Shorter Question Everything

By xxxevilgrinxxx | Published: November 12, 2009

Canada and Afghanistan
Amid speculation over a future role for Canadian forces in Kandahar, Canada’s top commander Gen. Walt Natynczyk says he will withdraw all of the country’s soldiers from the region by 2011. CBC News had previously reported that Natynczyk ordered his commanders to start preparing military plans to pull out of Afghanistan and return thousands of soldiers and billions of dollars’ worth of equipment to Canada. There are 2,800 Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan, based primarily in Kandahar province.

US
The American Medical Assn. on Tuesday urged the federal government to reconsider its classification of marijuana as a dangerous drug with no accepted medical use, a significant shift that puts the prestigious group behind calls for more research. The nation’s largest physicians organization, with about 250,000 member doctors, the AMA has maintained since 1997 that marijuana should remain a Schedule I controlled substance, the most restrictive category, which also includes heroin and LSD. In changing its policy, the group said its goal was to clear the way to conduct clinical research, develop cannabis-based medicines and devise alternative ways to deliver the drug.

Serbia
Serbian Health Minister Tomica Milosavljevic has announced a swine flu epidemic in the country, meaning that nation-wide emergency vaccination can be carried out. “This act.. is primarily aimed to establish legal requirements for emergency immunisations. Nothing spectacular that hasn’t been happening these days will occur now that an epidemic has been declared,” the minister said at a press conference Wednesday. By declaring an epidemic, the government will also be able to prohibit public gatherings if deemed necessary, as well as give the power to authorities to carry out special epidemiological surveillance.