links for 2009-08-10

"To be honest there isn’t much to learn here though. This first set of feedback talks about some of the tags that are proposed… and there are a lot of them. It is quite easy to pick on the odd tag here and there to ask “do we really neeeeeed it?” So, I am glad that Microsoft has joined the fun, and I look forward to more conversation. You know, stuff like: Are you going to implement Canvas guys? Web Workers? CSS goodness? Tell me you have a kick arse JavaScript VM ready to shock the world? Game on." I agree.

"US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is heading to the Democratic Republic Of Congo, where she will speak out on the country's deadly civil conflict. Mrs Clinton is expected to call for an end to rights abuses, including mass rapes reportedly carried out by rebels and government troops."

"Israeli planes have bombed a smuggling tunnel into Gaza after Palestinian mortars fell near the main crossing from Gaza into Israel. The Israeli military said two mortar shells landed a few hundred metres from Erez crossing as urgent Palestinian medical cases were being transferred."

"The Pakistani government says it intends to provide conclusive proof that Baitullah Mehsud, leader of the Pakistani Taliban, is dead. In Washington, US National Security Adviser Jim Jones put the level of US certainty that he had been killed "in the 90% category". But Taliban sources have denied these claims, insisting he is still alive."

"The antiviral drugs being used to treat swine flu do not appear to work well in children, say UK researchers. Their work in the British Medical Journal shows Tamiflu and Relenza rarely prevent complications in children who have normal seasonal flu." Not the best of news.

"The US has put 50 Afghans suspected to be drug traffickers with Taliban links on a list of people to be "captured or killed", the New York Times reports. Two American generals have told the US Congress that the policy is legal under the military's rules of engagement and international law, the paper says. In a report, yet to be released, it was described as a key strategy to disrupt the flow of drug money to the Taliban."

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