hYoung tsunami victims receive prosthetic limbs

hYoung tsunami victimsreceive prosthetic limbs
PHILADELPHIA -- Tara Aulia, 7, cheers as she is held by Director of Orthotics and Prosthetics Jeff Eichhorn after walking on her new prosthetic leg for the first time at Shriners Children's Hospital in Philadelphia. She got to try it out Wednesday. Tara and fellow amputee Hamdani, 11, from Indonesia's tsunami-ravaged Aceh province, survived the Dec. 26 disaster but lost limbs -- along with their homes and siblings -- when the powerful waves ripped through their villages. The children arrived July 19 and underwent several fittings for their prosthetic limbs. They will return to Indonesia on Aug. 31, after a final fitting at Shriners and rehabilitation. The trip was organized by the New York-based Tjakra Donya Foundation and Handicap International, a French organization working with amputees in Aceh.
At $67-plus per barrel,oil prices reach a new high
Oil prices surged to a new high above $67 a barrel Wednesday on concerns about a storm that could hit production sites in the Gulf of Mexico and a U.S. government report that showed a decline in the nation's gasoline supply. Natural-gas futures also rallied on the storm fears -- even though forecasters anticipate a weak hurricane -- as traders recalled the months-long disruption to oil and gas production in the region following last year's Hurricane Ivan. After climbing as high as $67.40 per barrel, crude oil for October delivery settled at $67.32, an increase of $1.61 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, topping the front-month contract's previous closing high of $66.86, set Aug. 12.
At least 57 people escapecrash of Peruvian airliner
LIMA, Peru -- Trudging through knee-deep mud in a hail storm, at least 57 people escaped a flaming Peruvian airliner that splintered as it crash-landed in the Amazon jungle, killing 31. An aviation expert Wednesday called it a "miracle" that so many walked away. Wind shear may have forced the pilot's emergency landing attempt Tuesday afternoon, making TANS Peru Flight 204 the world's fifth major airline accident this month and August the deadliest month for airline disasters in three years. The Boeing 737-200 was carrying 98 people, including six crew members, on a flight from the Peruvian capital of Lima to the Amazon city of Pucallpa, company spokesman Jorge Belevan said Wednesday. The company previously said some 100 people were aboard. Belevan said 10 missing people might include survivors from Pucallpa who went home without receiving medical assistance.
Doctor in trouble toldwoman to lose weight
ROCHESTER, N.H. -- As doctors warn more patients that they should lose weight, the advice has backfired on one doctor with a woman filing a complaint with the state saying he was hurtful, not helpful. Dr. Terry Bennett says he tells obese patients their weight is bad for their health and their love lives, but the lecture drove one patient to complain to the state. "I told a fat woman she was obese," Bennett says. "I tried to get her attention. I told her, 'You need to get on a program, join a group of like-minded people and peel off the weight that is going to kill you.'" He says he wrote a letter of apology to the woman when he found out she was offended. Her complaint, filed about a year ago, was initially investigated by a panel of the New Hampshire Board of Medicine, which recommended that Bennett be sent a confidential letter of concern. The board rejected the suggestion in December and asked the attorney general's office to investigate. Bennett rejected that office's proposal that he attend a medical education course and acknowledge that he made a mistake. Bruce Friedman, chairman of the board of medicine, said he could not discuss specific complaints.
Associated Press