Huge medical breakthrough

SEATTLE, October 7 – The pharmaceutical company Merck Inc. has completed trials of a new vaccine to battle cervical cancer. The unbelievable results of the trials showed that 100% of the major strains of cancer were blocked by this vaccine. Cervical cancer is a disease that kills about 250,000 women a year worldwide. U.S. numbers are much lower since the screening for this disease is very thorough yet in other countries this disease is still leading the charts for killing women.

The vaccine is called Gardasil and immunizes the human body to the human papilloma virus, in short HPV. Merck Inc. is looking to get the vaccine approved by the FDA before the end of the year and if successful they will start marketing the product next year. The trials were held among 12,000 women and succeeded in every single case. It is likely that young girls and boys, probably under the age of 12, will be vaccinated with this new product. It is imperative that they are vaccinated before they become sexual active because that is the time when they become potential hosts for the virus.

Medical specialists all over the world are applauding for this tremendous breakthrough which was much needed to reduce the worldwide fatality rate for this awful disease. The number one treatment for cervical cancer is hysterectomy, which has a 92% success rate, slightly lower than the new vaccine if it is administered before the virus enters the body.

An earlier version of this specific vaccine was already successfully tested on 1,500 women yet the manufacturer developed this advanced version which stops four strains of HPV, instead of just one in the earlier version.

Meanwhile insurgent attacks continue

LONDON/BAGHDAD, October 6 – At his meeting with the Iraqi President Jalal Talabani the British Prime Minister mentioned that they suspect that Iran is involved in the bombings in Iraq. Yesterday a British official shared these same accusations with the press and Iran immediately wiped this statement off the table.

The official specifically said that they suspect that Iran is delivering weapons and explosives to Shiite militia in Iraq, arms that have been used to kill at least eight British soldiers and have been found throughout the south of Iraq. Blair added that the accusations are based on the fact that elements that remained from these bombings have not been seen before and the elements are similar to explosives that Hezbollah uses in their attacks. Although he stressed the fact that there is no waterproof evidence he nonetheless did not refrain from this strong accusation.

The Foreign Minister of Iran replied calling these accusations blunt “lies”. Later on state television they elaborated saying that these accusations are baseless and far from the truth.

Meanwhile in Iraq’s capital a car bomb killed at least 10 people when it went off at the Iraq Oil Ministry. At least another eight people were injured in this attack. The attack comes just a day after a suicide attack in Hilla which claimed 25 lives at a funeral. It is expected that the rate of attacks will only increase with the coming referendum on October 15th.

Details still blurry

BAGHDAD, October 5 – Not long ago, at 5:30PM local time a mosque in the city of Hilla was attacked by insurgents. An explosive has been detonated in which at least 25 people were killed and nearly 100 wounded. It’s not quite clear at this time if the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber or on a different way.

The attack took place at the Ibn Al-Nima mosque in Hilla, a city about 60 miles south of Baghdad. At the time a funeral was in progress for a Shiite muslim who was killed in a separate suicide attack earlier. Iraq police were present but it isn’t clear whether they were the target of this attack. This is the second attack in five days, Hilla was struck by a suicide bomber on September 30th when they targeted a vegetable market in which eight people were killed and nearly 50 wounded.

The attack comes after days of organized sweeps by the U.S. military and Iraqi forces combined. Operation Hunter features several smaller operations which are aimed at sweeping the entire Euphrate valley area and securing the referendum which will take place in 10 days.

More towns in the Euphrate Valley swept

BAGHDAD, October 4 – The U.S. offensive in Iraq to eradicate easy ways in for foreign fighters continues as a new mission has commenced early in the morning. Operation River Gate is targeting three small towns in the Euphrates Valley, Haditha, Haqlaniya and Barwana. These towns have all been under the control of Al-Zarqawi since there is no direct law enforcement in the towns itself. This provides the insurgents with easy gates into Syria where new fighters come from as well as funds.

About 2,500 U.S. troops are engaged in this operation as well as hundreds of Iraqi troops. U.S. planes have knocked out most of the power supplies in the towns, Haqlaniya was covered in darkness before dawn broke. No casualties have been reported yet but the operation has only just started so there is no conclusive reporting as of yet.

This is the second operation in a few days, Operation Iron Fist started last weekend targeting the village of Sadah. The operation has been expanded to two nearby towns in the meanwhile, Rumana and Karabila. So far 33 insurgents have been killed in this operation, both operations fall under a larger plan called Operation Hunter, to stabilize this region for the coming referendum on October 15th.

Haditha has cost many U.S. lives in the past two months. On August 1st a team of six U.S. marine snipers were killed by insurgents and two days later on the 3rd a roadside bomb killed 14 U.S. marines and an Iraqi interpreter.

Another nominee with no background

WASHINGTON, October 3 – President Bush presented his second choice for the Supreme Court from his Oval Office not long ago. He introduced his loyal longtime staff member Harriet Miers as his nominee to succeed Sandra Day O’Connor on the Supreme Court.

Miers resembles a similar choice as John Roberts, the already confirmed Chief Justice put forward by Bush. She has not entered the limelight at all and stood happily in the background supporting President Bush at every occasion. A self-proclaimed Texan through and through Harriet Miers has a track record of excellent achievements. She has a lot of firsts on her resume, twice she was the first woman to be hired at the law firms she joined. She was the first female president of the Dallas Bar Association and the first female president of the Texas State Bar. She started out as Bush’s personal lawyer back in Texas, she then followed him when he became governor and then became his staff secretary when Bush reached the White House. Last year he appointed her as White House counsel.

Her own legal agenda is largely unknown, similar to John Roberts, a situation which troubled the Senators. It is however known that she has sided with the President’s agenda on almost every point he ever brought to the table, be it tax cuts, limiting embryonic stem cell research, national security or fighting terrorism, she stood by George W. Bush every single time.

Operation Iron Fist has commenced

BAGHDAD, October 2 – The U.S. army has decided to pick up the glove and hit back hard to the Iraqi insurgents. Operation Iron Fist, a part of the bigger Operation Hunter, is meant to sweep several towns that are controlled by the insurgents and provide a safe gateway from Syria for new fighters and funds.

Around 1,000 marines, soldiers and sailors have started this offensive in the small town of Sadah, near Qaim where a previous face off four months ago took place. At least eight insurgents have been killed in gunfights and an unknown number injured. The town was ghostly empty when the troops arrived because the citizens were warned in advance and left the town quickly. Sadah is near the border with Syria and apart of the chain of small towns which Al-Zarqawi control to ensure new blood and money can flow into the country without any problems.

Operation Hunter, of which this operation is a smaller part, is meant to stabilize the entire Euphrates River Valley before the referendum begins on October 15th. Insurgents have sworn to disrupt the referendum. International experts disagree on the plans to stabilize these regions, many agree that the offensives are just a start and presence must be maintained to reach a degree of success. The amount of troops is far too low to establish this so the only way to do this would be to increase the number of troops in Iraq. The U.S. can’t do this because the Iraqi’s would oppose so it would have to be U.N., Islamic or European troops. All of these options seem slim since there is almost no support for the war at all.