Earthquake kills 10 in Iran

Adam Fleming, News Editor

An earthquake shook an… Earthquake kills 10 in Iran

Adam Fleming, News Editor

An earthquake shook an island off Iran’s south coast Sunday, leaving 10 dead and 50 injured.

Reuter’s reported that Iran’s national news agency said that the earthquake had a magnitude of 5.9 and lasted for 10 to 15 seconds.

In an article on Aljazeera.net, the governor of Qeshm island, Heydar Alishbandi, said that four villages were damaged in the quake. There were also “three strong aftershocks,” according to Aljazeera.net.

Qeshm is the biggest island in the Gulf.

Water back on after toxic spill in China

Bilal Muhammad, Assistant News Editor

Officials in China restored the water supply in the country’s northeastern city of Harbin yesterday after a toxic spill caused a five-day shutdown.

According to a Washington Post article, nearly 100 tons of benzene and other toxins spilled into the Songhua River after an explosion at a petrochemical plant in Jilin, a province located southeast of Harbin.

Some environmentalists have charged China with covering up the catastrophe.

Premier Wen Jiabao made a surprise visit to Harbin Saturday to pledge his support, according to the Washington Post.

The Nov. 13 explosion exposed residents to benzene, a colorless toxic chemical that can cause some forms of cancer, blood disorders, anemia and kidney and liver damage. Even though officials have restored the water supply, they have warned that residents should not drink the water, as it is not yet suitable for consumption.

In an Associated Press article, Wang Minghe, deputy general manager of the Harbin water department, mentioned that even if boiled, the water should not be imbibed.

“The first water is dangerous, because it’s been sitting in pipes for five days,” Minghe said in the article.

He did not, however, explain when the water would be safe for drinking.

New HIV test gives results in 20 minutes

E. Ashley Wright, The California Aggie

(U-WIRE) DAVIS, Calif. – In the United States today, it is estimated that 25 percent of people who are HIV positive are unaware that they have the virus. OraQuick Advance, a new HIV screening method, seeks to make testing faster, easier and less stressful for those getting tested.

While standard HIV tests take between one and two weeks to provide results, the Center for Disease Control estimates that at least 30 percent of people who are tested do not return to pick up their results. OraQuick can be administered and its results can be given within one clinical visit.

Brian Shaw, coordinator of the HIV program for CommuniCare Health Centers, administers the OraQuick testing at clinics in West Sacramento and Woodland, Calif.

“We have started using the OraQuick test within the last couple of weeks, and I am very happy with it,” Shaw said. “People like getting their results on the same day.”

He said that while some patients do not come back for results when given the standard test, the drawback of a faster testing time is that people no longer have the same two-week anxious waiting period. It is a hope of health professionals that these patients will reflect on the actions that brought them to be tested.

U.S. colleges feel effects of stricter visa rules

Amy Klein, The Record (Bergen County, N.J.)

In the six years since Mao-Sheng Yao came to the United States to get an education, he’s accomplished a lot. First, he earned a master’s degree in environmental engineering from the University of Alabama, and now he’s six months from a Ph.D. in environmental science from Rutgers University.

The one thing he hasn’t done is return home to China. He doesn’t dare.

“I’m kind of afraid that if I go there I won’t get back,” Yao, 32, said. “I’m afraid I won’t be let into the United States.”

It’s no surprise, Yao said, that fewer foreign students are opting to come here. Despite America’s reputation as the gold standard for higher education, many students are discouraged by the visa hassles that followed Sept. 11, 2001, and increasingly perceive the country as unwelcoming, studies have found.

International enrollment at the country’s universities experienced its second year of decline in the academic year that ended in June, dipping 1.3 percent nationally.