The illness is called Progressive Inflammatory Neuropathy (PIN) and its symptoms range from acute paralysis to gradual increase of weakness on both sides of the body, which in some cases happens over 8 days and in others over 213 days. The symptoms vary in severity from slight weakness and numbness to paralysis that affects mobility, mostly in the lower extremities.

The current thinking, which is yet to be proved, is that the meat workers are being exposed to splatter and aerosol droplets of pig brain tissue created by the compressed air blast, which liquefies the tissue before expelling it from the pig skull. Once inhaled, small particles of pig brain tissue are then attacked by the worker's immune system which uses antibodies that also attack the body's own almost identical human nerve tissue. Following the PIN outbreak in a Minnesota meat processing plant, the CDC launched a nationwide survey of large slaughterhouses and found two more meat plants that had used the compressed air system recently. One of the plants was also reporting cases of a neurologic illness among its meat processing workers.

A puzzling feature of this outbreak was raised by the plant owner at one of the affected plants, who started as a floor walker in 1970. He told the Washington Post that they had been "harvesting pig brains since 1998, using the same method and the same 70-pound pressure air hose." So why did the outbreak not take place ten years ago, when they started using the method?

At least 45 Egyptian policemen and 14 Palestinians were wounded in the clash at the Rafah border crossing, which Hamas Islamists blasted open on January 23 to let Gazans stock up on supplies in defiance of an Israeli-led blockade. The dead person was identified by local medical officials as a Palestinian civilian. Two Egyptians suffered gunshot wounds and one senior security official sustained fractures from stone throwing, security sources and medical officials said.

Hamas denied any role in the fighting, which began after Egyptian security men stopped the flow of people trying to go back home and the crowd responded with stone-throwing, drawing smoke grenades from the Egyptians, local residents said. The Egyptian government faces a difficult balancing act. It does not want to be seen as aiding the Israeli blockade, but is under U.S. and Israeli pressure to take control. It also fears the spread of Islamist influence and the effects of becoming home to so many undocumented Palestinians.

Newly published statistics showed that the number of men and women belonging to religious orders fell by 10% to just under a million between 2005 and 2006. During the pontificate of the late Pope John Paul II, the number of Catholic nuns worldwide declined by a quarter. The downward trend accelerated despite a steady increase in the membership of the Catholic Church to more than 1.1bn.

The BBC's David Willey in the Italian capital says the accelerating downward trend must have caused concern to the Pope. The Roman Catholic Church has an aging and diminishing number of parish and diocesan clergy and this latest fall is quite dramatic, our correspondent says.

The Wellcome Trust is investing £4bn over the next five years to look into the genetic make-up of heart disease, cancer and other illnesses. The work will build on the information gleaned from the Human Genome Project. The trust believes the investment will speed up research, but that it is still unlikely there will be any quick fixes.

BBC science correspondent Pallab Ghosh said the sheer level of investment will make a big difference to the pace and direction of medical research. He said the research would investigate how some of the world's biggest killers destroy the human body, and that brain diseases and mental illness would also be a priority.

The Wellcome Trust was established in 1936 by the will of Sir Henry Wellcome, who left the capital of his successful drug company to be used for on-going medical research.

Thanks to SELF-DESTRUCTIVE "ALTERNATIVE LIFESTYLES," OUT-OF-CONTROL IMMIGRATION, THE OVERUSE OF ANTIBIOTICS and other causes, long-"vanquished" illnesses are once again ravaging the U.S., puzzling scientists and terrifying millions of victims and their loved ones.

The once "conquered" scourge of TUBERCULOSIS has made a terrifying comeback, especially in America's inner cities (the American Lung Association has called TB "out of control"), and DRUG-RESISTANT TB accounts for more and more new cases. THE REASON? RECORD LEGAL AND ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION LEVELS. Indeed, the highest numbers of multi-drug-resistant TB cases are in New York, California, Texas and Florida - states with the highest populations of new immigrants.

LEPROSY, the contagious skin disease evoking thoughts of biblical and medieval times, is now making its mark in the United States, and many believe THE INFLUX OF ILLEGAL ALIENS IS THE MAIN FACTOR.

A new study reveals that homosexuals are much more likely to become infected with the dreaded "superbug" MRSA - methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus - than are heterosexuals. Some are even calling MRSA the "new HIV." Although previous MRSA contagion has been confined primarily to hospitals, it is now being spread in major cities through homosexual contact. Since staph is also transmissible through non-sexual contact, the University of California researcher who headed up the study warns: "Once this reaches the general population, it will be truly unstoppable."

AVIAN INFLUENZA - OR "BIRD FLU" - has caused such concern at the highest level of the U.S. government that in 2005, the Congressional Budget Office reported that a severe pandemic of avian flu hitting the U.S. would kill 2 million Americans and throw the country into a major recession.

Other diseases once virtually unknown in America, like CHAGAS DISEASE AND DENGUE FEVER, are cropping up in southern border areas, while old and much-feared plagues like POLIO AND MALARIA ARE ALSO ON THE UPSWING.

Compounding all of this, THE ASTRONOMICAL NUMBER OF ILLEGAL ALIENS SWARMING INTO THE UNITED STATES IS FORCING THE CLOSURE OF DOZENS OF HOSPITALS, SPREADING PREVIOUSLY VANQUISHED DISEASES AND THREATENING TO DESTROY AMERICA'S PRIZED HEALTH-CARE SYSTEM.

Eighteen inches of snow fell in the last 24 hours on top of 6 feet of snow already there, Idahna Mayor Karen Clark said Sunday. There is literally nowhere to put the snow. "We have buildings with snow on them in danger of collapsing. Snow around doors in danger of bursting, some homes have already sustained damage," Clark said. The town does not have the resources to deal with so much snow, according to the mayor.

DETROIT, Ore. -- They're calling it a snow emergency in one town nestled in the Cascade foothills. Since December 1, 150 inches have fallen in the town with about a foot coming down everyday for the past few days.
That's also causing some problems with power, since trees have collapsed onto power lines. Power was also knocked out to the pump supplying water to the town. A team went to investigate, knowing that it was critical to keep a propane powered generator running.

The Al-Asqa Martyrs Brigade, the militant group that claimed the attack, said the bombers were from Gaza, making it likely that they had managed to cross the territory's Rafah crossing into Egypt when Islamist Hamas militants blew it up last month. From Egypt, it is believed that they are likely to have crossed into Israel through the country's difficult-to-police Sinai desert border.

Two bombers were believed to have been involved. However, The Times was told by witnesses at the scene that the first bomber detonated his device before his accomplice, wounding the second man before his explosives could detonate. A passer-by rushed to help the injured accomplice, wrongly believing he was a civilian, but then noticed his explosives vest and scrambled away.

The second bomber was then shot four times in the head by senior police officers who happened to be in the area carrying out a drugs raid. One woman civilian has so far been confirmed as killed in the blast, along with both bombers. The last suicide attack in Israel took place in late January last year, when a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up at a bakery in the Red Sea tourist resort of Eilat, killing three people. That attack was claimed jointly by Islamic Jihad, the sister group of Hamas, and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.

The "Researcher One" rocket is designed to carry a satellite into a low earth orbit. Monday's launch came a short time after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad inaugurated the center Monday, according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency. Ahmadinejad said Iran's first step in the field of space technology had been taken wisely and precisely, IRNA reported.

"With the launch, Iran has joined the world's top 11 countries possessing space technology to build satellites, and launch rockets into space," state TV said. Space is considered to begin at 60 miles (100 kilometers) above ground. Ham radio satellites orbit from 100 miles up, while communication, weather and global-positioning satellites fly at an altitude of between 250 and 12,000 miles, according to The Associated Press.

Amid fears in the West that Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons, some experts believe Iran's space program is possibly a cover to improve its military ballistic missiles.

The MoD has lodged last-minute objections to at least four wind farms on England's east coast because of concerns that the turbines could interfere with radar coverage. They claim the combination of blades from different turbines can "clutter" radar screens and be mistaken for unidentified aircraft. It has also been alleged that wind farms could restrict low-flying training.

The MoD has now blocked hundreds of wind farm applications and their objections have resulted in delays, permission being refused, public inquiries and the withdrawal of some applications.

Although the Environment Agency still had 73 flood warnings in place last night, water levels in rivers across Kent, Sussex, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight had started to recede. Many roads in Wales and the West Country, the Midlands and East Anglia remained closed. In Oxford, 3,000 householders were on flood alert.

Flooding also caused widespread disruption on the railways. There were problems from Burstwick in East Yorkshire, where 180 properties were at risk of flooding, to Dorset. In Wiltshire the River Avon burst its banks at Bradford-on-Avon and lorries were stranded on a causeway at Staverton. The respite will be brief, with more rain expected today and tomorrow. The heaviest is likely to be in northern England, the Midlands and Wales.

The latest flooding, and last summer's mayhem, are both thought to be connected to LA NIÑA, which is the less well-known opposite of EL NIÑO. While El Niño heats the equatorial seas of the Pacific, LA NIÑA BRINGS A COOLING OFF, ESPECIALLY TOWARDS SOUTH AMERICA. The present La Niña has led to disastrous floods in eastern Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

It's obvious that if you buy food from thousands of miles away, the transport alone must consume vast amounts of energy, thus fuelling climate change and global meltdown. AS ANY CONCERNED CITIZEN KNOWS, THINK GREEN, THINK LOCAL.

OR THINK AGAIN. Researchers are finding that FOOD MILES ARE FAR FROM THE WHOLE STORY when assessing the environmental impact of what we eat. At a conference last month on the economics of food, Chris Foster of Manchester Business School presented some startling conclusions from a review of the evidence.

Researchers in New Zealand claim that antipodean lamb and apples use less energy - even after being transported 12,000 miles - than the same products from Britain. A study by Lincoln University in New Zealand compared the use of fuel, electricity, pesticides, fodder, transportation, storage and other items and calculated that a ton of New Zealand apples generated the equivalent of 407lb of CO2 compared with almost 600lb for UK apples.

The difference was even more marked in lamb. The study claimed that a ton of New Zealand lamb carcass generated more than half a ton of CO2 compared with about three tons for British lamb. MUCH OF THE HUGE CO2 DISPARITY WAS DOWN TO THE USE OF ELECTRICITY AND FERTILISER IN REARING THE BRITISH LAMBS. The shipping of New Zealand lamb to the UK accounted for only 273lb of CO2.

PACKAGING (or lack of it) is another area where consumers can readily make a difference, ALONG WITH WASTE. As much as ONE-THIRD OF FOOD BOUGHT IN THE UK IS NOT EATEN, which means that IT GENERATES GREENHOUSES GASES IN ITS PRODUCTION AND ITS DECAY. So shop little and often, use your leftovers and compost scraps.

The alarm was sounded decades ago by environmentalists -- and was little heeded. The picture, meanwhile, has changed: Africa is now a leader in destructiveness. The numbers have changed: UN specialists estimate 60 acres of tropical forest are felled worldwide every minute, up from 50 a generation back. And the fears have changed. Experts still warn of extinction of animal and plant life, of the loss of forest peoples' livelihoods, of soil erosion and other damage. But scientists today worry urgently about something else: the fateful feedback link of trees and climate.

Global warming is expected to dry up and kill off vast tracts of rain forest, and dying forests will feed global warming. "IF WE LOSE FORESTS, WE LOSE THE FIGHT AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE," declared more than 300 scientists, conservation groups, religious leaders and others in an appeal for action at December's climate conference in Bali, Indonesia.

The burning or rotting of trees that comes with deforestation -- at the hands of ranchers, farmers, timbermen -- sends more heat-trapping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than all the world's planes, trains, trucks and automobiles. FOREST DESTRUCTION ACCOUNTS FOR ABOUT 20 PERCENT OF MANMADE EMISSIONS, second only to burning of fossil fuels for electricity and heat. CONVERSELY, HEALTHY FORESTS ABSORB CARBON DIOXIDE AND STORE CARBON.

"THE STAKES ARE SO DIRE THAT IF WE DON'T START TURNING THIS AROUND IN THE NEXT 10 YEARS, THE EXTINCTION CRISIS AND THE CLIMATE CRISIS WILL BEGIN TO SPIRAL OUT OF CONTROL," said Roman Paul Czebiniak, a forest expert with Greenpeace International.

The two most powerful occurred hours apart in the Democratic Republic of Congo and neighbouring Rwanda, with magnitudes of 6.0 and 5.0 respectively. At least 10 people died as a church collapsed in western Rwanda, while the eastern DR Congo city of Bukavu suffered widespread damage. Police say the death toll could rise, as there are many people trapped. A powerful 6.8 magnitude earthquake rocked the region in December 2005. While it is prone to seismic activity it has mostly escaped major quakes in recent years.

An official from the country's UN peacekeeping mission said damage in the city was extensive. "There is lots of damage. Many buildings have been hit. Lots of houses have completely collapsed," Jacqueline Chenard said. The quakes were also felt in neighbouring Burundi, disrupting hydroelectric power and causing a half-hour electricity cut.

In this case, the first study - which suggested that the antidepressant, Paxil, might help depressed teens - was widely publicized by Paxil's maker. The second study - which suggested that Paxil was no better for these adolescents than a placebo - got no such public airing. The selective disclosures about Paxil set off an uproar. Congress held hearings. New York's attorney general sued Paxil's maker, alleging consumer fraud. Top medical journals pressured companies and researchers to publicly register trials on a government website, and the industry promised to be more transparent.

You'd think the industry would have learned its lesson, and doctors and the public would be better informed. But today, new questions are arising about whether companies are finding ways to suppress or delay negative news. Congress passed a stricter law, requiring nearly all drug studies and their results to be posted on the government website. Laws, however, can only do so much. Compliance depends on the attitudes of pharmaceutical executives, some of whom have let the public down. When it comes to drugs, what you don't know can hurt you. Doctors and patients shouldn't have to wonder whether drugmakers know dangerous facts they're keeping to themselves.

In little less than a year and a half, the nationwide recalls of tainted products have formed their own peculiar food pyramid: meats, vegetables, salad, snacks, fast food, even dessert items. The various pathogens in those products killed at least three people, sickened more than 1,300 others and touched almost every state in the country as well as Canada. And even though the number of outbreaks has leveled off over the past few years, it is the variety of outbreaks that most troubles the scientists and government health officials who deal with them: Many of the contaminations are showing up in foods never before associated with poisoning.

"It's been a little bit of a roller coaster the past 10 years," said Dr. Robert Tauxe, deputy director of the division of food-borne bacterial and mycotic diseases at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "I am struck that I am seeing new food vehicles. New foods are a problem. Spinach was a new one. And peanut butter, there's a surprise. Also the Veggie Booty, or vegetarian snack food." Not only are scientists puzzled about how such staples became tainted, but they are concerned that U.S. health officials need to do a better job of pinpointing potential sources of contamination before unsafe food winds up on supermarket shelves.

The food safety issue is inescapably linked to the ongoing revolution in U.S. agriculture, with the emergence of mega-farms, mega-distribution centers and mega-transporters. "Once you start to have larger and larger units and these bigger and bigger companies, any contamination incident automatically gets much worse by orders of magnitude," said Michael Hansen, a senior scientist with Consumers Union. "Before, it was just bad produce coming from one farm."

The whole food production system has grown increasingly concentrated, overwhelmingly complex, and - paradoxically - at times fragmented. At the same time, critics charge, U.S. government oversight is not adequate.