1. Afghan schoolgirls attacked by poisonous gas, reports AFP. “Another 98 Afghan girls were rushed to hospital on Tuesday in the latest in a spate of mysterious poisonings to hit three schools north of Kabul” in two weeks. The girls became ill as they entered their school in Mahmud Raq, a small town 45 miles north of Kabul.

   A doctor dealing with the case said that the school had apparently been filled with gas overnight, and that radical Islamist insurgent groups opposed to the education of girls could be responsible…

   “We admitted 98 schoolgirls and a few teachers today in our hospital with symptoms of semi-consciousness, weakness, vomiting, headache and dizziness,” the head of the hospital, Ahmad Khalid Anayat [said].

   They became ill “apparently from some poisoning gas they respired,” he said.

   BBC News says this is the third ‘incident’ of its kind. “There has been an increase in reported attacks on schoolgirls in Afghanistan in the past year… A group of Afghan schoolgirls had acid thrown in their faces in an incident in Kandahar province last year.”

   If Obama wanted to do some good in Afghanistan, he could post a military guard around girls schools there.

   Meanwhile, the LA Times reports 20 people killed in staged suicide bombings in Afghanistan. “A wave of up to a dozen suicide bombers staged synchronized attacks on government buildings in a provincial capital in eastern Afghanistan, triggering a day of chaotic fighting that left at least 20 people dead. Scores of people were injured in the fighting in Khost, the site of a large American military base. The wounded included at least three U.S. soldiers.”

   The NY Times reports the attack begain at 10 a.m. local time with ten Taliban suicide bombers storming two government buildings in the eastern province of Khost. “Shortly afterward, a group of nine suicide attackers stormed a nearby municipality building. Four of them blew themselves up in a battle with security guards outside the building, and five others entered the building and were killed after a standoff in which hostages were taken, the Interior Ministry said.”

   The LA Times also reports Afghan villagers get payments for battle that killed civilians.

   Turbaned elders and weather-beaten farmers trekked to this provincial capital today to accept reparation payments from a government commission that concluded 140 civilians were killed in a fierce battle last week between Taliban fighters and coalition troops.

   If the figure arrived at by the commission is correct, it would make last week’s fatalities in rural Farah province the worst single episode of civilian casualties since the U.S.-led invasion more than seven years ago.

   “This was an accident, and we offer condolences,” provincial Gov. Rosul Amin told the somber, ragged assemblage of villagers. Relatives received about $2,000 for family members killed and $1,000 for those injured.

   Back in the U.S., the NY Times reports A new approach is expected in Afghanistan. Defense War Secretary Robert Gates’ decision to replace Gen. David McKiernan as head of the U.S. forces in Afghanistan with Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal “was yet another signal of growing U.S. apprehension over the war in Afghanistan, compounded by concerns in neighboring Pakistan.”

   Lastly for the record, the Afghan president’s brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai threatened McClatchy writer reporting Afghan drug story.

Four at Four continues with an update from Pakistan, the space shuttle, BoA sells stake in Chinese bank, and outsourcing and profiting from torture.

1. The NY Times reports the Pentagon to replace top commander in Afghanistan. After less than a year, Gen. David McKiernan is out. His replacement is to be “Lt. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, a former commander of the Joint Special Operations Command who recently ran all special operations in Iraq.”

   Meanwhile, the U.S. accuses Afghan militants of using white phosphorus. According to the U.S. military, “at least seven instances of militants using white phosphorus in improvised explosive attacks since spring 2007, including attacks in civilian areas. The military documents showed 12 attacks where militants used white phosphorus in mortar or rocket attacks.”

   All the while the West looked the other way as Afghan drug trade exploded, according to McClatchy. For more than six years, U.S. and NATO forces failed to take poppy cultivation seriously. “Now Helmand and Kandahar have become the core of a narco-state within Afghanistan, effectively ruled by the resurgent Taliban. Drugs are the main economic engine there, and most politicians and police are said to be under the thumbs of dealers… Poppy cultivation has shifted almost exclusively to five of the country’s southern provinces, Taliban areas such as Kandahar and Helmand have become even more volatile.”

Four at Four continues with an update from Pakistan, tossing out Bush’s antitrust policy, Somali pirates’ man in London, West coast high speed rail, and snail evolution.

1. The NY Times reports the U.S. admits civilians died in Afghan raids. Though the Pentagon still disputes the reported 100 civilian deaths were caused by their bombs. “Initial American military reports that some of the casualties might have been caused by Taliban grenades”.

   “It looks like at least some of the casualties were caused by the airstrikes,” the official acknowledged. A second Pentagon official said, “It wouldn’t surprise me if it was a mix,” but added that it was too soon to tell.

   The Washington Post callously notes all these Afghan civilian deaths present the U.S. with a strategic problem. “The truth of what happened in Farah may be less important than what the Afghan people believe took place in the remote western region.” Defense War Secretary Robert “Gates said that a cornerstone of the Taliban campaign is to blame civilian deaths on U.S. troops. And he suggested that the best way to counter the enemy’s strategy would be to reduce civilian casualties throughout the country.”

   “Even if the Taliban create these casualties or exploit them, we need to figure out a way to minimize them and hopefully make them go away,” he said. One such way would be to stop the air strikes.

   Meanwhile, the Post reports the Pentagon budget devotes more to war in Afghanistan than to Iraq. $65 billion will be spent on war in Afghanistan compared to $61 billion on war in Iraq. “The budget includes $700 million for training and equipment to improve Pakistan’s counterinsurgency capability”. But, as the NY Times notes, don’t expect war managersto let Iraq slip away quietly. Afterall, Concerns mount on the preparedness of Iraq’s forces. “A recent string of attacks by insurgents has highlighted shortcomings, large and small, despite billions of dollars in American training and equipment,” according U.S. officials.

   The LA Times reports the Pentagon is considering structural changes to the way they wage war in Afghanistan. “The U.S. military command structure in Afghanistan was designed for a much smaller force. But with the increase ordered by President Obama, the number of U.S. troops will rise to 60,000 by the end of summer and is expected to reach 68,000; NATO troops are increasing to 35,000. The U.S.-led force needs a larger headquarters operation, military officials and experts said.”

2. Meanwhile in Pakistan, McClatchy reports Pakistan launches full-scale military assault on Taliban. The government’s counterattack against the Taliban risks spreading the war. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said Pakistan will no longer “bow our heads before the terrorists.” And added the negotiations with the Taliban in the Swat valley had failed. Pakistan’s army’s job now, he said, is to “eliminate the militants and the terrorists.”

   DAWN Media reports there are on-going Clashes, curfews, and displacement all across Malakand. Pakistan is building up for a full scale operation in the Malakand region. “Heavy reinforcements were seen being moved to Swat, Lower Dir and Malakand districts on Friday… Long columns of troops backed by tanks and artillery were heading towards Swat and Lower Dir.”

   Helicopters, jet fighters and artillery pounded suspected positions in the troubled region and fierce clashes between ground forces and militants have been reported from Maidan area of the Lower Dir. Telecommunication including cellular phones have been jammed in different parts of Malakand while most areas were without electricity…

   Witnesses said that entire Swat district, parts of Lower Dir and Buner districts were still under the militants’ control.

   The LA Times reports Pakistan appears unprepared for ‘massive displacement’ caused by the fighting. “Those on the humanitarian front lines warn that the displaced are angry and traumatized, enduring long days in hot tents with little to do but grow more frustrated.”

   “Displaced people are sources of instability,” said Manuel Bessler, head of the U.N. Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Pakistan. “The situation creates tension and is obviously not sustainable.”

   Many refugees “blame the army at least as much as the Taliban, a political problem for the government” for having to flee their homes.

   The NY Times adds “Tens of thousands of civilians have fled the fighting this week and the United Nations refugee agency, quoting provincial authorities, said in a statement Friday that as many as 200,000 people may have been displaced, with ‘another 300,000 on the move or about to move.'”

Four at Four continues with April unemployment numbers, coal ash, gaming the stress tests, and NASA spaceflight program.

 

During last year’s U.S. presidential campaign, Barack Obama campaigned on a pro-pie platform. But apple pie, an epitome of Americanness, is threatened by the apple’s stagnant gene pool.

Like many Americans, the apple is an immigrant to the United States. The apple’s ancestors came from Central Asia. Today, wild apple trees grow in the Tien Shan Mountains in Western China and in neighboring Kazakhstan. Almaty, the former capital, of Kazakhstan literally means ‘the Father of Apples’.

In addition to wild apple, Central Asia is home to more than 300 wild fruit and nut species, including plum, cherry, apricot, pistachio, walnut and many other important food trees from which domesticated varieties are thought to originate.

A team of international scientists have completed an inventory of Central Asia’s trees and identified 44 species in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan as globally threatened with extinction.  

1. The Washington Post reports Refugees fleeing Swat Valley tell of Taliban crimes and abuses. “As the refugees begin streaming out of Swat and the neighboring Buner district in northwest Pakistan, they carry with them memories of the indignities and horrors inflicted by occupying Taliban forces — locking women inside their homes, setting donkeys on fire — as they tried to force residents to accept a radical version of Islam.”

   Refugees from Bruner, recently captured by the Taliban, say they are “especially vulnerable to Taliban attacks… The district is famous for its Sufi shrines, where people practice a mystical form of Islam that is anathema to the fundamentalist Sunni Taliban. In addition, residents formed militias to resist the Taliban last year”.

   DAWN Media reports “A mass exodus continued from Buner district on Thursday amid intense artillery shelling by the security forces targeting militant positions on the tenth consecutive day.”

   The NY Times reports the Red Cross warns of crisis in Pakistan.

   In a statement on Thursday, the Red Cross said that, “although figures remain unverifiable at this stage, reports indicated that up to 500,000 Pakistanis have been recently displaced by conflict in Dir, Buner and Swat.”

   The statement said a humanitarian crisis “is intensifying.”

   Benno Kocher, a Red Cross official in Peshawar, was quoted as saying: “We can no longer reach the areas most affected by the fighting on account of the volatile situation.”

   DAWN Media reports the Foreign Ministry says concern about Pakistan’s nuclear weapons is ‘invalid’. “Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit Pakistan has refuted US media reports that it has shared information about its nukes with US authorities saying that information about its nukes is sacrosanct and can not be shared with any country. ‘Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal is safe and secure and concerns about their security are invalid,’ said Basit.”

   Meanwhile, Defense War Secretary Robert Gates praises Pakistan response to Taliban push, reports Reuters. Gates believes the “Taliban militants had ‘overreached’ by attacking the Buner district of Pakistan, coming within dozens of kilometres of the capital Islamabad.

   “I think it has served as an alarm for the Pakistani government that these violent extremists in the western part of Pakistan are a significant danger to the government of Pakistan,” he said.

   “I personally have been very satisfied with the strong response that the Pakistani government and army have taken in response to this.”

   Gates also said he thought there was “very little chance” of the Taliban being able to seize control of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons.

   MSNBC reports Gates promising U.S. troops won’t be sent to Pakistan. “Speaking to about 300 Marines at Camp Leatherneck in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, Gates assured them that they wouldn’t be fighting in the neighboring sovereign nation. During a 12-minute question-and-answer session in sweltering heat, Gates told a sergeant he didn’t have to ‘worry about going to Pakistan.'”

   On top of Gates’ remarks, McClatchy reports Obama pledges ‘commitment’ to Afghan, Pakistan leaders.

   President Barack Obama Wednesday pledged a “lasting commitment” by the U.S. to the democratic governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan after an unusual three-way meeting that ended with promises but no concrete agreements.

   Flanked by Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Obama told reporters that both men “fully appreciate the seriousness of the threat we face” from Islamic extremists. He didn’t invite either visitor to speak, however, and both appeared ill at ease.

   Zardari told Spiegel that ‘Nuclear Weapons Are Not Kalashnikovs’ and doubts the Taliban could use them if they captured the weapons. “The technology is complicated, so it is not as if one little Taliban could come down and press a button. There is no little button. I want to assure the world that the nuclear capability of Pakistan is in safe hands,” he said.

   Reuters reports Pakistan hopes the United States will halt drone attacks. Pakistan “says the drones violate its sovereignty and undermine efforts to deal with militancy by inflaming public anger and bolstering militant support.”

   For its part, Afghans protest civilian deaths as U.S. officials raise doubts, according to the LA Times.

   Angry anti-American protests erupted today in a provincial capital close to a string of desert villages where dozens of Afghan civilians were killed this week during clashes between insurgents and U.S.-led troops.

   U.S. military officials, meanwhile, expressed growing doubts that the deaths in the Bala Baluk district of western Farah province were the result of airstrikes called in by American special forces. Instead, they said preliminary findings suggested that the villagers sheltering in residential compounds were slain by Taliban fighters wielding grenades. Local officials contested that theory.

   The NY Times adds Afghan police fire on protesters. “Chanting ‘Death to America’ and hurling rocks, hundreds gathered Thursday in western Afghanistan to protest American airstrikes… In the main city of Farah province, protesters gathered at a police station and the local governor’s office, chanting slogans against the American and Afghan governments, witnesses reported… Outside the governor’s office, police opened fire on stone-throwing protesters and wounded three of them.”

Four at Four continues with Guantanamo documents set to be destroyed, an update from Iraq, stress tests and America’s big lie, and China ready for climate change deal while centrist Democrats in the U.S. House are not.

1. The LA Times reports the Red Cross backs reports of Afghan civilian deaths.

   Villagers said dozens of people — including women, children and elderly men — were killed while sheltering in crowded civilian compounds as fighting raged in the area Monday. About two dozen insurgents were thought to have died in the confrontation as well. Provincial officials Tuesday put the number of dead around 70.

   The International Committee of the Red Cross said its representatives in the area saw dozens of corpses that had been pulled from the rubble in two separate locations in the district. Spokeswoman Jessica Barry in Kabul said the dead included women and children.

   The Washington Post reports Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expresses regret for civilian casualties in Afghanistan.

   Referring to an airstrike in western Afghanistan Monday that Afghan officials and foreign relief workers say killed dozens of civilians, Clinton expressed “my personal regret, and certainly the sympathy of our administration, on the loss of civilian life in Afghanistan.” She told Karzai: “We deeply regret it. We don’t know all of the circumstances or causes. And there will be a joint investigation, by your government and ours. But any loss of life, any loss of innocent life, is particularly painful. And I want to convey to the people of both Afghanistan and Pakistan that . . . we will work very hard, with your governments and with your leaders, to avoid the loss of innocent civilian life. And we deeply, deeply regret that loss.”

   On top of the loss of life, the real problem is the Obama administration doesn’t “deeply, deeply regret” the loss of life enough to stop the air strikes. Each bomb and missile that we use in Afghanistan is an admission our strategy has failed.

   Meanwhile, the LA Times reports President Obama prepares for talks with presidents of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Two days of talks are planned, “Afghanistan to overhaul a painstakingly developed security strategy that was unveiled only five weeks ago but already has become badly outdated. The three countries spent months developing their plan to combat an Islamic insurgency centered in eastern Afghanistan, near the Pakistani border. But growing militant activity in Pakistan is forcing them to hastily switch focus.”

   The NY Times adds the Pakistani president tries to assure the U.S. over the Taliban. “President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan met privately for 90 minutes with members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee”. His “presentation, however, left some members confused and disappointed, according to a person who attended the meeting. He said little about how the Pakistani government planned to regain momentum in the fight against the militants. And when he asked for financial assistance, he likened it to the government’s bailout of the troubled insurance giant, American International Group.”

   The United States has become the punchline to an international joke.

   Meanwhile, Pakistan is up to their old con game. The NY Times adds Pakistan claims combat gains before U.S. talks.

Four at Four continues with governmental reports, another two bombs in Baghdad, and a stealth nationalization plan for Bank of America.

1. McClatchy reports Pakistan advises Swat inhabitants to evacuate as Taliban takes Mingora. The Taliban has taken the Swat valley’s main town. “Up to now, Pakistan had pretended that a controversial peace accord with Taliban in Swat was still holding.”

   The CS Monitor asks what’s the Next Taliban conquest? A view from Pakistan’s frontline. Zeeshan Aslam, shopkeeper and local reporter in Haripur, Pakistan said:

   “We are already living in fear”… Additional security forces have come to this city of 100,000, he says, but too few. “The cordon is porous, and they [the Taliban] can easily come in.”

   Military spokesman Gen. Athar Abbas offers a different assessment: “There is absolutely no threat to the city of Haripur given the military operation, and all the out routes from Swat [are sealed].”

   But that’s not how the NY Times sees it. A Porous Pakistani border could hinder the U.S. in Afghanistan. “The border between Afghanistan and Pakistan barely exists for the Taliban, who are counting on the fact that American forces cannot reach them in their sanctuaries in Pakistan.”

   In addition, one Taliban strategist told the Times:

   “I know of the Petraeus experiment there,” he said. “But we know our Afghans. They will take the money from Petraeus, but they will not be on his side. There are so many people working with the Afghans and the Americans who are on their payroll, but they inform us, sell us weapons.”

   He acknowledged that the Americans would have far superior forces and power this year, but was confident that the Taliban could turn this advantage on its head. “The Americans cannot take control of the villages,” he said. “In order to expel us they will have to resort to aerial bombing, and then they will have more civilian casualties.”

   Meanwhile McClatchy also reports Pakistani army flattening villages as it battles Taliban. “The Pakistani army’s assault against Islamic militants in Buner, in northwest Pakistan, is flattening villages, killing civilians and sending thousands of farmers and villagers fleeing from their homes”.

   “We didn’t see any Taliban; they are up in the mountains, yet the army flattens our villages,” Zaroon Mohammad, 45, told McClatchy as he walked with about a dozen scrawny cattle and the male members of his family in the relative safety of Chinglai village in southern Buner. “Our house has been badly damaged. These cows are now our total possessions.”

   I think its pretty obvious that the U.S. has military trainers in Pakistan. Hearts and minds, people… hearts and minds.

   Don’t worry though, the U.S. military is warily encouraged over Pakistan. While Adm. Michael G. Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is “gravely concerned” but noted the Pakistan military may finally be engaging the Taliban.

   “That’s where the patience and persistence piece must kick in, as far as I’m concerned, from our perspective.”

   The Washington Post seems to dispute Pakistani military cliams, because the newspaper reports the Taliban tightens its hold in Pakistan’s Swat Region and “continued resisting the military’s efforts to dislodge them from neighboring Buner”.

   The reason why the Pakistan military may appear to be on the offensive is “an action that could coincide with a crucial aid-seeking visit to Washington this week by President Asif Ali Zardari, whose government has been criticized by U.S. officials for capitulating to the insurgents.”

Four at Four continues with major FAIL for corn ethanol, UN wants to investigate alleged Israeli war crimes in Gaza, wha?! Sen. Inhofe does something good, and Sec. LaHood’s describes himself as “window dressing”.

1. The Guardian reports Pakistan’s expanding nuclear projects raise fears. “Pakistan is continuing to expand its nuclear bomb-making facilities… The Khushab reactors are situated on the border of Punjab and North-West Frontier province, the scene of heavy fighting between Taliban and government forces. Another allegedly vulnerable facility is the Gadwal uranium enrichment plant, less than 60 miles south of Buner district, where some of the fiercest clashes have taken place in recent days.”

   McClatchy adds the U.S. is still confident that “the Pakistani military, which maintains a special 10,000-man force to guard its nuclear facilities, is taking extraordinary steps to protect its nuclear sites, as well as the warheads themselves.” But, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton thinks the Taliban’s advance is a “mortal threat” to the United States and the world.

   “If the worst, the unthinkable, were to happen, and this advancing Taliban encouraged and supported by al Qaida and other extremists were to essentially topple the government for failure to beat them back, then they would have the keys to the nuclear arsenal of Pakistan,” she said…

   “‘There is a rising tide of jihadist sympathizers within the Pakistani military,’ asserted the U.S. defense official.”

   Spiegel reports on The battle for control of Pakistan.

   A British regional expert with top intelligence agency connections recently told an exclusive circle of members of parliament in London: “The ally Pakistan does not share our interests.” He said Islamabad intends “to topple Afghanistan’s President Karzai, install a Pakistan-friendly Pashtun government and drive the British, the Americans and NATO out of the country.”

   …Pakistani courts have not convicted a single prominent Islamist since 2001…

   Pakistan’s key vulnerability may not actually lie with the security system for its nuclear warheads. A greater threat to the 166 million Pakistanis appears to emanate from the country’s immeasurably corrupt society, with its stark class differences. The rich elite ignore the miseries of the poor, and there is no compulsory education or functioning health-care system. This makes society’s underprivileged particularly receptive to any form of attention, even from the otherwise dreaded Islamists. The militants at least offer income and opportunities to rise through the ranks…

   By contrast, the powerful army is more concerned with pursuing its own business deals than with protecting the Pakistanis from Islamist aggressors.

   The NY Times adds Pakistan’s Islamic schools fill a void, but fuel militancy. “With public education in a shambles, Pakistan’s poorest families have turned to madrasas, or Islamic schools, that feed and house the children while pushing a more militant brand of Islam than was traditional here.”

   “We are at the beginning of a great storm that is about to sweep the country,” said Ibn Abduh Rehman, who directs the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, an independent organization. “It’s red alert for Pakistan.”

   Even if the madrasas do not make militants, they create a worldview that makes militancy possible. “The mindset wants to stop music, girls’ schools and festivals,” said Salman Abid, a social researcher in southern Punjab. “Their message is that this is not real life. Real life comes later” – after death.

Four at Four continues with Iraq, U.S. collapsing from debt, swine flu ebbs in Mexico, and crowded oceans.

1. On the 6th anniversary day of “Mission Accomplished”, Three U.S. Troops Are Killed in Iraq reports the NY Times. “Two American Marines and a sailor were killed during a military operation in Anbar, the vast province west of Baghdad… The three Americans died on Thursday ‘while conducting combat operations against enemy forces,'” according to a statement by the U.S. military command. 18 American troops were killed in Iraq in April, the deadliest month in Iraq since September.”

   Meanwhile, Greg Mitchell at Editor & Publisher has “A 6th Anniversary Look Back at Media Coverage of ‘Mission Accomplished’“. “Exactly six years ago, President Bush, dressed in a flight suit, landed on the deck of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln and declared an end to major military operations in Iraq — with the now-infamous ‘Mission Accomplished’ banner arrayed behind him in the war’s greatest photo op. Chris Matthews on MSNBC called Bush a ‘hero’ and boomed, ‘He won the war. He was an effective commander. Everybody recognizes that, I believe, except a few critics.’ … Everyone agreed the Democrats and antiwar critics were now on the run.”

2. On one hand, the Washington Post reports U.S. colleges bask in surge of interest among Chinese. “It’s an admissions officer’s dream: ever-growing stacks of applications from students with outstanding test scores, terrific grades and rigorous academic preparation. That’s the pleasant prospect faced by the University of Virginia and some other U.S. colleges, which are receiving a surging number of applications from China… About eight years ago, U-Va. began offering full scholarships to a couple of Chinese students each year.”

   While on the other hand, the NY Times reports Finding financial aid is a hurdle to going to college. “Each afternoon this spring, Brennan Jackson, an A-student who ranks near the top of his high school class, has arrived at his guidance counselor’s office to intercept the latest scholarship applications… Because his father is out of work and his mother works only part time, Brennan has set an ambitious goal for himself: to raise the $25,000 he still needs for his freshman year at the University of California, Berkeley, by stitching together a quilt of merit scholarships.”

Four at Four continues with Pakistan and genetic diversity of Africa.

1. The Guardian reports Taliban vow to meet U.S.-led surge with violence against Karzai government. The Taliban vowed to meet any U.S. troop surge in Afghanistan with a summer of violence. “Mullah Brother Akhund, the second most powerful man in the hardline movement, published a statement on the Taliban website announcing the start of ‘Operation Victory’ today, which he said will involve ambushes on security forces and suicide bomb attacks.”

   “Zabihullah Mujahid said the promised upsurge in violence was a response to the decision of the US and several other Nato allies to send more troops to Afghanistan to challenge the influence Taliban insurgents who influence over huge swathes of countryside in the south and in the provinces next to Kabul, the capital.”

2. The LA Times Scientists see this flu strain as relatively mild.

   As the World Health Organization raised its infectious disease alert level Wednesday and health officials confirmed the first death linked to swine flu inside U.S. borders, scientists studying the virus are coming to the consensus that this hybrid strain of influenza — at least in its current form — isn’t shaping up to be as fatal as the strains that caused some previous pandemics.

   In fact, the current outbreak of the H1N1 virus, which emerged in San Diego and southern Mexico late last month, may not even do as much damage as the run-of-the-mill flu outbreaks that occur each winter without much fanfare.

Four at Four continues with DoJ corruption, Somali piracy, and same-ol’, same ol’ in Iraq.

1. The Guardian reports Only half a trillion tonnes of carbon left to burn before dangerous climate change. “The world has already burned half the fossil fuels necessary to bring about a catastrophic 3.6º F (2º C) rise in average global temperature”. Scientists at Oxford University “say about half a trillion tonnes of carbon have been consumed since the industrial revolution.” At the current rate of carbon burn, the world will a trillion tonnes in 40 years.

   Meanwhile, the MercoPress reports a Massive Antarctic ice shelf is breaking up into icebergs. “Scientists estimate the Wilkins Ice Shelf… had been in place for several hundred years. But satellite images taken over the past week show it has begun collapsing into the ocean”.

   Science Daily adds this is the largest ice shelf retreat to date.

2. The LA Times reports Justice Department official slams ‘lawless’ Bush terror policies. Todd Hinnen, deputy assistant attorney general for law and policy in the department’s National Security Division, said the Bush administration’s “lawless response to terrorism” helped strengthen al-Qaeda and undermined U.S. moral credibility and international standing. Hinnen was a Bush administration’s counter-terrorism official until 2007.

   The Obama administration is “struggling to deal with the fallout left by its predecessors, both in the U.S. and overseas on issues such as coercive interrogations, ‘extraordinary renditions,’ and the indefinite detention of suspected terrorists”, he noted.

Four at Four continues with shrinking U.S. GDP, America’s most polluted cities, and an update from Pakistan.