| Leader
of Al Qaeda in Iraq |
| US bombs
did not kill Zarqawi instantly |
agencies
Abu
Musab al-Zarqawi was still alive and tried to
escape when American troops reached his hideout
where war planes had dropped two 500-pound bombs
that killed the al Qaeda leader, the U.S. military
said on Friday.
Major General William Caldwell, the spokesman
for the U.S. military in Baghdad, said a wounded
Zarqawi tried to roll off the stretcher he was
being carried on by Iraqi police when he saw
U.S. forces arrive at the bombed-out house.
"
We were not aware yesterday that in fact, Zarqawi
was alive when U.S. forces arrived on the site," Caldwell
said.
"
He obviously had some kind of visual recognition
of who they were because he attempted to roll
off the stretcher, as I am told, and get away,
realizing it was U.S. military," he told
Fox television news.
Zarqawi died a short time later from the wounds
he suffered during the air strike in a village
north of Baghdad that also killed his spiritual
leader, another man and three women on Wednesday,
Caldwell said.
Iraqi police first reached the site, Caldwell
said. U.S. ground forces then arrived and identified
Zarqawi.
Caldwell said Zarqawi, who was initially conscious,
did not provide any intelligence information
before he died.
President Bush said the killing of Zarqawi
will not end the Iraq war or the violence but
will "help
a lot."
"
Removing Zarqawi is a major blow to al Qaeda.
It's not going to end the war, it's certainly
not going to end the violence, but it's going
to help a lot," Bush told a news conference
with Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
He also said he would like to see U.S. troops
out of Iraq as soon as possible, but that would
depend on victory there.
" NEW
BEGINNING"
Buoyed by the death of a man blamed for a campaign
of car bombs and beheadings, Interior Minister
Jawad al-Bolani said it was "a new beginning" for
Iraq.
Following one of the quietest days in weeks
in Baghdad, the government lifted a daytime
vehicle
curfew it had imposed amid fears of al Qaeda
reprisals. It extended the ban in the town
of Baquba, near where U.S. planes killed
Zarqawi.
Suicide car bombers launched by Zarqawi have
attacked Shi'ite mosques in the past as part
of a campaign to plunge Iraq into sectarian
civil war.
Fugitive Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad
Omar vowed that the killing of Zarqawi would
not weaken Muslim efforts against "crusader
forces", a Pakistani report said.
U.S. officials, struggling to defeat an insurgency
that has sown mayhem three years since the
invasion, have warned against expectations
of a quick end
to violence. A string of bombs in Baghdad
killed at least 31 people on Thursday.
Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain al-Shahristani
said the death of Zarqawi would help improve
oil
production, crippled by violence.
But gunmen kidnapped a senior official of
the oil ministry on Thursday. Police and
ministry
sources said Muthana al-Badri, director general
of Iraq's State Company for Oil Projects,
had been on his way home when gunmen stopped
his
car.
DNA samples from the Jordanian-born Zarqawi,
who was identified with the help of fingerprints,
are now at the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia,
and tests are expected to be completed by
Monday, CNN television said on Friday.
" TIPPING
POINT"
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, writing in Britain's
Times newspaper, said his three-week-old
national unity government would build on
the momentum
to rein in violence.
Dozens of bodies are found dumped in Baghdad
each day, many showing signs of torture,
and tens of thousands of people have fled
their
homes out of fear.
Maliki said Iraq "will soon reach a tipping
point in our battle against the terrorists" as
Iraqi troops take over responsibility from the
130,000 Americans deployed in Iraq.
News of Zarqawi's death coincided with
a political breakthrough as parliament
approved
Maliki's
candidates for defense and interior ministers
after long wrangling among his coalition
government partners.
Analysts said any hope Zarqawi's death
would take the sting out of Iraq's insurgency
may
prove premature because al Qaeda militants
are only
one of several groups fighting the U.S.-backed,
Shi'ite-led government.
"
The insurgency will continue strongly because
it was never dependent on Zarqawi for its inspiration
or leadership," said Joost Hiltermann at
the Brussels-based International Crisis Group
think tank.
Zarqawi's successor may be a local figure,
with close ties to Osama bin Laden,
who focuses attacks
more on U.S. and Iraqi troops and less
on brutal beheadings and random suicide
bombings.
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| Gardasil |
| First cervical
cancer vaccine wins US approval |
agencies
The
first vaccine to prevent cervical cancer won
U.S. approval on Thursday, a step welcomed as
a major advance against a disease that kills
about 300,000 women worldwide each year.
U.S. officials cleared the new Merck & Co.
Inc. vaccine called Gardasil for girls and young
women ages 9 to 26. It blocks certain types of
human papillomavirus (HPV), a common sexually
transmitted virus that causes genital warts and
most cases of cervical cancer.
"
This vaccine is a significant advance in the
protection of women's health," Acting Food
and Drug Administration Commissioner Andrew von
Eschenbach said.
Given in three doses over six months, Gardasil
targets four HPV types believed to cause more
than 70 percent of cervical cancer cases and
90 percent of genital warts. Merck said the
vaccine would be available within weeks.
Industry analysts said Gardasil should help
revive struggling Merck with annual sales that
could
top $2 billion. The wholesale price will be
$120 a dose, Merck said.
HPV infects about half of sexually active adults
sometime during their life, but is usually
harmless. It can, however, cause abnormal cells
in the
cervix lining that can turn cancerous.
Most cervical cancer deaths occur in developing
countries. In the United States, widespread
screening often catches the disease early when
it is treatable,
but about 4,000 women still die from it each
year.
In Merck's studies, Gardasil prevented nearly
100 percent of precancerous lesions in the
cervix, vagina and vulva, as well as genital
warts caused
by the HPV types the vaccine targets. Those
results make it "highly likely" Gardasil also
will prevent those types of cancers, the FDA
said.
It is unclear how long protection will last
and if booster shots will be needed.
Women should still undergo regular cervical
cancer screening because the vaccine does not
block
all cancer-causing HPV strains, officials said.
Tests are underway in older women and in males,
who can carry HPV and transmit it to women
or develop penile and other cancers.
The U.S. Advisory Committee on Immunization
Practices will meet June 29 to consider recommending
widespread
HPV vaccination. Some groups oppose requiring
the shots for school attendance, saying parents
should decide whether to immunize their children
against a sexually transmitted virus.
The FDA said it was important for girls to
be vaccinated before sexual activity starts
because
Gardasil was effective only when given before
HPV infection.
Other experts hailed the opportunity to make
strides in poor countries where screening is
unaffordable. Merck said it was taking steps
to ensure wide access.
"
We've already committed to providing dramatically
lower pricing for this vaccine to third parties
in order to support getting access to this vaccine
for women throughout the world," said Margaret
McGlynn, president of Merck's vaccine division.
Merck is counting on Gardasil to help revive
earnings growth in the face of more than
11,500 lawsuits over its recalled arthritis
drug Vioxx.
H&R Block Financial Advisors analyst Jason
Fox said Merck still faces several challenges,
such as expected generic competition later this
month to its blockbuster cholesterol treatment
Zocor, but the approval offers some stability.
"
Our bigger picture view of Merck is they really
need Gardasil," Fox said. "This is
their biggest pipeline opportunity in the next
year."
GlaxoSmithKline Plc plans to apply for
U.S. approval of a rival HPV vaccine
later this
year.
The shares of Whitehouse Station, New
Jersey-based Merck closed nearly flat
at $33.97 on the
New York Stock Exchange.
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