Hundreds of federal health officers and nearly 100 tons of medical supplies were on their way to the Gulf Coast to try to head off disease outbreaks, feared because of the hot weather, mosquitos and standing water holding human waste, corpses and other contaminants.

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1,800 dead as massive quake rocks South Asia AFP Danny Kemp and Rana Jawad

Islamabad, Pakistan, October 8, 2005 (AFP)

Penthouses at 30,000 Feet.

By Carol Matlack

The superrich are increasingly buying widebody planes, remodeled to their own preferences for luxurious living aloft.

Think a luxuriously appointed private Gulfstream or Lear jet is the ultimate way to fly? Not any more. Increasingly, the world's superrich are buying big, big planes -- the same kind of widebody Boeing and Airbus jets the airlines use on long-haul flights -- and outfitting them with everything from his-and-hers bathrooms to onboard movie theaters. "Private jets are becoming flying apartments," says Jacques Pierrejean, a French designer who specializes in aircraft interiors.

The planes are outfitted with computers, fax machines, and high-speed Internet connections, so work can continue uninterrupted.

Time-pressed executives and celebrities also like to bring spouses and friends along when they travel. The widebodies have space for several guest rooms, as well as entertainment facilities such as big-screen TVs and video-game consoles.

FROM DIVINE TO DECADENT.

Another motivation, it seems, is one-upmanship.

Pierrejean has done preliminary designs for a wealthy Middle Eastern client who wants to buy an A380 for personal use. Among the amenities he has requested are an onboard movie theater, a prayer room, and a discotheque. With features like that, why bother landing?

Washington, U.S., November 15, 2005 (AFP) - The small screen is heating up with a new wave of racy images and film clips making their way to mobile phones and the new video iPods, raising new questions for telecom companies and regulators.

In the United States, he said the market has been limited by mobile phone companies that are reluctant to become partners with the porn industry for fear of being stigmatized and by community standards more staid that other parts of the world. "In the US it's very slow, even for bikini-clad content," Kaplan said, adding that one mobile phone company that offered such an option "raised community outrage." "Nobody wants to be the first company to allow adult content," he said.

The Wireless Association announced guidelines for "generally accessible" and "restricted" content using criteria based on the movie, television, music and games rating systems. This allows carriers to requires parent or guardian permission to access any material inappropriate for subscribers under 18.

The move to create content categories that could allow filters "is fabulous for a company like ours," Kaplan said.

"The chief thing we get accused of is going after children. The bottom line is that kids are the worst customers possible. They don't have credit cards or their cards are stolen. We don't want them to see the content."

The research firm Research and Markets estimated a year ago that the "wireless adult content market" would be worth 90 million dollars in the United States and one billion dollars globally by 2008. Yankee Group earlier this year estimated the US market for adult content at 192 million dollars by 2009, but said growth would depend on whether wireless carriers take action to protect minors to avert government regulation. But Jeff Kagan, an independent telecom analyst, said he sees the market moving slowly for erotic programming on mobile phones, even as the carriers start offering other types of films, music and television shows.

... Kagan said the companies "would like access to a whole new revenue stream but it opens up a whole number of issues ... it's a touchy subject." But Kagan said the issue is different for iPods and similar devices. Since they don't use regulated public networks, there are fewer impediments to customers downloading whatever they choose. "It's the same effect but there are different rules," Kagan said. "But that's the problem with technology."

"It's a conspiracy. The Jews do it on purpose."

The 'Billie Jean' singer's alleged comments have outraged America's large Jewish population and now the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) have demanded Jackson make a public apology.

ADL director Abraham H. Foxman slammed the pop star in a statement, saying:

"Michael Jackson has an anti-Semitic streak.

"It seems every time he has a problem in his life, he blames it on Jews." ...The singer infuriated Jewish groups in 1995 when his song 'They Don't Care About Us' included the lyrics: "Jew me, sue me, everybody do me, kick me, kike me." At the time, Jackson apologised, claiming the lyrics were supposed to demonstrate the hatefulness of racism and anti-Semitism and later altered the line. The star's spokeswoman Raymone K. Bain said yesterday (23.11.05) the singer had no comment to make on the current allegations.

An estimated one in 20 U.S. adults is not literate in English, which means 11 million people lack the skills to perform everyday tasks, a federal study shows.

From 1992 to 2003, the nation's adults made no progress in their ability to read a newspaper, a book or any other prose arranged in sentences and paragraphs. They also showed no improvement in comprehending documents such as bus schedules and prescription labels.

The adult population did make gains in handling quantitative tasks, such as calculating numbers found on tax forms or bank statements. But even in that area of literacy, the typical adult showed only basic skills, enough to perform simple daily activities.

Perhaps most sobering: The 11 million adults who are not literate in English include people who may be fluent in another language, such as Spanish, but are unable to comprehend text in English.

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