BRUSSELS (AFP) - Family doctors who wish to carry out euthanasia at a patient's home can now procure a "kit" containing the necessary materials at 250 pharmacies throughout Belgium, media reported.

The general practitioners will have to order the kit themselves and pick it up in person 24 hours later, according to the television channel RTl-TVi.

Doctors in Belgium have complained of difficulties in practicing home euthanasia in suitable conditions due to a lack of knowledge about products, doses or 

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Wednesday, April 20, 2005
A senior Pentagon official told Congress last week that China's military power is growing. "We have watched as China's armed forces have progressed rapidly," said Peter Rodman, assistant defense secretary for international security affairs.

Rodman noted that the threat from China is not only a future challenge but "a problem here and now."

Double-digit percentage rate increases in military spending for the past 15 have sped up China's military buildup, Rodman told a joint hearing of the House International Relations and Armed Services Committees.

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WASHINGTON (AP) _ Imagine the planet wired for a nearly continuous readout on its vital signs, shared by all. That's the essence of a White House plan announced Monday.

The new "Strategic Plan for the U.S. Integrated Earth Observation System'' envisions linking nearly 60 nations within a decade to gather and share information from satellites, ocean buoys, weather stations and other surface and airborne instruments.

"Whether it's agriculture, or land use, or water planning, or transportation, or energy, there's a lot of data about the environment that has to be collected,'' said John Marburger III, President Bush's top science adviser.

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