Oct 14 1:44 PM US/Eastern - By MALCOLM RITTER AP Science Writer
The bird flu virus that infected a Vietnamese girl was resistant to the main drug that's being stockpiled in case of a pandemic, a sign that it's important to keep a second drug on hand as well, a researcher said Friday.
He said the finding was no reason to panic.
The drug in question, Tamiflu, still attacks "the vast majority of the viruses out there," said Yoshihiro Kawaoka of the University of Tokyo and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The drug, produced by Swiss- based Roche Holding AG, is in short supply as nations around the world try to stock up on it in case of a global flu pandemic.
Kawaoka said the case of resistance in the 14-year-old girl is "only one case, and whether that condition was something unique we don't know."
He also said it's not surprising to see some resistance to Tamiflu, because that had also happened with human flu. The girl's Tamiflu-resistant virus was susceptible to another drug, Relenza, Kawaoka said...
By KEN SUGIURA The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published on: 10/15/05 Daniel Wolcott's frequent flyer miles are piling up. The Buford man, who was arrested earlier this week for allegedly stealing a $7 million charter jet and taking friends on a joy ride, apparently did more flying that night than had been thought.
Daniel Wolcott remains in the Gwinnett jail on $175,000 bond on a charge of receiving stolen property.
Law enforcement officials believe Wolcott slipped out of St. Augustine, Fla., around 3 a.m. and flew to Gwinnett's Briscoe Field — alone. Once in Gwinnett, Wolcott reportedly called friends, who met him at the airport. Wolcott and his five passengers then flew to Winder — about 15 miles from Briscoe — where he executed a touch-and-go landing before heading back to Briscoe Field, officials say.
He remains in the Gwinnett County jail and also faces a grand theft charge in Florida. He also may face federal interstate theft charges. Said FBI Special Agent Stephen Emmett, "I imagine the FAA would be looking hard at his pilot's license."
Various details emerged Friday of the alleged crime. St. Augustine airport assistant manager Bryan Cooper said that an airfield Web cam atop a 14-foot column was disabled between 12 a.m. and 5 a.m. Sunday. "It was a wireless camera with a magnetic base on it, and it was on a steel column," Cooper said. "Someone shimmied up the column, an approximately 14-foot column, and took the camera.""My homeboy chartered this jet," said Baker, who added that it was his first flight. "He chartered us a jet and we flew."
Police believe otherwise. "It technically was a chartered plane," said Gwinnett police spokesman Darren Moloney. "Just not by Wolcott." James Coffey said that Wolcott made the decision to cut the trip to Winder short and land the plane back at Briscoe when only 500 pounds of fuel — about 80 gallons — remained. Moloney said the amount of gasoline remaining when it was found Monday was "dangerously low." Wolcott apparently did not give any indication that there was anything unusual taking place. "None of the boys seemed to think he was acting strangely," James Coffey said. Monday and Tuesday, when news of the alleged theft began to spread, the five — all from Lawrenceville — went to the police. Meanwhile, Wolcott went back to work. St. Johns Sheriff's Office spokesman Kevin Kelshaw said that Wolcott originally flew down to St. Augustine as a co-pilot on a business flight the previous Thursday. Michael Slingluff, president of Aero Sport , which provides aviation services at the St. Augustine airport, said that Wolcott and the pilot flew for a company called Medical Holdings. The day after the alleged theft, Wolcott took a commercial flight to Jacksonville, took a cab to nearby St. Augustine, checked out of his hotel and flew back on the Medical Holdings plane, Kelshaw said.
He turned himself in to Gwinnett police Wednesday morning, a day after a warrant for his arrest was issued. He was charged with receiving stolen property, a felony, and five counts of reckless conduct. As of Friday, he was still in jail on $175,000 bond. That Wolcott's five friends, who were not charged because they did not know it was a stolen plane, apparently walked onto the Briscoe Field tarmac without being stopped, loitered around the aircraft, boarded a plane, took off and landed with no one knowing represents a security breach that airport manager Matt Smith acknowledged.
"I'm not going to sit here and tell you it's a fortress because it's not," Smith said. "That's something we're trying to address." Security weaknesses have been identified. "We need to go and identify a source of funding, which is really what it comes down to," he said. The question remains: What possessed Wolcott to allegedly attempt such a risky venture? From the Gwinnett jail, Wolcott declined an interview request. "That's the $64,000 question," said St. Johns County Sheriff David Shoar. "Why do that? Why take a plane and leave, and then only to come back to same area to fly another plane out? It's kind of a bizarre tale."
School Reports Suspicious Activity; Parents Weren't Notified (NC - 10/14/05)
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Parents are upset that they are just now learning about suspicious activity that happened two weeks ago outside Eastover Elementary School. Police said young kids were being photographed and others were being approached.
According to police, the incidents happened during the first week of school. The kids were on the playground at Eastover Elementary when a man came from behind the bushes and called a little boy toward him, police said. Police said a teacher stopped the child and the man drove off in an ice cream truck.
The teacher said she immediately told her principal.....
Police arrested Tomer Messinger, a 22-year-old Israeli citizen. Authorities have started deportation proceedings, but Messinger is out on bond until his next hearing.
Police Searching For Suspicious Man Loitering At Colleges (VT - 10/14/05)
Police are investigating complaints of a suspicious man loitering at several Vermont colleges. One complaint was of a man in the women's showers at the University of Vermont.
The culprit was described as a white man with short brown hair and scruffy facial hair, wearing black sweats and a white T-shirt.
A similar description was given for a man who reportedly was acting suspiciously toward a woman at the Middlebury College library. Anyone with information about these or other similar incidents is asked to call the Vermont State Police barracks in Middlesex at (802) 229-9191.
W.Va. Officials Searching for Missing Plane (W. VA - 10/14/05)
October 14, 2005, 9:26 PM LOGAN, W.Va. (AP) -- Emergency crews searched a mountainous area near Logan County's airport Friday after air traffic controllers lost contact with a single-engine plane preparing to land...