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On March 17, magnetic fields above Sunspot 314 erupted with an X-1 class solar flare. X level solar flares are the strongest, with the capability of creating protracted solar storms on earth, with radio blackouts and electromagnetic damage. However, X-1 is the least powerful of these great flares, and this one was not aimed directly at earth when it occurred, so it is not expected that extreme solar storms will result. But the use of sensitive radio and communications devices may be affected, which could be of significance to military operations.
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A member of the staff of the Prince of Wales Hospital has posted the following message on an infectuous diseases email list:

I am told that the incubation period appears to be 5-7 days. Patients present with high temperature which then settles. Patients then develop chills and rigors with high fever.

Chest x ray may initially be clear but then changes (bases in particular) start on Day 3-4.

Patients are lymphopenic with platelets decreasing over 3-4 days after initially being normal. APTT is prolonged, PT tends to be normal. LFTS are difficult to interpret because of various drug effects. If anything low rise (100) in ALT.
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President Bush will address the nation tonight at 8PM EST. He is expected to say that Saddam Hussein must leave Iraq immediately or be forcibly removed. At 11:00AM EST, UN Secretary General Kofi Anan announced that all UN inspectors would be withdrawn from Iraq beginning today.

The United States had informed both UN inspection teams in Iraq that they should leave, and the leaders of the teams referred the matter to the president of the UN Security Council. UN Secretary General Kofi Anan then made his announcement.

There are 60 inspectors and 148 supporting staff still in the country. Chief Inspector Hans Blix has said that it will take 24 to 48 hours for them to leave.
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As expected, President Bush gave Saddam Hussein and his sons 48 hours to leave Iraq in his address tonight, or face an attack. Saddam’s oldest son Uday has already attempted to prepare an exit for himself by sending an aide, Adib Shaaban to Syria to set up bank accounts to facilitate fund transfers in February. Shaaban attempted instead to defect to the west, but was returned to Iraq by Syria, which feared that Iraqi oil would be cut off if they did not send him back. Shaaban has not been heard of since.

Uday’s most recent publicly reported crime took place in 1998, when he clubbed a food taster to death for making too much noise during preparations for a party for the wife of Egypt’s president Hosni Murbarak. He has made a career of rape and murder.
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