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1. Trashing Julian Assange sign of the Times?

What really happens when you're a major-league whistleblower? Say you've acquired documents of huge public importance. Although it's bound to annoy powerful people and may expose you to reprisal, you deliver them to the world's mightiest news media, including the New York Times, which use them in sensational articles that have worldwide impact. Sure, you've handed over official secrets of global significance at considerable personal risk. That's not enough. You've also got to be charming. Make sure your clothes are laundered and wrinkle-free. You may be living out of a backpack and pulling impossible hours culling data, but don't forget to bathe regularly. And even if one of the organizations you've given this material to violates the conditions you set, don't you dare get angry. And know this: Every conversation you have with the reporters you're working with, every snarky comment they make about you, every detail of your collaboration, may be used in a high-profile account of the whole affair that will portray you as a peevish, contemptuous, slouching, dishevelled, foul-smelling, paranoid, self-serving, manipulative, volatile ideologue. What gives? Since when is an honest source pilloried as Bill Keller has done to Julian Assange in The New York Times?
Edward Wasserman, Winnipeg Free Press

2. Swiss Banker Still In Prison After Giving Off-Shore Bank Account Details To WikiLeaks

Swiss ex-banker turned whistleblower Rudolph Elmer has lost his appeal against a court ruling remanding him in prison over possible breaches of Swiss banking secrecy, a lawyer representing Elmer said on Wednesday. Elmer was taken into custody by police on Jan. 19 after handing over computer discs to WikiLeaks two days earlier. The former Julius Baer (BAER.VX) banker indicated the CDs contained details of as many as 2,000 offshore bank accounts. "The Court of Appeals of the Canton of Zurich dismissed the appeal of Mr Rudolf Elmer against the decision of the Court responsible for Coercive Measures dated January 22, 2001. Mr Rudolf Elmer will therefore remain in custody for the time being," said a statement from the law firm Tethong Blattner, which is representing Elmer."Mr Elmer and his defence counsel are currently reassessing the court's ruling and discussing possible further steps," the law firm said.
Reuters
Related Links:
* WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange Slams Swiss Banker Arrest
Reuters

3. Victims Of Vaccination

Eight-month-old Yathartha is still undergoing
treatment for the white patches all over his body
Vaccine trials in a Madhya Pradesh government hospital are making children sick. Culprit: harmful chemicals in high amounts. Anand Rai, a public health activist, filed a right to information (RTI) application seeking details of the vaccine trials from Chacha Nehru Bal Chikitsalaya. According to the information accessed, the vaccines contained certain chemicals, which were toxic in nature (see ‘Disputed chemicals used in vaccine trials’). The vaccines contained thiomerosal, squalene, formaldehyde and tween 80. “There is no scientific evidence to prove the safety of these chemicals,” said Rai. Thiomerosal, for example, is a preservative added to provide stability to a vaccine. It is 50 per cent mercury by weight. “Though thiomerosal is not harmful in trace amounts, its cumulative exposure through multiple doses causes neurological disorders,” said Ajay Gambhir, a member of National Accreditation Board for Hospitals.
Ankur Paliwal, Down To Earth

4. Child Outpatient Pneumonia Rates Unaffected By Vaccine

Despite introduction of the heptavalent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in 2000, incidence rates of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) did not change between 1997 and 2004, according to a study published online Feb. 14 in Pediatrics. Matthew P. Kronman, M.D., from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and colleagues identified 1- to 18-year-old children with CAP based on the National Ambulatory and National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Surveys from 1994 to 2007. Rates of outpatient CAP were determined according to age group. Factors involved in broad-spectrum antibiotic prescribing from 2006 to 2007 were identified. The investigators found that annual CAP outpatient visit rates were highest for children aged 1 to 5. There was no change in ambulatory CAP rates between 1994 and 2007.
Doctors Lounge

5. How MPs Eat Out On £5.9 Million From British Taxpayers

UK MPs snout-in-the-trough culture continues
(Caption & pic courtesy of One Click)
MPs enjoyed a huge £5.9million subsidy from taxpayers last year to buy cheap food and alcohol at bars and restaurants in the Commons, new figures revealed last night. The latest evidence that the snout-in-the-trough culture continues in Parliament provoked anger from anti-waste campaigners. Matthew Sinclair, director of the TaxPayers’ Alliance pressure group, said: “Taxpayers were promised the days of generous subsidies like this were over. The authorities need to follow up on those pledges and show that Parliament is able to genuinely tighten its belt and make a robust cut to these subsidies. It can’t be that everyone has to put up with cuts but the politicians.”
Daily Express Reporter, Daily Express
Related Links:
* Six More UK MP Piggies Reported To Police Over Expenses Swindle
Brendan Carlin, The Mail On Sunday

6. Guide dog users. Deaf claimants. Wheelchair users. Just some of the new UK cuts targets

Devastating changes to the test of who is eligible for employment and support allowance (ESA) come into force on 28 March. Amongst the losers are: blind claimants who can safely use a guide dog and have no other problems; deaf claimants who can read and write and have no other problems; claimants in manual wheelchairs who can propel themselves over fifty metres and have no other problems. These are just some of the groups of disabled people who will be found capable of work and have to try to claim the lower paying jobseekers allowance (JSA). Meanwhile, the bankers who ruined the economy have cut their bonuses by a fraction but raised their wages by a heap. And the politicians whose failed regulation allowed the bankers to wreck the economy in the first place – people like Blair and Mandelson – have taken extremely well paid directorships on the boards of . . . banks. So, when Cameron says that “We’re all in th is together” he may be telling the truth. But what he doesn’t mention is that he’s going to make very sure that disabled claimants are “in it” right up to their necks, whilst the people to blame scarcely get a mark on the heels of their patent-leather boots.
Steve Donnison, Benefits & Work

READ THE NEWS ON ONE CLICK
http://www.theoneclickgroup.co.uk