

By DANNY HAKIM
Published: July 9, 2009

ALBANY — Gov. David A. Paterson’s naming of Richard Ravitch as the state’s lieutenant governor was plunged into legal turmoil on Thursday after Senate Republicans received a temporary restraining order that sought to prevent Mr. Ravitch from taking office.


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/10/nyregion/10albany.html?ref=nyregion

***



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Nancy Pelosi and the CIA – it isn’t Leon Panetta’s game – His job sits on top of the agency known for lies, it is their stock and trade – the new Director can’t speak for them or their past actions accurately – no matter what they say at the desks of the CIA operatives and supervisors – the US Congress can’t be made into a war zone by the Republicans over this – they are the ones that are accountable for torture and other violations of the US Constitution

20 Wednesday May 2009

Posted by CricketDiane in Civil Rights, Democracy, Enlightenment and Reformation, George Washington, Human Rights, Reality-based Analysis, Sword of Truth, United States of America, US At Home - Domestic Policy, US Bill of Rights, US Constitution, US Declaration of Independence, US Government, walking dead men club

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abuse of the people by the Republicans under Reagan Bush and Bush Junior, Ashcroft, attorneys argue both sides of the same coin using the law as it suits them change the wording it is still torture, Bush Administration, CIA, cooruption and abuse of authority, corruption and abuse of power, Dick Cheney, military intelligence, Nancy Pelosi, Patriot Act, police brutality, Republican party, Republicans, Rumsfeld, Speaker of the House, torture, US Congress, waterboarding, Yoo

I think the people of the United States deserve to know what actually happened when Nancy Pelosi and others were briefed about the CIA’s use of torture and specifically, waterboarding.

But, the fact is, those briefing notes will be kept hidden because the chances are really good that the CIA didn’t clearly show or describe or demonstrate what was involved in any way that would’ve warned the decision-makers of its implications. They didn’t want anyone to stop them.

The difference is whether the CIA in the briefing said they were going to pour a little water over the faces of the captives to make them think the contractors would drown them.

Or, if the CIA said in the briefing that they were going to drown the captives and bring them back from it, to see if they would tell anything that was not already known.

And, whether the CIA in those briefings with Nancy Pelosi and others was conducted in such a way that they showed actual video footage which clearly indicated how the waterboarding and other practices of torture were being done.

The fact is, the CIA and every other intelligence contractor holds beliefs that lies are a tool of the trade. Giving their policies and practices a “frame of reference” that makes them look okay when they are not, is standard operating policy when it comes to decision-makers in Congress, the executive branch administrators, cabinet members, the President and especially, the American people. It has always been that way. And every other intelligence agency in the world works that way too.

The police lie to the criminal to get him or her to confess without an attorney while claiming to be the “good guys.” The CIA and other intelligence professionals lie to the “enemy,” whoever that might be today or tomorrow, and regardless of that saying on their wall, they do not operate in truth, honesty, ethics, morals, or high regard for greater principles. That is not what they’ve been hired to do.

They, [including police officers, security contractors and intelligence agents of our government,] have been hired to screw the enemy agent and pretend they are lovers to get information.

And, to set up tricks whereby information can be gained by whatever means necessary. And, to mislead, lie, steal, shoot the idiot they want to question and ask questions while applying pressure for the poor bastard or bastardess to bleed to death.

These CIA, NSA, police, and other “security” professionals don’t know why the American people or the members of Congress we’ve elected would frown upon things like that, nor why they don’t want waterboarding and other “enhanced interrogation measures” to be used, nor why these things are undesirable.

That’s why we don’t leave decisions about their actions strictly to their own best thinking. It is twisted. Their discussion of it is also twisted. They have training in making it twisted with intentional goals in mind. That is what they are good at doing because we’ve already spent a ton of money making sure they are trained to be like that.

And, when I think of what the CIA agency officials likely told anybody in Congress about what they are doing – including Nancy Pelosi – it probably went something like this –

“We are going to make them uncomfortable and inconvenience them a little but it won’t hurt them in any way. It isn’t torture – we had the lawyers check that. We might pour a little water down on them so they think we might drown them, but we will have a doctor there and a psychiatrist to make sure it won’t really hurt them. That’s okay with you all, isn’t it? We don’t foresee a problem, so there should be a lot gained and no real liability for the agency.”

I wasn’t there and don’t have the privilege of looking over the briefing notes or minutes of those meetings, but I bet the CIA wasn’t forthright about the reality of those interrogation techniques where a clear view could emerge. That is not the way they do things. It isn’t rocket science to figure out that the ability to honestly convey the truth is not one of their strong suits.

If Nancy Pelosi and others in Congress may be censured over this – then President Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and every other jackass that okay’d it needs to go before the world court and be held accountable just as we have done to every other tyrant and oppressive administration across the world.

They knew better. It isn’t possible to waterboard somebody 183 times in a month accidentally. None of them would consider it anything but torture if it were done to them.

And, it wasn’t the only way to do it, didn’t yield the degree and quantity of information they claimed and the only reason to have done it and some of the other things past a point was purely evil, sheer cruelty and sadistic psychopathic thinking.

The Republicans that are screaming for this and that against members of Congress, including Speaker Pelosi are simply trying to deflect the real targets of absolute accountability in this and in other wrongs that defied the Constitution of the United States along with the trust we placed in them.

For me, I want to believe that George Jr. didn’t do this and had a whole bunch of complete jackasses around him that were advising him badly. That is what I want to believe, but the Twin Towers came down on his watch because of the incompetence and infighting he and his cronies of the Republican party created.

And, no good bit of common sense can get through that mess of confused intellectual inbreeding they called policy in any agency they ruled. It is all – every last one of them – mucked up. Every agency, every purpose, every charter, every underlying goal and every policy twisted by their applications of it. But, they were consistent.

To find who actually was the individual or group of individuals behind these choices would be an act of God because the convoluted manner in which they governed and chose to “enact” their principles yielded the exact opposite of what they claimed to have intended – in every agency and facet of American life they touched.

There were reports that our government was broken as the news covered things last year that they found. And, they are right – it was broken and the Republicans who are now screaming against change want to keep it that way. While they are skimming around the People’s pond up there in Washington, they are failing to join with all of us in seeking solutions that will work. It is a disgusting waste of time, effort, good-will and resources.

– cricketdiane, 05-19-09

***

Nancy Pelosi and the CIA – it isn’t Leon Panetta’s game – His job sits on top of the agency known for lies, it is their stock and trade – the new Director can’t speak for them or their past actions accurately – no matter what they say at the desks of the CIA operatives and supervisors – the US Congress can’t be made into a war zone by the Republicans over this – they are the ones that are accountable for torture and other violations of the US Constitution

Leon Panetta cannot even begin to comprehend the beast that he is dealing with in the CIA. It is backwards, upside down and completely convoluted from anything that normal everyday people would consider right. That is why they can do that job. And, then we train them to be more of the same twisted thinking and actions to a greater degree of the extreme. If you don’t believe it – look into the “perception management” techniques the military and intelligence agencies are taught to use. Not for the faint of heart. – my note.

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Two Deaths Reported from Earthquake in Mexico – Swine Flu cases increase in California – credit crunch still impacting malls and jobs and unemployment / layoffs continuing – and US made flight veer around US airspace because revolution writer onboard – its all nuts – some damages listed from Mexico Acapulco earthquake today

28 Tuesday Apr 2009

Posted by CricketDiane in Cricket Diane C Sparky Phillips

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

CIA, credit crunch, earthquakes, Homeland Security, International Concerns, swine flu, terremoto, US economic crisis, US government policy

Air France Plane With ‘No-Fly’ Passenger Barred From U.S. Airspace

Monday, April 27, 2009

U.S. authorities stopped an Air France flight on its way to Mexico from entering U.S. airspace after learning one of the passengers was on the terrorist watch list, the U.K.’s Telegraph newspaper reported.

The April 18 flight from Paris to Mexico was carrying journalist Gernando Calvo Ospina, who has written about revolutionary movements in Cuba and Colombia, and is currently researching a book about the CIA, the Telegraph reported.

Ospina was told of the incident by the plane’s co-pilot.

“I was speechless and my first reaction was to ask, ‘Do you think I’m a terrorist?’,” Ospina told the Telegraph. “He replied ‘no’ and said that was why he told me about it, adding that it was extraordinary and the first time it had happened on an Air France plane.”

There were no scheduled stops in the U.S., and the passenger list was only given to Mexican authorities, the Telegraph reported.

The flight was forced to divert to the French Caribbean island of Martinique before continuing on, the Telegraph reported.

Ospina was on his way to Nicaragua to research a report, a spokesman for Ospina’s French publisher told the paper.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,518083,00.html

***

Monday, April 27, 2009 at 6:15 p.m.

A private school in Newberry, South Carolina, canceled classes Monday for fear of Swine Flu.

Some students at the school, which is about 40 miles northwest of Columbia, returned from a trip to Mexico with flu-like symptoms.

School officials say they’re not too concerned about swine flu, and believe a student who was sick before boarding the plane infected other students.


Swine Flu scare at South Carolina school

http://www.carolinalive.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=292505

***

Page last updated at 04:07 GMT, Tuesday, 28 April 2009 05:07 UK

‘Too late’ to contain swine flu

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8021384.stm

{above – BBC video clip about the swine flu from 6 hours ago, more or less}

WHO flu expert Dr Keiji Fukuda: “Containment is not a feasible operation”

A deadly swine flu virus first detected in Mexico can no longer be contained, a World Health Organization (WHO) official has said.

WHO Assistant Director General Keiji Fukuda said countries should now focus on mitigating the effects of the virus.

The WHO has raised its alert level from three to four, two steps short of declaring a full pandemic.

Mexico earlier said it believed 149 people had now died from the swine flu, though only 20 cases are confirmed.

The US, Canada, Spain and Britain have confirmed milder versions.

‘Not inevitable’

The WHO’s decision to raise the alert level to four came after an emergency meeting of experts, brought forward by a day because of concerns over the outbreak.

WHO PANDEMIC ALERT PHASES
Phase 1: No viruses circulating among animals causing infections in humans
Phase 2: Animal influenza virus causes infection in humans, and is considered potential pandemic threat
Phase 3: Influenza causes sporadic cases in people, but no significant human-to-human transmission
Phase 4: Verified human-to-human transmission able to cause community-level outbreaks. Significant increase in risk of a pandemic
Phase 5: Human-to-human transmission in at least two countries. Strong signal pandemic imminent
Phase 6: Virus spreads to another country in a different region. Global pandemic under way

Life at centre of the outbreak

Swine flu: Your experiences

In pictures: Swine flu

Level four means the virus is showing a sustained ability to pass from human to human, and is able to cause community-level outbreaks.

[ . . . ]

He said the virus had become too widespread to make containment a feasible option, and said countries must focus on trying to put measures in place to protect the population.

He also stressed that the experts did not recommend closing borders or restricting travel. “With the virus being widespread… closing borders or restricting travel really has very little effects in stopping the movement of this virus,” he said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8021827.stm

***

In Canada, six cases have been recorded at opposite ends of the country, in British Columbia and in Nova Scotia.

Swine flu officially arrived in Europe on Monday, when tests confirmed that a young man in Spain and two people in Scotland – all of whom had recently returned from Mexico – had the virus. They were said to be recovering well.

SPREAD OF VIRUS
Mexico: 20 confirmed cases (149 suspected deaths)
United States: 40 confirmed cases
Canada: 6 confirmed cases
UK: 2 confirmed cases
Spain: 1 confirmed case
Israel, Brazil, Guatemala, Peru, Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea: Suspected cases being tested

Tests are also being carried out on individuals or groups in New Zealand, Australia, Brazil, Israel and South Korea who fell ill following travel to Mexico.

A number of countries in Asia, Latin America and Europe have begun screening airport passengers for symptoms, while Germany’s biggest tour operator has suspended trips to Mexico.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8021827.stm

***

How swine flu has spread

Fears of a flu pandemic are growing as the number of confirmed cases around the world continues to rise.

In Mexico – where the outbreak began – there are now 26 confirmed cases. Some reports say as many as 149 people may have died from swine flu, but WHO officials put the figure much lower and said only about 20 of the deaths could be definitely attributed to swine flu.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8021547.stm

[Map with confirmed cases listed – this is the officially confirmed cases]

***

HOW SWINE FLU OUTBREAK EMERGED

Flu viruses mutate over time causing small changes to proteins on their surface called antigens. If the immune system has met particular strain of the virus before it is likely to have some immunity; but if the antigens are new to the immune system, it will be weakened. The flu currently making headlines is a strain of H1N1 influenza A virus, which affects birds, some mammals and humans.

The influenza A virus can mutate in two different ways; antigenic drift, in which existing antigens are subtly altered, and antigenic shift, in which two or more strains combine. Antigenic drift causes the slight mutations year on year in the flu strains that normally affect humans. As a result humans have partial, but not complete, immunity. By contrast, the new strain of H1N1 appears to have originated via antigenic shift in Mexican pigs.

[Go to this page and see the slide show explanation excerpted above]

What is swine flu?

Swine flu is a respiratory disease, caused by influenza type A which infects pigs.

There are many types, and the infection is constantly changing.

Until now it has not normally infected humans, but the latest form clearly does, and can be spread from person to person – probably through coughing and sneezing.

What is new about this type of swine flu?

The World Health Organization has confirmed that at least some of the human cases are a never-before-seen version of the H1N1 strain of influenza type A.

H1N1 is the same strain which causes seasonal outbreaks of flu in humans on a regular basis.

But this latest version of H1N1 is different: it contains genetic material that is typically found in strains of the virus that affect humans, birds and swine.

Current treatments do work, but there is no vaccine.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8020125.stm

***

FLU PANDEMICS
1918: The Spanish flu pandemic remains the most devastating outbreak of modern times. Caused by a form of the H1N1 strain of flu, it is estimated that up to 40% of the world’s population were infected, and more than 50 million people died, with young adults particularly badly affected
1957: Asian flu killed two million people. Caused by a human form of the virus, H2N2, combining with a mutated strain found in wild ducks. The impact of the pandemic was minimised by rapid action by health authorities, who identified the virus, and made vaccine available speedily. The elderly were particularly vulnerable
1968: An outbreak first detected in Hong Kong, and caused by a strain known as H3N2, killed up to one million people globally, with those over 65 most likely to die

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8020125.stm

What about bird flu?

The strain of bird flu which has caused scores of human deaths in South East Asia in recent years is a different strain to that responsible for the current outbreak of swine flu.

The latest form of swine flu is a new type of the H1N1 strain, while bird, or avian flu, is H5N1.

[from above question and answer page about swine flu]

***

Where can I get further advice?

Further information and advice on swine flu can be found at websites of leading health and research organisations around the world. The World Health Organisation gives background information on the virus. The UK’s Health Protection Agency advises the public about what to do if returning from an affected area. NHS Choices outlines how swine flu is different from other flu. The US government’s Centre for Disease Control is counting the number of cases in the US.

You can also track the spread of swine flu reports using unofficial sources. Healthmaps maps viruses using news reports. Social media guide Mashable lists some ways to track the virus . Links to useful websites are being shared on Twitter , the micro-blogging service.

***

Life at centre of the outbreak
Map: How the flu has spread
Is the world ready for a pandemic?
Economy braced for impact
UK lab ready to analyse swine flu
Lessons from Asia
‘I couldn’t get out of bed’
In pictures

Swine flu confirmed in Scotland

***

Sacramento has 2 more swine flu cases, California’s count rises to 13

Jill Tucker, Chronicle Staff Writer

Monday, April 27, 2009

(04-27) 21:15 PDT Sacramento — Two more California children were added to the list of confirmed cases of swine flu, Sacramento County health officials said this evening.

The additional children were students at St. Mel School, classmates of a third child who was diagnosed with the flu strain earlier.

A teenage student from the same school, who officials initially thought had contracted the virus during a trip to Mexico, tested negative for the flu virus. That student had become ill and then recovered after returning from his trip.

The two new cases in Sacramento County bring the total to 13 cases of swine flu statewide and 42 in other U.S. states as of Monday evening.

Other children at the school have also exhibited illness in the last few days and medical personnel were evaluating the cases.

[etc.]

“From now on when we are unable to sub-type Influenza-A virus, we have been directed to conclude the test has, in fact, detected swine flu,” the statement reads.

In addition to the three cases in Sacramento County, there were five confirmed cases of swine flu in San Diego and five in Imperial County.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/04/27/MN0O17A8Q5.DTL&tsp=1

San Francisco Chronicle –‎15 minutes ago

***

And from the continuing saga of commercial real estate going in the toilet –

***

Credit crunch hits the malls

Terry Pristin, New York Times

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Though it came as no surprise to investors, the collapse of General Growth Properties, the nation’s second-largest mall owner, has stirred new fears about a coming debacle in commercial real estate. The company, which owns 200 shopping centers encompassing 200 million square feet and 24,000 tenants, filed for bankruptcy protection last week.

With the credit markets virtually shut down, General Growth said it was unable to refinance the $3.3 billion in debt that had already matured or would be due this year. These included loans totaling $900 million on two malls in Las Vegas – Fashion Show and the Shoppes at the Palazzo – that were due to be repaid in November. An additional $6.4 billion in debt matures next year.

[ . . . ]

Two-thirds of the delinquency, in dollar volume, comes from loans issued in 2005 to 2007, a period when competition among lenders led to overly optimistic projections about rent growth. Delinquencies are expected to rise as borrowers exhaust reserve funds intended to cover their debt service while they waited for rents to go up.

General Growth’s problems have highlighted the difficulties for borrowers in modifying loans that have been securitized. In a filing with the Bankruptcy Court, Adam Metz, the chief executive of General Growth since John Bucksbaum, a member of the company’s founding family, stepped down in October, said the company faced “steep logistical challenges” in trying to negotiate extensions.

Restrictions stemming from tax considerations make it extremely difficult to change the terms of a securitized loan, said Thomas Humphreys, a partner New York at law firm Morrison & Foerster.

[ . . . ]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/04/26/RECK176UBH.DTL&type=realestate

***

L.L. Bean to lay off more than 200 employees

Hospitals cutting services, staff amid recession

[links from above page sidebar]

***

http://www2.esmas.com/noticierostelevisa/mexico/estados/059008/dos-muertos-sismo-guerrero

Fuente: NOTIMEX

Autoridades de Guerrero confirman que 2 personas murieron tras el sismo de 5.7 grados que se registró esta mañana; reportan escuelas y casas con cuarteaduras

En video

    • Tiembla en México

INFOGRÁFICO: QUÉ ES UN SISMO

ACAPULCO, México, abr. 27, 2009.- Dos personas muertas, una lesionada con la caída de un plafón, casas y escuelas con cuarteaduras, fue el saldo del sismo que se registró esta mañana en el estado de Guerrero.

El secretario general del Ayuntamiento de Acapulco, Guillermo Ramírez Ramos, confirmó que ningún hotel resultó dañado en su estructura, sin embargo si hay daños en casas y escuelas del puerto.

En el poblado de Kilómetro 30, en el Acapulco rural, la señora Sabina Vidal murió a causa de un infarto al momento del sismo; otra persona resultó lesionada al caerse un plafón de una tienda en la avenida Cuauhtémoc y un número no determinado fue atendido por crisis nerviosas.

En la comunidad de Zoyacatlán, municipio de Marquelia, la señora Dominga Bahena Vázquez, de 75 años de edad, también falleció de un infarto al miocardio.

[ . . . ]

Nueve casas resultaron dañadas en la calle Plan de Ayala y en decenas de casas se rompieron vidrios; el edificio CABE, en la colonia El Roble, también registró cuarteaduras, al igual que la
recién remodelada Clínica Avanzada de Apoyo Primario a la Salud (CAAPS).

En la colonia Pozo de la Nación, un techo se desprendió y en el fraccionamiento Colosio un tanque de agua se fracturó sobre un edificio.

[ . . . ]

Aproximadamente las 11:46 horas del día de hoy, se registró un sismo de 5.7 grados, el cual tuvo su epicentro a 31 kilómetros sur-sureste de Tixtla, 35 kilómetros de Chilapa y a 82 kilómetros de
Acapulco.

http://www2.esmas.com/noticierostelevisa/mexico/estados/059008/dos-muertos-sismo-guerrero

***

Contenido relacionado
Reportan 25 muertos y cientos de heridos tras …
Confirman 10 muertos por sismo en el Tíbet
Terremoto en Kirguizistán deja 72 muertos
Sismo de 5.7 grados en el DF
Anciana muere por sismo en Guerrero
Se registra sismo de 4.6 grados en Guerrero
Reportan saldo blanco en DF tras sismo de 5.3 …
Se registra sismo de 5.3 grados en el DF
***
About the swine flu outbreak:
“LA EPIDEMIA DEL VIRUS PORCINO: PREGUNTAS Y RESPUESTAS”

Mande todas sus dudas sobre la epidemia de la influenza porcina a este blog. Hoy las responderemos en el programa especial “La epidemia del Virus Porcino: Preguntas y Respuestas”. Canal 2, después de El Noticiero.

**

Virus de la influenza

El virus de la influenza que es el responsable de muertes en México, aparentemente es un virus proveniente de los cerdos. El virus de la gripe o influenza tiene una gran capacidad de sufrir cambios a nivel de las proteínas que lo recubren, haciendolo más agresivo y capáz de ocasionar síntomas más severos de los que se presentan en el catarro común…

**

noticieros televisa mexico

Fotogalerías del mundo

Fotos

http://www2.esmas.com/noticierostelevisa/mexico/estados/059008/dos-muertos-sismo-guerrero

***

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