WASHINGTON, January 29 – The long-lasting case of Jack Abramoff is one of bribery, felons, and quite possibly a political earthquake. So far the damage has been moderate but there is potential for so much more.

Today Republican lawmakers called on Bush to release any information on contact with Abramoff from the White House. Who met with him, who called him, what happened where. Full disclosure should be given to prevent any risk of allegations. Abramoff was a top-fundraiser on Bush’s re-election campaign and seeing his track record many will of course conclude that he had influence in the White House.

Bush himself does not care much about releasing this information. He is absolutely sure there was no foul play in the White House because of him and Bush did not even know him personally. Although Bush is in photos with him numerous times Bush still claims to not have met him on a personal level. The recorded visits of Abramoff to the White House are still confidential though, there is no indication who he met with and for what reason. Bush’s adviser is confident there will be no inquiry for such information since it is not relevant to the case, according to him.

WASHINGTON, January 28 – In a surprising turn the Democrat Senator Kerry initiated the launch of a filibuster on the confirmation of judge Alito. Although many Republicans and Democrats already agreed on confirming Alito Kerry managed to delay the decision on whether the debate is over to Monday, which would make the confirmation possible on Tuesday the earliest.

In what seems largely a move with a hidden agenda Kerry finds himself supported by Senator Kennedy and even Senator Hillary Clinton. Liberal groups rejoiced over Kerry’s decision which uncovers much of his motives. Kerry is already thinking ahead for the 2008 elections for the White House and the liberal groups will be important when it comes to the preliminary votes.

Kerry tried to defend his choice by claiming that this is a vote on history, and not simply “just” a vote. He urged the Senate to see through this nomination and see what Bush is effectively doing. He’s pushing anti-abortion laws and increasing domestic surveillance, and these Judges on the Supreme Court will back it because the majority will back Bush when Alito gets on.

Whether the attempt to a filibuster will be successful is doubtful. Many Democrats already decided in favor of Alito and most Republicans do also. If the debate is ended on Monday we will know if Alito gets confirmed on Tuesday.

CALIFORNIA, January 26 – This week a new study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine which raised quite some eyebrows. The drug Trasylol which is normally used after surgery to control bleeding has been found to increase the risk of kidney failure and increase the risk of an heart attack.

Trasylol of which the working ingredient is atropinin, is one of the leading drugs produced by Bayer AG, the German pharmacy company. The drug is used in over 60 percent of all surgeries, an astonishing fact considering that this drug might be lethal to some of these patients. The risk on heart failure or heart attacks increased by a baffling 55 percent and the risk on a stroke or the breakdown of brain tissue even doubled.

In response to this new research stock for Bayer AG declined with 3.1 percent, the biggest decline in over one and a half year. Although representatives of Bayer have questioned the methods by which the research was done doctors are now advising to use the less expensive generic drugs aminocaproic acid and tranexamic acid which are considered to be safe.

For more health information please visit Bhia.org

MONTPELLIER, January 22 – In a disturbing development a 32-year old woman was hospitalized in France after she has shown symptoms of the avian influenza. The woman recently returned from a holiday in Turkey and showed severe signs that she had contracted the much dreaded disease.

Preliminary tests have dismissed the suspicion of a possible H5N1 infection but for further safety measures the woman has been quarantined and is now treated with anti-viral medication.

The woman explained that she traveled through the Tarsus-region on her holiday and saw dead poultry lying around. Although doctors do not believe her travel conditions would have exposed her to these dead birds all safety measures were taken to prevent any possible spread.

This is the second case of a suspected bird flu infection in Europe. Earlier a Belgian journalist was hospitalized after showing symptoms of the bird flu but luckily it was false alarm. Further testing will determine whether the woman in France is indeed free of infection.

LEEDS, January 21 – An important study on the link between cell phone use and brain tumors has been concluded and the results were shown in the British Medical Journal.

This new research is a cooperation between the universities of Leeds, Manchester, Nottingham and the Institute of Cancer Research in London. The research included 966 people with common forms of brain tumors and a total of 1,716 healthy individuals over a total period of four years.

The study concluded that there is absolutely no link between the use of cell phones and the growth or occurrence of brain tumors. Often used arguments like phone model and frequency of use were also accounted for but posed no difference in the results.

Although large mobile phone network operators like T-Mobile, Vodafone, Orange and O2 partially funded the project there was an agreement in place that ensured the independence of the researchers. Mr. Philips, director of the consumer watch group PowerWatch responded that the study is severely flawed. According to his information 49 percent of the 966 sick individuals did not get interviewed because most of them died due to fast-growing tumors before they could conclude the study.

So far no official response has been made towards this comment.

FLORIDA, January 17 – The much awaited launch of the NASA space-mission to Pluto suffered several delays today which resulted in an ultimate delay of 24 hours. The mission is now scheduled for 1:16PM EST (1816 GMT).

Continuous ground winds were the main reason for the delays, the winds reached speeds above the maximum limit set out by NASA several times during the day and ultimately this caused the mission to be delayed for 24 hours. Apart from the winds there were also some glitches with a vent valve, a ground tracking station in Antigua and the NASA Deep Space Network which all contributed to the problems faced today.

The New Horizons Pluto probe and its Atlas 5 rocket launch were cancelled just two minutes and 42 seconds before the actual launch would take place, a true cliffhanger. Flight controllers are confident they will be able to launch tomorrow.

For more information on the mission to Pluto please visit PlutoMission.com