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Israel unleashed a fierce bombardment on targets in southern Beirut and southern Lebanon after a Hezbollah rocket attack on Israel’s third-largest city.
Eleven months ago, Israel withdrew from every last inch of the Gaza Strip. The Israelis dismantled all military bases, destroyed all their settlements, turned over functioning greenhouses that could employ 4,000 people, expelled all 7,500 Israeli settlers--all at a huge financial and political cost. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon even went a step further, declaring the lines that divide Israel from Gaza an international frontier, making Gaza the first independent Palestinian territory ever.
According to a report card released by the March of Dimes last week, only five states and the District of Columbia now routinely screen newborns for 29 rare but treatable conditions, from impaired hearing to hypothyroidism. Many of the conditions are life threatening if not caught early, but they can be successfully handled through diet or medication. The tests, which are recommended by the American College of Medical Genetics, are fast and easy to administer: All but the hearing screen, in fact, can be accomplished by taking just a few drops of blood from the baby's heel. Iowa, Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey, and Virginia test for all 29 conditions; overall, the proportion of babies getting at least 20 of the tests jumped from 38 percent to 64 percent in the past year. "States are really moving in the right direction here," says March of Dimes President Jennifer Howse. She recommends that expectant parents find out which tests are done at hospitals in their state; a full screening can be arranged with an outside laboratory. The extra cost, she says, shouldn't be more than $100.
AP - Fighter bombers pummeled Lebanese infrastructure Monday, setting Beirut's port ablaze and hitting a Hezbollah stronghold in attacks that killed at least 17 people. Hezbollah retaliated by firing rockets that flew further into Israel than ever before.
AP - Dozens of heavily armed attackers raided an open air market Monday in a tense town south of Baghdad, killing at least 41 people and wounding 42, police and hospital officials said.
AP - A vintage British fighter jet crashed into a densely populated neighborhood near an airport during an air show Sunday afternoon, exploding, destroying a home and killing the pilot.
• U.N. chief, Blair urge global 'stabilization force' • Israel hits port, army barracks in new strikes • Haifa, Israel, targeted again but escapes damage • Hezbollah rockets injure four in northern Israel • Western nations look to evacuate their citizens • Hezbollah rocket kills 8 in Haifa train depot
(Time.com) Around the world, people could be excused for feeling that they are witnessing something numbingly familiar in the Middle East, like a recurring nightmare that many would rather keep stored in the recesses of memory.
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