news/notes20090506a

[Biography of the Day] from [Britannica]

Tony Blair
British Labour Party leader Tony Blair, born this day in 1953, became in 1997 the youngest British prime minister since 1812, and in 2005 he led his party to its third successive general election victory.

[On This Day] from [Britannica]

1937: Hindenburg disaster
On this day in 1937, while landing at Lakehurst, New Jersey, on its first transatlantic crossing of the year, the German dirigible Hindenburg burst into flames and was destroyed, killing 36 of the 97 persons aboard..


[TODAY'S TOP STORIES] from [The Japan Times]

[NATIONAL NEWS]

Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Calls to revise organ law grow as lawmakers debate various plans

By ALEX MARTIN
Staff writer

When Yasuto Katagiri asked New York's Columbia University in February to perform a heart transplant on Hoku, his 2-year-old son suffering from a rare form of heart disease called restrictive cardiomyopathy, the university had to turn him down because its 5 percent limit for accepting foreign transplant patients had already been reached.

Fortunately, his son was eventually accepted at Loma Linda University Medical Center in California, and Katagiri will begin raising donations to cover the estimated 100 million the operation is expected to cost, according to the nonprofit Japan Transplant Recipient Organization.

But Katagiri is one of many parents of sick children who question why they have to look overseas for a life-saving operation.

"Why can't Japan, with its advanced medical facilities and technology, allow transplants for children?" Katagiri asked at an April 14 rally demanding the organ transplant law be changed.

Reflecting such sentiment, lawmakers are rushing to revise the controversial 12-year-old law that bans children under 15 from donating their organs, a rule that gives many recipients like Katagiri's son no option but to seek transplants overseas.

And with the World Health Organization expected this month to officially ask member states to discourage people from seeking overseas transplants — following last year's Istanbul Declaration that called for similar restraints — pressure is mounting on lawmakers to act fast.

Three amendments have already been submitted to the Diet. Plan A would scrap the age limit for donations altogether, plan B proposes lowering the age limit to 12, while plan C would maintain the current age limit while further restricting the legal definition of brain death, making it harder to rule that someone is brain dead.

A fourth comprehensive amendment that would toss out the age limit but tighten the terms for brain death is to be submitted to the Diet after Golden Week.

Due to the highly sensitive nature of the subject, however, lawmakers will be asked to vote on one of the four choices on an individual basis, disregarding party policies. It therefore remains uncertain whether a majority decision can be reached during the current Diet session, which ends June 3.

"We have kids waiting for transplants dying every week, and many more adults dying every day," said Michikata Okubo, director of the transplant recipients organization. "A day passed is another dead body. We can't wait any longer.

"This isn't about personal views toward death. It's about politics, about how we act as a nation."

Okubo is upset by what he calls the lawmakers' slow response. The law, he noted, was originally slated for revision in 2000, three years after it was enacted.

Organ transplants from brain-dead patients were first legalized in 1997. Prior to that, transplants could be conducted only after a patient's heart and lungs had stopped functioning, at which point it was too late for major organs to be used for transplants.

The current law, however, requires written consent from the donor, as well as the family's permission, and only people over the age of 15 have the option of donating their organs — those below that age are deemed too young to be able to make a decision on their own.

Certain organs can be donated from adults to children. An adult liver, for example, can be divided and transplanted into children.

However, young children in need of a heart cannot obtain a transplant from an adult due to the difference in size.

The effects of such multiple restraints is reflected in the minimal number of organ transplants from brain-dead donors in the past 12 years. There have been only 81 cases in total, of which 65 were heart transplants, compared with an average 80 conducted every day in the United States, according to the Richmond, Virginia-based United Network for Organ Sharing.

With little chance of receiving a transplant domestically, many patients have opted to go overseas. According to a health ministry study in 2006, Australia was the most popular destination for those seeking liver transplants, China the No. 1 choice for kidney transplants and the U.S. ranked at the top for heart transplants. Currently, the U.S. is the only heart-transplant destination because Germany, formerly the second-largest provider, tightened its rules in March.

A 61-year-old chief executive officer of an information technology-related company near Tokyo, who declined to be named, said he received a kidney transplant in China in late 2007.

The man, who was suffering from terminal diabetes, said his doctor at the Beijing hospital where the operation took place told him the donated kidney belonged to a 25-year-old executed prisoner from Shenyang.

"I'm doing great now, thanks to the transplant. It sure beats undergoing kidney dialysis every week and paying ridiculous sums to hospitals," he said, adding that it would have been virtually impossible for him to receive a transplant in Japan, where there are currently 13,000 recipients on the waiting list, according to the Japan Organ Transplant Network.

There is much criticism, however, of such "transplant tourism," because it often prioritizes rich foreign customers over citizens who are less well off, one reason for the imminent ban by the WHO.

Luc Noel, a WHO official in charge of transplants, stressed that seeking self-sufficiency is inherent in combating transplant tourism and maximizing donations from deceased donors.

"Seeking transplantation abroad inevitably leads to the purchasing of organs and legitimizes the 'commodification' of the human body," Noel said, adding that with the universal shortage of spare organs, it is only in exceptional circumstances that compassionate transplantation can be obtained abroad without any search for profit.

"When an individual is diagnosed dead it seems to me that whenever possible the organ should be transplanted, whether the deceased is a child or not," he said.

Complicating matters further is Japan's sensitivity toward the concept of brain death, with many, including lawyer Tadahiro Mitsuishi, asking for further deliberation on the subject before moving forward.

"Media attention tends to focus on the recipients, but not on the donors or their families," said Mitsuishi, a proponent of plan C in the Diet, arguing that donors are being reduced to mere instruments for those in need of organs.

"In Japan, death was traditionally recognized by the 'sanchokoshi' (three symptoms of death) — when the heart and lungs stop functioning and the pupils dilate. People are just not used to the idea that brain death equals actual death," he said, citing the low prevalence of donor cards, which only 3 percent of Japanese have, as proof that people are still not ready to accept the concept.

Hiroshi Amemiya, honorary director of the National Pediatric Care Research Center, challenged Mitsuishi's argument. He cited a recent Cabinet Office survey showing that 43.5 percent of the population, what he calls the "hidden donor advocates," wouldn't mind being donors.

"The percentage of donor card holders doesn't reflect the true national consensus regarding the issue," he said, adding that the main problem with the current law is that it restricts donors to only those over 15 who have filled out the cards.

Amemiya said plan A would solve such problems by letting the families of the deceased decide whether their kin should be donors.

"This will turn the 'hidden donor advocates' into 'open donor advocates' and increase the number of donors substantially," he said.

At the April 14 rally, Yuki Okada, a 31-year-old mother who recently lost her 9-month-old child to heart disease just after she made the decision to seek a transplant overseas, was in tears as she made the following plea: "I'd like the Japanese to be able to save Japanese lives with their own hands."

news/notes20090506b

[TODAY'S TOP STORIES] from [The Japan Times]

[NATIONAL NEWS]

Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Taipei nixes protest voyage to Senkakus

TAIPEI (Kyodo) A planned protest voyage from Taiwan to the Japan-administered Senkaku Islands was called off just hours before the scheduled departure amid government pressure, according to one of its organizers.

Some 40 activists who dispute Japan's claims of sovereignty over the East China Sea islets scuppered their voyage after the owner of the boat slated for the journey backed out of an agreement to rent them the vessel, Huang Hsi-lin, a municipal council member in Taipei County, said Monday.

The activists said Tuesday that Taiwan's National Security Council pressured them and the boat owner to cancel the trip.

Council Secretary General Su Chi personally met with organizers to persuade them to call it off, said Hu Pu-kai, a spokesman for a Taipei-based group that disputes Japan's claims to the islets.

"I was approached last week by Su Chi and (Philip) Yang, who tried to persuade us to cancel the trip," said Hu, of the Chinese Association to Protect the Tiaoyutai.

Yang is the top official for Japan affairs on the council, an advisory body that provides analyses and counsel on security issues to Taiwan's president.

"They said they didn't want the trip to affect bilateral relations between Taiwan and Japan, but I didn't agree," Hu said.

The council, he added, later resorted to "harder measures," including prompting the island's Fisheries Agency to threaten the boat owner with fines should he proceed with the protest voyage.

The activists had planned to depart from Taiwan's northern Suao Harbor by 11 p.m. Monday.

Rich in fish and possibly natural gas resources, the islets — called Diaoyu in China and Tiaoyutai in Taiwan — represent a perennial flash point in relations between Taipei and Tokyo, with the coast guard regularly driving Taiwanese fishing boats from the area.

The issue of access to the Senkakus boiled over last year when a patrol boat chased and rammed a Taiwanese fishing vessel.

In response, President Ma Ying-jeou recalled Taiwan's de facto ambassador to Japan, while Premier Liu Chao-shiuan threatened Japan with war should their conflicting sovereignty claims over the Senkakus continue to drag on.

Similarly, China also claims the islets, with proponents of a China-centered concept of nationhood in Hong Kong, Taiwan and China typically joining forces to plan annual protest voyages in bids to make landfall on the islets.

But plans for the latest trip came amid Ma's efforts to improve relations with Japan after the boat collision.

Ma seeks to promote a "special partnership" between Taipei and Tokyo with new air and tourism links further cementing bilateral ties.

Tokyo has also sought to ease tensions, denying last month a request by the mayor of Ishigaki, Okinawa Prefecture, under whose local-level administration the Senkakus fall, to visit the islets, located just 170 km northeast of Taipei and 410 km west of Okinawa.

The visit by Ishigaki Mayor Nagateru Ohama to conduct a property tax investigation on the islets would surely have antagonized Taiwan and China.


[NATIONAL NEWS]

Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Hospitals in Tokyo refusing flu patients

（Kyodo News） An increasing number of patients running a fever have been rejected by Tokyo hospitals that fear they may have swine flu, even though the risk of their being infected is minimal, the metropolitan government said Tuesday.

The number of cases in which hospitals refused medical examinations for such patients totaled 92 from Saturday morning to Tuesday noon, a survey by the metropolitan government found.

"We want hospitals to respond calmly even if they fear that patients infected with the new flu may appear or that other patients will get infected," a Tokyo official said.

In many cases, patients with fever were told to visit "fever clinics" set up solely to treat people suspected of being infected with the new strain of the H1N1 influenza A virus.

Some patients were rejected by hospitals after reporting that they worked at Narita International Airport or have a foreign friend.

In some cases, patients were rejected by general hospitals after being instructed to go there by fever clinics.

The health ministry plans to conduct a nationwide survey on such rejections, officials said.

No cases of swine flu have been confirmed in Japan, although there have been several cases in which patients tested positive for what later turned out to be different strains of influenza.

The Tokyo government's division in charge of infectious diseases said refusal by hospitals to conduct examinations could be a violation of the medical practitioners' law.

"We will consider some sort of measures against malicious refusals to conduct medical examinations by hospitals," a division official said.

news/notes20090506c

[Today's News] from [The Guardian]

US pro-Israeli group attempts to stop shift in White House Middle East policy
Aipac urges Congress members to sign letter to Barack Obama calling for Israel to set pace of negotiations with Palestinians

Chris McGreal in Washington
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 6 May 2009 13.55 BST
Article history

US congressional leaders and the most powerful pro-Israel lobby group in the US are attempting to forestall a significant shift in the White House's Middle East policy.

The move comes amid growing signs that the US president, Barack Obama, intends to press for urgent efforts to be made towards the creation of a Palestinian state.

The Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, is visiting Washington later this month amid growing expectations that Obama is preparing to take a tougher line over Israel's reluctance to actively seek a two-state solution to its conflict with the Palestinians.

It will be the first time that Netanyahu and Obama have met since both were elected.

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) this week sent hundreds of lobbyists to urge members of Congress to sign a letter to Obama.

The letter, written by two House of Representatives leaders, calls for Israel to be allowed to set the pace of negotiations.

The lobbying came despite critics saying Netanyahu has consistently failed to commit himself to the creation of a Palestinian state.

The letter calls for the maintenance of the status quo, with an emphasis on Palestinian institution-building before there can be an end to Israeli occupation.

It says the US "must be both a trusted mediator and devoted friend of Israel".

Aipac's move to put pressure on members of Congress came at the end of its annual conference in Washington this week.

Some of the loudest applause at the gathering came in response to calls for military attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities – something Netanyahu has attempted to portray as a more urgent issue than the Palestinian question.

But Aipac delegates were told by the US vice-president, Joe Biden, that the administration favours "mutual respect" in dealing with Iran.

Biden said the Israeli-Palestinian conflict strengthened Iran's strategic position and Israel must take concrete steps – including fulfilling often-broken commitments to stop the expansion of Jewish settlements – towards the creation of a Palestinian state.

Last week, General James Jones, Obama's national security adviser, told a European foreign minister that the new administration would be "forceful" with Israel, according to a classified Israeli memo reported by the Ha'aretz newspaper.

Jones was quoted as saying that Obama believes Washington, the EU and moderate Arab states must define "a satisfactory endgame solution".

"The new administration will convince Israel to compromise on the Palestinian question," he was quoted as saying. "We will not push Israel under the wheels of a bus, but we will be more forceful toward Israel than we have been under Bush."

During his election campaign, Obama alarmed Israel's hardline supporters by saying he regarded the lack of a resolution to the conflict as a "constant sore" that "infect[s] all of our foreign policy".

Netanyahu dare not openly defy Washington, and yesterday told the Aipac conference by satellite that he was ready for negotiations with the Palestinians.

But Aipac has moved to counter any new White House initiative by trying to mobilise Congress against it through the letter, written by two people seen as extremely close to the lobby group – Steny Hoyer, the Democratic majority leader in the House of Representatives, and Eric Cantor, the Republican whip.

The two men addressed an Aipac banquet attended by more than half the members of Congress on Monday, each standing in turn at a "roll call" of support for Israel.

On the face of it, the letter is a call for a peace, but its specifics urge Obama to maintain years of US policy that has tacitly accepted Israeli stalling of peace negotiations.

The letter says that "the best way to achieve future success between Israelis and Palestinians will be by adhering to basic principles that have undergirded our policy".

These include "acceptance that the parties themselves must negotiate the details of any agreement" as well as demanding that the Palestinians first "build the institutions necessary for a viable state" before gaining independence.

Jeremy Ben-Ami, the leader of J-street, a pro-Israel lobby group that favours the swift establishment of a Palestinian state, said that, while Aipac claims it supports a two-state solution, the letter is an attempt to prevent the White House from putting pressure on Israel to make that happen.

"They don't come right out and say we don't want Israel to make concessions, we don't want Israel to leave the West Bank," he said.

"They'll say, 'Of course we believe there should be peace'. But then they'll do what this letter does. "They'll say, 'When the Israeli government decides it is ready to have a two-state solution, then there'll be a two-state solution'."

Aipac wields considerable influence in the US Congress. Its critics say that what amounts to bullying pressure tactics has narrowed the room for debate about Israel, and claim the group has played a leading role in unseating some members of Congress who were critical of the Jewish state's policies.

news/notes20090506d

[Today's Paper] from [Los Angeles Times]

Obama budget puts security first at the border
He'll ask Congress to help curb the flow of arms to Mexico before seeking any immigration reform.

By Anna Gorman and Peter Nicholas
May 6, 2009

Reporting from Washington and Los Angeles -- President Obama will ask Congress for $27 billion for border and transportation security in the next budget year, fulfilling a promise to the Mexican government to battle the southbound flow of illegal weapons and setting the stage for immigration reform by first addressing enforcement, administration officials said Tuesday.

The spending, an 8% increase over this year's, will enable the administration to hire more agents and enhance security at air- and seaports. Obama also will request more money to expand screening for illegal immigrants in jail and to improve a Web-based program for verifying workers' employment eligibility.

The funding requests are part of the 2010 budget Obama plans to present to Congress on Thursday. Legislators last week passed a $3.5-trillion budget blueprint that tracks Obama's major policy goals, including a healthcare overhaul and a push for renewable energy sources.

The border and immigration budget underscores differences with the Bush administration, which emphasized border fence construction, increased detention space and more teams to raid work sites. Obama has already changed the game on work-site enforcement, giving immigration agents new guidelines that shift the emphasis from illegal workers to employers who break the law by hiring them.

In devoting more money to security and enforcement, Obama may be creating some political space needed to revamp the immigration system. The president risks alienating many conservatives if he doesn't emphasize strong border and immigration enforcement before taking action on a reform package that would create a path to legalization for an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants.

"If the American people don't feel like you can secure the borders," Obama said during a prime-time news conference last week, "then it's hard to strike a deal that would get people out of the shadows and on a pathway to citizenship who are already here, because the attitude of the average American is going to be, 'Well, you're just going to have hundreds of thousands of more coming in each year.' "

Administration officials, who laid out the priorities for border and immigration enforcement Tuesday, said they wanted to use technology and personnel to help secure the Southwest border and to help battle Mexican drug cartels responsible for widespread violence that threatens to spill into the U.S.

More than 7,600 people have been killed in drug-related violence in Mexico since January 2008.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Tuesday that the budget "clearly demonstrates the president's commitment to a smart and effective immigration policy."

"We are continuing to focus on tightening our borders and stronger enforcement, and this budget gives us essential new resources and tools to do just that," she said.

During his visit to Mexico last month, Obama said the U.S. would do more to stop the weapons that have found their way from the U.S. to Mexican drug cartels.

Standing next to Mexican President Felipe Calderon, Obama said: "This war is being waged with guns purchased not here, but in the United States. . . . So we have responsibilities as well. We have to do our part. We have to crack down on drug use in our cities and towns. We have to stem the southbound flow of guns and cash."

Specifically, the budget doubles Department of Homeland Security funding to nearly $47 million to combat southbound firearms and currency smuggling, and adds more than 100 Border Patrol agents and Customs and Border Protection officers.

An additional $70 million will allow the federal government to hire 349 agents and investigators to work with the Mexican government on developing intelligence to better fight the cartels.

The budget includes an 18% increase for the Department of Justice's Southwest Border Initiative, which targets the violence fueled by the drug cartels.

The budget plan also calls for a 12% fiscal boost to the Transportation Security Administration, allocating $985 million at airports, $250 million at seaports and $1.9 billion for the Coast Guard. Much of the money will be spent on new technologies and additional security personnel.

Asked about Obama's pledge to change the immigration system, an administration official said Tuesday: "Enforcement has to be part of the equation. If the goal here is to get an immigration system that functions, enforcement is central to that."

Among the immigration enforcement priorities, the budget increases funding by 30% to nearly $200 million to enable the Department of Homeland Security to hire 80 new people to identify criminal immigrants in the jails and prisons for deportation.

Obama also wants to spend $112 million, a 12% increase, to make E-Verify, an employment verification program, more reliable and to get more employers to use it.

The emphasis on border security isn't a surprising first step by the administration, said Angela Kelley, vice president for immigration policy at the Center for American Progress, a Washington-based think tank.

"It's a no-brainer that he is going to want to spend a lot of resources and build muscle at the border," she said.

But she said that Obama shouldn't stop there.

"The second chapter," she said, "better be looking to Congress and being in the driver's seat, both publicly and behind closed doors, driving a legislative package successfully."

news/notes20090506e

[Today's Paper] from [The New York Times]

U.S. Raids Killed Afghan Civilians, Red Cross Says

By TAIMOOR SHAH and CARLOTTA GALL
Published: May 6, 2009

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Dozens of civilians, including women and children, have been killed during bombing raids by United States forces in western Afghanistan as Afghan troops battled Taliban fighters in heavy fighting, the Red Cross said Wednesday, confirming earlier accounts by Afghan officials.

Enraged villagers brought between 20 and 25 bodies from their district to the capital of Farah Province to show them to officials, the officials said Tuesday. Villagers’ accounts put the death toll at 70 to 100, they said.

The fatalities offered a grim back-drop to talks scheduled Wednesday in Washington between President Obama and President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, whose office called the civilian deaths “unjustifiable and unacceptable” and said a government team had been sent to investigate.

Mr. Karzai will discuss with Mr. Obama how further civilian casualties can be avoided, a statement said. If the deaths are confirmed to have been from American bombing raid, this would be the largest case of civilian death in Afghanistan since Mr. Obama took office.

Jessica Barry, a spokeswoman for the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross, said the organization had sent a team to scene of the bombing on Tuesday. The team members saw houses destroyed and dozens of dead bodies. Some had died while trying to shelter in a house.

“What our team saw was dozens of bodies, graves and people preparing burials,” she said in a telephone interview.

The dead included women and children. “It’s not the first time,” Ms. Barry said, but “really this is one of the very serious and biggest incidents for a very long time.”

In a statement on its Web site, the International Committee blamed the deaths squarely on the airstrikes.

“We know that those killed included an Afghan Red Crescent volunteer and 13 members of his family who had been sheltering from fighting in a house that was bombed in an air strike,” the statement said, quoting Reto Stocker, the head of the Red Cross delegation in Kabul.

The head of provincial council in Farah province, Muhammad Nazir, said he had seen 20 to 25 bodies of women and children brought in two trucks to a regional administrative center. Eight or nine people, mostly children, were still in the provincial hospital, he said. But, he said, the precise casualty toll was not yet clear.

He said the raids, which took place in the village of Granai in the Bala Baluk district of the province on Monday, had made local people “very furious” against both the Afghan government and American and NATO forces. But he blamed the deaths on a Taliban tactic of attacking police posts to provoke airstrikes that risked civilian casualties.

The bombardment may prove to be the largest case of civilian casualties since an attack on the village of Azizabad in western Afghanistan last year, in which United Nations officials said there was convincing evidence that 90 civilians were killed. The United States military only ever acknowledged that 30 civilians had died. The case led to stricter rules for calling in bombing raids on Afghan houses.

The provincial governor for Farah Province, Rohul Amin, confirmed there had been heavy fighting and aerial bombardment in Bala Baluk, where Taliban and drug smugglers are active. He said that 25 to 30 Taliban had been killed and that there had also been civilian casualties. He said he was sending a government delegation to the area to investigate.

The top United States spokesman in Afghanistan, Col. Greg Julian, confirmed that coalition forces had participated in the battle, The Associated Press reported. Colonel Julian said that several wounded Afghans had sought medical treatment at a military base in Farah, but that officials were still investigating the reports of civilian deaths.

The Taliban had gathered in several villages named Shewan Kalai, Ganjabad, and Durani Kalai, in the Bala Baluk district, Mr. Amin, the provincial governor, said by telephone. They attacked police checkpoints in the villages around midnight on Monday and the fighting steadily escalated. Three policemen were killed and three others wounded. Two police cars were set on fire and one was stolen.

An Afghan Army unit was sent to the area, but found a heavy contingent of Taliban and later called in airstrikes. The Afghan Army has American trainers embedded with them who are able to call in air support. The fighting lasted about 12 hours through the night, the governor said.

“We don’t know the exact numbers of the civilians’ casualties; it is a densely populated area where the fighting broke out,” the governor said. “The Taliban are using civilians’ houses for their own protection and as a shield,” he said.

He said he would ask tribal elders to go to the region to investigate the villagers’ claims, because the area was too full of the Taliban for government officials to go there.

Villagers told Afghan officials that they had put children, women, and elderly men in several housing compounds away from the fighting to keep them safe. But the villagers said fighter aircraft later attacked those compounds in the village of Gerani, killing a majority of those inside, The A.P. reported.

Mohammad Nieem Qadderdan, the former top official in the district of Bala Baluk, said he had seen dozens of bodies when he visited the village of Gerani.

“These houses that were full of children and women and elders were bombed by planes. It is very difficult to say how many were killed because nobody can count the number, it is too early,” Mr. Qadderdan, who no longer holds a government position, told The A.P. by telephone. “People are digging through rubble with shovels and hands.”

news/notes20090506f

[Today's Newspaper] fom [The Washington Post]

Schools Shut by Flu Can Reopen
Outbreak May Be Milder Than Feared

By Rob Stein and Daniel de Vise
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

U.S. health officials yesterday retracted a recommendation that schools close for as long as two weeks if a student catches swine flu, a move that reflects growing confidence that the outbreak may be milder than initially feared, despite the death of the first American from the illness.

Because the flu does not seem to be commonly causing the severe illness first reported in Mexico, parents and teachers should instead watch children for any signs of the flu and keep them out of school for a week at any hint they are getting sick, officials said.

The shift in policy will ease the most tangible impact of the outbreak for most Americans. At least 726 schools nationwide that serve more than 480,000 students -- including a handful of schools in the Washington area -- have closed in the past week in an attempt to stem the spread of the virus.

"To be able to get back open and try to get back to normal is a relief," said Phil Barnes, a music teacher at Rockville High School, one of five Washington area public schools scheduled to reopen today after flu-related closures

Federal officials said they decided to reverse the previous recommendation because most cases in the United States so far have been relatively mild, a genetic analysis of the virus found no signs it was especially dangerous, and there was a recognition that closing schools could probably do little to prevent its spread.

Any schools that closed based on the previous guidelines are free to reopen as soon as they can, officials said.

"When you hear of the difficulties involved -- of children dropped at libraries because there's nowhere for home care, of people who could lose their job because they don't have sick leave -- these factors are really real, and we need to really feel that the public health benefit of that makes it warranted," said Richard E. Besser, acting director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Besser stressed that people should continue taking common-sense measures, such as washing their hands frequently, and that sick adults should stay home from work for a week.

"Those measures that can be taken by everybody will help reduce the likelihood that individual people will get sick and, if they are sick, they will transmit it to others," Besser said.

The move is an indication that officials are becoming increasingly confident that the flu could turn out to be about as severe as a normal seasonal flu, at least in the short term.

"In seasonal flu time, the only time a school would consider closing is if enough of the teachers and enough of the population has frankly gotten the flu so they really can't function," said Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

Sebelius and other health officials stressed, however, that flu can take a serious toll. About 36,000 Americans die each year from the seasonal flu and perhaps 200,000 are hospitalized.

"Given what we know from seasonal flu, we would expect that we would continue to see additional hospitalizations, and it's likely we would see additional deaths," Sebelius said.

Texas officials said a 33-year-old teacher from Harlingen died yesterday from "complications from influenza" after falling sick April 14. She had not traveled to Mexico recently, and officials were uncertain how she became infected. The woman, who was pregnant, had an underlying health condition. The baby was delivered after she was hospitalized. "The baby is fine," according to Lionel Lopez of the Cameron County Department of Health and Human Services.

No additional public health measures were being recommended in response to the death, he said.

The virus also could mutate into a more serious form or return later in the year as a greater threat, Sebelius and others said.

"Although we have these encouraging signs, I want to be clear: This is not a time for complacency," Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said. "People are still getting infected and sick. . . . This is why we are preparing now for what may come in the future."

The change in policy came as the number of new cases continued to increase. The U.S. tally hit 403 confirmed cases in 38 states. Thirty-five patients have been hospitalized.

But the decision to reopen schools solved what had become a looming administrative problem for schools and parents.

In Texas, where nearly 73 percent of the affected students reside, officials were scrambling to decide when they might reopen.

"A lot of them have kids scattered everywhere," said Michael Peebles of the Texas Education Agency.

Locally, classes were expected to resume today at all five public schools in the Washington area that had closed because of probable flu cases: Rockville High School in Montgomery County; Montpelier, University Park and Vansville elementary schools in Prince George's County; and Folger McKinsey Elementary in Anne Arundel County. Our Lady of Victory in the District planned to remain closed for cleaning.

Laura Cooper-Martin, 17, a Rockville High senior, said a crush of tests had made it hard for students to enjoy unscheduled days off.

"Another random time of year, a lot of people would be excited about it," she said. "But right now, when everybody wants to be in school to prepare for these exams, we can't."

Melinda Moore, the mother of two students at University Park Elementary, worried that an extended closure might mean a longer school year, which might impinge on her plans for summer camp. But she thought school officials were right to close down.

"I would rather see them err on the side of caution," she said.

Meanwhile, new clues emerged that support the notion that the virus tends to produce relatively mild illness. A genetic analysis of the virus suggests it probably came into being sometime before mid-September. If it then started spreading person-to-person, it may have been present throughout the winter in Mexico and may have become visible only at the end of the flu season. The deaths in Mexico would simply be the expected mortality in a huge epidemic of more or less normal influenza.

"If this virus has been circulating in Mexico for several months, we can only presume that it wasn't killing everyone it infected," said Oliver G. Pybus of the University of Oxford, leader of one of four groups of biologists estimating the age of the virus. "It would be very surprising if this was a highly virulent virus that had been spreading since September but wasn't detected until April."


[Today's Papers] from [Slate Magazine]

Obama Pushes Security Over the Border Line

By Daniel Politi
Posted Wednesday, May 6, 2009, at 6:40 AM ET

The Los Angeles Times leads with word that President Obama will ask Congress for an 8 percent increase in spending on border and transportation security in next year's budget. By requesting the $27 billion from Congress, Obama wants to not only make clear that he will step up efforts to decrease the number of American weapons that make it to Mexico but also that any immigration reform will have to begin with enforcement first. The New York Times leads with the streams of refugees who are fleeing the Swat Valley out of fear of a full-scale attack by Pakistan's army against Taliban forces that have hunkered down in the area and declared an end to the peace deal with the government. Taliban militants have apparently taken up positions in the Swat region and laid mines in preparation for an attack. American officials are optimistic this could be the sign they were waiting for that Pakistan's government is willing to wage war against the Taliban, but it's still far too early to tell whether the effort can be sustained in the long term.

USA Today and the Washington Post lead with news that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention retracted previous guidelines and said that schools don't need to close if a student is infected with swine flu. More than 700 schools in 24 states that enrolled almost 500,000 students have closed in the past week. The change in guidelines comes even though the numbers of confirmed cases keep on increasing and a second person in the United States died from the new flu strain, which leads the Wall Street Journal's world-wide newsbox. Officials said a 33-year-old U.S. citizen living in south Texas who had "chronic underlying health conditions" died yesterday from "complications from influenza." The World Health Organization has reported a total 1,490 confirmed cases in 23 countries, and U.S. officials say there are 403 confirmed cases in 38 states.

CONTINUED ON news/notes20090506g

news/notes20090506g

[Today's Papers] from [Slate Magazine]

Obama Pushes Security Over the Border Line

By Daniel Politi
Posted Wednesday, May 6, 2009, at 6:40 AM ET

CONTINUED FROM news/notes20090506f

Obama will outline his immigration priorities in the detailed budget he plans to give to Congress tomorrow. And in making security and enforcement such big priorities, Obama appears to be trying to appease conservatives before taking any definitive steps toward a full-on overhaul of the country's immigration system that would likely include a path to legalization. In addition to more agents and high-tech equipment, Obama will also ask Congress to sink more money into E-Verify, the controversial employment verification program that is supposed to help determine whether someone is eligible to work in the United States.

Despite the constant fear that the violence in Mexico would quickly spill over into the United States, that hasn't quite come true. Yet. The LAT notes in a separate front-page piece that the head of the Sinaloa drug cartel, who is Mexico's most-wanted fugitive, has ordered his underlings to not hesitate in using deadly force on either side of the border to gain territory or protect cargo from U.S. officers. Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman apparently delivered the message in early March and agents close to the border say they've seen more violent confrontations lately.

The evacuations in Swat Valley come as Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari begins two days of meetings with Obama as well as senior U.S. and Afghan officials. In a front-page piece, the LAT points out that when Obama took office, it seemed that Afghanistan would be his biggest challenge, but now seems like child's play next to the problems in Pakistan. "By comparison, it looks like Canada," a U.S. official said. Making matters more complicated is the fact that the Obama administration doesn't have a great relationship with either Zardari or Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

The WP devotes a front-page piece to looking at how Obama plans to "maintain an arm's-length relationship with Karzai." That's hardly a new revelation, but the piece explains in detail why the Obama administration felt the need to move away from the friendly relationship that the Bush White House had fostered with the Afghan leader. Former President Bush felt like one of his most important duties was to mentor Karzai, but critics say that later prevented Bush from making demands on the Afghan government. "The president of the United States had become the case officer for Afghanistan," a senior Obama foreign policy adviser said. "It was a profound misjudgment of how to handle the situation."

As health authorities begin to breathe a little easier now that their worst fears about swine flu don't seem to be coming true, USAT notes that some experts are worried the new flu virus will become resistant to drugs. The H1N1 virus can be attacked with two antivirals, but these drugs experienced such an increase in sales during the first panic-stricken days of the outbreak that officials worry a new drug-resistant strain could emerge. But in another positive sign, the WP reports that a genetic analysis of the virus suggests that it probably emerged before mid-September, which would mean it is far less deadly than initially feared.

The NYT and WSJ front word that federal regulators have told Bank of America that it needs to raise $33.9 billion (the WSJ says "roughly $35 billion") in capital as a result of the stress tests that the government carried out on 19 of the nation's biggest banks. The full results of the stress tests won't be known until Thursday, but the NYT makes it clear that Bank of America isn't happy with the government's determination. If the bank that has already received $45 billion from the government can't raise that kind of capital on its own it could rely on Uncle Sam by converting the government's preferred shares into common stock. But that could make the government one of Bank of America's largest shareholders and would also dilute existing shares.

The NYT also hears word that the stress tests will determine that several banks, including Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase, are in good condition and could repay funds they received through the Troubled Asset Relief Program. But before any of the banks decide to hand back TARP money, they must first show they can issue debt without the backing of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

The NYT and LAT front, while everyone covers, news that a Justice Department internal report concluded that Bush administration officials who wrote memos justifying the use of harsh interrogation techniques shouldn't face criminal charges. According to the LAT, John Yoo and Jay Bybee, who worked in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, could be referred to bar associations in the states where they practice to consider possible disciplinary action. The investigators concluded that Steven Bradbury, who had written at least three memos, may have given bad advice but it wasn't so serious that he deserves to face disciplinary action. But Yoo, a law processor at UC Berkeley and Bybee, a federal appeals court judge in Nevada, could face disciplinary action for a troubling pattern of providing faulty advice to the administration.

The WP goes inside with word that represenatitves for Yoo and Bybee have been encouraging former administration officials to contact new members of the Justice Department to tone down the criticism of the two lawyers. The paper doesn't know how many people have lobbied administration officials on behalf of Yoo and Bybee, but those that did so focused on what they view as the troubling precedent of sanctioning legal advisers for providing counsel.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has hardly made it a secret that she wants another woman to join her at the Supreme Court. But in an interview with USAT, Ginsburg said she was reminded of how important that was during the recent case that involved a 13-year-old girl who had been strip-searched by school officials. Her male colleagues seemed to minimize the girl's humiliation and that angered Ginsburg. "They have never been a 13-year-old girl," she said. "I didn't think that my colleagues, some of them, quite understood." (Slate's Dahlia Lithwick said the strip-search case convinced her "it's pretty much imperative" that David Souter's seat go to a woman.) What is most amazing about the interview is the revelation that after 16 years on the nation's highest bench, Ginsburg still feels that her male colleagues sometimes ignore her points. "It can happen even in the conferences in the court. When I will say something — and I don't think I'm a confused speaker—and it isn't until somebody else says it that everyone will focus on the point."

Everyone reports news that the first U.S. recipient of a face transplant came forward yesterday. The 46-year-old woman underwent the 22-hour procedure after her face was severely disfigured by a shotgun blast. Doctors replaced around 80 percent of her face. Everyone has the incredible before-and-after pictures, and the WSJ and WP also publish results from a CT scan that truly demonstrate the extent of the damage.

The WP goes inside with news that senators unceremoniously made Sen. Arlen Specter the most junior Democrat on four committees and second from last on a fifth, even though he has spent 29 years in the chamber. When Specter switched parties last week it seemed that Democrats had agreed to maintain his seniority on the five committees in which he serves, but yesterday his fellow Democrats said they will only reconsider his seniority claim until after next year's midterm elections. Specter's loss of seniority could make it more difficult for him to win reelection next year since it would be harder for him to argue that his key positions in the Senate enable him to send lots of money back to Pennsylvania.

The WP's Al Kamen points out that when Sen. Jim Jeffords left the Republican Party in 2001, Specter was devastated. "It felt as if there had been a death in the family," Specter said. He even seemed to support a view that Jeffords should resign first and then run for reelection as a member of the other party. But nevermind what he said in 2001, it seems Specter is still getting used to the whole being a Democrat thing. Yesterday, he took back comments he made in a New York Times Magazine interview to be published on Sunday where he said Norm Coleman could still win the legal battle against Al Franken to regain his Senate seat. "In the swirl of moving from one caucus to another," he said, "I have to get used to my new teammates."

news/notes20090506h

[Health] from [abcNEWS]

White House to Push Afghanistan, Pakistan to Fight Extremists
Obama Will Tell Presidents Karzai and Zardari: 'We Face a Common Threat'

By JAKE TAPPER and KAREN TRAVERS
May 6, 2009

With growing concerns about security in Pakistan, President Obama will convene a trilateral meeting today with President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan and President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan to discuss how the three nations can work together to stabilize the region.

White House officials say that Obama will push Karzai and Zardari to commit to work more intensely and cooperatively to fight al Qaeda and other extremists.

The two leaders are in Washington this week for a series of meetings where the focus will be on the shared security concerns among the three nations.

"The core principle of this meeting is the centrality of Pakistan and Afghanistan to our own national security," a senior administration official said. "We face a common threat."

Today's meetings kick off at the State Department, where Secretary Hillary Clinton will meet first with Karzai, then with Zardari.

In the afternoon, Obama will hold separate meetings with both Karzai and Zardari, and then all three leaders will meet. In the evening, Vice President Joe Biden will host a dinner with Karzai and Zardari, their respective delegations and congressional leaders.

After Pakistan attempted to enter into a deal with Taliban leaders in April, ceding them the Swat Valley, the Obama administration expressed growing concerns about the stability of Pakistan, a nation with nuclear weapons.

Obama was asked at his news conference last week if he could reassure the American people that Pakistan's nuclear arsenal is secure, even with ongoing fighting with the Taliban there.

"I'm confident that we can make sure that Pakistan's nuclear arsenal is secure," he said. "Primarily, initially, because the Pakistani army, I think, recognizes the hazards of those weapons falling into the wrong hands. We've got strong military-to-military consultation and cooperation."

But Obama said last week he is "gravely concerned" about the "very fragile" civilian government in Pakistan.

Adm. Michael Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, said Monday he remains "comfortable" that Pakistan's nuclear weapons are secure and does not think those weapons could get into the hands of terrorists.

"We've invested -- we, the United States -- have invested very significantly over the last three years to work with them to improve that security. And we're satisfied, very satisfied, with that progress," he said at the Pentagon.

But Mullen did say that this is a "strategic concern" that the United States and Pakistan share.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said last month that Pakistan "is basically abdicating to the Taliban and to the extremists."

"Look at why this is happening," Clinton said, testifying before Congress. "If you talk to people in Pakistan, especially in the ungoverned territories, which are increasing in number, they don't believe the state has a judiciary system that works. It's corrupt. It doesn't extend its power into the countryside."

"Swat was a real wake-up call to a lot of people in Pakistan," a senior administration official said. "We understood that and we reflected that. ... We said what we said, and they did what they did."

Pakistan Plans to Fight Back Against Taliban

The Pakistani government's deal with the Taliban in the Swat Valley fell through and now the Pakistani government is fighting back.

Testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Committee Tuesday, Richard Holbrooke, the administration's special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said that Zardari told him Monday night that his army would expand its efforts to fight the encroaching Taliban, including sending troops into the Taliban-controlled Swat area.

Holbrooke regarded this as a positive development but cautioned that "we'll see how this goes."

While the United States is working with the Afghans to build up and train their troops, it is an entirely different story in Pakistan.

There, administration sources say, the issue is more one of Gen. David Petraeus, head of U.S. Central Command in Iraq, teaching the Pakistani military how to deal with a counterinsurgency.

A senior military official said Pakistan's military is largely built up for a regional conflict with India. Until the past few months, its frontier corps was underequipped and undermanned.

The United States will provide Pakistan with $400 million for counterinsurgency training and support, and equipment for counterinsurgency measures such as night-vision goggles, helicopter support and maintenance.

But the leader of Pakistan says that's not enough.

"I need drones to be part of my arsenal," Zardari told CNN's Wolf Blitzer Tuesday. "I need that facility. I need that equipment. I need that to be my police arrangement. I need to own those."

Obama Administration Will Push for Benchmarks for Pakistan

Obama ordered a full-scale review of the policy in the region before his inauguration. As part of that new policy, released at the end of March, he pledged to hold frequent trilateral talks. The next one will be after the Afghan elections in August.

When Obama outlined new diplomatic efforts in Pakistan, he urged Congress to approve legislation to significantly increase aid to Pakistan that could be used for reconstructing projects and democracy efforts.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass., and ranking member Richard Lugar, D-Ind., introduced legislation Tuesday that would provide $1.5 billion in aid every year for the next five years.

Obama cautioned in March that the U.S. aid does not constitute a "blank check" for Pakistan, noting "years of mixed results" in its anti-terrorism efforts.

"Pakistan must demonstrate its commitment to rooting out al Qaeda and the violent extremists within its borders," he said. "And we will insist that action be taken -- one way or another -- when we have intelligence about high-level terrorist targets."

Holbrooke, who will take a leadership role in many of these meetings, returned recently from a donor conference where he secured $5.5 billion in pledged aid for Pakistan, including $1 billion from Japan and $330 million from Iran.

Meanwhile, Clinton will push Karzai and Zardari today to accept benchmarks to gauge success before they meet with Obama. Holbrooke said Tuesday that the United States would implement performance measurements, or metrics, to gauge Pakistan's progress as the United States will again be spending a significant amount of money on military and non-military assistance to the country.

Acting State Department deputy spokesman Robert Wood told reporters that they're "a set of principles that's going to guide our joint cooperation as we go forward in dealing with these tremendous challenges that both Pakistan and Afghanistan face."

Cabinet Members Also Meet on Range of Issues

Other issues will be addressed in these two-day trilateral talks as well, including corruption, border posts, water management, food security, job creation, trade ties, building police forces, preparing relief efforts for the future refugees who may soon be displaced as the United States intensifies military operations, and addressing their problems with a "whole of government" approach so matters aren't just handled militarily.

Today's and Thursday's meetings won't just bring the three presidents together.

The intelligence chiefs from both countries will meet with CIA director Leon Panetta at Langley; the ministers of interior will meet with Attorney General Eric Holder and FBI director Robert Mueller; the finance ministers will meet with deputy Secretary of State Jack Lew and the agriculture ministers will meet with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

In many cases, the Afghan and Pakistani officials have not met their counterparts from across the border, so these talks will be new for them.

"Success in one country leads to success in another," a senior administration official said.

news/notes20090506i

[HEALTH] from [cnnNEWS]

Orphanage caught in Pakistan crossfire
80 boys, 20 staff trapped in orphanage in conflict-ravaged Swat Valley
Staff say orphanage only has food for two more days
Orphanage director is asking army, Taliban not to attack building
Local officials issue evacuation order ahead of anticipated army offensive

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- About 80 boys and 20 staffers in an orphanage were trapped during intense fighting between the Pakistani military and the Taliban Wednesday, the orphanage director said.

The children trapped in the four-story building in the town of Mingora in Pakistan's Swat Valley felt as if they were under siege because the fighting was so close, said Muhammad Ali, director of the orphanage.

Staff members said they only had enough food to last two more days.

Fighting had intensified in the area as an eyewitness saw 15 dead civilians being taken from a village in Mingora Wednesday. Twelve of the dead were children.

Pakistan's TV station Dawn News reported that 35 civilians and 15 Taliban fighters were killed in the area Wednesday .

Ali said he is asking the military and the Taliban to not the attack the orphanage, which is about 60 meters (65 yards) away from the military

The orphanage usually houses about 250 male orphans who also receive schooling there. But about 170 orphans were taken to different locations.

There are also 450 other students who attend school there during the day, but do not live there.

An estimated 40,000 people fled Mingora in northwestern Pakistan, as military clashes raged on Wednesday, said Khushhal Khan, district coordination officer in the area.

This fighting comes a day after local government officials issued an evacuation order for the Swat area.

Some 500,000 civilians are expected to flee the area ahead of an expected military offensive in the Taliban-dominated region.

For the last two weeks, Pakistani troops have already been battling Taliban fighters in Buner and Lower Dir, two districts bordering Swat. Army generals claim troops have killed scores of militants.

U.S. President Barack Obama is due to hold talks Wednesday with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai to discuss regional security.

A senior administration official told reporters that the U.S. objective of the meetings is "an alliance with these countries against a shared threat."

news/notes20090506j

[Top News] from [REUTRS]

Flu virus kills Texan, European cases rise

Wed May 6, 2009 7:08am EDT
By Chris Baltimore

HOUSTON (Reuters) - A Texan with H1N1 flu died earlier this week, state officials said, only the second death outside Mexico where the epidemic appeared to be waning.

Health officials said the outbreak seemed to be slowing in the country hardest-hit by the virus but the World Health Organization gave a different picture for Europe.

There, the virus was still spreading and WHO laboratories confirmed more infections in Britain, Spain, Italy and Germany -- taking the U.N. agency's toll on Wednesday to 1,516 officially reported cases in 22 countries.

The bulk of these remain in North America.

The WHO confirmed 822 infections and 29 deaths in Mexico, and 403 infections and one death in the United States.

Its tally, which lags national reports but carries more scientific weight, includes a Mexican toddler who died in Texas last week but not the later death of the Texan woman in her 30s who U.S. health officials said had chronic health problems.

They predicted the virus known as swine flu -- actually a mix of pig, human and bird flu elements -- would spread and inevitably kill some people, just like seasonal flu.

U.S. authorities say they have another 700 "probable" cases.

"Those numbers will go up, we anticipate, and unfortunately there are likely to be more hospitalizations and more deaths," U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said.

Canada has reported 165 and the WHO said on Wednesday there were 27 cases confirmed in Britain, up from 18.

Spain and Italy both had three more cases, and Germany one more. Guatemala was the 22nd country to confirm a case.

PANDEMIC ALERT REMAINS

For authorities worldwide, the question remained how far the virus would spread and how serious would it be. The WHO remained at alert level 5, meaning a pandemic was imminent.

"If it spreads around the world you will see hundreds of millions of people get infected," said the WHO's Dr. Keiji Fukuda.

If it continues to spread outside the Americas, the WHO would probably move to phase 6, a full pandemic alert. This would prompt countries to activate pandemic plans, distribute antiviral drugs and antibiotics and perhaps advise people to take other precautions like limiting large gatherings.

"It's not so much the number of countries, but whether the virus sets up shop in any of those countries like it has here and starts to spread person to person. And given the number of countries that have cases, one would think that eventually that criteria would be met," said acting CDC director Dr. Richard Besser.

He and Fukuda said it would be important to watch the Southern Hemisphere, where winter and the flu season are just beginning.

Other pandemics have started with a mild new virus in spring that came back to cause severe disease later in the year.

WHO said it would begin sending 2.4 million treatment courses of Roche AG's and Gilead Sciences Inc's Tamiflu, an antiviral proven effective against the new flu, to 72 nations.

CHINESE HEAD HOME

An aircraft carrying 98 Chinese stranded in Mexico by the flu outbreak arrived in Shanghai on Wednesday and all appeared healthy but will have to spend a week in quarantine.

An AeroMexico plane had arrived in Shanghai a day earlier to pick up dozens of Mexicans who had become pawns in a row about how far governments should go to stifle fears of the virus.

None of 43 Mexicans that China had quarantined showed symptoms of H1N1, prompting Mexico to accuse China of discrimination. China denied this, saying isolation was the correct procedure.