Australia to give aid to Myanmar

SINGAPORE - Australia announced Wednesday an extra $29 million in aid for survivors of Myanmar's May cyclone, but pressed its recalcitrant military junta to democratize quickly and respect human rights.
Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said he informed his Myanmar counterpart, Nyan Win, of the aid during a meeting Tuesday on the sidelines of an annual security meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and its Asian and Western dialogue partners in Singapore.Smith also called on the junta to ensure that general elections in 2010 will be free and fair and will allow the political opposition, including long detained pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, to participate."We want to see Myanmar return to respect for human rights, respect for the rule of law and we want to see democracy return to Myanmar," Smith said he told Win. People walk past flooded houses in Schineni, northern Romania, Monday, July 28, 2008. Severe weather caused heavy flooding in Germany, Ukraine and Romania on Saturday and Sunday, forcing thousands to evacuate their flooded homes. In northern Romania, five people died in flooding and heavy rain in areas bordering Ukraine, and power outages affected around 20,000 people.

Deadly floods hit Romania, Ukraine

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, centre, speaks to inhabitants of flooded village Serebriya, western Ukraine, Monday, July 28, 2008. Ukraine's Emergency Ministry says storms and floods have killed 22 people, including six children, after four days of storms have flooded more than 20,000 houses and cut electricity in four western regions. More than 8,000 people have been evacuated, and thousands are in serious danger as the water keeps rising Sunday.A woman walks through a flooded street in the village of Siretu, about 300 km (200 miles) north of Bucharest, July 28, 2008. Floods in northeastern Romania have killed four people, and two others are missing.

Giant chunks break off Canadian ice shelf

Giant sheets of ice totaling almost eight square miles broke off an ice shelf in the Canadian Arctic last week and more could follow later this year, scientists said on Tuesday.

Temperatures in large parts of the Arctic have risen far faster than the global average in recent decades, a development that experts say is linked to global warming.The ice broke away from the shelf on Ward Hunt Island, an small island just off giant Ellesmere Island in one of the northernmost parts of Canada.It was the largest fracture of its kind since the nearby Ayles ice shelf -- which measured 25 square miles -- broke away in 2005.Scientists had already identified deep cracks in the Ward Hunt shelf, which measures around 155 square miles. The shelf is one of five along Ellesmere Island in the northern Arctic."Because the break-off occurred between two large parallel cracks they're thinking more could go this summer before the freeze sets in".said the scientist

"It underscores the fact that each year we're now crossing new thresholds in environmental change in the High Arctic, and of course our concern in the longer term is that these may signal the onset of serious change at all latitudes, much further to the south, for example," he told Reuters.

World's Skin Cancer Hot Spots

You probably know by now that making bad decisions when it comes to sun protection can be life threatening. While some people smartly skip the mid-day sun altogether, others work outdoors in tank tops every day or hit the beach with a bottle of baby oil, increasing their chances of developing skin cancer. But it isn't all about daily habits--a portion of the risk has to do with culture and family history. Where we live (a result of latitude and long-term migration patterns), prevailing cultural beliefs (and the associated garb), and common vacationing habits all play a role in our chances of developing ailments related to sun-exposure.

Ambassador: Al-Qaida leaving Iraq for Afghanistan

WASHINGTON (AP) - Al-Qaida's foreign fighters who have for years bedeviled Iraq are increasingly going to Afghanistan to fight instead, the Iraqi ambassador to the United States said Wednesday.

``We have heard reports recently that many of the foreign fighters that were in Iraq have left, either back to their homeland or going to fight in Afghanistan. Afghanistan is now seeming to be more suitable for al-Qaida fighters,'' said Ambassador Samir Sumaida'ie. Al-Qaida had training camps and a headquarters in Afghanistan, under the protection of the then-ruling Taliban, until the U.S. invaded after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. With al-Qaida forced out of Afghanistan, the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 quickly drew outside fighters there. Sumaida'ie said al-Qaida is finding it now increasingly difficult to operate in Iraq, beginning with the rebellion of the largely Sunni tribes in Anbar Province in 2006 and 2007. Until then, al-Qaida had ruled by intimidation and violence, establishing physical control and setting up a shadow government in large swaths of Iraqi territory.``There were large tracts that were run by al-Qaida, administered by al-Qaida - they had ministers, administrators, paid salaries and so on. This no longer exists, so they do not have any territory to control (where it) is safe for them to move in and around Iraq,'' he said. ``In whole areas they ceased to operate as effective terrorist networks.'' Sumaida'ie's comments echoed those of the top U.S. military commander in Iraq. Gen. David Petraeus told The Associated Press last week that al-Qaida appears to be reassessing its chances of success in Iraq. ``They're not going to abandon Iraq. They're not going to write it off. None of that,'' Petraeus said. ``But what they certainly may do is start to provide some of those resources that would have come to Iraq to Pakistan, possibly Afghanistan.
``We do think they are considering what should be the main effort,'' he said. A U.S. counterterrorism official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence reporting said foreign fighters are generally not leaving Iraq for Afghanistan, but new recruits to al-Qaida are being sent to Afghanistan and Pakistan instead of Iraq. The numbers in all countries are small, however. The vast majority of al-Qaida in Iraq are native born, and extremists in Afghanistan and Pakistan are overwhelmingly Pashtun fighters from the region. Sumaida'ie's remarks come as Democratic presumptive nominee Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois is conducting an overseas trip which included stops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Obama toured two war zones with Sens. Jack Reed, D-R.I., and Chuck Hagel, R-Neb. Last week they issued a written statement saying that Afghanistan and Pakistan's border area, where the Taliban is resurgent and Osama Bin Laden is believed to be hiding, should be the central front in the war against terrorism.
Monthly death tolls of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan surpassed U.S. military deaths in Iraq in May and June, even though there are far fewer coalition troops in Afghanistan.

2 Faced Baby Born In India

A very special girl was born last March in a small suburb of Delhi, India.
She was born with 4 eyes, 2 noses, 2 mouths, 2 ears, and 1 dimple on a shared cheek.“I had never seen something like this in my life so naturally I was a little scared when I first saw her,” her father was quoted as saying. The young girl and her mother are both healthy and the family has no intentions of seeking surgery to correct the deformities. “The doctor said everything is normal when she was born. So where’s the need to get medical help?” said the child’s father. “She’s fed through one mouth and sucks her thumb with the other. We use whichever mouth is free to feed her.”