Around the Globe

-Public Health: Type 2 Poliovirus Back From The Dead in Nigeria

In 1999, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative scored an unequivocal victory: It wiped one of three serotypes of wild poliovirus, type 2, off the face of the earth, except for samples stored in labs for study or vaccine creation.

That triumph left just two foes to battle: Poliovirus types 1 and 3, which have continued to put up quite a fight. But now a version of type 2 has returned. Springing back to life from a weakened form of the pathogen used in a vaccine, poliovirus type 2 is causing a runaway outbreak in Nigeria, where types 1 and 3 are also raging.

In July, the World Health Organization issued a global alert warning that type 2 poliovirus in Nigeria posed an "increasing risk of international spread." It's a stunning setback for the initiative, now already 9 years past its original deadline for vanquishing the virus.

Source: sciencemag/leslie roberts

*I guess we wont be hearing about this until people start dying in europe or north america...who cares about nigerians dying of polio, right? its just a bunch of poor black people.

fck

-BANGKOK (Reuters) – A Thai court on Tuesday refused to extradite alleged Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout to the United States to face trial on charges of supplying weapons to Colombian rebels.

The U.S. wanted to try Bout, dubbed the "Merchant of Death," for conspiracy to sell millions of dollars of weapons to rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Bout was arrested in a Thai-U.S. sting operation at a Bangkok hotel in March 2008 after arriving from Moscow.

U.S. prosecutors alleged Bout had been trafficking arms since the 1990s, using a fleet of cargo planes to send weapons to Africa, South America and the Middle East. Bout is alleged to have sold or brokered arms deals that have helped fuel wars in Afghanistan, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Sudan.

The character played by Nicholas Cage in the 2005 movie "Lord of War" is loosely based on the Russian's alleged exploits. A British minister labeled him "a merchant of death." He has denied involvement in the illegal arms trade and has maintained he was only involved in cargo transportation.

-SYDNEY (AP) - Thousands of camels in Australia's remote Outback could be killed by marksmen in helicopters under a government proposal aimed at cutting down the population of the havoc-wreaking animals.

First introduced into Australia in the 1840s to help explorers travel through the Australian desert, there are now about 1 million camels roaming the country, with the population doubling every nine years.

The federal government set aside 19 million Australian dollars for a program to help slash the population. Besides sending in sharpshooters in helicopters and on foot, officials are considering proposals to turn some of the creatures into tasty treats such as camel burgers.

Tony Peacock, CEO of the University of Canberra's Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Center, said a cull was the most effective method. "To be shot from a helicopter is actually quite humane, even though that sounds brutal," he said. "If I was a camel, I'd prefer to just get it in the head."

*smmfh @ this statement.