Courtesy of Simon World

As usual, Simon World is providing excellent links for news all over Asia. Two reports I’ve found over there:

First, something bad is in the soil in Singapore

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – A soil-borne bacterial infection called melioidosis has killed 24 people in Singapore this year, making it more deadly than SARS (news – web sites) or bird flu, the health ministry said on Friday.

The illness, also known as Whitmore’s Disease, is listed by the U.S. government as a potential biological weapon but Singapore government officials said there was no sign it had been spread intentionally.

Be that as it may, a 40% fatality rate is alarming. And I wonder why this isn’t dominating the media? It’s pretty scary, even if it hasn’t spread so much as to rival SARS for communicability… yet.

And secondly, I’ve been reading up a little on the Dan Rather/CBS memo bloggery that’s going on, and I agree with both Simon and Volokh that, yes, this is important, but it’s not the most important thing on the face of the planet. The media cannot be trusted. This is not a new revelation. But that also doesn’t mean that Bush or Kerry can be trusted. What’s sad is, as Volokh says, the blogosphere seems a little “lost in” this story.

And be sure to check out Simon World’s regular Asia By Blog link roundup (link to the last installment here). There’s bound to be a lot of good stuff there, and a new edition should be out any day now.

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