'Egypt is Free' chants Tahrir after Mubarak quits - Yahoo! News

'Egypt is Free' chants Tahrir after Mubarak quits - Yahoo! News: "CAIRO – Cries of 'Egypt is free' rang out and fireworks lit up the sky over Cairo's Tahrir Square where hundreds of thousands danced, wept and prayed in joyful pandemonium Friday after 18 days of peaceful pro-democracy protests forced President Hosni Mubarak to hand over power to the military, ending three decades of authoritarian rule.

Ecstatic protesters hoisted soldiers onto their shoulders and families posed for pictures in front of tanks in streets flooded with people streaming out to celebrate. Strangers hugged each other, some fell to kiss the ground, and others stood stunned in disbelief. Chants of 'Hold your heads high, you're Egyptian' roared with each burst of fireworks overhead.

'I'm 21 years old and this is the first time in my life I feel free,' an ebullient Abdul-Rahman Ayyash, born eight years after Mubarak came to power, said as he hugged fellow protesters in Tahrir, or Liberation, Square.

An astonishing day in which hundreds of thousands marched on Mubarak's palaces in Cairo and Alexandria and besieged state TV was capped by the military effectively carrying out a coup at the pleas of protesters. After Mubarak's fall, the military, which pledged to shepherd reforms for greater democracy, told the nation it would announce the next steps soon. Those could include the dissolving of parliament and creation of a transitional government.

Mubarak's downfall at the hands of the biggest popular uprising in the modern history of the Arab world had stunning implications for the United States and the West, Israel, and the region, unsettling rulers across the Mideast.

The 82-year-old leader epitomized the complex trade-off the United States was locked into in the Middle East for decades: Support for autocratic leaders in return for stability, a bulwark against Islamic militants, a safeguard of economic interests with the oil-rich Gulf states and peace — or at least an effort at peace — with Israel.

The question for Washington now was whether that same arrangement will hold as the Arab world's most populous state makes a potentially rocky transition to democracy, with no guarantee of the results.

At the White House, President Barack Obama said 'Egyptians have inspired us.' He noted the important questions that lay ahead, but said, 'I'm confident the people of Egypt can find the answers.'

Obama signs 'don't ask, don't tell' repeal - Yahoo! News

Obama signs 'don't ask, don't tell' repeal - Yahoo! News:


WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama signed a landmark law Wednesday repealing the ban on gay men and women serving openly in the military, fulfilling one of his major campaign pledges and casting the issue as a matter of civil rights long denied.

"No longer will tens of thousands of Americans in uniform be asked to live a lie, or look over their shoulder in order to serve the country that they love," Obama said.
[ For complete coverage of politics and policy, go to Yahoo! Politics ]

A beaming Obama signed the bill at the Interior Department, a location chosen to accommodate a larger than normal audience that cheered, chanted and applauded throughout the ceremony.

"This is a good day," Obama told the crowd. "This is a very good day."

The new law ends the 17-year-old "don't ask, don't tell" policy that forced gays to hide their sexual orientation or face dismissal. More than 13,500 people were discharged under the policy. Its repeal comes as the American public has become more tolerant on such issues as gay marriage and gay rights in general.

"I say to all Americans, gay or straight, who want nothing more than to defend this country in uniform, your country needs you, your country wants you, and we will be honored to welcome you into the ranks of the finest military the world has ever known," Obama said.

Pentagon officials must first complete implementation plans before lifting the old policy — and the president, defense secretary and chairman of the joint chiefs must certify to lawmakers that it won't damage combat readiness, as critics charge. But Obama said: "We are not going to be dragging our feet to get this done."

The signing ceremony was a breakthrough moment for the nation's gay community, the military and for Obama himself. The president vowed during his 2008 campaign to repeal the law and faced pressure from liberals who complained he was not acting swiftly enough.

For Obama, it was the second high-profile bill signing ceremony within a week. On Friday, he signed into a law a tax package he negotiated with Republicans that extended Bush-era tax rates for two more years, cut payroll taxes and ensured jobless benefits to the unemployed for another year.

The two events, however, could not have been more different in tone.

The tax deal divided Democrats and forced Obama to accept extensions of tax cuts for the wealthiest, a step he had promised to not take. With Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell at his side during that bill signing, Obama seemed dutiful and subdued.

By contrast, the emotion of Wednesday's ceremony defined it; even the president himself said he was "overwhelmed" by the moment. The gay activists and supporters packed in the room hooted, applauded and shouted in joy at the president, shedding any sense of a contained, formal event.

As Obama signed the bill into law, someone in the back of the room yelled: "We're here, Mr. President. Enlist us now!"

"I couldn't be prouder," Obama said.

Obama hailed the "courage and vision" of Defense Secretary Robert Gates and praised Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen, who advocated changing the law.

Among those in attendance at the ceremony was the son of a World War II veteran who was saved by a gay comrade during the Battle of the Bulge. Also present was Marine Staff Sgt. Eric Alva, the first American wounded in the war in Iraq who has spoken out against the Pentagon policy.

The Pentagon now must address the practical consequences of the law. Guidelines must be completed that cover a host of questions, from how to educate troops to how sexual orientation should be handled in making barracks assignments.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama thinks actual implementation of the new law will be "a matter of months."

Military officials and gay rights groups have been warning gay troops not to come out yet, as the law will not go into effect until certification — and after that, a 60-day waiting period.

The new law is the second of three expected victories in what's turned out to be a surprisingly productive lame-duck Congress for Obama . Weeks after his self-described "shellacking" in the midterm vote, he's won lopsided approval of a tax cut compromise, and the Senate is poised to deliver his top foreign policy goal: ratification of a new nuclear arms treaty with Russia.

Born 17 years ago as a compromise between President Bill Clinton and a resistant Pentagon, the "don't ask, don't tell" policy became for gay rights campaigners a notorious roadblock on the way to full acceptance.

Yet he has also faced rising discontent among gay activists who believed he hadn't moved forcefully enough. He's been heckled at campaign appearances over AIDS funding and the failure to end the military service ban.

Obama countered that as commander in chief, he had to ensure the ban's end is carefully prepared for.

That's just what the bill from Congress mandates.

"The implementation and certification process will not happen immediately; it will take time," Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz warned in an e-mail that went out right after Saturday's Senate vote. "Meanwhile, the current law remains in effect. All Air Force members should conduct themselves accordingly."

Military and administration officials are wrestling with numerous legal questions raised by the end of the ban — knowing that courts are waiting in the wings. They include what to do about pending expulsion proceedings, and when those ousted under the old policy might apply to rejoin the armed forces.

House Dems on track for vote on $940 b health bill - Yahoo! News

House Dems on track for vote on $940 b health bill - Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON – House Democrats are on track for a Sunday vote on sweeping health care legislation that will expand coverage to millions of uninsured while also reducing the federal deficit, leaders said Thursday.

The bill delivers on President Barack Obama's top domestic priority by providing coverage to more than 30 million people now uninsured at a 10-year cost of $940 billion. It does so through a combination of tax credits for middle class households and an expansion of the Medicaid program for low income people.

The Number 2 Democrat in the House said the health care package would also reduce the federal deficit by more than $100 billion over its first 10 years — and more than $1 trillion in the second decade.

"I think the momentum is growing for this bill," said Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md. "The more and more people have looked at this bill...a greater number of people are becoming more comfortable."

The big expansion of coverage would not come until 2014, when new health insurance marketplaces open for business.

In the meantime, the legislation calls for a series of new consumer benefits. Insurers could not deny coverage to children because of an pre-existing health problem, nor could they place lifetime dollar caps on the amount of coverage. A new high-risk health insurance pool would provide coverage to uninsured people who can't get private coverage because of health problems.

Once the legislation is fully phased in, most Americans would be required to carry coverage — and insurers would be forbidden from turning down people with health problems, or from charging them more.

Democrats are following a complicated two-track legislative strategy for passing the bill. First, the House will have to approve a Senate bill that many of its Democratic members object to. Then both chambers will quickly pass a package of fixes agreed to in negotiations with the White House.

Since the House will vote first, Hoyer said lawmakers are seeking assurances from their Senate counterparts that they have enough votes to pass the follow-up measure as well.

Obama team clears 75 at Guantanamo for release - Yahoo! News

Obama team clears 75 at Guantanamo for release - Yahoo! News

MIAMI (Reuters) – An Obama administration task force has so far cleared 75 of the remaining 223 Guantanamo prisoners for release as part of its effort to close the detention camp, a military spokesman said on Monday.

The review team is examining each prisoner's case to decide who will be held for trial and who can be sent home or resettled in other nations.

President Barack Obama had set a January 22 deadline to shut the detention camp although Defense Secretary Robert Gates told ABC News in an interview broadcast on Sunday that "it's going to be tough" to meet the deadline.

As the review team makes its decisions, military officials at Guantanamo post an updated list in the camps to let the prisoners know how many from each nation have been judged free to go.

"It was an opportunity to just provide better communication," said Navy Lieutenant Commander Brook DeWalt, a spokesman for the Guantanamo detention operation. "There's a lot of information out there and you get a lot of things from a lot of different angles. It helps put it in a more succinct context for them."

The prisoners are well aware of Obama's announcement that the camp would be closed and have heard piecemeal information from their lawyers and relatives during phone calls arranged by the International Committee of the Red Cross, he said.

The list is posted in Arabic, Pashto and English. The latest list of 78 prisoners includes two Uzbeks sent to Ireland and a Yemeni returned to his homeland on Saturday, an indication that some progress is being made in thinning the camp population of those who are not considered a threat.

"We are not focused on whether the deadline will or won't be met on a particular day," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said. "We are focused on making ... the most progress that is possible."

Some on the list are among the 30 ordered freed by U.S. courts but still awaiting transfer, including 13 Chinese Uighurs. The Pacific island nation of Palau has agreed to accept most of them.

Also on the list are 26 other captives from Yemen, nine from Tunisia, seven from Algeria, four from Syria, three each from Libya and Saudi Arabia, two each from Uzbekistan, Egypt, the West Bank and Kuwait, and one each from Azerbaijan and Tajikistan.

Most were captured in Afghanistan and Pakistan after U.S. troops invaded Afghanistan in 2001 to oust al Qaeda in response to the September 11 hijacked plane attacks on the United States.

North Korea frees two U.S. journalists after Clinton trip - Yahoo! News

North Korea frees two U.S. journalists after Clinton trip - Yahoo! News

SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea released two jailed American journalists on Tuesday after a visit from former U.S. President Bill Clinton in the highest-level U.S. contact with Pyongyang since Clinton was president nearly a decade ago.

North Korea's KCNA news agency said North Korean leader Kim Jong-il had issued a "special pardon" to the two journalists, Euna Lee and Laura Ling of U.S. media outlet Current TV, which was co-founded by Clinton's vice president, Al Gore.

The two journalists were arrested on the North Korea-China border in March and accused of illegal entry. A North Korean court sentenced both of them last month to 12 years of hard labor for what it called grave crimes.

There were immediate questions about what Clinton had discussed with Kim beyond the fate of the two reporters during a visit that gave Kim what he craved -- direct U.S. attention and a visit from a highly placed emissary.

The news agency insisted that Clinton "courteously conveyed a verbal message of U.S. President Barack Obama expressing profound thanks for this and reflecting views on ways of improving the relations between the two countries."

The White House had denied that Clinton carried any sort of message from Obama, but Obama officials otherwise remained silent while awaiting the diplomatic negotiations to unfold.

Clinton, husband of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, was the highest-level American to visit the reclusive communist state since his secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, went there in 2000.

He was greeted warmly on his arrival and had what KCNA described as an "exhaustive conversation" over dinner with Kim and his top aides.

The North Koreans immediately sought to put their stamp on what they felt had happened during Clinton's visit.

"Clinton expressed words of sincere apology to Kim Jong Il for the hostile acts committed by the two American journalists against the DPRK after illegally intruding into it. Clinton courteously conveyed to Kim Jong Il an earnest request of the U.S. government to leniently pardon them and send them back home from a humanitarian point of view," KCNA said.

Obama adviser David Axelrod had told MSNBC that Clinton was on a "private humanitarian mission" and that "I don't think it's related to other issues."

KCNA attempted to portray the visit in terms of what was possible in the future, saying Clinton's visit would "contribute to deepening the understanding between the DPRK and the U.S. and building the bilateral confidence."

SIDE BENEFIT?

Clinton's visit could have a side benefit of improving the atmosphere between the United States and North Korea that could restart talks on Pyongyang's nuclear weapons.

North Korea's chief nuclear negotiator, Kim Kye-gwan, was among those greeting Clinton, whose administration was believed to have been close to agreement with the North before he turned over power to George W. Bush in 2001.

Many analysts predicted Pyongyang would use the journalists as leverage to wring concessions from Washington, which sought to place U.N. sanctions on the North for a May nuclear test.

Clinton's trip followed months of military provocations by the impoverished North, which has turned its back on negotiations with regional powers, including the United States and China, to convince it to give up ambitions to build an atomic arsenal.

In Washington, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said it was not clear whether Clinton had been authorized to discuss policy issues.

"It would be nice if it's the foundation for a better relationship," Graham, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told NBC's "Today Show."

Yun Duk-min of the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security in Seoul said the visit held out the possibility of "a dramatic turnaround by North Korea that could lead to a new phase of negotiations."

"WRONG SIGNALS"

It was the second time a former U.S. president went to North Korea to try to defuse a crisis. Former President Jimmy Carter flew there in 1994 when tensions were running high, again over the North's nuclear weapons program.

Carter helped broker a deal at that time in which Pyongyang suspended construction of a 50-megawatt plutonium reactor in exchange for heating oil and other energy aid.

One analyst said Clinton's visit was rewarding North Korea's "bad behavior."

Clinton's arrival coincided with mounting speculation over succession in Asia's only communist dynasty. Several reports suggest an increasingly frail-looking Kim Jong-il, 67, has settled on his third son to take over.

"It's just what they (North Korea's leaders) need," said B.R. Myers, an expert on the North's state ideology at the South's Dongseo University.

(Additional reporting by Yoo Choonsik in Seoul, Lucy Hornby in Beijing, David Morgan and Ross Colvin in Washington; Writing by Steve Holland; Editing by Patricia Wilson and Peter Cooney)

US State Dept. workers beg Clinton for Firefox • The Register

US State Dept. workers beg Clinton for Firefox • The Register

US State Department workers have begged Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to let them use Firefox.

"Can you please let the staff use an alternative web browser called Firefox?" worker bee Jim Finkle asked Clinton during Friday's State Department town hall meeting.

"I just moved to the State Department from the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency and was surprised that State doesn’t use this browser. It was approved for the entire intelligence community, so I don’t understand why State can’t use it. It’s a much safer program."

Presumably, the State Department is using Microsoft's Internet Explorer. And we wouldn't be surprised if it's still mired in the eight-year-old IE6. The only thing that moves slower than Orange is a US government agency. But the State Department has yet to respond to our questions about its Firefox-less browsing mandate.

Finkle's fellow workers responded to his Firefox request with applause. While Clinton responded with bewilderment. "Well, apparently, there’s a lot of support for this suggestion. I don’t know the answer. Pat, do you know the answer?" she said, turning to under Secretary Pat Kennedy.

"The answer is, at the moment: It’s an expense question," Kennedy said. Then someone in the audience pointed out that Firefox is free.

"Nothing is free," Kennedy responded. "It’s a question of the resources to manage multiple systems. It is something we’re looking at...It has to be administered. The patches have to be loaded. It may seem small, but when you’re running a worldwide operation and trying to push, as the Secretary rightly said, out FOBs [for remote log-ins] and other devices, you’re caught in the terrible bind of triage of trying to get the most out that you can, but knowing you can’t do everything at once."

Clinton then told her staff to have a look through their closets. "The more money we can save on stuff that is not cutting edge, the more resources we’ll have to shift to do things that will give us more tools," she said.

"[That reminds] me of what I occasionally sometimes do, which I call shopping in my closet, which means opening doors and seeing what I actually already have, which I really suggest to everybody, because it’s quite enlightening. And so when you go to the store and you buy, let’s say, peanut butter and you don’t realize you’ve got two jars already at the back of the shelf – I mean, that sounds simplistic, but help us save money on stuff that we shouldn’t be wasting money on, and give us the chance to manage our resources to do more things like Firefox, okay?"

If the State Department buys less peanut butter, Clinton may even let them use Facebook. During a state department town hall meeting earlier this year, a bigwig at the US embassy in Mexico City told Clinton that the social networking site is a great way to prevent solipsistic stupid people from entering the country.

"Facebook, MySpace, and other web 2.0 social networking technologies will significantly enhance the Department’s diplomacy efforts and business goals," he said. "For example, an astute consular officer in Hermosillo recently used Facebook to determine a visa applicant’s ineligibility based on information contained on the applicant’s Facebook page, proving its value as an anti-fraud tool."

And Clinton seemed to like the idea. "We’ve got to figure out how we’re going to be smarter about using technology. So I think that’s a great example, the Facebook example. And you know, we might want to follow up on that example, checking out Facebook. For everybody who is applying for a visa, you just should know that the State Department is on the watch here for Facebook."

No doubt, the State Department will officially adopt Facebook at about the same time the revenue-challenged site follows Friendster into social networking oblivion.

U.S. reverses Afghan drug policy - Yahoo! News

U.S. reverses Afghan drug policy - Yahoo! News

TRIESTE, Italy (Reuters) – Washington is to dramatically overhaul its Afghan anti-drug strategy, phasing out opium poppy eradication, the U.S. envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan told allies on Saturday.

Richard Holbrooke, attending a G8 conference on stabilizing Afghanistan, also discussed efforts to support its August 20 election. Washington has nearly doubled its troops to combat a growing Taliban insurgency and provide security for the vote.

"The Western policies against the opium crop, the poppy crop, have been a failure. They did not result in any damage to the Taliban, but they put farmers out of work," Holbrooke told Reuters after a series of bilateral meetings in Italy.

"We are not going to support crop eradication. We're going to phase it out," he said. The emphasis would instead be on intercepting drugs and chemicals used to make them, and going after drug lords.

He said some crop eradication may still be allowed, but only in limited areas.

Afghanistan supplies more than 90 percent of the world's heroin.

Despite the millions of dollars spent on counter-narcotics efforts, drug production kept rising dramatically until last year -- U.N. figures indicate Afghanistan's opiate output has risen more than 40-fold since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion.

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Holbrooke told delegates the United States planned to cut back funding for eradication while allocating several hundred million dollars to support legal crop cultivation.

The head of the U.N. Office of Drugs and Crime, told Reuters the old U.S. eradication strategy had been "a sad joke."

"Sad because many, many Afghan policemen and soldiers ... have been killed and only about 5,000 hectares were eradicated, about 3 percent of the volume," Antonio Maria Costa said.

Iran declined to attend the event but Antonio Maria Costa, head of the U.N. Office of Drugs and Crime, told Reuters it was strongly committed to a regional effort to tackle trafficking from Afghanistan and had begun joint counter-narcotics operations with Afghan and Pakistani authorities.

"This is very new, it has not happened in the past."

U.S. President Barack Obama has put Afghanistan and Pakistan at the center of his foreign agenda and launched a new strategy aimed at defeating al Qaeda and stabilizing Afghanistan.

The 45 nations and multilateral organizations at the conference issued a statement pledging to look at ways to boost humanitarian aid to Pakistan, where nearly 2 million people have been displaced by fighting.

Holbrooke said allies were not doing enough.

"The U.S. is by far the largest contributor (of aid) to the refugee relief crisis in Pakistan. I don't mind that ... But other countries are not doing the right amount in my view," he said, adding some foreign ministers had told him privately that their countries could do more.

CRUCIAL MOMENT

Afghanistan's upcoming vote is seen as a crucial moment for Afghan President Hamid Karzai and for Washington and delegates -- with Iranian post-election turmoil fresh in their minds -- stressed the importance of it being free, fair and credible.

Karzai called on the Taliban and their allies on Saturday to vote rather than attempt to disrupt the polls, a call applauded by Frattini, who said Arab League and Gulf countries were "particularly interested" in encouraging them to vote.

Holbrooke said senior members of the U.S. government were calling the vote "the most important event of the year."

"The fairness of those elections will determine the credibility and legitimacy of the government. We have just seen a spectacularly bad example just next door in Iran," he said.

"And in these situations, governance becomes more difficult. So, at the end of the process, we would like to see a government elected by its people in a way that is credible and viewed as legitimate by the people and the international community."

Afghan Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta told Reuters that Kabul aimed for a free and fair election, but added: "We have to recognize the reality, and the reality of Afghanistan, regarding violence, regarding the weak state."

Holbrooke said it was too soon for Pakistan to declare victory in its Swat valley, where the army has driven back Taliban insurgents.

"The true test is when the refugees go back to Swat. Will they have security? Will they be protected?," he said.

"Will the army be able to keep the Taliban from coming back down over the hills? And the bill for reconstruction in Swat is going to be enormous -- over a billion dollars, maybe over 2 billion."

Obama signs $106 billion bill for Iraq, Afghan wars - Yahoo! News

Obama signs $106 billion bill for Iraq, Afghan wars - Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama on Wednesday signed into law a $106 billion measure to fulfill his plans to wind down the war in Iraq and ramp up operations in Afghanistan where fighting against militants is intensifying.

The bill contains $79.9 billion to continue funding the two wars through September 30. It was also loaded up with extras like $7.7 billion to address the H1N1 flu pandemic, and $1.4 billion in foreign aid for Pakistan, which is fighting Taliban militants spilling over the border from Afghanistan.

The measure was nearly derailed by Obama's request for money to close the controversial U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as well as for $108 billion in credit lines to back the International Monetary Fund as it helps countries weather the global economic downturn.

The legislation did not include $80 million Obama wanted for closing Guantanamo and bans releasing any detainees into the United States through September 30. But it allows detainees to be brought to U.S. soil for trial.

Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers demanded the White House produce a detailed plan before closing the Guantanamo prison camp. Before the legislation passed, the administration rushed to release or transfer more than a dozen detainees.

Despite fierce Republican opposition, Obama ultimately prevailed to include in the legislation provisions to extend a $100 billion credit line to the IMF and expand the U.S. contribution to the multilateral lender by $8 billion.

The legislation also endorses the IMF's plan to sell 400 tons (12.97 million ounces) of its gold reserves.

House Republicans had expressed concern the IMF would use the funds to lend to U.S. foes like Iran and Venezuela and argued that the matter should have been considered separately.

With the bill becoming law, Obama can follow through on a commitment he made with other Group of 20 member nations to add $500 billion to an IMF emergency fund for countries needing financial aid to avoid bankruptcy.

The legislation also will kick off a controversial $1 billion program to boost depressed U.S. car sales. The measure offers vouchers of up to $4,500 to consumers who trade in their less fuel-efficient vehicles for ones that get better mileage.

Monkey urinates on Zambian president - Yahoo! News

Monkey urinates on Zambian president - Yahoo! News

LUSAKA (AFP) – A monkey urinated on Zambian President Rupiah Banda as he spoke to reporters outside his State House offices on Wednesday.

"You have urinated on my jacket," a startled Banda told the monkey, one of many that makes their home in the trees outside his offices.

"I will give this monkey for lunch to Mr Sata," he joked, referring to opposition leader Michael Sata, who Banda defeated in last year's elections.

Banda devoted much of his second news conference as president to reassuring Zambians over the dramatic economic slowdown resulting from plunging prices for copper, the country's main export.

"Our growth prospects have diminished, such that the projected gross domestic product has now been revised downwards to 4.0 percent or below. This reduction has implications for the domestic revenues, with both cooperate and income taxes likely to reduce," Banda said.

CDC sees "something different" with new flu - Yahoo! News

CDC sees "something different" with new flu - Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The new strain of H1N1 flu is causing "something different" to happen in the United States this year -- perhaps an extended year-round flu season that disproportionately hits young people, health officials said on Thursday.

An unusually cool late spring may be helping keep the infection going in the U.S. Northeast, especially densely populated areas in New York and Massachusetts, the officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

And infections among healthcare workers suggest that people are showing up at work sick -- meaning that workplace policies may be contributing to its spread, the CDC officials said.

The new strain of swine flu is officially a pandemic now, according to the World Health Organization.

So far the virus is causing mild to moderate disease, but it has killed at least 167 people and been confirmed in nearly 40,000 globally.

The United States has been hardest hit, with upward of 100,000 likely cases and probably far more, with 44 deaths and 1,600 hospitalized.

"The fact that we are seeing ongoing transmission now indicates that we are seeing something different," the CDC's Dr. Daniel Jernigan told a news briefing.

"And we believe that that may have to do with the complete lack of immunity to this particular virus among those that are most likely affected. And those are children," Jernigan added.

"The areas of the country that are most affected, some of them have very high population densities, like Boston and New York. So that may be a contributor as well. Plus the temperature in that part of the country is cooler, and we know that influenza appears to like the cooler times of the year for making transmission for effective."

Jernigan said in areas that are the most affected up to 7 percent of the population has influenza-like illness.

SUMMER OF FLU

"The United States will likely continue to see influenza activity through the summer, and at this point we're anticipating that we will see the novel H1N1 continue with activity probably all the way into our flu season in the fall and winter. The amount of activity we expect to be low, and then pick up later."

One worrying pattern: healthcare workers are being infected, and most reported they did little or nothing to protect themselves, the CDC's Dr. Mike Bell said.

People coming into emergency departments or clinics need to be checked right away for flu symptoms and anyone working with such a patient needs to wear a mask, gloves and eyewear, Bell said.

"We're beginning to see a pattern of healthcare personnel-to-healthcare personnel transmission in some of the clusters, which is also concerning, because it gets to the issue of people showing up to work sick," Bell said.

Doctors, nurses and technicians who have flu can spread it to vulnerable patients, Bell noted.

As of May 13, the CDC said it had received 48 reports of healthcare workers infected with swine flu.

Detailed case reports on 26 showed that 13 were infected in a healthcare setting such as a clinic or hospital and 12 caught it from infected patients, the CDC said in its weekly report on death and disease.

North Korea may fire a missile toward Hawaii - Yahoo! News

North Korea may fire a missile toward Hawaii - Yahoo! News

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea may fire a long-range ballistic missile toward Hawaii in early July, a Japanese news report said Thursday, as Russia and China urged the regime to return to international disarmament talks on its rogue nuclear program.

The missile, believed to be a Taepodong-2 with a range of up to 4,000 miles (6,500 kilometers), would be launched from North Korea's Dongchang-ni site on the northwestern coast, said the Yomiuri daily, Japan's top-selling newspaper. It cited an analysis by the Japanese Defense Ministry and intelligence gathered by U.S. reconnaissance satellites.

The missile launch could come between July 4 and 8, the paper said.

While the newspaper speculated the Taepodong-2 could fly over Japan and toward Hawaii, it said the missile would not be able to hit Hawaii's main islands, which are about 4,500 miles (7,200 kilometers) from the Korean peninsula.

A spokesman for the Japanese Defense Ministry declined to comment on the report. South Korea's Defense Ministry and the National Intelligence Service — the country's main spy agency — said they could not confirm it.

Tension on the divided Korean peninsula has spiked since the North conducted its second nuclear test on May 25 in defiance of repeated international warnings. The regime declared Saturday it would bolster its nuclear programs and threatened war in protest of U.N. sanctions taken for the nuclear test.

U.S. officials have said the North has been preparing to fire a long-range missile capable of striking the western U.S. In Washington on Tuesday, Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said it would take at least three to five years for North Korea to pose a real threat to the U.S. west coast.

President Barack Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak met in Washington on Tuesday for a landmark summit in which they agreed to build a regional and global "strategic alliance" to persuade North Korea to dismantle all its nuclear weapons. Obama declared North Korea a "grave threat" to the world and pledged that the new U.N. sanctions on the communist regime will be aggressively enforced.

In Seoul, Vice Unification Minister Hong Yang-ho told a forum Thursday that the North's moves to strengthen its nuclear programs is "a very dangerous thing that can fundamentally change" the regional security environment. He said the South Korean government is bracing for "all possible scenarios" regarding the nuclear standoff.

The independent International Crisis Group think tank, meanwhile, said the North's massive stockpile of chemical weapons is no less serious a threat to the region than its nuclear arsenal.

It said the North is believed to have between 2,500 and 5,000 tons of chemical weapons, including mustard gas, phosgene, blood agents and sarin. These weapons can be delivered with ballistic missiles and long-range artillery and are "sufficient to inflict massive civilian casualties on South Korea."

"If progress is made on rolling back Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions, there could be opportunities to construct a cooperative diplomatic solution for chemical weapons and the suspected biological weapons program," the think tank said in a report released Thursday.

It also called on the U.S. to engage the North in dialogue to defuse the nuclear crisis, saying "diplomacy is the least bad option." The think tank said Washington should be prepared to send a high-level special envoy to Pyongyang to resolve the tension.

In a rare move, leaders of Russia and China used their meetings in Moscow on Wednesday to pressure the North to return to the nuclear talks and expressed "serious concerns" about tension on the Korean peninsula.

The joint appeal appeared to be a signal that Moscow and Beijing are growing impatient with Pyongyang's stubbornness. Northeastern China and Russia's Far East both border North Korea, and Pyongyang's unpredictable actions have raised concern in both countries.

After meetings at the Kremlin, Chinese President Hu Jintao joined Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in urging a peaceful resolution of the Korean standoff and the "swiftest renewal" of the now-frozen talks involving their countries as well as North and South Korea, Japan and the United States.

"Russia and China are ready to foster the lowering of tension in Northeast Asia and call for the continuation of efforts by all sides to resolve disagreements through peaceful means, through dialogue and consultations," their statement said.

The comments — contained in a lengthy statement that discussed other global issues — included no new initiatives, but it appeared to be carefully worded to avoid provoking Pyongyang. In remarks after their meetings, Medvedev made only a brief reference to North Korea, and Hu did not mention it.

South Korea's Lee said Wednesday in Washington that was essential for China and Russia to "actively cooperate" in getting the North to give up its nuclear program, suggesting the North's bombs program may trigger a regional arms race.

"If we acknowledge North Korea possessing nuclear programs, other non-nuclear countries in Northeast Asia would be tempted to possess nuclear weapons and this would not be helpful for stability in Northeast Asia," Lee said in a meeting with former U.S. officials and Korea experts, according to his office.

Mousavi calls Iran rally to mourn dead protesters - Yahoo! News

Mousavi calls Iran rally to mourn dead protesters - Yahoo! News

TEHRAN, Iran – Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi called his supporters into the streets of Tehran Thursday for a fourth day of protests and urged them to dress in black to mourn those killed in violent clashes over the disputed presidential election.

The call for opponents of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to rally again was in open defiance of the country's supreme leader, who has urged the nation to unite behind the Islamic state.

Mousavi and his supporters claim Friday's election was rigged and he was the true winner. Violent clashes erupted after the election commission announced Ahmadinejad had won in a landslide. Seven demonstrators were shot Monday by pro-regime militia in the first confirmed deaths during the unrest.

Thursday's protest would be the fourth straight day of major marches in Tehran. On Monday, hundreds of thousands turned out in a huge procession that recalled the scale of protests during the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Mousavi's Web site said he may join the rally on Thursday in downtown Tehran.

On Wednesday, thousands marched silently down a main street in the capital, holding posters of Mousavi and flashing the V-for-victory sign in the air, amateur video showed.

The street protests have presented one of the gravest threats to Iran's complex blend of democracy and religious authority since the system emerged out of the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Any serious shift of the protest anger toward Iran's non-elected theocracy would sharply change the stakes. Instead of a clash over the June 12 election results, it would become a showdown over the core premise of Iran's system of rule — the almost unlimited authority of the clerics at the top.

Iran's main electoral authority has said it was prepared to conduct a limited recount of ballots at sites where candidates claim irregularities. The re-count would be overseen by the Guardian Council, an unelected body of 12 clerics and Islamic law experts close to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Mousavi alleges the Guardian Council is not neutral and has already indicated it supports Ahmadinejad. He wants an independent investigation.

On Thursday, state radio reported that the council has invited Mousavi and two other candidates who ran against Ahmadinejad to a meeting in the coming days.

The Iranian government accused the United States on Wednesday of meddling in the deepening crisis. State media blamed Washington for "intolerable" interference.

"Despite wide coverage of unrest, foreign media have not been able to provide any evidence on a single violation in the election process," state radio said Thursday.

Authorities have rounded up perceived dissidents and tried to further muzzle Web sites and other networks used by Mousavi's backers to share information and send out details of the crisis after foreign journalists were banned from reporting in the streets.

President Barack Obama said he shared the world's "deep concerns" but it was "not productive, given the history of U.S.-Iranian relations, to be seen as meddling." The two countries severed diplomatic relations after the 1979 Islamic Revolution in the bloody showdown over allegations of vote-rigging and fraud.

A crackdown on dissent continued, with more arrests of opposition figures reported, and the country's most powerful military force — the Revolutionary Guard — saying that Iranian Web sites and bloggers must remove materials that "create tension" or face legal action.

The government has blocked certain Web sites, such as BBC Farsi, Facebook, Twitter and several pro-Mousavi sites that are vital conduits for Iranians to tell the world about protests and violence. Many other sites, including G-mail and Yahoo, were unusually slow and rarely connect.

Mousavi has condemned the blocking of Web sites, saying the government did not tolerate the voice of the opposition.

On Thursday, Mousavi's Web site said that both Mousavi and former reformist President Mohammad Khatami sent a joint letter to Iran's head of judiciary, Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, asking him to take measures to stop violence against protesters by police and help to release detained demonstrators.