Sunday, April 19, 2009

Local police have reported that a suicide bomber has killed at least twenty people and injured a further thirteen after attacking a military convoy close to the tribal Orakzai region of northwestern Pakistan. The attack happened close to a checkpoint in the city of Kohat on Saturday.

The incident occurred at 16:10 local time (10:10 GMT). “The bomber was driving a pick-up truck which he rammed into a convoy passing by a security checkpost,” said senior police officer Fareed Khan. “At the moment, I can say at least 20 people, including soldiers and policemen, were killed.” He added that two civilians and eighteen security personnel were among the killed, and the number of casualties would possible increase, as seven of those wounded were in critical condition.

The explosion was powerful enough to have damaged ten vehicles of the army convoy, as well as a police van stationed near the post.

Yousuf Raza Gilani, the prime minister of Pakistan, denounced the attack, describing it as “cowardly act of terrorism”. He pledged that he would use an “iron hand” against insurgents.

A spokesman for Baitullah Mehsud, the chief of the Taliban, said by telephone to news agencies that rebels will continue to attack the security forces.

“It was retaliation for the US drone strikes and security forces will have to see more attacks because our people have suffered many losses in the missile attacks,” the spokesman stated.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Apple Inc. will hold a music-centered event in San Francisco, California on September 1. It has been widely speculated that the company will introduce an updated line of iPod portable music players and a new Apple TV.

The company e-mailed invitations for the event to various media organizations on Wednesday. The message included a picture of a guitar and the time of the event. Apple did not release any information about what products would be involved.

Apple has released new iPods through previous similar events in September in anticipation of the holiday shopping season. This year, Apple may unveil a new iPod Touch with two cameras, similar to their recent iPhone 4 design. It will likely also update the iTunes music store and software.

Speculation about a new Apple TV is mixed. While many blogs are reporting that a refresh of the device will be announced, analysts say that it is unlikely to happen during next Wednesday’s event. According to Reuters, sources are saying that Apple is negotiating with major television networks, including ABC and NBC, in order to provide shows for purchase on iTunes. However, they also reported that the deal has not been completed, and none of the companies involved have commented on the rumors.

It has also been rumored that Apple will introduce a new online music service. In 2009, Apple took over a company that allowed users to stream music online rather than download individual songs. Apple has not confirmed the rumors.

Last September’s media event saw the return of Apple CEO Steve Jobs after he took a break to undergo a liver transplant. This year, the event will be held in San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, previously used by Apple in April for the unveiling of the iPad.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Five police officers were killed when a man attacked a police station in the Zhabei District in Shanghai, China.

Authorities report that a 28-year-old man with the surname Yang attacked a security guard at 9:40 am CST (01:40 UTC), started a fire outside the building and then entered and attacked officers with a knife. In addition to the injured security guard and the five officers who died at the hospital, four additional officers were injured. A witness with the surname Yi told Xinhua News Agency that some had chest injuries, as well as bloodied faces.

Police state that the attacker is an unemployed man from Beijing who was seeking revenge after he was investigated last year for allegedly stealing bicycles. He is currently detained at the station.

Shanghai is the largest city in China, in terms of population, and is a major business, finance, and trade center. The Zhabei District near central Shanghai has a population of over 800,000 and is a hub for business and education.

Authorities are investigating how the man was able to start a fire outside the station, before causing the deaths and injuries, without being arrested quickly.

Monday, August 17, 2015

A woman in Spain has been fined €800 after posting a photograph to her Facebook account of a police vehicle parked in space reserved for disabled/handicapped drivers. She was located and fined within two days of posting the photograph. The incident has now gained international attention.

The woman, who has not been named, saw the police vehicle parked in a reserved spot in Petrer and snapped a photo. She posted the photo with the caption: “Park where you bloody well please and you won’t even be fined.” ^{((es)) Spanish Language: Aparcas donde te sale de los cojones y encima no te multan…}

Fernando Portillo, a local police spokesperson, told local media the vehicle was parked there because police were responding to an emergency. After the story was reported on a local news website, it began to be reported internationally.

On July 1, the “Citizens’ Security law” went into effect. The law was written in response to violent protests. Even before its enactment it saw widespread criticism. It was dubbed the “gag law” ^{((es)) Spanish language: ley mordaza} or the “gagging law”. The law prohibits “the unauthorized use of images of police officers that might jeopardize their or their family’s safety or that of protected facilities or police operations” ^{((es)) Spanish language: El uso no autorizado de imágenes o datos personales o profesionales de autoridades o miembros de las Fuerzas y Cuerpos de Seguridad que pueda poner en peligro la seguridad personal o familiar de los agentes, de las instalaciones protegidas o en riesgo el éxito de una operación} .

Judge Joaquim Bosch, Judges for Democracy spokesperson, said: “It is not a law for citizens’ security, but a law for the government to avoid citizens’ protests. All opinion polls indicate that the Spanish society is not at all preoccupied by security but by the economic situation and political corruption.”

Amnesty International condemned the law in a report: “With threats of fines or threats of being beaten, the government is trying to stigmatize and criminalize people who are just practicing their rights.” Virginia Álvarez, who wrote the report, noted, “instead of listening to their demands, instead of starting a dialogue, authorities are doing everything they can to impede people from protesting”.

The part of the law which prohibits “the unauthorized use of images of police officers that might jeopardize their or their family’s safety” is cited as the reason for the fine, however, police spokesperson Fernando Portillo said it was up to police officers involved and under the new law they could do this. “We would have preferred a different solution but they have the legal right to impose the fine,” Portillo said, but the public posting of the photo impugned the officers’ sense of honor.

Thursday, August 11, 2005

A truck carrying 35,500 pounds (16,100 kg) of explosives used in mining and seismic exploration overturned and exploded on a rural mountain section of U.S. Highway 6 in Utah’s Spanish Fork Canyon Thursday afternoon.

The wreck occurred shortly after 2 pm, as driver Travis Stewart, 30, of Rexburg, Idaho, was leaving Ensign-Bickford Co., a commercial explosives manufacturing plant at the mouth of the canyon. Company officials said the truck was destined for Oklahoma.

Witnesses said Mr. Stewart appeared to lose control of the truck after entering a curve in the road at a high rate of speed. Utah Highway Patrol Lt. Ken Peay said, “speed was a factor” in the wreck of the truck but refused to speculate on how fast the truck was traveling when it wrecked. Lt. Peay said the posted speed limit on the road is 60 mph, but the advised speed is 40.

At least 17 people received minor injuries and the explosion left a 35 foot deep crater in the highway. The driver was transported via helicopter to a hospital, where he was listed in fair condition, and was later released. The co-driver Troy Lysfjord, 37, of Blackfoot, Idaho, was helped from the wreck by passers by and listed in fair condition at Utah Valley Regional Hospital in Provo.

The wreck site occurred on a major thoroughfare between Denver and Salt Lake City – about 60 miles south of Salt Lake City – was already under reconstruction by nightfall, as road crews began installing 10 inches of asphalt on the two lane road.

Utah Department of Transportation spokesman Tom Hudachko said officials hoped to have the road fully repaired by Friday afternoon, adding that, “When you take a look at that hole that was there 24 hours ago, I think it’s amazing the progress that was made.” As of press time, the mouth of the canyon was reopened to traffic, while traffic at the accident site was impassible, and rerouted nearby.

The explosion consumed all but about 60 pounds of explosives, and loosened some boulders on the north side of the highway, damaged railroad tracks and some fiber optic lines buried along the roadway. Amtrak and Union Pacific reported delays resulting from the wreck. Uinta National Forest spokesman Loyal Clark said forest firefighters were unable to respond to several small fires nearby that were apparently started by flying debris, and that helicopters dropped water to extinguish them. High humidity and lack of fuel from a previous fire delayed the fire’s spread.

The cost of repairs, while paid immediately by the state, will ultimately be borne by the trucking company’s insurance carrier. The truck is registered to R&R Trucking of Duenweg, Missouri.

UHP Lt. Peay said the investigation findings will be turned over to Utah County Attorney Kay Bryson whom would make any final decision about what charges, if any, would be pressed.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

At least 10% of the increase in Medicare expenditures since the mid-1990s is due to increased rates of one type of elective surgery, according to a recent study, and many of the patients may not need it. University of California, San Francisco found that only 44% of patients who undergo an elective cardiac surgery called angioplasty get the recommended test to determine whether the procedure is appropriate.

As a result, patients may be receiving a procedure that they either do not need or for which the risk outweighs the benefit. The operation opens partially clogged arteries in patients with heart disease and the annual rate of elective angioplasties has tripled in the United States during the last decade.

Angioplasties are currently being performed at a rate of over 800,000 per year in the U.S. The average cost was $44,110 per procedure in 2004. Since the operation tends to be performed on older Americans, Medicare covers most patients and compensates US$10,000 to $15,000 for each case.

Reuters reporter Julie Steenhuysen writes that angioplasty is “big business for medical device makers including Boston Scientific Corp, Medtronic Inc, Abbott Laboratories Inc and Johnson & Johnson”. Dr. Raymond Gibbons, a professor of medicine who specializes in cardiology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, criticizes the current U.S. health care system for compensating doctors based upon procedures performed rather than for following recommended practices.

A stress test in which the patient walks on a treadmill is recommended to determine whether a partial obstruction impairs heart function. Although not all patients who need angioplasty are strong enough to undergo the stress test, UC San Francisco researchers were surprised that testing preceded so few of the surgeries.

Professor of medicine Dr. Rita F. Redberg told U.S. News and World Report, “We didn’t expect to find 100 percent, but we expected a much higher percentage than 44”. Dr. Redberg co-authored a report on the findings for the Journal of the American Medical Association this month.

Dr. Grace Lin, another co-author of the study, noted: “What really matters is whether or not that blockage is affecting blood flow to the heart. That is why the stress test is important.” Their research analyzed over 23,000 Medicare cases and over 1,600 commercial insurance cases.

American Heart Association president Timothy Gardner called the study “a good wake-up call” to remind medical doctors to make sure they do not perform unnecessary procedures. Dr. Gardner regards the study as evidence that many unnecessary angioplasties are being performed.

The study found great variation in the rate of stress testing. Geographic areas ranged from 22% to 76% with the highest rate of testing in the Northeastern and Midwestern states. Testing rates also varied by gender, with men more likely to receive a stress test than women, and by other factors including the age of the physician. Dr. Gibbons points to some of these variances as indications that some physicians may be performing angioplasties indiscriminately.

Not all physicians agree. Although the various types of stress testing usually cost a few hundred dollars instead of tens of thousands, the chief cardiologist at University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics Dr. Matthew Wolff notes that stress tests yield false negative results in about 10% of cases. In his opinion, doctors who rely on stress tests “are going to be missing people with severe disease.” Although he agrees that some angioplasties are unnecessary, he contends that the new study does not offer a solution to the dilemma.

The American College of Cardiology plans to release new guidelines soon to help doctors determine when a stress test is appropriate, yet the payment system lacks a financial incentive to abide by testing guidelines. Dr. Eric Topol of Scripps Translational Science Institute in La Jolla, California noted the underuse of stress tests in a study of private insurance records 14 years ago. Dr. Topol agrees that testing guidelines “should be much more clear-cut”, and adds that stress tests ought to be performed annually. “You can do a stress test every year to be sure things are normal. That is an important baseline that is being ignored all too frequently.”

Cardiologist, Dr. Anthony DeFranco of Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center, considers stress testing to be appropriate in at most 65% of cases, since a substantial minority of patients have other health problems that prevent them from undergoing the test.