NightBlogger

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — General Motors is closing four truck and SUV plants in the U.S., Canada and Mexico as surging fuel prices hasten a dramatic shift to smaller vehicles.

CEO Rick Wagoner said Tuesday before the automaker’s annual meeting in Delaware the plants to be closed are in Oshawa, Ontario; Moraine, Ohio; Janesville, Wis.; and Toluca, Mexico. He also said the iconic Hummer brand will be reviewed and potentially sold or revamped.

Wagoner said the GM board has approved production of a new small Chevrolet car at a plant in Lordstown, Ohio, in mid-2010 and the Chevy Volt electric vehicle in Detroit. More

Photo tanakawho
Kay Lazar
The Boston Globe
Asian tigers [mosquitoes] are aggressive biters that have caused widespread misery in Asia and Africa and are migrating north from the southern part of the United States, bug specialists say. Last summer, six mosquitoes believed to be Asian tigers were caught in traps in Essex County, but a positive identification wasn’t possible because the insects were too badly damaged, said Walter Montgomery, director of the Northeast Massachusetts Mosquito Control and Wetlands Management District. The agency tracks and kills mosquitoes in 33 communities north of Boston.

Asian tigers spread a debilitating joint disease, known as Chikungunya fever, among other viruses.

While the illness has not been diagnosed in this country, health authorities are concerned because Asian tigers are increasingly showing up in Northern states such as Ohio. And Chikungunya spread last summer from Asia and Africa to Italy - the first known outbreak outside the tropics. That demonstrated the bug’s ability to survive and transmit disease in colder climates. Read more

Source recombinomics.com
Recombinomics, Inc. Founder and President, Henry L Niman earned a PhD at the University of Southern California in 1978. More recently, he became interested in infectious diseases while at Harvard Medical School. He then founded Recombinomics and discovered how viruses rapidly evolve. These latest findings are the subject of recent patent filings.

Report 5/6/08

“…this year the H5N1 in South Korea is at record levels, and the location of the H5N1 positive swans in Japan are in Akita and Hokkaido (see satellite map), which are where there has not been previously reported outbreaks. These northern locations suggest H5N1 will migrate into northeastern Siberia, which may lead to migration into North America.

The record levels of H5N1 in South Korea follows record outbreaks in India and Bangladesh, which may signal a higher endemic level and further geographic spread of H5N1 via migrating birds”. Read more