[archive] The dailywebthing newspage is brought to you by: Morrock News Magazine Thursday : : October 19, 2000 : : Issue No. 1378 Team of U.S. medical experts in Uganda to fight Ebola virus With 42 people dead in an Ebola virus outbreak in northern Uganda, a team of six medical experts from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention arrived Thursday to help battle the grim disease. The outbreak, which began in early September, has so far been confined to the town of Gula and nearby areas. Besides those who have died, 69 others have reportedly been infected -- and the fatality rate of the virus suggests that from 65 percent to 85 percent of those will also die. Ebola is a hemorrhagic virus, meaning that it causes its victims to bleed from every bodily orifice. One theory is that Ugandan soldiers brought the virus back to their country when they returned from fighting in the Congo. The Ugandan government has isolated an area for victims' bodies to be buried. "We shall contain the disease in the next few days," Ugandan health minister Crispus Kiyonga told the Reuters News Service. Medics from the World Health Organization are already on the scene. Keeping the highly contagious virus -- it can be transmitted by such minimal contact as a handshake -- from spreading in a world linked by high-speed travel is the primary concern. . . . . WORLDWIDE NEWS . . . . GUNS BLAZE DESPITE MIDEAST PACT: Gunfire ripped back and forth for hours on hills above the West Bank town of Nablus, Israel, on Thursday killing a Palestinian and a Jewish settler, and leaving about 20 others injured. This despite leaders of both sides agreeing to a cease-fire in the violence that has killed more than 100 people in three weeks. Israeli helicopter gunships joined the battle Thursday. PHILIPPINE IMPEACHMENT CHARGES FILED: Opponents of Philippine President Joseph Estrada have filed impeachment charges against him, charging that he took gambling money illegally. Thousands have joined protests in downtown Manila, urging Estrada to step down. . . . . STATESIDE NEWS . . . . RADAR SNAFU FOULS WEST COAST AIR FLIGHTS: Computer-controlled air traffic radar equipment in Los Angeles crashed Thursday morning as technicians attempted a software upgrade, and the result was airline chaos, with hundreds of flights delayed or canceled. Besides L.A., flights to and from Oakland, San Francisco, Las Vegas and Utah were among those affected. Officials were trying late in the afternoon to re-install the old software. KIDS DON'T KNOW PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES: Only about 75 percent of 18-to-24-year-olds could name the two major presidential candidates, and fewer than 30 percent could name both vice presidential candidates, according to polling research done for MTV. Seventy percent said politicians are out of touch with youth, and a separate 70 percent said the presidential election won't affect them one way or another. . . . In a poll by Scholastic, though, first- through 12th-graders matched polls of adult voters, by showing a preference for Republican George W. Bush over Democrat Al Gore. CONGRESS TOLD -- WEB FILTERS DON'T WORK: An 18-member Congressional panel that has been studying how to protect children from bad content and bad people on the Internet won't recommend requiring the use of filtering software in schools and libraries, the Wall Street Journal reports. The 18-member commission, due to release its report Friday, said the government should encourage, but not mandate, the use of software filters. "They're hopelessly outgunned," commission chairman Donald Telage said. But another commission member, J. Robert Flores, said filters are "effective, not clumsy." FIRST HIGH-SPEED U.S. TRAIN ON TRACK: The Acela Express, an Amtrak train that will reach speeds of up to 150 mph, is nearly ready to begin carrying passengers between Washington, D.C., and Boston. Service is scheduled to begin Dec. 11. Amtrak hopes to put 20 similar trains on various routes. BIOTECH CORN IS WIDESPREAD: Millions of bushels of a controversial genetically engineered type of corn have reached the food supply chain, the Washington Post said Thursday. Government officials are trying to track it all down and pull it back to keep it out of such things as taco shells and corn flakes. The corn, engineered to resist pests, has not been approved for human consumption because testing hasn't been done to show it won't set off allergic reactions. It first showed up in taco shells sold in grocery stores under the Taco Bell label. AOL'S EARNINGS HOT, APPLE'S NOT: America Online Inc. nearly doubled its earnings in the quarter just ended, the company reported. But apple Computer's just-posted earnings show it up by a smaller margin than had been expected by some analysts. -- TODAY'S NEWS by Copyright 2000 © Morrock News Service