This One's For All You FOX NEWS Lovers.....

FDA Warns Viagra Users May Suffer Hearing Loss

Friday, October 19, 2007

Users of impotence drugs, such as Viagra, may suffer sudden hearing loss, according to the Food and Drug Administration.

It's not clear that the drugs truly trigger hearing loss, but the Food and Drug Administration decided Thursday the drugs would bear a warning about the possible risk after counting 29 reports of the problem since 1996 among users of this family of medicines.

The impotence drugs Viagra, Cialis and Levitra will bear the warnings. So will Revatio, a drug for pulmonary hypertension, which contains the same ingredient as Viagra.

Viagra's label already mentioned hearing loss as a possibility, because a few cases were reported during initial testing of that drug. But given that hearing loss is a risk of advancing age and certain conditions, such as diabetes and heart disease, that can lead to impotence, it wasn't clear if the link was real.

That still isn't clear, said FDA ear nose and throat specialist Dr. Robert Boucher.

But in poring over FDA's database of possible drug reactions, what struck him was these 29 reports said the hearing loss occurred without hours to two days of taking one of the drugs.

"We don't know enough to say that it's ironclad caused by the drugs, but we see enough to say we can't ignore it either," he said.

The reports involve hearing loss in one ear, which in a third of cases was temporary.

FDA urged patients who experience any hearing problems — loss or ringing in the ears — to promptly call their doctors and stop taking the impotence drugs.

— Associated Press

Banks face 10-day debt timebomb

By Iain Dey, Sunday Telegraph

Last Updated: 12:02am BST 10/09/2007

Britain's biggest banks could be forced to cough up as much as £70bn over the next 10 days, as the credit crisis that has seized the global financial system sparks a fresh wave of chaos.

The credit crunch is really hitting home

Small businesses risk being driven out

Comment: The lottery of London's £70bn rollover week

Almost 20 per cent of the short-term money market loans issued by European banks are due to mature between September 11 and September 19. Senior bankers fear that they will have to refinance almost all of these debts with funds from their own coffers, putting a further strain on bank balance sheets.

Tens of billions of pounds of these commercial paper loans have already built up in the financial system, because fear-ridden investors no longer want to buy them. Roughly £23bn of these loans expire on September 17 alone.

Fears of this impending call on bank credit lines are the true reason that lending between banks has ground to a halt, according to senior money market sources.

Banks have been stockpiling cash in preparation for this "double rollover" week, which sees quarterly loans expire alongside shorter term debts - exacerbating a problem that lies at the heart of the credit crisis.

"Banks are hoarding cash," said David Brickman, the head of European credit strategy at Lehman Brothers. "We think the reason for that is the commercial paper markets. There was $100bn of commercial paper issued by European institutions that was scheduled to roll over in August, much of which struggled to do so.

"Those markets are just not functioning normally, so some debt has already come on to bank balance sheets and more will have to follow. We estimate that between September 11 and 19 $139bn [£68.5bn] of European commercial paper [will come] up for renewal, including monthly and quarterly maturities. That's why banks are hoarding cash."

Mervyn King, the governor of the Bank of England, last week made his first intervention in the money markets since the credit crisis began, pledging to inject £4.4bn into the overnight lending system if required.

DeAnne Julius, a former member of the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee, told The Sunday Telegraph: "The Bank has a responsibility to allow the smooth functioning of the sterling money markets and it has a pretty clear framework for doing that. But it needs to apply that framework to achieve the objectives it is aiming at. The experience of the last couple of weeks does not look as if it [the Bank] has been very successful at that."

Although the markets have viewed King as reluctant to bail out irresponsible lenders, the BoE has not ruled out further interventions. But senior bankers say King is unsure that pledging funds over a three-month duration would solve the liquidity crisis. He is said to share the view that the root of the liquidity problem lies in the commercial paper markets.

Market sources believe confidence will be restored only when all the sub-prime losses in the system have been exposed.

Christopher Wood, the strategist at Hong Kong-based brokerage CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets credited with predicting the US sub-prime crisis two years ago, said: "The sub-prime crisis has exposed the structured credit asset class as highly dubious. In five years' time it won't exist."

Still No Clues in Hunt for Aviator [Fossett]

By SANDRA CHEREB 09.09.07, 1:32 PM ETMINDEN, Nev. -

Nearly a week after record-setting aviator Steve Fossett disappeared, search leaders said Sunday they were still sure they would find him but acknowledged that combing thousands of square miles has taken a toll on rescue crews.

The aerial search, involving as many 45 aircraft surveying mountains and desert in western Nevada, still had produced no clue to Fossett's whereabouts. Sunday was the sixth day of the operation.

"It's not frustrating, but tiring," Nevada National Guard Capt. April Conway said Sunday.

"Everybody's waking up and saying 'Hopefully, today's the day,'" she told The Associated Press.

The 63-year-old adventurer has been missing since Labor Day, when he took off in a single-engine plane from an isolated ranch for a three-hour flight. He was said to be looking for dry lake beds where he could attempt to break the land speed record.

Civil Air Patrol pilots from throughout the West returned to the sky on Sunday morning, taking advantage of clear, cloudless weather with light wind.

The mood at Minden Airport, headquarters for the search-and-rescue operation, had dampened Sunday. Crew members declined to answer questions and referred all inquiries to Maj. Cynthia Ryan of the Nevada Civil Air Patrol, who would say only that pilots had received their assignments the night before.

In one sign that the effort has not produced as expected, nighttime flights using infrared scanners had been halted.

In addition to the civilian CAP planes, the National Guard has been assisting the search. As of Sunday, two of its helicopters were being based at the ranch 80 miles southeast of Reno where Fossett took off. The Flying M. Ranch, owned by hotel magnate Barron Hilton, has its own airstrip.

"The offer was made by Mr. Hilton yesterday," Conway said. "Going by the logistics, such as refueling, it made a lot of sense."

A number of private pilots involved in the search also have been using the ranch airstrip as a base.

Fossett is a skilled survivalist who has scaled some of the world's highest peaks and survived several failed attempts to circle the globe in a balloon before finally succeeding.

It is that history that gives his friends and search-and-rescue team members hope that he is still alive.

They are searching an area of 17,000 square miles, about twice the size of New Jersey, an unforgiving land of steep mountain ranges and barren desert plateaus.

"This is one small airplane in one big area," Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons said Saturday during a visit to the operation's headquarters at the Minden Airport. "I know every bit of how big the state of Nevada is, both from the ground and from the air. It is a challenge. It's a big challenge."

Search crews checked several tips that came from people who were near the California-Nevada border about the time Fossett was flying. None has panned out.

"So far, they remain four independent leads, four random pieces of a larger puzzle," Ryan said. "If we can get some more leads to come in, hopefully one of them will match up with one of those others and we'll have something significant to go after."

Authorities even sent a sonar-equipped sheriff's boat to Walker Lake, but it failed to find any sign of a submerged airplane.

Walker Lake is about 15 miles east of the Flying M Ranch.

See, my issue with this story is, how in the hail were nuclear warheads "MISTAKENLY" loaded onto a B-52 bomber? Also WHY would the Air Force and Air Combat Command OPENLY announce that they're grounding jet fighters and bombers on Sept 14th??? Why even say the day? What purpose does this serve???? If the red flags are popping up in front of you after you read the article below, don't knock them down or ignore them because something definitely is not right with this. Here's the article below...

Langley jets grounded next week for safety review

HAMPTON, Va. (AP) -- Langley Air Force Base will ground its jets next week.

The Air Force says the service's Air Combat Command has ordered all jet fighters and bombers to remain grounded so airmen can review safety procedures and protocol.

Langley is home to three fighter squadrons, which fly the F-15 Eagle and F-22A Raptor.

Officials say the stand down next Friday was prompted by an August incident where a B-52 bomber was mistakenly armed with six nuclear warheads and flown across several states.

The advanced nuclear cruise missiles loaded on the B-52 were scheduled to be decommissioned and were flying from North Dakota to Louisiana.

Officials say the warheads are designed so they don't accidentally detonate. To accidentally load them onto the bomber meant that safety protocols were ignored.

(Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Source

Gunman Kills Officer in Idaho Courthouse

By BILL LOFTUS

Published: May 20, 2007

MOSCOW, Idaho, May 20 — A gunman went on a shooting rampage in this quiet college town late Saturday night, killing a police officer and wounding a sheriff’s deputy and a civilian before taking refuge in a church.

Early today, SWAT units stormed the church and found the bodies of the gunman and another man, who was believed to be the church caretaker.

Officials had not released the identity of the shooter or the injured civilian as of this evening. They said they did not know the gunman’s motive.

Moscow is about 80 miles south of Spokane, Wash., and is home to 22,000 residents and the University of Idaho.

At a news conference today, David Duke, the assistant chief of the Moscow Police Department, said the shootings began about 11:30 p.m. Saturday when someone opened fire on the Latah County Courthouse, which houses the sheriff’s office.

The police said the shots may have been intended to draw people to the scene so the gunman could ambush them. Witnesses reported hearing dozens of shots.

“You could classify it as an ambush,” Chief Duke said. “All the information I have is that there was no return fire.”

Three dispatchers and two deputies who were inside the sheriff’s office escaped injury from the hail of bullets, which shattered windows and equipment and penetrated walls, Sheriff Wayne Rausch said.

Moscow police were notified at 11:31 p.m., and Officer Lee Newbill and another officer set off on foot for the courthouse from the police station about five blocks away.

Officer Newbill, a six-year veteran of the police force, died after being shot several times about a block from the courthouse. A sheriff’s deputy, Sgt. Brannon Jordan, was wounded when he went to Mr. Newbill’s aid. The civilian, whom the police did not identify, was believed to be a nearby resident who approached the scene to offer help, the police said.

Sergeant Jordan was reported in serious condition at the Moscow hospital with multiple gunshot wounds. The resident who was shot had undergone surgery and was in stable condition.

The Associated Press identified the second man found in the church as Paul Bauer, a caretaker believed to be in his 60s who lived at the church.

Chief Duke said the police did not return fire during the barrage because the shooter’s location was never established.

After the attack on the courthouse, the gunman fled to the First Presbyterian Church across the street from the sheriff’s department.

The police said that a single, muffled gunshot was heard about 1 a.m. from the church.

Officers responded from the Idaho State Police, Washington State Police, the Lewiston Police Department and from neighboring Pullman and Washington State University. Three SWAT units entered the church about 6 a.m. and found the two bodies in separate parts of the church.

The police suspect that the gunman killed Mr. Bauer and then killed himself.

Chief Duke said the gunman used an assault rifle, which was found with four empty magazines near his body.

Mayor Nancy Chaney said she had heard the gunshots from her home nearly a mile away.

“I knew it didn’t sound like fireworks, so I was trying to put it in context, and I was expecting a call,” Ms. Chaney said.

She was called by the police at 12:53 a.m. and asked to stay put until the situation became clearer. At 2 a.m., the mayor went to Gritman Memorial Hospital in Moscow, where she spent the night with families of the shooting victims.

John K. Fellman, who lives several blocks from the sheriff’s office, was walking his two dogs this morning when he approached the cordon of yellow police tape and an officer guarding the crime scene.

“It sounded like Falluja or something,” said Mr. Fellman, a faculty member at Washington State University, which is eight miles away.

White House Says It Will Quickly Nominate New World Bank President

White House Says It Will Quickly Nominate New World Bank President

By VOA News 18 May 2007

Paul Wolfowitz, 9 May 2007

White House spokesman Tony Fratto says Washington wants to move swiftly to nominate a new president of the World Bank.

World Bank chief Paul Wolfowitz announced Thursday that he would resign at the end of June, ending a bruising political squabble growing out of charges he improperly arranged a promotion and pay raise for his girlfriend.

Fratto told journalists Friday that President Bush wants to pick a candidate with "real passion for lifting people out of poverty." The World Bank's mission is to use loans to help poor nations improve their economies and reduce poverty.

Many news reports speculate about possible successors to Wolfowitz. Among the names mentioned are former Deputy U.S. Secretary of State Robert Zoellick, current Deputy U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert Kimmit, Bank of Israel official Stanley Fischer and outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The United States is the World Bank's largest shareholder, and has traditionally named the bank's president.