Scientists say bird flu poses human pandemic threat (Second Coming Watch Update #142)

Scientists say bird flu poses human pandemic threat. According to Voice of America, scientists say the H5N1 avian influenza virus has the potential to infect and spread among humans, raising the possibility of a catastrophic global pandemic. This and other findings about H5N1 were published this week in the journal Science, less than a year after their release was withheld at the request of US government and World Health Organization officials, over concerns that the information could fall into the hands of terrorists.

Israel's prime minister says militant Islam will be defeated by the end of the century. According to Ynet News, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed Shimon Peres' Presidential Conference and discussed the country's technological and economic progress. During his remarks, he stated, "The real question in our time is: will the Arab peoples, will the Islamic world, will the Islamic-Arab world and the Islamic-Iranian world all be able to partake in this bounty of progress? I have no doubt that by the end of the century, militant Islam will be defeated. I don't think you can cloister young minds."

Thousands of starving Greeks line up for food handouts. According to The Telegraph, thousands of Greeks in Athens hurt by rising unemployment and crippling social cuts lined up for food handouts from the government. Young children as well as the elderly waited in line in Athens to collect the parcels of fruit and vegetables donated by farmers from Crete to help ease the devastating austerity faced by many Greeks. One elderly woman said, "They have to do this more often. Doing it every now and then is not enough because we are continuously sinking."