E. Coli on Calif. Ranch Matches Outbreak Strain, Investigators have matched E. coli found in a stream and in a wild pig on a California ranch to the strain of bacteria that caused last month's deadly spinach-borne outbreak.

Investigators have nine positive specimens from the same farm, which has spinach fields and livestock. Those samples were gathered within a mile of spinach fields implicated in the outbreak, said Kevin Reilly, deputy director of the California Department of Health Services.

Food safety experts do not know how far apart livestock operations and vegetable fields should be to prevent E. coli contamination, he said.

The discoveries of the outbreak strain in creek water and in a wild pig's gastrointestinal tract suggest how E. coli could have found its way onto spinach crops.

The farm uses irrigation water that comes from wells within a mile of the stream bed. The wells are supplied by the same aquifer as the stream.

"The question is: What is the connection between the stream bed and the aquifer from which the well water is being drawn?".

Investigators have found evidence that pigs had broken into the spinach fields, and the pigs could have transferred E. coli to the fields by tracking infected cattle feces there or through their own infected feces.

But investigators said they have not ruled out other sources of contamination, including three other Salinas Valley, Calif., farms that remain under investigation.

E. coli -contaminated spinach has sickened 204 people in 26 states and Canada, with three deaths confirmed. Health officials also said yesterday that the outbreak is probably over.

The world's largest river, the Amazon, once flowed from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific - the opposite of its present direction, a study shows.
Sedimentary rocks in the central part of South America contain ancient mineral grains that must have come from the eastern part of the continent.

Geologist Russell Mapes says this must mean that about 145-65 million years ago, the Amazon flowed east to west.

Mr Mapes will present his findings at a geology meeting in Philadelphia.

The age of rocks on the South American continent differs between east and west.

Rocks as old as 2.5 billion years are found on the eastern side of the continent. Because of continual geological activity in the Andes, on the western side, rocks there are much younger.

Changing landscape

If the Amazon had continuously flowed eastward, as it does now, much younger mineral grains would be found in the sediments, because they would have been washed down from the Andes.

"We didn't see any. All along the basin, the ages of the mineral grains all pointed to very specific locations in central and eastern South America," said Mr Mapes, a graduate student from the University of North Carolina (UNC), US.

He explained that these sediments of eastern origin were washed down from a highland area that formed in the Cretaceous Period, when the South American and African tectonic plates broke away from each other.

That might have tilted the river's flow westward, sending sediment as old as two billion years toward the centre of the continent.

Current course

Afterwards, a relatively low ridge, called the Purus Arch, rose in the middle of the continent, running north and south. This divided the Amazon's flow, so that one half flowed eastward toward the Atlantic and the other westward toward the Andes.


Over millions of years, the Amazon has reversed its flow
In the late Cretaceous, mineral grains younger than 500 million years old began to fill in the basin between the Andes mountains - in the west - and the arch running down the centre of the continent.

After millions of years of build up, the Amazon river finally broke through these sediments and flowed past the Purus arch and into the eastern side of South America. This established the river's current course.

The new data comes from zircons, a type of mineral grain that can be dated in order to determine the age of the sediment.

Previous research has identified a reverse flow, but only in segments of the river. Mr Mapes and his colleague Drew Coleman from UNC traversed about 80% of the Amazon basin, collecting samples of zircon.

Their data supported the previous findings, and illustrate the continent-wide shift of the river's flow over millions of years.

The results will be presented at the Geological Society of America's annual meeting in Philadelphia, which runs from 22-25 October.

Nigerian leaders 'stole' $380bn,More than $380bn has either been stolen or wasted by Nigerian governments since independence in 1960, the chief corruption fighter has said.
Nuhu Ribadu that Nigeria has "nothing much" to show for the missing money.

He said the worst period for corruption was the 1980s and '90s, but currently two-thirds of governors are being investigated by Mr Ribadu's agency.

Nigeria is Africa's biggest oil exporter but most people are poor.

The country is regularly ranked as one of the most corrupt by graft watchdog Transparency International.

President Olusegun Obasanjo declared a state of emergency in Ekiti State on Thursday after the governor was found guilty of siphoning state funds into personal bank accounts and receiving kickbacks.

Political corruption

Mr Ribadu said he had come up with his figure of $380bn stolen or wasted since independence "easily" through records kept by the Nigerian central bank and the ministry of finance.

"Basically, this money has gone to waste, nothing much to show for it,"

WHAT DOES $384.6BN BUY?
225 Space Shuttles
795,115 Rolls Royce Phantoms
400m PC computers
32m primary school rooms
3,800kg rice for each Nigerian
"Of course, probably part of it will have gone to outside stealing."

Mr Obasanjo's critics say the fight against corruption is being used to victimise his opponents ahead of next year's elections.

Mr Obasanjo is not standing after an attempt to let him seek a third term was defeated.

But Mr Ribadu denied he has a political motive in his fight against corruption.

"When you are doing this kind of work, you will always be accused of one thing or another."

Last month, Vice-President Atiku Abubakar was indicted on charges of corruption, which could stop him from running for office.

He denies allegations he diverted $125m into personal business interests.

Mr Ribadu has led Nigeria's battle against corruption as chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The EFCC says in the past two years it has recovered more than $5bn and has successfully prosecuted 82 people.

Money laundering

Mr Ribadu told that $140m had been recovered from one unnamed former Nigerian leader and that nearly $400m of illegally gained assets had been identified in the possession of a former governor of Bayelsa State.


Last year, Nigeria recovered $458m found in Swiss bank accounts linked to the country's late military ruler Sani Abacha. Mr Abacha was in power from 1993 to 1998 and is thought to have embezzled billions of dollars.

Last year his son, Abba Sani Abacha, was charged with money laundering and fraud after being extradited to Switzerland.

Despite the missing money Nigeria has managed to pay off its multi-billion dollar debt to
the Paris Club of major lenders, thanks to high oil prices.

About $5bn is still owed to other lenders including the World Bank and the private sector.

Freed inmate refuses to leave jail, A 59-year-old German man who has spent the last 34 years in jail has turned down offers to be let out, an official said on Saturday.

"He rejected an offer to leave in 1992," Thomas Melzer, a spokesman for the Brandenburg state justice ministry, told Bild newspaper. "We can't do anything if someone sentenced to life in prison doesn't want to leave."

The man, identified only as Gerold H, was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1972 when the area was part of communist East Germany.

German prisoners have no obligation to agree to leave jail before their sentences have been completed.

Emergency order in Nigerian state , Mr Fayose says he is
still in Ekiti StateNigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo
has declared a state of emergency in Ekiti State,
following the impeachment of the local governor for corruption.
Mr Obasanjo said he was taking action because the governor's
sacking had been unconstitutional, and to prevent Ekiti descending into chaos.

Both the chief justice and the attorney-general have said Ayo Fayose's sacking was illegal.

Political tension is rising in Nigeria, ahead of elections next year.

Mr Fayose has denied reports that he had fled the country, saying he was in hiding because he feared for his life but remained governor.

His deputy Biodun Olujimi, who was also impeached, says she is now acting governor, although the state assembly has installed former speaker Friday Aderemi.

'Ridiculous'

President Obasanjo told national television that the governor's impeachment was "a clear case of usurpation of power."

"We have come to a sad, ridiculous and unacceptable situation in Ekiti where we have three governors."


"It is dangerous for our democracy to allow this flagrant violation."

Brigadier General Tunji Olorun (rtd), a former military state governor during military rule, has been appointed for six months has been sworn in in the capital, Abuja.

Ekiti State is only the second state to witness a state of emergency in Nigeria since President Obasanjo came to power in 1999.

Plateau State was placed under a state of emergency for nine months in 2004 after ethnic violence.

Governors under fire

On Monday, Ekiti State House of Assembly voted to remove Mr Fayose from power but several senior officials have condemned the impeachment.

The Nigerian Bar Association called for a boycott of Ekiti State courts until the matter was resolved.

Nigeria's remaining 35 governors met President Obasanjo and informed him that they would not accept Mr Aderemi at their Governors' Forum.

If the Ekiti State matter is not resolved, it could turn into a major crisis for the whole country, says the BBC's Mannir Dan Ali in Abuja.

Some senior Nigerian lawyers, however, say the impeachment reflected the "beauty of democracy".

Mr Fayose is the third governor to be impeached since Nigeria returned to multiparty democracy in 1999.

Two other governors are currently facing impeachment proceedings from their local legislatures over allegations of corruption.

Nigeria's anti-corruption agency says it is investigating two-thirds of the country's governors.

While Mr Fayose was being sacked, MPs in Anambra State began impeachment proceedings against Governor Peter Obi.

Early last week, Plateau State Governor Joshua Dariye was served with an impeachment notice in controversial circumstances that sparked riots in the central state.

Critics of President Obasanjo say his anti-corruption drive is a cover for a political witch-hunt.