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April 5, 2005

A suicide tractor bombing struck the American held Abu Ghraib prison camp Monday, the 2nd attack in two days. Four Iraqi civilians are reported wounded.

The explosion occurred near the gates to the prison camp, and comes on the heels of a large attack earlier on Saturday, where both US soldiers and Iraqi detainees were injured. The apparent motive of the Saturday attack was to free detainees.

The New York Times reports that an official of the Interior Ministry said a letter was written by a woman who claims to be a detainee at the prison. In the letter, she reportedly begs to have the prison attacked to save her from the dishonor of rape by her American captors. The letter was circulated among Sunni mosques.

An internet posting by the Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi claims responsibility for both the Abu Ghraib attacks. The Al Qaeda militant group also claimed responsibility for the first attack.

The report of the tractor bombing came as military officials were announcing that a short riot broke out Friday in another American prison called Camp Bucca. Rocks were thrown and tents set on fire during a protest over several prisoners who were being transferred. Four guards and twelve prisoners were injured.

The Camp Bucca facility holds about 6,000 detainees, while Abu Ghraib holds 3,300.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

An HIV-positive man was sentenced to 35 years in prison Wednesday, one day after being convicted of harassment of a public servant for spitting into the eye and open mouth of a Dallas, Texas police officer in May 2006. The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that no one has ever contracted HIV from saliva, and a gay-rights and AIDS advocacy group called the sentence excessive.

A Dallas County jury concluded that Willie Campbell’s act of spitting on policeman Dan Waller in 2006 constituted the use of his saliva as a deadly weapon. The incident occurred while Campbell, 42, was resisting arrest while being taken into custody for public intoxication.

“He turns and spits. He hits me in the eye and mouth. Then he told me he has AIDS. I immediately began looking for something to flush my eyes with,” said Waller to The Dallas Morning News.

Officer Waller responded after a bystander reported seeing an unconscious male lying outside a building. Dallas County prosecutors stated that Campbell attempted to fight paramedics and kicked the police officer who arrested him for public intoxication.

Prosecutors said that Campbell yelled that he was innocent during the trial, and claimed a police officer was lying. Campbell’s lawyer Russell Heinrichs said that because he had a history of convictions including similarly attacking two other police officers, biting inmates, and other offenses, he was indicted under a habitual offender statute. The statute increased his minimum sentence to 25 years in prison. Because the jury ruled that Campbell’s saliva was used as a deadly weapon, he will not be eligible for parole until completing at least half his sentence.

The organization Lambda Legal (Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund), which advocates for individuals living with HIV, says that saliva should not be considered a deadly weapon. Bebe Anderson, the HIV projects director at Lambda Legal, spoke with The Dallas Morning News about the sentence. “It’s been 25 years since the virus was identified, but there are still lots of fears,” said Anderson.

The Dallas County prosecutor who handled the trial, Jenni Morse, said that the deadly weapon finding was justified. “No matter how minuscule, there is some risk. That means there is the possibility of causing serious bodily injury or death,” said Morse. Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins stated: “If you look at the facts of this case, it was clear that the defendant intended to cause serious bodily injury.”

A page at the CDC’s website, HIV and Its Transmission, states: “HIV has been found in saliva and tears in very low quantities from some AIDS patients.” The subsection “Saliva, Tears, and Sweat” concludes that: “Contact with saliva, tears, or sweat has never been shown to result in transmission of HIV.” On Friday the Dallas County Health Department released a statement explaining that HIV is most commonly spread through sexual contact, sharing needles, or transfusion from an infected blood product.

Monday, February 20, 2012

A suicide bomb attack in the Iraqi capital Baghdad yesterday has killed at least eighteen people, all of whom were either police officers or cadets. Voice of America has cited the death toll as nineteen. At least 26 injuries have also been reported as a result of the incident.

According to police, the perpetrator detonated his car as police recruits exited the security barriers of a compound in the north-east of the city. A policeman informed Reuters of sighting “body parts scattered on the ground and boots and berets covered with blood” at the scene, as well as various vehicles burning.

As of yet, no group has accepted responsibility for the suicide bombing. However, Al-Qaeda characteristically uses attacks of this nature, according to The Daily Telegraph.

This attack is reportedly the deadliest in the country since 31 individuals were killed on January 27 as the result of a suicide bomb attack outside a Baghdad hospital, in which a vehicle filled with explosives was detonated.

Friday, October 5, 2007

Scientists have announced that the largest radio telescope array in the world, the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) is to be built in either Africa or Australia and will be composed of thousands of antenna arrays that will be capable of detecting the first galaxies and stars formed in our universe. The control center for the array is announced to be located in the United Kingdom in Manchester, England at the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics.

“The next generation radio telescope – the Square Kilometer Array – will carry on this tradition of innovation. The goal is to construct a network of antennas working at centimeter to meter wavelengths with 100 times the sensitivity of the largest existing arrays. This telescope will play a major role in the following decades, alongside other next generation facilities in the millimeter, optical/IR, X-ray and so on, in further exploring the content and evolution of the universe,” said a press released on SKA’s website.

Construction will begin in 2012 and cost over US$2 billion (£1 billion, €1.4 billion) to build. The array will reportedly begin operation by the year 2020. SKA decided to release the details of the array plans on the 50th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik. At least 17 different countries and 55 schools, universities, engineers and astronomers are expected to take involvement in the project.

The array will be built in one of two locations. The first option is in Mileura, Australia. According to SKA’s website, the location is ideal because “only 100,000 people inhabit the five million square kilometers of the interior” area of western Australia, making it one of “the most radio-quiet locations on Earth.”

The second option is in South Africa in Northern Cape Province because of the “dry climate, a good existing infrastructure of roads and power reticulation, a low Radio Frequency Interferences (RFI), low land prices and low operating costs” and “has a appropriately skilled workforce and a well-established telecommunications infrastructure,” says SKA’s website.

The array is going to be more than 50 times as powerful as the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, which is currently the largest radio telescope on the planet.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Minas, one of the largest states of Brazil, has stopped the sale of the Toyota Corolla over safety concerns.

The move was made after nine Corolla customers reported that their cars automatically accelerated. The state public prosecutor’s office said in an online statement on Tuesday that the problem is blamed on accelerator pedals sticking underneath floor mats. Local government said the issue was “putting in danger the lives of occupants”.

According to the prosecutor’s office, sales of Corollas may resume when Toyota alters the floormats in its current models. Toyota has recalled over eight million vehicles worldwide due to acceleration problems.