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US
Begins Battle for Kandahar
Excerpts
from article describing the initial phase of an increased US
presence in southern Afghanistan, designed to defeat remaining
Taliban forces in and around Kandahar:
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American
forces were gathering to attack the Taliban's last stronghold
of Kandahar last night. Waves of helicopters were reported to
be ferrying troops and ground armour to an airfield close to
the Taliban's spiritual centre in the south of Afghanistan.
The
Pentagon refused to comment on the report, although information
has leaked in recent days of plans for 1,600 US Marines based
on ships in the Arabian Sea to go into action on the ground.
Tribal
fighters took control of the airfield shortly before large military
transport planes and helicopters began to circle and land, said
Mohammad Anwar, spokesman for Gud Fida Mohammad, a commander of
the anti-Taliban Achakzai tribe.
In
Kandahar, one resident said the roar of planes could be heard
and large flashes had been seen from the direction of the airfield,
12 miles outside the city.
American
troops were said to have secured the perimeter of the field, which
has been a target of intense bombing since US air raids in Afghanistan
began on Oct 7. A stream of helicopters flew into the base during
the evening, unloading soldiers with packs and baggage, Anwar
said. ...
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Source:
'Hundreds
Dead' in Taleban Prison Revolt
Excerpts
from article describing the violent uprising by recently imprisoned
Taleban soldiers in Mazar-e-Shariff:
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Tanks, Northern Alliance soldiers,
US special forces, and
US planes quell prison revolt
A
revolt by foreign pro-Taleban fighters held prisoner in a fort
near the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif appears to have
been brought under control after fighting which reportedly left
hundreds dead.
US
planes and troops fought alongside opposition Northern Alliance
forces to quell the uprising. There is no clear picture of the
number of casualties, but a Northern Alliance spokesman said
the fighting, which is thought to have involved at least 300
Taleban, left most of the prisoners dead.
(click for prison revolt video)
The
foreign fighters, believed to have links to Islamic militant
Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, had been detained in Qala-e-Jhangi
fortress following their surrender to the Northern Alliance
outside Kunduz on Saturday.
US
Defense Department spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Dan Stoneking
said the Chechens, Pakistanis and Arabs tried to fight their
way out in a battle which raged for several hours. The prisoners
are reported to have seized weapons from their guards, whom
they killed. ...
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Source:
Crows
Know How to Show No Bird-brain Behavior
Excerpts
from article describing the amazing social and reasoning skills
of crows (corvids):
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Smarter
than the average bird ... the mental agility of crows and their
cousins continues to amaze researchers. If any group of birds
least deserved the epithet birdbrain it is the crow family.
The
sophisticated social behaviour of crows and their relatives
- collectively, the corvids - has earned such respect among
scientists that scores of papers have been written debating
whether corvids have, quite seriously, a "theory of mind".
There
is evidence that individual corvids can picture themselves as
players in future social situations, and work out how to take
advantage of such imagined scenarios.
The
same mental agility that has turned corvids into expert improvisers,
planners and strategists has made them the second-best liars,
cheats and thieves in the animal kingdom.
One
kind of crow has learned to drop nuts in front of the obliging
tyres of trucks - but only on pedestrian crossings, so the crows
can retrieve their dinner in relative safety.
There
is a crow, known only from New Caledonia, that fashions leaves
into awls and saws, the better to wheedle grubs out of crevices
- the only instance known outside humans of the deliberate construction
of tools for predefined purposes. ...
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Source:
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Best
of CNN Videos (November 19 to 24)
Pop-up
windows for some of the best of recent CNN web videos (Note
- CNN adds videos frequently - see their web
sites for links to all of their video selections):
De-mining
Afghanistan
(2:04)
CNN's Harris Whitbeck reports that landmines cover Afghanistan
and removing them will help many that are returning to
their land to start over (November 24)
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Taliban
forces surrender
(2:37)
CNN's Satinder Bindra says that the latest Taliban troops
surrendering may encourage others to surrender as well
(November 24)
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Special
Ops leads hunt for bin laden
(2:04)
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld reviewed Special
Operations forces in Fort Bragg, North Carolina. CNN's
Bob Franken reports (November 22)
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Operation
works to save cranes
(1:36)
Operation Migration is working to save the endangered
whooping crane using an ultra-lite aircraft. CNN's Sean
Callebs reports (November 22)
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Hope
revived for Afghan women
(2:40)
Although women in Afghanistan now have some rights and
can go back to work, they still have grinding poverty
to deal with (November 21)
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Mazar-e
Sharif bloodbath
(2:01)
CNN's Alessio Vinci traveled to Mazar-e Sharif to check
into the bloodbath that occurred when surrounded Taliban
forces refused to surrender (November 21)
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High-tech
air support aids manhunt
(3:02)
CNN military analyst Maj. Gen. Don Shepperd, USAF (Ret.),
outlines surveillance technology available in the hunt
for Osama bin Laden (November 20)
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Pentagon
Day 45
(2:28)
CNN's Jamie McIntyre reports the U.S. is considering sending
in Marines from ships off the coast of Pakistan (November
20)
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Taliban
hanging by a thread
(2:02) CNN's Jim Clancy reports that Taliban strongholds
along the road to Kandahar are dwindling (November 19)
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Mazar-e-shariff
returning to normal
(2:27)
CNN's Alessio Vinci reports that the city of Mazar-e-shariff
tries to get back to normal after being taken over by
the Northern Alliance (November 19)
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Advance in Curing Human Diseases
and Prolonging Human Life
As
reported in the 112401
version of the Pro-Humanist FREELOVER Daily, a monumental
first step in efforts to utilize therapeutic human cloning to
cure a wide range of chronic human diseases has been announced.
Being
that I've been a type 1 (juvenile-onset) diabetic for over 41
years (since age 5), I'm quite excited by the prospect which
any sane and pro-human advance in curing diseases provides,
as well as the prospect for prolonging life for every individual
reading this post.
As
is typical in this area, the knee-jerk religious conservatives,
politicians, President Bush, and anti-abortionists reacted with
the likes of "let's make this illegal" or "god
must be consulted on this" or "cells which may become
human life must not be used by scientists to cure diseases,
reduce human suffering, or prolong human life".
For
counters to those positions, refer to the over
15 posts I've made related to stem cell research issues.
Excerpts
from an article discussing the announcement:
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American
scientists claimed yesterday to have cloned the first human
embryo, spreading deep alarm among pro-life groups.
If
the experiments carried out by Advanced Cell Technology, one
of America's leading biotechnology companies, are confirmed,
it marks a major development in genetic research.
The
breakthrough came during research aimed at finding new treatments
for diseases such as Parkinson's and diabetes.
The
company has no plans to use cloned embryos to create babies.
Instead it wants to exploit the unspecialised stem cells found
in newly conceived embryos for a host of new medical treatments.
...
Dr Robert Lanza, vice president of medical and scientific development
at ACT, based in Worcester, Massachusetts, said: "Our intention
is not to create cloned human beings.
"Rather
it is to make lifesaving therapies for a wide range of human
disease conditions, including diabetes, strokes, cancer, Aids
and neuro-degenerative disorders such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's
disease."
The
ACT team said it created the embryo using the same technique
that was used for Dolly the sheep.
It
first scraped out the DNA from a human egg cell, then injected
it with the nucleus from a human skin cell and finally kick-started
the egg with electricity.
...
The
experiments were intended to exploit the potential of embryonic
stem cells - the body's "master cells", which can
go on to turn into any type of tissue such as muscle, blood,
skin or brain.
They
can be cultured indefinitely, providing an unlimited supply
of tissue for transplant. Researchers believe that combining
stem cell research with cloning will one day allow doctors to
create a cloned embryo of a patient for use as a tissue factory.
The
company did not say whether it had successfully removed embryonic
stem cells from the cloned embryo.
Michael
West, chief executive officer of ACT, said: "The entities
we are creating are not individuals. They're only cellular life;
they're not human life." ...
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Source:
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