Ancient wall found in Jerusalem

A 3,700-year-old wall has been discovered in east Jerusalem, Israeli archaeologists say.

The structure was built to protect the city's water supply as part of what dig director Ronny Reich described as the region's earliest fortifications.

The 26-ft (8-m) high wall showed the Canaanite people who built it were a sophisticated civilisation, he said.

Critics say Israel uses such projects as a political tool to bolster Jewish claims to occupied Palestinian land.

Excavations at the site, known as the City of David, are in a Palestinian neighbourhood just outside the walls of Jerusalem's old city.

It is partly funded by Elad, a Jewish settler organisation that also works to settle Jews in that area.

Open to the public

The wall dates from a time in the Middle Bronze Age when Jerusalem was a small, fortified enclave controlled by the Canaanites, before they were conquered by the Israelites.

Its discovery demonstrated Jerusalem's inhabitants were sophisticated enough to undertake major building projects, said Mr Reich.

"The wall is enormous, and that it survived 3,700 years - this is, even for us, a long time," said Mr Reich, an archaeology professor at the University of Haifa.

The excavation team said the wall formed part of a structure that protected a passage from a hilltop fortress to a nearby spring - the area's only water source.

Israel's Antiquities Authority said the site would be open to the public on Thursday.

Three dead babies found in house

The remains of three babies have been discovered at a house on Merseyside.

Police found the bodies when they were called to a property in Harlow Close, St Helens, on Sunday morning.

Two women, aged 54 and 38, and a 26-year-old man have been arrested in connection with the investigation and bailed pending further inquiries.

A spokeswoman for Merseyside Police said: "The remains are believed to relate to births that occurred as far back as the mid 1980s."

Merseyside Police said forensic tests were being carried out to determine the age and sex of the children.
Det Supt Steve Naylor, of Merseyside police, said: "Following a call to us, we attended an address in St Helens where human remains were discovered.

"The remains are believed to be that of newborn babies and at this stage of the inquiry it is believed they are the remains of three babies."

Mr Naylor said a number of lines of inquiry were being looked at.

"We cannot speculate as to the cause or circumstances of the deaths and any inappropriate supposition is likely to have a severe impact on the investigation and the family concerned," he said.

"This looks like being a complex investigation, and a lot of hard work needs to be done before we can ascertain what the full circumstances are surrounding this situation."

New protests in western China

There have been fresh protests in western China's Xinjiang region, where almost 200 people were killed in ethnic violence in July.

A witness told the BBC that as many as 2,000 ethnic Han Chinese have been demonstrating in the capital Urumqi.

The protesters are said to be angry at the deteriorating security situation in the wake of the July riots.

A trigger for the protests appears to have been a spate of unexplained stabbings using hypodermic needles.

July's violence was the worst ethnic unrest in China for decades; at least 197 people died and hundreds injured.

The government says most of the dead were Han, but the exile activist group the World Uighur Congress claims many Uighurs were also killed.

Members of the city's Han community last held mass protests shortly after July's violence by ethnic Uighurs.

Safety fears

A businessman in Urumqi told the BBC that members of the Han community were demonstrating to complain about the worsening security situation.

"Han Chinese people have been protesting in the streets since yesterday," he said.

"Nearly everyone in Urumqi is on strike or protesting. Right now in front of me there are at least 2,000 people," he said from the centre of Urumqi.

Another resident said Han Chinese were concerned for their safety in the wake of the reported syringe attacks.

"The local government is not doing enough to protect Han people there... I am really [worried about] my family and relatives there. I urge [the] Chinese government should do more to prevent this," the resident told the BBC.

Xinhua news agency said the stabbing victims came from nine ethnic groups, including Uighurs and Han.
Protesters have accused the provincial government of being "useless", and some even asked for the dismissal of regional Communist Party boss Wang Lequan, who is thought to be an ally of President Hu Jintao.

Large numbers of police were reported to have turned out to block the protesters from reaching People's Square in the city centre.

There has been tension for many years between Xinjiang's Uighur and Han communities.

Some Uighurs complain that Han migration into the province has diluted their culture and influence.

Han currently account for roughly 40% of Xinjiang's population, while about 45% are Uighurs.

The tensions exploded in early July after an initially peaceful protest by Uighur youths, apparently prompted by an earlier riot in a factory in southern China.

Iran backs first woman minister

Iranian MPs have approved the first woman minister in the 30-year history of the Islamic republic.

She was one of 18 nominations for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's new cabinet to be approved. Two other women were among three rejected nominees.

The president's choice for defence minister, Ahmad Vahidi, who is wanted by Argentina over a deadly 1994 bombing of a Jewish centre, won strong backing.

The vote follows months of wrangling after disputed elections in June.

Correspondents say Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi, the female health minister-designate, is a hard-line conservative who has in the past proposed introducing segregated health care in Iran, with women treating women and men treating men.

The two women rejected were Fatemeh Ajorlou, as welfare and social security minister, and Susan Keshavarz, as education minister.

The third nominee to be turned down was the president's choice for energy minister, Mohammad Aliabadi.

Mr Ahmadinejad has three months to propose new candidates to replace those voted down.

'Real democracy'

The parliamentary confidence vote followed five days of intense debate.

Before the vote, Mr Ahmadinejad urged MPs to approve his choices, saying the ballot reflected "real democracy". His government would work closely with parliament, he said.

The president's proposed oil minister, Massoud Mirkazemi, was approved, despite questions over his experience.

Meanwhile, Mr Vahidi - a controversial figure internationally - received the highest number of votes in favour of any nominee, with 227 MPs backing him out of 286, Speaker Ali Larijani said.

Interpol has distributed Argentina's warrant for Mr Vahidi's arrest over the attack at the Israeli-Argentine Mutual Association (AMIA) 15 years ago, which killed 85 people.

Israel and Argentina had condemned his nomination, with Buenos Aires calling it "an affront to the victims" of the bombing. Iran has denied any involvement in the blast and says the case against it is politically motivated.

Each nominee had to secure the support of at least 50% of MPs to be confirmed.

The BBC's Peter Biles says the vote was a key test of the president's support and his hold on power, amid continuing opposition following his re-election in a contested presidential ballot in June.

The appointment of the cabinet also comes at a time of increasing pressure on the Iranian government from abroad, our correspondent says.

US President Barack Obama has given Iran until later this month to agree to new talks on its nuclear programme, or face tougher sanctions.

Iran has said it is ready to present a new package of proposals to the international community, although the details have not been published.

An aide to Mr Ahmadinejad said on Thursday that the president would attend a United Nations meeting later this month in New York.

IT'S OFFICIAL: NO PUBLIC OPTION FROM OBAMA

Aides to President Barack Obama are putting the final touches on a new strategy to help Democrats recover from a brutal August recess by specifying what Obama wants to see in a compromise health care deal and directly confronting other trouble spots, West Wing officials tell POLITICO.

Obama is considering detailing his health-care demands in a major speech as soon as next week, when Congress returns from the August recess. And although House leaders have said their members will demand the inclusion of a public insurance option, Obama has no plans to insist on it himself, the officials said.

“We’re entering a new season,” senior adviser David Axelrod said in a telephone interview. “It’s time to synthesize and harmonize these strands and get this done. We’re confident that we can do that. But obviously it is a different phase. We’re going to approach it in a different way. The president is going to be very active.”

Top officials privately concede the past six weeks have taken their toll on Obama's popularity. But the officials also see the new diminished expectations as an opportunity to prove their critics wrong by signing a health-care law, showing progress in Afghanistan, and using this month's anniversary of the fall of Lehman Brothers to push for a crackdown on Wall Street.

On health care, Obama’s willingness to forgo the public option is sure to anger his party’s liberal base. But some administration officials welcome a showdown with liberal lawmakers if they argue they would rather have no health care law than an incremental one. The confrontation would allow Obama to show he is willing to stare down his own party to get things done.

“We have been saying all along that the most important part of this debate is not the public option, but rather ensuring choice and competition,” an aide said. “There are lots of different ways to get there.”

The timing, format, venue and content of Obama's presentation are still being debated in the West Wing. Aides have discussed whether to stick to broad principles, or to send specific legislative language to Capitol Hill. Some hybrid is likely, the officials said.

“I’m not going to put a date on any of this,” Axelrod said. “But I think it’s fairly obvious that we’re not in the second inning. We’re not in the fourth inning. We’re in the eighth or ninth inning here, and so there’s not a lot of time to waste.”

Obama's specifics will include many of the principles he has spelled out before, and aides did not want to telegraph make-or-break demands. But Axelrod and others are making plain that Obama will assert himself more aggressively — a clear sign that the president will start dictating terms to Congress.

"His goal is to create the best possible situation for consumers, create competition and choice," Axelrod said. "We want to bring a measure of security to people who have health insurance today. We want to help those who don't have coverage today, because they can't afford it, get insurance they can afford. And we want to do it in a way that reduces the overall cost of the system as a whole."

Also this fall, Obama wants to slap new regulations on Wall Street firms, a goal that is now considered a higher priority than cap-and-trade energy legislation in the West Wing. White House officials think the legislation will show voters, especially wavering independents, that he is serious about making the culprits of the economic crisis pay. It also helps that it doesn't carry a big price tag, like other Obama priorities.



The president also plans to send Congress a report on Afghanistan by Sept. 24 that is designed to build patience after two months in a row of the highest U.S. casualties since the invasion eight years ago. Aides say they recognize they need to show progress over the next 12 to 18 months, or risk losing the support of key Democrats in Congress, who already have balked at funding Obama’s 20,000-troop buildup.

But health care remains front-and-center in Obama’s fall strategy. “I understand the governing wisdom here in town as to where this is right now,” Axelrod said. “I feel good about where it is right now. I understand that there’s been a lot of controversy. I understand that there’s been a lot of politics. But the truth is, we’re a lot closer to achieving something than many thought possible. People look to the president for leadership on this and other issues. He feels passionately about this, and you can look for him to provide that leadership.”

Obama has been criticized for deciding to cede much of the debate to Capitol Hill -- or, as Axelrod put it, “allow Congress to consider the whole range of ideas.”

“History will judge whether this was right or it was wrong,” Axelrod said. “We feel strongly that it was right. As a result of it, we have broad consensus on over 80 percent of this stuff, and a lot of good ideas about how to achieve the other 20. Now, people are looking to the president and the president is eager to help lead that process of harmonizing these different elements and completing this process so that we can solve what is a big problem in the lives of the American people, for our businesses and our economy.”

White House officials say they are looking forward to "a break from the August break" -- a chance to take back control of the debate after a grim month where news coverage of the issue was dominated by vocal, emotional opponents at lawmakers’ town meetings, railing against the cost and complexity of the plans being debated.

So Obama and Democrats will return from vacation wounded, divided and uncertain of the best way to turn things around. Many Democrats, especially in the House, were spooked over break by the rowdy town hall meetings and flurry of polls showing independent voters skeptical of their leadership and spending plans.

The mood swing is hitting some top leaders hard: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), for instance, is trailing little-known GOP contenders in his re-election race now. The news swing has been no less brutal. There has been saturation coverage of the town halls and rising casualties in Afghanistan -- the latter leading to a big drop in support for the war.

All of this makes for a tumultuous -- and wildly unpredictable -- fall for Obama and his party.

Axelrod said he isn’t worried. “Part of it is born of long experience,” he said. “In Washington, every day is Election Day. I’d be lying to you if I told you I don’t look at polls -- I do. But I’ve also learned that you have to keep your eye on the horizon here and not get bogged down. I am not Polyannish, but I am also not given to the hysteria that's endemic to this town.”

Obama aides see need for more troops in Afghanistan...

* White House wariness reflects waning public support

* Obama needs to prepare U.S. public for troop increase

* Commanding general calls for fresh strategy

By Adam Entous and Arshad Mohammed

WASHINGTON, Aug 31 (Reuters) - Many of President Barack Obama's top advisers on Afghanistan agree with military commanders that more troops are needed to reverse Taliban gains in the country's east and south, U.S. officials said on Monday.

But there is wariness within the White House to another large-scale increase at a time when public support for the eight-year-old war against a resurgent Taliban is eroding, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Military commanders and administration and congressional leaders have held preliminary discussions about future troop options, including sending a second 5,000-member Marine Regimental Combat Team to southern Afghanistan, a Taliban stronghold, participants said. This would boost the number of Marines in the country to 15,000-18,000 from just over 10,000.

The debate is expected to intensify after Monday's long-awaited assessment of the war by U.S. Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

McChrystal called for the United States and its allies to change strategy, laying the ground for a likely request for more troops later, officials said. [nISL129837]

McChrystal has about 103,000 troops under his command, including 63,000 Americans, half of whom arrived this year as part of an escalation strategy started by former President George W. Bush and ramped up under Obama.

The force is set to rise to 110,000, including 68,000 Americans, by year's end, stretching the U.S. military to its limits, military officials said.

U.S. officials said further troop increases would hinge in part on the pace at which combat brigades could be pulled out of Iraq and redeployed to Afghanistan.

Another key factor, the officials said, was whether Obama would make a concerted effort to overcome growing public opposition to the war, fueled by record U.S. combat deaths.

Pressure from within the president's Democratic party for a withdrawal timeline is expected to increase in the run-up to next year's mid-term U.S. congressional elections.

"There is great awareness over at the White House ... that support in the public is really declining," one official said.

Another U.S. official said Obama had not yet prepared the American people for what many top advisers see as an inevitable need to increase the number of troops in Afghanistan.

"The question is not only can you rotate a sufficient number out of Iraq," he said "What the administration has to do is politically make sure that they prepare the ground for it."

"Half-measures are not going to work," the official added. "They haven't worked in the past."

HARD-SELL

It is unclear how much room Obama has to maneuver. With his popularity dented by a raucous debate over healthcare reform and the electorate still shaken by the recession, Obama may also be loath to push an unpopular policy right now.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Monday McChrystal should be "forthright" about spelling out what he needs in terms of troops and equipment, but he also made clear that another major troop increase would face hurdles.

"I have expressed some concerns in the past about the size of the American footprint, the size of the foreign military footprint, in Afghanistan, and clearly I want to address those issues," Gates said during a visit to Fort Worth, Texas.

"And we will have to look at the availability of forces, we'll have to look at cost. There are a lot of different things that we'll have to look at once we get his recommendations, before we make any recommendations to the president."

Obama's advisers on Afghanistan are particularly sympathetic to pleas for more resources in eastern Afghanistan near the border with Pakistan, where veteran Taliban leader Jalaluddin Haqqani is now seen as the main threat.

A rapid deterioration in the war in the east has taken U.S. officials by surprise. In April, a senior commander said NATO forces were close to achieving "irreversible momentum" there.

Anthony Cordesman, an expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said "strong elements" in the White House, State Department and other agencies were pressing Obama to avoid sending more troops and money.

"If these elements succeed, President Obama will be as much a failed wartime president as George W. Bush," he wrote in Monday's Washington Post, saying such an approach would condemn the United States to "certain defeat

Wildfire makes menacing advance near Los Angeles...

LOS ANGELES – A deadly wildfire that has blackened a wide swath of tinder-dry forest around Los Angeles made another menacing advance Monday, surging toward thousands of suburban homes and a vital mountaintop broadcasting complex while trapping five people inside a smoky canyon.

Fire crews battling the blaze in the Angeles National Forest tried desperately to beat back the flames and prayed for weather conditions to ease. The fire was the largest of at least eight burning across California after days of triple-digit temperatures and low humidity.

The flames scorched 164 square miles of brush and threatened more than 12,000 homes, but the lack of wind kept them from driving explosively into the hearts of the dense suburbs northeast of Los Angeles.

"It's burning everywhere," U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Dianne Cahir said. "When it gets into canyons that haven't burned in numerous years, it takes off. If you have any insight into the good Lord upstairs, put in a request."

Five people who refused to evacuate threatened areas reported they were trapped at a ranch near Gold Creek, Los Angeles County sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said. A sheriff's helicopter was unable to immediately reach them because of intense fire activity, Whitmore said, but would try after the flames passed.

"What this says is, 'Listen, listen, listen,'" Whitmore said. "Those people were told to get out two days ago, and now we are putting our people in danger to get them out."

Over the weekend, three people who refused to evacuate were burned when they were overrun by flames, including a couple who had sought refuge in a hot tub, authorities said.

Columns of smoke billowed high into the air before dispersing into a gauzy white haze that burned eyes and prompted warnings of unhealthy air throughout the Los Angeles area.

Fire crews set backfires and sprayed fire retardant at Mount Wilson, home to at least 20 television transmission towers, radio and cell phone antennas, and the century-old Mount Wilson Observatory. The observatory also houses two giant telescopes and several multimillion-dollar university programs. It is both a landmark for its historic discoveries and a thriving modern center for astronomy.

The fire about a half-mile away was expected to reach the mountaintop sometime Monday night, said Los Angeles County fire Capt. Mark Whaling. If the flames hit the mountain, cell phone service and TV and radio transmissions would be disrupted, but the extent was unclear.

The blaze killed two firefighters, destroyed at least 21 homes and forced thousands of evacuations. The firefighters died when their truck drove off the side of a road with flames all around them.

People who fled returned to find their homes gone.

"It's the worst roller coaster of my life, and I hate roller coasters," said Adi Ellad, who lost his home in Big Tujunga Canyon over the weekend. "One second I'm crying, one second I'm guilty, the next moment I'm angry, and then I just want to drink tequila and forget."

Ellad left behind a family heirloom Persian rug and a photo album he put together after his father died. "I'm going to have to figure out a new philosophy: how to live without loving stuff," he said.

The blaze in the Los Angeles foothills is the biggest but not most destructive of California's wildfires. Northeast of Sacramento, a wind-driven fire destroyed 60 structures over the weekend, many of them homes in the town of Auburn.

The 275-acre blaze was 50 percent contained Monday afternoon and full containment was expected Tuesday. It wiped out an entire cul-de-sac, leaving only smoldering ruins, a handful of chimneys and burned cars.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger toured the Auburn area, where only charred remnants of homes remained on Monday. At some houses, the only things left on the foundation are metal cabinets and washers and dryers.

"It was embers traveling in the wind, landing on the roofs, landing on attics, getting into that home and burning the home on fire," said Daniel Berlant, spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Some mandatory evacuation orders were lifted, but most residents are still being told to stay away while crews work to restore electricity and hose down embers.

"We want to get them back as soon as possible," Berlant said. "These people, a lot of them don't know, 'Is their home still here?' We need to be sure it's safe before we let them go back."

In Yosemite National Park, fire officials planned to start a backfire that would slow progress of a blaze that has consumed nearly 5,000 acres, or 7.8 square miles, since Wednesday. The fire near the communities of Foresta and El Portal is 55 percent contained and 50 homes remain evacuated. The fire began when a prescribed burn near Foresta jumped the lines and whipped out of control.

East of Los Angeles, a 1,000-acre fire threatened 2,000 homes and forced the evacuation of a scenic community of apple orchards in an oak-studded area of San Bernardino County. Brush in the area had not burned for a century, fire officials said. Flames burning like huge candles erupted between rocky slopes of the San Bernardino Mountains and the neat farmhouses below.

With highs topping 100 degrees in some areas and humidity remaining low, the National Weather Service extended a weekend warning of extreme fire conditions in the central and Southern California mountains.

Winds were light, which prevented the flames from roaring at furious speed into towns. In 2003, a wind-whipped blaze tore through neighborhoods in San Diego County, killing 15 people and destroying more than 2,400 homes. That fire burned 273,000 acres — or 427 square miles — the largest in state history.

Overall, more than 2,500 firefighters were on the line. More than 20 helicopters and air tankers were preparing to dump water and retardant over the flames. Two Canadian Super Scoopers, giant craft that can pull thousands of gallons of water from lakes and reservoirs, were expected to join the fight later in the day.

In La Crescenta, where the San Gabriel Mountains descend steeply into the bedroom suburb a dozen miles from downtown Los Angeles, 57-year-old Mary Wilson was experiencing her first wildfire after nine years of living in a canyon.

Her family was evacuated twice in the past five days, she said.

"We saw the flames. My daughter got really scared," she said. But she was philosophical: "You have to surrender to the natural forces when you choose to live up here. It's about nature doing its thing."

Also in La Crescenta, dispatchers overnight activated a "reverse 911" system that sent a recorded evacuation warning to people, but it turned out to be a mistake.

Whaling, the L.A. County fire captain, says the message applied to only a small number of residents closest to the fire but instead a large number got the sleep-shattering calls. He said he does not know how many people were involved in the call.

"They pushed the wrong button," he said.

Terry Crews, an actor promoting the new movie "Gamer" on KTLA-TV, talked about being forced to flee two days ago from his home in Altadena, in the foothills above Pasadena. He saw 40-foot flames, grabbed his dog and fled.

"I've never seen anything like it," he said. "I'm from Michigan. I'm used to tornadoes ... but to see this thing, you feel helpless."

"This is like 'The Ten Commandments,'" he said, referring to the movie. "You go, 'holy God, the end of the world.'"

The two Los Angeles County firefighters who were killed Sunday died on the blaze's northwestern front when their truck crashed on Mount Gleason near Acton.

The victims were fire Capt. Tedmund Hall, 47, of San Bernardino County, and firefighter Specialist Arnaldo "Arnie" Quinones, 35, of Palmdale. Hall was a 26-year veteran, and Quinones had been a county firefighter for eight years.

An animal sanctuary called the Roar Foundation Shambala Preserve, six miles east of Acton, was in the mandatory evacuation zone, but fire officials decided removing the animals would be "a logistical nightmare," said Chris Gallucci, vice president of operations.

"We have 64 big cats, leopards, lions, tigers, cougars. ... The animals are just walking around, not being affected by this at all," Gallucci said. "But if we panic, they panic. But we are not in panic mode yet."

___

SCHOOLS BAN TOUCHING IN SWINE FLU FIGHT

Glen Cove District Students Urged To Have No Skin-On-Skin Contact With Swine Flu Outbreak Looming
Parents Told To Provide Kids With Tissues, Hand Sanitizer, Ibuprofen
As students across America prepare to head back to school, officials and parents are bracing for a spike in swine flu cases. With the possibility that nearly 2 million people will be hospitalized, and 90,000 people across the country could die, one Long Island school district is taking no chances and has set into place a new "hands-off" approach to fighting the swine flu.

Chest bumps. High fives. Hugs and handshakes. Glen Cove Middle School students Ali Slaughter and Hannah Seltzer say that's what friends do on the first day of school. But when students in the Nassau community return to school next week, the superintendent will be urging abstinence. Everyone from the tiniest tots to the biggest high school football players will be asked to limit skin-on-skin contact in an attempt to prevent the spread of swine flu when it re-emerges this fall.

"It will [be hard] because you really like your friends and you didn't get to see them," Seltzer tells CBS 2.

Glen Cove high schooler Erica Cohen is on the soccer team, but says she knows even in a game that involves close physical content, she'll have to be as careful as she can be.

"I don't really think it's such a big deal, if you wash your hands after -- I think it's just you really can't avoid it," she says.
Lorena Galo filled out her health form and decided she can't give up hugging. "We're still going to hug either way," she says.

The policy is unorthodox and could be difficult to enforce, but Nassau Health Commissioner Dr. Maria Torroella Carney says it's a good way to educate awareness.

"Many people are trying to think outside of the box, creatively, how to minimize spread of the illness, how to protect others, and I applaud that thinking," she says.

Glen Cove parent Leonard Imperial thinks no touching is an overreaction.

"Unfortunately people get sick with flu and die every year, but I don't think this one is any different or particular that we have to worry about," he says.

But Parent Angela Hamel is already urging her sons follow the new guidelines.

"The high fives, I think just to cut down on transmission, it's probably good idea," she says. "I think it's a good way to prevent."

And many other parents seem to agree.

"Less contact would mean less germs and less illnesses and I think it's a good recommendation," says Donna Sita.

While they fear the spread of swine flu, health officials say they are more concerned about the possibility of widespread anxiety or panic when school begins. Officials are asking families to have tissues, ibuprofen and hand sanitizers on hand for students. School superintendants are gathering Thursday on Long Island to discuss prevention and address other concerns

CBS 2's Dr. Holly Phillips is weighing in on the swine flu preparations in Nassau County. She says she think officials are doing the right thing in pushing H1N1 education, but she says there are many other ways to get the virus besides touching one another.

"Hysteria should be avoided, but it's good that the school district is emphasizing keeping kids safe. Not touching won't prevent transmission. The virus can live on surfaces and be transmitted via coughs and sneezes," she says.

So why is talk of the swine flu cropping up again, and when will it hit its peak?

"It never left, but like the seasonal flu, we're expecting it to pick up in October and hit its peak during the winter months when we're closed inside and the illness is more easily transmitted," Phillips says. "The Center for Disease Control is expecting between 30 and 50 percent of Americans will be affected by it."

As for the swine flu vaccine, Phillips says it should be out by mid-October, but at that time there will not be enough for everyone. She expects by the end of the year there will be 200 million doses available.

In the meantime, there are steps people can take to protect their families.

"Stay home if you're sick. Wash your hands," says Phillips. "Get to the doctor early with symptoms because anti-viral medications can shorten the course of the illness."