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Chicago Tribune, in an editorial: “For a man who so resents being summed up in sound bites, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright was a veritable fountain of them on Monday. … Barack Obama’s spiritual-adviser-turned-worst-nightmare smirked, mugged, mocked reporters’ questions and appeared to enjoy himself. … When he was finished clarifying things, it was all much the same. … The U.S. government unleashed the AIDS virus on minorities, the 9/11 attacks were provoked by American terrorist acts, and Louis Farrakhan is not a bad guy. … By the end of Wright’s performance, you had to wonder if he was trying to torpedo Obama’s bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. … ‘Nothing can get in the way if God wants Obama to be president,’ Wright said. Maybe not. But the pastor seemed interested in testing the theory.”

The Trentonian, New Jersey, in an editorial: “We’ve been inclined to give …

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Gang activity at the mall. A predator on the loose along the jogging trail. State police on a ticketing blitz. On any given day, e-mail about such subjects coming from someone you know and containing specific local references could appear in your in-box, prompting you to avoid the mall, stay off the trail, or drive slower.

But what if the warnings are false? More and more, police confront this problem as mostly well-intentioned people send hoax alerts from e-mail box to e-mail box, spreading viruses that won’t affect your computer but could induce fear. Recently, two recipients of e-mail warning that a woman had been assaulted on the Radnor Trail forwarded it to Radnor police. Problem was, there had been no attack, and the trail is relatively crime-free, according to police. The Police Department used its emergency alert system - which sends messages to residents via e-mail and cell-phone text …

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*A British scientist has accused the Government of “negligence” and of failing “to even consider” fortifying food as a way to protect against a possible flu pandemic. Paul Clayton, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine, believes that adding the yeast extract beta glucan to flour could help the population’s immune systems to fight a flu virus. Mr Clayton, a former senior scientific advisor to the Committee on the Safety of Medicines, said: “We need to put beta glucan back into the food chain where it belongs.”

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BANGKOK (AFP) — Thailand on Friday declared itself free of bird flu after no outbreaks of the deadly virus were reported over the past 90 days.

The agriculture ministry’s Livestock Development Department, which made the announcement, has also launched a two-month nationwide campaign to eradicate the disease.

“As of now Thailand has not reported any new case of bird flu virus for 90 days, therefore it’s considered Thailand is free from bird flu under the OIE,” the department said, referring to standards set by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).

Thailand’s last outbreak of avian influenza was on January 25 …

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BEIJING (AFP) — The death of a child in south China has raised fears that a virus that has already killed 22 is spreading, as authorities called Saturday for better controls of infectious diseases before the Olympics.

The 18-month-old boy died Friday in Foshan city bordering Hong Kong, from what was probably hand, foot and mouth disease, triggered by the intestinal virus enterovirus 71, or EV71, the health department there said.

“The test results are not out yet, but that’s what we suspect,” said an official at the department, identifying himself by his surname Yu.

He told AFP another death in the same area in late April was less likely to have been caused by EV71.

Alerted by the new risk, the Ministry of Health on Saturday urged local health bureaus to step up the prevention and control of infectious diseases ahead of the Olympics, the state-controlled …

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