India has decided to shut down their state television an hour earlier tonight, and stock exchanges are warning dealers of potential glitches as the nation braces for potential damage from a meteor storm. The shut-down came on advice from the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), which said its INSAT (Indian National Satellite) satellites ran the risk of being hit by the Tempel-Tuttle comet's debris. "Satellites of ISRO, Intelsat, Panamsat (SPOT.O) and Asiasat are in the path of the comet's debris," the NSE said in last week's statement, adding that satellites may be shut down anytime without notice through November 20th. Trading volumes are affected as stock market dealers are exercising caution in view of the comet problem.

A sailor participating in an around-the-world solo boat race had to operate on himself following the instructions which were emailed to him from a Boston doctor. Last week the Russian sailor, Viktor Yazykov, emailed the physician on call for the Around Alone Race for solo yachtsmen. "My right elbow does not look good. Some yellow spot in the middle of red and it feels dead," wrote the sailor. "Waiting for your help." The next morning after his solar-powered email was warmed up again, Yazykov wrote "All skin is glossy and shiny white. It is like a pillow with some liquid inside." Dr. Daniel Carlin, an infectious disease specialist at the New England Medical Center, knew Yazykov had an abscess that could burst under the skin and potentially cause a fatal infection. In an email he outlined 13 steps to take in cutting and draining the abscess with instruments that were provided to all the sailors in the race. However, Yazykov had not told Carlin that he had taken several aspirins in the day or two preceding the surgery. His blood would not properly clot, leaving him "sitting on the bloody cabin floor almost completely naked... watching as my life drop by drop leaving me." The 39-year-old doctor solved that, too, by instructing the sailor on how to stop the bleeding. In his last email to the doctor, Yazykov wrote "The arm getting better. Very grateful to doctor." The sailor completed a leg of the race by arriving safely in Cape Town, South Africa, on Monday, ahead of four of the other 14 competitors.

Israel is giving carte blanche to foreign airlines to increase the number of flights to Tel Aviv in anticipation of a surge in millenium tourism. The Israeli Tourism Ministry expects four million tourists to visit Israel to celebrate the millenium at the site of Jesus' birth. By comparison, the first nine months of 1998 1.6 million tourists visited. This decision to open Israel's skies is temporary and will be reevaluated according to demand. This is not expected to cut into revenues of state-owned El Al Israel Airlines, since El Al could not satisfy the increased demand.

An audit at the IRS revealed that $5.3 million in taxpayer money was stolen by employees in the last 2-1/2 years. Agency officials insist that the problem is not widespread, though. The General Accounting Office said the IRS lacks some basic theft deterrents at its 10 service centers, such as surveillance camers in key areas and proper tracking of receipts. Some of the shortcomings include: mail sent by taxpayers is not logged until it reaches the fourth office at a service center, making payments vulnerable to misuse or embezzlement; workers are allowed to open and sort through mail without surveillance cameras present; workers are allowed to bring personal belongings into key processing areas. Nine theft cases from Jan 1995 - Jul 1997 involved receipts stolen in a purse, lunch box, or duffle bag. Checks are sometimes overlooked in the processing area, meaning they change hands several times before their existence is officially acknowledged, and mail is sometimes routed unopened to less secure IRS offices, increasing the chances of misuse and causing delays of 3-5 days in deposits. The GAO report did not indicate what happened to the employees found to have stolen money.

Scientists have discovered a site in Argentina littered with thousands of dinosaur egg fossils. For the first time ever, we now have the first embryo remains of a major class of dinosaur and the first embryo skin from any dinosaur. This discovery will help shed light on early development of sauropods, a class of plant-eaters with long necks and tails, small heads, and four elephant-like legs that included the biggest animals ever to walk the Earth. The area covers a square mile, and is full of fragments of round, rough-textured, six-inch eggs. The eggs were laid 70-90 million years ago, apparently by titanosaurs that stretched about 45 feet long. Hatchlings might have only been about 15 inches long. There are so many remains that scientists think a catastrophe struck the nesting ground, keeping many eggs from hatching. Layers of silt kept the eggs well preserved, which may be associated with flooding. No complete embryo skeletons were found, but even finding collapsed bone is a rarity. Before this, embryonic remains had been identified from only 5 species of dinosaur. This site was discovered one year ago in Neuquen, in the northewestern province of Patagonia.

Amnesty International USA says that juveniles are subjected to physical abuse, excessive incarceration and detainment in adult facilities. According to the executive director, William F. Schulz, "Nothing is guaranteed to turn a confused, angry teenager into a bitter adult than abusing them when they are in prison, ignoring their mental health concerns and housing them with adults." Thirty-eight states now house juveniles in adult prisons with no special programs or educational services for the young prisoners. Children in adult facilities are 5 times more likely to be sexually assaulted, and twice as likely to be beaten by staff than those in juvenile facilities. Between 1986 and 1995, the number of children confined in custody before their cases were heard or following conviction grew by more than 30%. The average juvenile is not brought in for a violent offense, contrary to popular notions. Only 22% of those held are accused of violent crimes. Recommendations include locking up children as a last resort, periodic inspections conducted by independent oversight bodies, separate housing from adult offenders, and a moratorium on executions of people who committed crimes while under the age of 18.

The Texaco oil company in Nigeria reports eight of its workers who were taken hostage by militant youths in the Niger Delta have been released unharmed and appear to have been treated well. The youths had demanded a cash ransom but also wanted oil companies to invest more in local communities. It is not known if any ransom was paid. Shell, the biggest foreign oil company operating in Nigeria, has had its oil producing operations severely disrupted this month. For more than a week, a quarter of Nigeria's daily oil production was stopped because armed youths took over key oil installations. At the root of these tensions in poverty in the Niger Delta, because most people see little or nothing of the oil profits.

Authorities gave militant Nigerian youths until the end of Monday to free eight oil workers whom they are holding hostage. On Thursday, Texaco officials said three Americans, one Croat, an Italian, one South African, a Nigerian and one Briton were kidnapped by armed youths who boarded the off-shore oil rig in Pennington, Bayelsa. The workers were taken to another village among the swamps and creeks of the Niger Delta region. The youths demand a large number of local people should be employed, and are seeking community development. A team of people from Texaco, the Bayelsa police command, and some neighbouring communities formed Operation Salvage to secure the release of the hostages. Operation Salvage saw the hostages Sunday, and reported they were in good condition. The youths accuse the government and oil firms there of depriving them of the wealth produced on their land. Oil accounts for more than 90% of Nigeria's export income.

Israeli military and western intelligence sources say that scientists are trying to identify distinctive genes carried by Arabs to create a genetically modified bacterium or virus which would harm Arabs while leaving Jews unaffected. The 'ethno-bomb' is reportedly Israel's response to the threat that Iraq may be just weeks away from completing its own biological weapons. The program is based at Israel's Nes Tziyona research facility. Scientists are trying to use bacteria and viruses to alter the DNA of living cells to attack only cells bearing Arabic genes. The task is very complex because Arabs and Jews are both Semitic people. However, Israeli's reportedly succeeded in isolating particular characteristics of certain Arabs, 'particularly the Iraqi people.' Dedi Zucker, a member of the Israeli parliament, denounced the research, saying that based on history, tradition and experience, such a weapon is monstrous and should be denied.

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