USDA: Suspect cow negative for mad cow
WASHINGTON, Nov. 23 (UPI) -- U.S. officials said Tuesday confirmatory tests on a cow that had initially tested positive for mad cow disease found no evidence of the deadly disease.
The cow had tested positive last week on two rounds of so-called rapid tests. The U.S. Department of Agriculture ran a more sophisticated test, called an immunohistochemistry or IHC test and it came back negative Monday, John Clifford, deputy administrator of the agency's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, said in a statement.
Because of the two positive rapid tests, USDA officials ran the IHC test a second time. Again, it returned a negative result Tuesday.
"Negative results from both IHC tests makes us confident that the animal in question is indeed negative for (mad cow disease)," Clifford said.
Humans can contract a fatal illness called variant Creutzfeldt Jakob disease from eating beef products contaminated with mad cow.
The USDA has tested more than 121,000 cows since December when a case of mad cow was detected in Washington. Three cows have initially tested positive on the rapid tests, but all turned out to be negative on IHC tests.
GAO to investigate election irregularities
WASHINGTON, Nov. 23 (UPI) -- The U.S. Government Accountability Office has agreed to investigate allegations of irregularities in the Nov. 2 presidential election.
The GAO, the investigating arm of the U.S. Congress, was asked to take the step by Democratic lawmakers who requested the agency look at the security and accuracy of voting technologies, the distribution and allocation of voting machines, and the counting of provisional ballots.
Democratic Reps. John Conyers Jr. of Michigan, Jerrold Nadler of New York, Robert Wexler of Florida, Robert Scott of Virginia, and Rush Holt of New Jersey say the House Judiciary Committee has received 57,000 complaints concerning alleged voting irregularities.
U.N.: Time ripe for Mideast peace
SHARM-EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, Nov. 23 (UPI) -- U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan believes the time is ripe to move ahead with a settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict after four years of violence.
Annan met Tuesday with fellow members of the diplomatic Quartet on the sidelines of the Sharm-el-Sheikh conference on Iraq being held in Egypt. The diplomatic Quartet on the Middle East is comprised of the United Nations, United States, Russia, and the European Union.
"We are all encouraged by what is happening," Annan said after talks with top officials of the Quaret, the sponsor of the road map that calls for parallel and reciprocal steps by both sides leading to the two states living in peace by the end of 2005.
The Quartet reaffirmed its determination to work with Palestinian leaders to support elections in January, to work with them on their reform processes, and to ensure the international community gives them necessary support for their economic and social programs.
Annan also said the Quartet felt the Israeli Government was ready to move ahead. He noted the elections would require some freedom of movement for Palestinians and he hoped Israel would remove some travel restrictions it has imposed.
U.N. calls for Iraq support
SHARM-EL-SHEIKK, Egypt, Nov. 23 (UPI) -- The United Nations Tuesday called on the international community, especially Iraq's neighboring countries, to unite in promoting a stable and prosperous nation.
"Let Iraqis come together as one people. Let the nations of this region and the world come together to help them," U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan told the International Conference on Iraq in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. "Let us all work towards one goal: a stable Iraq, a peaceful Iraq, a democratic Iraq -- a new Iraq."
He said, "Acts of violence and terror are being committed against them and against aid workers too, and they are caught in the cross-fire of deadly conflict." But, he added: "Who can doubt that they have the courage and the ability to triumph over the challenges that beset them today? The Iraqi people want a better future for their country, and they are determined to achieve it."
The secretary-general pledged continued U.N. aid to the Iraqi people.
Conference participants agreed to a communiqué that affirmed the right of the Iraqi people to a secure a stable life, to determine freely their future through democratic means and to exercise full control over their natural and financial resources.
