White House would consider direct assaults in Pakistan

Frances Townsend, the White House homeland security adviser, signaled today that the Bush administration would consider direct assaults on al-Qaeda hideouts in Pakistan.

Townsend was asked on "Fox News Sunday" why the United States isn't sending Special Forces, attack drones and anything else it can to wipe out al-Qaeda. She replied, "Just because we don't speak about things publicly doesn't mean we're not doing many of the things you're talking about."

She added, "Job number one is to protect the American people, and there are no options that are off the table."

A National Intelligence Estimate released Tuesday reported that al-Qaeda has grown stronger, in part because it has established "a safe haven" in northwest Pakistan, in the Federally Administered Tribal Area that is beyond the national government's control.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Kurshid Kasuri warned on CNN's "Late Edition" against the White House bypassing the Pakistani military in any operation.

By Zachary Goldfarb | July 22, 2007; 2:07 PM ET

Read full story at: Washingtonpost

Microsoft Anna - Sensual Babe or Just Another Robot?

Microsoft Anna is the new English text to speech voice of Windows Vista. She replaces Microsoft Sam, the robot-like voice that comes with Windows XP. Microsoft Sam has probably single-handedly done more than anything to give text to speech a bad name. The only positive thing I can say about Microsoft Sam is that he reminds me of the Commodore Amiga, possibly the first personal computer to have a built-in text to speech capability.

Does Microsoft Anna sound any better than Sam? Does she have a sensual voice that you could listen to all day or does she have you reaching for the mute button? How does she compare to a voice from a leading speech engine provider, such as one of Nuance®’s RealSpeak™ voices?

To answer these questions, I’ve conducted a simple ’speak-off’ between Microsoft Sam, Microsoft Anna and RealSpeak™ Samantha. Each voice had to read three passages of text, ranging in difficulty from a simple news story to an abstract from a medical journal that most humans would have trouble pronouncing.

Read Full Article at: text2go

HIV-Drugs Tested on Virus-Free People for Prevention

By Simeon Bennett

July 22 (Bloomberg) -- HIV drugs will be given to people who don't have the virus by U.S. scientists to determine whether the medicines can protect those at greatest risk of catching the AIDS-causing disease.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta are recruiting volunteers in Thailand, Botswana and the U.S. to test so-called pre-exposure prophylaxis as a means of prevention. The National Institutes of Health is planning a trial for Peru and Ecuador, researchers told an AIDS conference in Sydney today.

The theory suggests that taking anti-HIV drugs before potential exposure to the virus can protect a person against acquiring it through risky sex or intravenous drug use. It's controversial because of concern it may raise resistance to the drugs, making them less effective when infection happens.

``We don't yet have definitive proof this is effective,'' Dawn Smith, the CDC's associate chief for science, told the conference.

Unlike other experimental approaches to fighting HIV such as vaccines and microbicides, the technique uses drugs that are already in use, such as Gilead Sciences Inc.'s Viread and Truvada. The regime has been shown to lower the risk of infection in monkeys, according to the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition.

U.S. Trial

The U.S. trial will target young black males who have sex with men because they are statistically more at risk of contracting HIV than their white peers, Smith said. The Thai trial will target as many as 2,000 injecting drug users, and the trial in Botswana will recruit as many as 1,200 heterosexual men and women. The CDC expects its first set of results by mid-next year, Smith said.

As many as 1,400 men who have sex with men may be enrolled in the study in Peru and Ecuador. Participants will take one tablet a day of Truvada, said Robert Grant, associate professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, who is heading the study in Peru and Ecuador.

Read Full Story at: Bloomberg.com

Bus carrying Poles crashes in France killing 24

PARIS (Reuters) - French police said at least 24 people died on Sunday when a coach carrying Polish pilgrims plunged down a hillside and burst into flames near the southeastern French city of Grenoble.

The coach, carrying around 50 Polish nationals, apparently suffered problems with its braking system while descending a steep incline. It left the road, cleared roadside barriers and careered downhill, emergency officials said.
Photo

The vehicle came to rest on the banks of the river Romanche and burst into flames, they added.

"The toll has now risen to 24 dead, 24 injured and two missing," gendarme (police) Lt-Colonel Thierry Rousseau told Reuters by telephone. Of the injured, 12 were in a serious condition, he added.

Local officials said the coach's speed and the state of its brakes may have been factors in the accident.

Pictures broadcast on LCI television showed rescue workers treating survivors on the grassy banks of the Romanche, the carcass of the coach still smouldering in the background.

Debris was strewn around the river bank where the coach finally came to rest.

French Prime Minister Francois Fillon would visit the crash site later in the day, his office said. The Polish consul in Lyon was also heading there, Warsaw said.

Original News at: Reuters UK