Dec. 7th, 2004

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from Birth Month Seen Linked to Multiple Sclerosis Risk

People born in May in the northern hemisphere have a higher than average risk of developing multiple sclerosis, researchers said on Tuesday.

An analysis of data from studies of more than 42,000 people in Canada, Britain, Denmark and Sweden showed that May babies have a 13 percent increased chance of suffering from the illness later in life, but that having a November birthday decreased the average odds by 19 percent.

... The effect was similar in all the countries but most prominent in Scotland which has the highest rate of multiple sclerosis (MS) in the world, according to Ebers.

... MS occurs when immune system cells attack and destroy the myelin sheath that protects the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. The cause of the illness is unclear. Scientists believe it may be due to a combination of genetic, dietary and environmental factors.

The illness is rare in Africa and most common in people living in colder countries. Most people are diagnosed with the disorder between the ages of 20-50.
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from FBI Letter Cites Guantanamo Abuse

FBI agents witnessed "highly aggressive" interrogations and mistreatment of terror suspects at the U.S. prison camp in Cuba starting in 2002 — more than a year before the prison abuse scandal broke in Iraq — according to a letter a senior Justice Department official sent to the Army's top criminal investigator.

In the letter obtained by The Associated Press, the FBI official suggested the Pentagon didn't act on FBI complaints about the incidents, including a female interrogator grabbing a detainee's genitals and bending back his thumbs, another where a prisoner was gagged with duct tape and a third where a dog was used to intimidate a detainee who later was thrown into isolation and showed signs of "extreme psychological trauma."

... Harrington said FBI officials complained about the pattern of abusive techniques to top Defense Department attorneys in January 2003, and it appeared that nothing was done.

Although a senior FBI attorney "was assured that the general concerns expressed, and the debate between the FBI and DoD regarding the treatment of detainees was known to officials in the Pentagon, I have no record that our specific concerns regarding these three situations were communicated to the Department of Defense for appropriate action," Harrington wrote.


Lest you're tempted to say, "We gotta do what we gotta do in the war on terror," one must ask about the quality of information obtained during torture. The FBI has learned a thing or two about obtaining information from suspects.

The American Civil Liberties Union planned Tuesday to release internal government memos that underscore the friction between the FBI and the military over interrogation methods. The documents are among 5,000 the New York-based ACLU received under two Freedom of Information Act requests, said Anthony Romero, the union's executive director.

In one ACLU-obtained letter from an FBI agent to Harrington and dated May 10, for example, the agent questioned whether harsh interrogation techniques turned up good information.

"In my weekly meetings with the Department of Justice we often discussed techniques and how they were not effective or producing intelligence that was reliable," according to the exchange, which was heavily redacted to remove references to dates and names. "I finally voiced my opinion ...," the FBI agent says. "It still did not prevent them from continuing the ... methods."
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Beliefnet has an article on the debate brewing over the "real" star of Bethlehem. With the presumption that this was a reference to an astrological event, astronomers and astrologers have searched the records and astrophysical models for it.

Michael Molnar says the event in question was an occultation of the planet Jupiter by the moon in 6 BC.

"It was something very subtle, only something an astrologer would have seen as important," he said.

The occultation happened in Aries, which ancient astrologers thought ruled the fate of several Near East kingdoms--including Judea, which was struggling under the yoke of Roman rule. Hence, Molnar concludes, the wise men would have read the birth of a new Jewish ruler, perhaps even the long-prophesied Messiah, in this configuration of heavenly bodies.


Mark Kidger, though, believes it was a supernova visible for 70 days, recorded by the Chinese in 5 BC.

As sign followed sign, culminating in the appearance of a "new star," they struck out for Jerusalem, site of Herod's court.

According to Chinese records, the 5 B.C. nova appeared low in the eastern sky in the constellation Aquila and lasted 70 days. If the Magi arrived in Jerusalem two months after they set out, Kidger said, the new position of the Earth would have made the nova appear to hover in the south over Bethlehem--where Herod directed them.


However, I think they're both wrong. At first I was inclined to think that the event refered to an astrological configuration ("we saw his star" could be taken that way), but the gospel account describes a hovering star that literally leads the magi, like a floating lantern, to the house where Jesus had been born:

[Matthew 2:1] After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem
[2] and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."
[3] When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.
...
[9] After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.
[10] When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.
[11] On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.
[12] And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

EDIT: The obvious interpretation of all this occurs to me now after pondering this for a few hours. It seems likely to me that this account is a redaction designed specifically to discount the idea that Jesus' birth was preceeded by astrological portent.
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"An important understanding that could constitute an agreement in principle has been reached by Egypt, Israel, the Palestinians and the significant international parties -- the United States and the European Union -- on a comprehensive solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," MENA said.

International efforts to advance towards a final Middle East deal after years of bloody conflict have been revitalized following the death last month of veteran Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

from Egypt heralds Mideast peace 'breakthrough', eyes return of ambassador

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