Fulfilling a pledge to Aussie Wunderblogger Tim Blair, here’s a mention of some news from down under… ” The Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service [AQIS] remains on full alert for a possible outbreak of foot and mouth disease [FMD] after outbreaks throughout Asia,” according to this story coming out of….Singapore, is it? The CSIRO this week issued a new warning to watch for FMD after recent outbreaks in South East

“Sixteen-year-old boys still are the most risky drivers on the road, but the girls are gaining,” the AP reports: For every 1,000 licensed 16-year-old girls, 175 got in car accidents in 2000, according to federal accident data. That’s up 37 percent from 1990, when 128 girls crashed per 1,000 drivers. Accidents for 16-year-old boys decreased slightly during the same period, from 216 to 210 per 1,000 drivers. Ah! You’ve come

The Boston Globe’s Cathy Young has an excellent piece in Reason in which she discusses the need for legislative review of rape shield laws, laws that — though well-intentioned — often times place unfair burdens on criminal defendents. Here’s a taste: When rape shield laws were first enacted as part of the rape law reforms initiated by the feminist movement, they were a response to truly abusive practices. Just 30

The AP reports that Philippino Army troops clashed with Muslim rebels in a southern province of the Philippines Tuesday, killing at least 11 guerillas believed to support a renegade former governor. The fighting in a mountainous area straddling three towns in Sulu, where the military has waged an offensive against Abu Sayyaf guerrillas, wounded at least four soldiers, the officials said. Sulu is about 590 miles south of Manila. Soldiers

Reuters reports: “U.S. authorities are preparing to search for thousands of men in the United States from countries with active al Qaeda cells who have ignored orders to leave the country, a Justice Department official said on Tuesday.” The men are from nations viewed by the United States as harboring active members of Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda network. Washington has blamed bin Laden and al Qaeda for the Sept.

“The man who has held three key appointments in past administrations — secretary of state, White House chief of staff, and NATO supreme commander – said Monday Syria, not Iraq, should be the next target in the war against terrorism.” In an exclusive interview with United Press International, Gen. Alexander M. Haig, Jr., said Syria’s ‘footprints’ are much clearer than Iraq’s. ‘This doesn’t mean that Iraq isn’t a more venal

“A [Kentucky] judge fined two women for contempt of court after they returned to their alleged abusers despite obtaining protective orders against them,” The AP reports. “‘I have found that there has been a number of petitioners who have chosen to come and get an order, and then ignore the order,” Fayette District Judge Megan Lake Thornton said at one of the hearings. “You can’t have it both ways.’” The

“Lord Melchett, the former head of Greenpeace, who led its campaign against genetically modified crops, has accepted a salaried job with a public relations firm whose clients include Monsanto, the GM giant,” The Independent is reporting. “The leading environmentalist, who stood down as executive director of the campaigning charity last year, starts work next week as a consultant with Burson-Marsteller, which has represented some of the world’s most notorious polluters,

From the Sydney Morning Herald: “An asteroid big enough to wipe out a major country gave the Earth a close shave yesterday, passing less than twice the distance of the Moon from our planet, astronomers reported.” The space rock, designated 2001 YB5, measures between 220 and 490 metres and at its closest point, at 6:37pm, Sydney time, was about 600,000km from the Earth, according to varying estimates on US and

The Christian Science Monitor’s Danna Harman reports on the feeling of impending doom in Somalia. The US is looking at several areas in Somalia where it suspects there are terrorist training camps with links to Al Qaeda, according to intelligence sources. Some are around the capital, Mogadishu, one is near Laascaanood in the north, one is on the island of Ras Kamboni, and one is [in El Wak]. British, French,